MEI Podcast, 4 May, 2012,Hamas’s Shifting Political Calculations
MEI Podcast, 4 May, 2012,Hamas’s Shifting Political Calculations
MEI Podcast, 4 May, 2012,Hamas’s Shifting Political Calculations
MEI Podcast, 4 May, 2012,Hamas’s Shifting Political Calculations
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This special edition of MEI Viewpoints offers snapshots of sports and the Middle East.
The tumultuous political changes taking place across the region dominate the news — deservedly so. Yet, there are other changes taking place throughout the Middle East which, though less prominent, also merit attention. Indeed, the region has no shortage of creative and committed “change agents” who in ways great and small have taken meaningful steps to address the myriad challenges to the sustainability of the region’s physical environment. Volume II in this series offers snapshots of a small selection of the many efforts aimed at cultivating responsible environmental stewardship.
The Middle East Institute is proud to host Georgetown University professor Paul Pillar for a discussion about Iran and how best to address its nuclear ambitions. Pillar argues that the acceptable range of opinion on Iran has narrowed around the idea that all options, including a military strike, must be pursued to prevent the country from acquiring nuclear weapons. And yet, Pillar argues, if the combination of nuclear talks and sanctions do not yield the outcome the West and Israel seek, containment is preferable to war.
Panelists will explore both the challenges and opportunities presented by the transition of the U.S.-Iraqi partnership from a mainly military to a diplomatic one. What sort of working relationship is emerging between the U.S. and Iraqi governments? What kind of cooperation is taking place in the areas of domestic and regional security, diplomacy, trade, energy, and reform? How has the troop drawdown affected U.S. influence in Iraq and the region in general? Feltman, Istrabadi and Serwer will explore strategies and policies resulting from the new bilateral dynamics.
Recent media reports indicate that fewer Afghan women turned out to vote for a President on August 20, 2009 than went to the polls five years ago, when in some districts female turnout had been even higher than that of males. Apprehension, convention, ennui, and disorganization led to families keeping their women home on election day, even as men dared to vote. The reversal of women’s rights, which they had only recently begun to exercise, is an ominous sign.
Jerusalem will probably be the toughest issue in any future Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. The other three core issues – borders/settlements, security, and Palestinian refugees – will also be very difficult, but Jerusalem is at a different level. Jews, Muslims, and Christians worldwide have strong attachment to the city and its many holy sites. For Israelis and Palestinians, Jerusalem is the focal point of national, cultural, and religious identities and aspirations. Their conflicting claims are based on long history and narratives that do not accommodate the other.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has described upcoming talks with Iran over its nuclear program as "the last chance to resolve the crisis." Yet as the final hour approaches for an opportunity to avert a military attack, there are few apparent signs Iran will make compromises. Recent parliamentary elections have only strengthened the power of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the hardliners in his inner circle who aspire to make the Islamic republic a regional superpower.
Originally posted September, 2011
The flow of ideas, people, and commerce across national boundaries has been occurring with breathtaking rapidity in the broader Middle East, as elsewhere. These increasingly dense exchanges have generated new threats and vulnerabilities that have tended to impact women, children, and the poorest members of society disproportionately. They also have given people more resources and opportunities with which to shape their lives and their futures.
Originally posted September 2011
Approximately six months ago, I asked an astute long-time American observer of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict whether we had come to the end of the road for a two-state solution. He replied that we had come to the end of that road in 1967. Putting it differently, Zhou Enlai, the premier of the People’s Republic of China under Mao Zedong, when asked what he thought of the French Revolution, reportedly replied that it was too early to tell.
Are Iran’s leaders rational actors? This question matters when justifying any decision by Israel to preempt Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. An Iranian regime seen as driven to destroy the Jewish state has to be dealt with differently than one whose objectives are mediated by calculations of costs and benefits. Deterrents that would be normally expected to restrain a state would not work with an irrational Iran.