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By Rheanne Wirkkala March 2010 Since last fall, the US has raised the number of drone strikes carried out in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan from roughly one per week to nearly one every day. The strikes have been largely successful in targeting al Qaeda and Taliban operatives hiding out in the border region between Afghanistan and [...] By Rheanne Wirkkala February 2010 In a recent New York Times op-ed, Air Force Research Institute analyst Adam B. Lowther laid out five reasons why he thinks a nuclear armed Iran can potentially benefit the US and the Middle East. While Lowther’s argument is certainly provocative, it relies on some very shaky assumptions about the nature of [...] By Rafi Chaudhury January 2010 Years of political wrangling surrounding Iraq’s future as a major oil producer seemed closer to an end on December 12, 2009, when the government signed off on exploration and production contracts for seven major fields. The winning bids for the largest fields went to consortia of large international oil companies (IOCs) and was [...] December 2009 By Rafi Chaudhury Almost exactly a year after Iceland’s three largest banks surrendered themselves to the state’s stewardship, the global financial crisis seemed poised to claim its next major victim, the Gulf emirate of Dubai. On November 25, the state-owned holding company Dubai World Group abruptly announced a six-month moratorium on debt servicing. Much of Dubai’s [...] By Rheanne Wirkkala November 2009 It appears a deal may be imminent between Israel and Hamas over the release of Staff Sergeant Gilad Shalit, a 23 year old Israeli soldier who was taken captive by Hamas in June 2006. The swap would trade the young soldier for perhaps hundreds of Palestinian prisoners now held in Israeli jails. Included [...] November 2009 By Kevin Taber Given trends towards re-escalation of tensions and violence between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip over the course of the past year, there is little doubt that whatever temporary peace that ceasefire agreements may have brought will be fleeting, at best. Reflecting on the past two years of former [...] November 2008 By Justin Baker For the average American, terrorism is quite a frightening phenomenon. It is frightening because civilians can no longer let their soldiers face the fear of death and injury alone. Civilians feel targeted and most do not understand why. Wars of terror have an absolutist characteristic that creates a dichotomy between good and evil, nothing [...] November 2008 By Alex Roehrkasse Last week, the Iraqi parliament took a landmark step by laying out the terms on which American military forces will be able to operate within Iraq in the coming years. But for all the political squabbling that has revolved around a timeline for a US military withdrawal from Iraq, the approval of the [...] September 2008 By Alex Roehrkasse Saudi Arabia frequently finds itself at the butt of scathing criticism against U.S. allies allegedly complicit in the facilitation of terrorism. After all, 15 of the 19 orchestrators of the September 11, 2001 attacks hailed from Saudi Arabia. The staunchly enforced ultra-conservative Wahhabist strand of Islam in Saudi Arabia provides much of the [...] June 2008 By Sarah Abravanelli In the past, the EU had failed to intervene in the issues concerning Iran’s uranium enrichment program and weapon proliferation, leaving the task to the United States and the UN. The EU’s involvement in the issue came just three days after Israel threatened to attack Iran if the latter did not halt uranium [...] |
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