Marwan Bishara

Marwan Bishara's picture
Marwan Bishara
Senior political analyst | Qatar
Biography

Marwan Bishara is Al Jazeera's senior political analyst.

He was previously a professor of International Relations at the American University of Paris. An author who writes extensively on global politics, he is widely regarded as a leading authority on the Middle East and international affairs.

Latest posts by Marwan Bishara

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on March 27th, 2011
Photo by GALLO/GETTY
I guess a "readealist" (realist/idealist) reading of the US empire shows it's better to keep your expectations of its generals low, and your hopes regarding the people high.
 
Just when we thought the revolution sweeping through Tunisia and Egypt has spared us the false choice between oppressive autocrats and imperial cynics, a defiant Gaddafi presented us with an ultimatum: "My rule or rivers of blood." 

Devoid of any moral consciousness, he didn't hesitate to use the bloodiest means against his own people. His actions, reminiscent of those by the foreign colonialists he has often condemned, have provided them with the pretext to intervene once again in the region.
 
Tags: Egypt
By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on March 22nd, 2011

The Middle East and North Africa has undergone massive changes over the past few months. Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara shares his views on these latest events.

Framing the narrative of Libya
Despite all the rhetoric, the Gaddafis bear the responsibility for the ills and misfortunes of their country.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on December 16th, 2010
Photo by GALLO/GETTY

Al Jazeera's senior political analyst comments on the US administration's review of its military strategy in Afghanistan.

Why a review of the military strategy in Afghanistan?

Releasing the review is an exercise in public diplomacy; it marks the first year anniversary of President Barack Obama's speech last year that laid out his surge strategy to avoid losing the war in Afghanistan. During long and difficult deliberation with his national security team in 2009, the president was sceptical of the generals and hardliners' argument for surge of troops without clear benchmarks and for a major escalation without exist strategy, according to Bob Woodward inside account of the White House meetings in Obama's Wars. Today, his administration is offering what is deemed balance sheet that shows "progress" but also difficult challenges ahead.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on August 25th, 2010
Photo by EPA

While the Obama administration continues to affirm its intention to withdraw US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the US' military presence in the Muslim world is actually expanding and this is exacerbating tensions and inflaming animosities.
 
Barack Obama's promise to open a new page with the Muslim world on the basis of mutual respect and interests - supplemented and enforced by the use of soft rather than hard power - now rings hollow.

This is most evident in the withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq and the corresponding surge in Afghanistan - an exercise in redeploying military forces, not extracting them.

As the gap between words and deeds; declarations and policies; public diplomacy and military strategy deepens, so the political and strategic crisis facing the Obama administration continues to deepen.

Enduring presence
 
There are now more than 140,000 foreign troops in Afghanista

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on August 5th, 2010

Western media is awash with reports about Taliban mistreatment of women in Afghanistan and Pakistan that feature countless voices in support of the war to secure a 'brighter future for women's rights'. This week's Time magazine cover story is a case in point.

If Western wars 'liberate' Eastern women, Muslim women would be - after centuries of Western military interventions - the most 'liberated' in the world. They are not, and will not be, especially when liberty is associated with Western hegemony.

Afghanistan has had its share of British, Russian and American military intervention to no avail.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on August 4th, 2010

File 3286
Photo by EPA

Surprise, surprise ... the US government did not tell the whole truth, yet again, about its war conduct, and indeed misled the public about the true record of the war.
 
I personally have not met anyone who has been shocked by the revelations in the documents published by WikiLeaks, but many are surprised - not so much by the novelty of it all, but rather by the mundane repetition of more of the same deception.
 
It is déjà vu all over again. Governments lie, especially about war and violence.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on July 28th, 2010

File 3221
Last week, the Nixon Center sponsored a debate between pro-Israeli Washington Institute executive director Robert Satloff and Chas Freeman, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia and an opponent of unconditional US support to Israel. The subject was whether Israel is an asset or liability to US strategic interests.

Satloff made the case that Israel has greatly served US interests in the region - making it not only an asset but a strategic bargain, even bonanza, to the US.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on July 8th, 2010
AFP photo

The good news: "Netanyahu to give peace process a 'robust push". The bad news, any rational person privy to the ideology and makeup of the Israeli government knows this is not serious.

And yet, after their meeting, Barack Obama, the US president, has publically supported his Israeli interlocutor, saying he believed Binyamin Netanyahu would take "risks for peace" and praised the Israeli prime minister for easing the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Obama also called for "direct talks" between Israelis and Palestinians irrespective of the continued illegal settlements.

All of which begs two questions: How does a defunct and discredited diplomatic process continue to masquerade as a success despite its utter failure? And why do the US and its Western allies continue to finance and pamper it when it creates more instability and conflict than peace and progress?

The short answer is bullshit.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on June 10th, 2010
Photo by EPA

The New York Times revealed yesterday why the Chinese changed their mind about yet another UN Security Council resolution that imposes new sanctions against Iran.

The resolution passed with 12 votes in favour, two against and one abstention is the fourth of its kind.

Like the Brazilians and the Turks, the Chinese leaned towards diplomacy and doubted the efficacy of another round of sanctions.

Along with Russia, China opposed tougher sanctions that would hurt Iranians and push Tehran into a corner.

Analysts believe Beijing and Moscow came on board after direct intervention by Barack Obama, the US president, and a pledge to water down the resolution and possibly other concessions some of which might be kept secret for long.

The end result is UNSC resolution 1929 that focuses primarily on the nuclear domain, avoids targeting the Iranian society, and dispel

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on June 8th, 2010

File 2900

Recent events and diplomatic activity before and after the Israeli attack on the Gaza "freedom flotilla" have delineated a new powerful regional triangle at the expense of an old Arab one.

The rapprochement between Iran, Turkey and Syria is creating a new regional axis that, for all practical purposes, could replace the diminished Arab triangle of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria and transform the region in the process.

The visits of the Iranian and Syrian presidents to Turkey this week have underlined a new sense of solidarity and cooperation that will be followed with much interest and concern in Western capitals and Israel.

If strengthened, the new trio could break up the US imposed moderate-extremist division of the region and instead introduce a diverse, hard to isolate new axis that is fundamentally opposed to the Israeli occupation and committed to breaking the siege of Gaza.

Each of

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on June 2nd, 2010

File 2831

The Israeli military operation against the humanitarian Gaza convoy has provoked an outcry around the world and within Israel itself.
 
Five leading headlines from this morning's edition of the daily newspaper Haaretz illustrate the frustration.

Ari Shavit's 'Fiasco on the high seas', Reuven Pedatzur's 'A failure any way you slice it', Yossi Sarid's 'Seven idiots in the cabinet', and Gideon Levy's 'Operation Mini Cast Lead' - Israel's code name for its bloody war on Gaz

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on May 31st, 2010

File 2765

The Israeli military attack on the 'break the siege of Gaza' flotilla in international waters, 65km off the shores of Gaza, has broken the barrier of silence over the Gaza siege.

The Israeli military's justification that its soldiers were lynched and hence were defending themselves adds insult to death.

Israeli spokespeople and officials have used the same military strategy in the battle for public opinion: offence is the best defence. Israel had no other option, say the Israeli officials, but to attack!

However, regardless of exactly what happened on those solidarity ships, Israeli use of force will prove self-defeating. Attacking other nations' citizens in international waters because they resisted arrest is not only illegal, but serves to demean international legal norms.

The UN Goldstone Commission report considered the siege of Gaza to be a possible "war crime".

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on May 30th, 2010

File 2729

The new US National Security Strategy (NSS) makes for a boring but important weekend read.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on May 28th, 2010
AFP photo

As the Obama administration introduces its new foreign policy doctrine this week, it's worth reminding ourselves that the greater Middle East region is central to US strategy today just as it has been over the last half a century.

After a decade of US blunders in Iraq and Afghanistan under the guise of the "global war on terror", President Obama's overall commitment to "engagement" with other world emerging powers like China and India,  and support for multilateralism contrasts sharply with his predecessor's desire to "go it alone" when possible, along with others only if necessary.

Over the last year, the Obama administration has changed the bombastic language of the Bush administration.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on May 23rd, 2010

File 2653

The wearing of headscarves and face veils has generated much controversy in Europe in recent years.

Here in France, the government this week approved a draft law to ban the wearing of full face veils in public spaces, opening the way for the text to go before parliament in July.

The bill calls for $185 fines and, in some cases, citizenship classes for women who do not comply with the ban.

Anyone convicted of forcing a woman to wear a veil could face a year in prison and a $18,555 fine.

Similar legal processes are being considered in other European countries.

Many consider the targeting of face veils to be part of the same cynical and populist anti-Muslim campaign that has also taken aim at the wearing of headscarves, the building of minarets and Muslim reactions to 'blasphemous' cartoons.

They suspect that a populist European Right will conti

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on May 17th, 2010
Photo by EPA

In the days ahead, western diplomats will weigh every word in the final Iranian, Brazilian, Turkish communiqué looking for ways to evaluate whether its is sufficient to end or at least freeze efforts to obtain another UN Security Council resolution that hardens sanctions against the Islamic republic.

But I won't do any such analysis of the text, rather I will leave it to those searching for faults that might allow Iran off (or on) the hook.

No such short statement will ever be sufficient to ensure serious long term verification of Iran's compliance..

Neither is it meant as a substitute for the relevant parties getting their hands dirty on the details of any long term arrangements. Nor is it sufficient to defuse the political tensions between the US and Iran. Let alone satisfy Israel.

But it is an excellent declaration of principle.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on May 10th, 2010

File 2534

As the Israeli Palestinian 'peace process' marches in place, religious-Zionism is marching into the leadership of the Israeli army, rendering an improbable peace mission impossible.
 
If as expected their number continues to increase at the same rate, no future Israeli leader will be able to evacuate Jewish settlements in the context of a peace agreement.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on May 5th, 2010
Photo by AFP

As Britons sober up the morning after Thursday's elections, they will come to realise that the challenges facing the country are more historic than political. 
 
Regardless of which party governs next, the gloomy economic and strategic forecast will broadly limit the next prime minister's tenure to cleaning up the country's mess. 
 
Away from the bombastic campaign rhetoric, the next leader needs to share the bad news about Britain's shrinking economy and diminishing influence beyond its borders.
 
Between its toxic finances and draining (and unpopular) military interventions, the UK's overall balance sheet looks pretty dim, if not disastrous.
 
Even the most optimistic forecasts don't predict a return to the pre-2008 economic performance for several more years. With its reliance on banks and property, it was bound to be hard hit.
 

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on May 3rd, 2010

File 2451

As the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference convenes here in New York this week to assess compliance and to agree on steps to achieve its goals, the world cannot afford a repeat of its 2005 fiasco.

There is a general perception that the NPT regime is in bad shape. In reality, it is worse.

Behind its failures lie double standards and narrow strategic thinking by its five certified nuclear powers, which hampers implementation of its decisions and erodes its credibility.

At the heart of the NPT crisis are three failures relating to the treaty's three main pillars: Disarmament, non-proliferation and access to civilian nuclear energy.

How significant is a "significant" reduction? How new is a "new weapon"?

A central goal of the NPT, which has 189 signatories, is the disarmament of its nuclear powers.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on April 25th, 2010

lulaafp565.jpg

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on April 13th, 2010

marepa2565.jpg

There are a number of reasons why Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, decided not to attend the nuclear summit hosted by Barack Obama, the US president.

They include deteriorating relations with the US over expanding illegal Jewish settlements on occupied lands, a frozen 'peace process', and just bad chemistry between the rightist Israeli leader and the liberal US president.

But more importantly there is no good reason for the Israeli leader to attend. 
As one of the few countries that developed nuclear weapons and refuse to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Israel has nothing to gain and much to lose.

Considering its serious breaches, Israel has little to contribute to US efforts on the nuclear front, except to make the concessions it is least willing to.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on April 8th, 2010
Photo by EPA

The leak is now credible. The New York Times has confirmed what the Washington Post published a day earlier: the Obama administration is considering proposing its own framework for a negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
 
Frustrated by its failure to freeze Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, and subsequent failure to get the negotiations back on track, the US government is putting the two parties on notice: Define the contours of a solution by autumn and negotiate its details, or we shall do it for you.
 

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on March 29th, 2010
Photo from EPA

After year-long optimism that the three decade old US-Iran standoff might finally come to an accommodation, the two sides are ratcheting up their rhetoric and in the process risk new escalation with unpredictable consequences.

This weekend's leaked US intelligence reports about Iran's plans to build new nuclear reactors are adding urgency to already tense relations.

Washington has taken advantage of Tehran's nuclear programme and regional ambitions to portray Iran as a dangerous regional power that must be contained, deterred, and if/when necessary, confronted sooner rather than later.

Washington's 'psychological warfare' against Tehran has been fought in the diplomatic and public opinion arenas, as well as in the Gulf where the US military has been parading it war ships.

Media leaks drip-fed by the US and Israel envisions attacks on Iran's nuclear and military facilities as well as proxy wars against Iran's allies.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on March 24th, 2010
photo from AFP

Soon after the US-Israeli fallout over the settlement issue in Jerusalem took the form of a public spat, Joe Lieberman, the leading backer of Israel in the US senate, demanded an end to the family feud.
 
Considering his dual loyalties, it's no wonder that the Zionist senator is worried. "Let's cut the family fighting, the family feud… it's time to lower voices, to get over the family feud... it just doesn't serve anybody's interests but our enemies."
 
But, like that of Tiger Woods, the US-Israeli spousal scandal continues unabated despite the warnings. As Binyamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, continued to embarrass his US partner in public, Barack Obama refused to be seen with him in public.
 
Instead, Netanyahu was let in from the back door of the White House, away from the cameras.
 

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on March 22nd, 2010
AFP photo

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has delivered another "The US and I personally are in love with Israel" speech to America's pro-Israeli lobby  - with a twist.

Her three-part speech at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) on Monday underlined Washington's unshaken strategic and moral commitment to Israel "for ever" and, in the second part, threatened Iran with tougher sanctions and warned it will never allow it to develop nuclear weapons.

In the third, and much awaited part, of the speech, Clinton delineated a hardcore realist approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict in the context of US security in the Middle East that envisions a freeze on settlement paving the way for direct talks that culminate in two states.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on March 15th, 2010
Photo by EPA

Over the last several months, Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, and Barack Obama, the US president, have led the campaign praise for Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, despite his extremist views.

Peres, for long Netanyahu's political nemesis and considered the architect of the 1993 Oslo Peace Process along with Mahmoud Abbas, commended the right-wing Likud leader's stance on peace as "brave and real".

The Obama administration spoke in a similar tone, noting and praising Netanyahu's acceptance of the principle of a two-state solution and Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, celebrated the unprecedented 'limited temporary freeze on settlement'!

The message from Israel and the US has been clear: Give Netanyahu a chance. He means business. 

Netanyahu, who boasts of knowing US power politics better than most since his tenure in New York as ambassador to the UN, seems to have outsmarted his US counterpart.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on March 12th, 2010
Photo by AFP

Poor Joe Biden. He's come to deliver the good news: The US is back in the Israeli fold and will continue to have boots on the ground in the Middle East. And what does he get in return? A shoe in the face.

The Israeli interior ministry's announcement of 1,600 new housing units (apparently part of 50,000 units in the long term) in East Jerusalem settlements, hurled at the vice president during his visit to Israel, provoked a political storm and outright condemnation, leading to a clumsy apology from the prime minister.

Unlike Iraq, Israel is anything but occupied by America, but its leaders have been terribly preoccupied by the Obama administration.

The US president's appearance of neutrality at the outset of his first year, as expressed in his Cairo and Ankara speeches, and his administration's pressure on Israel to freeze the illegal settlements, have for all practical purpose, ruined his chances with the Israeli Right.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on March 11th, 2010
Photo from AFP

The US vice president's visit to Israel has to a large degree clarified the Middle East imperatives of the Barack Obama administration in its second year.
 
Joe Biden's cornerstone speech at Tel Aviv University is a major downgrade and retreat from the bold commitments made by President Obama in Turkey and Egypt.
 
The two-part speech will no doubt be read selectively. Israeli leadership will underline the appeasement, commitment and support in the first two-thirds of the speech, whilst the Palestinian leadership will emphasise the overtures and support for independence made in the last third.
 
The first part underlines the Obama administration's and Biden's own adulation and commitment towards Israel. It checks all the boxes.
 

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on March 8th, 2010

pollafp565.jpg

The Iraq elections underline the tenacity of its people and their determination to take back their country.

Iraqis have succeeded in pulling away from the brink despite, not because, of US policies over the last seven years.

Crediting George Bush's policies for hard earned Iraqi accomplishments adds insult to injury.

It was not only the timing of declaring "Mission Accomplished" from a battle ship that was proved unfortunate, but the whole notion of 'US victory' in Iraq is utterly nonsensical considering the horrific human, societal and other costs.

Accomplished - or not bloody accomplished - the US mission has turned Iraq into a complete mess.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on March 1st, 2010

palepa565.jpg

The recent escalation of violence in Jerusalem does not bode well for future co-existence in the city, let alone between two peoples. In fact, it could usher a new cycle of confrontation with far reaching regional consequences.

Every decade over the last half a century, Zionist/Israeli and Palestinian confrontations have shifted from one front to another drawing new fault lines of hatred and violence in the region.

In the 1960s, confrontation continued across the Jordan river before moving to Lebanon in the late 1970s, ending with the 1982 invasion by Israel.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on February 27th, 2010

mahafp2565.jpg

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on February 24th, 2010
photo from Getty Images

It's another dreary London day, but that's hardly why I am pissed off.  Expecting my usual doses of caffeine and adrenaline, I was terribly short-changed this morning, coffee notwithstanding.

The Guardian that usually can inspire, incite, or bring a smile to your grey days in the city, was tabloid-silly, narcissist, and void of interesting 'news stories'.

The coverage is predominantly centered on the editors' own narrow preoccupations, not their readers. For interesting stories one has to skip to the Society or Sports section. (A very interesting story about the British Premier League clubs owing 56 per cent of Europe's debt..!!)

Dreadful issue

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on February 23rd, 2010

avigepa2565.jpg

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on February 20th, 2010
Photo EPA

The following excerpts from a January Bloomberg report about 'Dubai helping Iran evade sanctions' is an indispensable read.

It provides an interesting background for US silence about the escalatory alleged Israeli assassination of a Hamas leader in a fancy hotel in the middle of Dubai, bordering on complicity. (The assassins wore tennis outfits, some say, a reminder to Dubai who rejected an entry visa to Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer this time last year.)

Dubai is seen as a major obstacle in light of Washington's serious efforts at imposing a new round of biting sanctions against Iran as a way of forcing it to freeze its nuclear programme.

Unless it shuts down its trade and other economic transactions with Iran, including investments, tourism etc, as explained below, no sanctions could work effectively.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on February 18th, 2010
Photo from AFP

As the storm over the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh picks up momentum, I am not buying into the whole business of lack of competence and ambiguity.

I don't think the Israeli spy/killing agency - the Mossad is that sloppy, or Israel that lax.

True, Israel's mounting arrogance did lead to a number of security screw-ups over the years, and this could be such a repeat. But this operation looks more like a deliberate act of arrogance than not.

If it was merely a question of mistakes or failures, the Mossad would have had to go out of its way to behave so unprofessionally or so incautiously.

Nor do I buy the theory that a less competent foreign agency or group has carried out the operation in a way that implicates Israel. That's just adding insult to insolence.

Generally, assassinations carry double meanings. The first is answered by 'why' and the second 'how'.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on February 17th, 2010
EPA

"What is Iran hiding?" asked Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, rhetorically.

It is, she concluded on the basis of "mounting evidence" - read circumstantial evidence - developing "nuclear weapons" and that is not acceptable to the US.

True, Iran is not coming clean on its intentions over its nuclear programme. Rather it is doing the absolute minimum under its International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obligations to underline how its nuclear programme is civilian in nature, when UN resolutions and mounting suspicion require more.

But states are in the business of hiding their intentions, especially concerning national security and sovereignty. If they were forthcoming and transparent, intelligence services would not exist.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on February 14th, 2010
Photo by AFP

Dialogue between the US and the Muslim world is important even if the US is a country/superpower and the Muslim world is divided and spread over at least 56 countries that are more in need of dialogue amongst themselves than with Washington.

A forum that allows Muslims to voice their views about the US military presence and wars in the Muslim world, and Americans to explain their policies and approach to the region, is welcomed, and Doha should be congratulated for hosting such forums.

However, considering that for decades Zionism and Israeli occupation have been the main points of contention between the US and the Muslim world, it is rather bizarre, even absurd, that the centre that sponsors the dialogue has been financially backed by a radical right-wing Israeli and managed by renowned Zionist friends of Israel.

Haim Saban is the 'godfather' (founder and chairman) of Brookings Saban Centre for the Middle East Policy - which explains the name.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on February 13th, 2010

EPA photo

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on February 2nd, 2010

GALLO/GETTY

Despite the US military 'surge', Afghanistan is proving more challenging than Iraq.

Unlike the general Iraqi distaste and hostility for al-Qaeda's methods and objectives, Osama bin Laden's network remains the Taliban's most potent strategic partner in its fight against the central government and its US patron.

Al Jazeera has learnt that in the last several months, al-Qaeda has spearheaded certain Taliban offensives and tried to bridge and coordinate between the various Talibans, notably the Afghan and Pakistani groups.

It has been mission impossible for the US thus far to sift the Taliban into so-called moderate vs radicals and hardcore vs pragmatists silos. Separating the Taliban from al-Qaeda has also failed.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on January 29th, 2010
Photo from AFP

Watching Blair answering questions of the Iraq public inquiry commission was fascinating for the same reason it was frustrating. It's British.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on January 28th, 2010
Photo from Getty Images

I could only shake my head in amazement when I learned that US assistant "secretary of state for public affairs'' (read information minister!) Phillip Crowley was unhappy with Aljazeera's converge of the disaster in Haiti.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on January 26th, 2010

empgetty5565.jpg

Osama bin Laden must be laughing his head off. As soon as he reportedly releases an audio tape of a poorly written note by him or one of his companions, droves of 'terrorologists', think-tankers, specialised linguists and war journalists jump in to analyse each and every phrase in the hope of finding something new.
 
So many preoccupied by so little.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on January 22nd, 2010
Photo from AFP

Since taking office, President Obama has been more of a manager than a leader. Mostly, he has managed expectations - but also the deteriorating foreign policy he inherited from his predecessor.

He made symbolic foreign policy gestures to please his progressive and liberal supporters, as well as enacting new policies to appease the establishment's military and political heavyweights.

President Obama signed on shutting down Guantanamo but then postponed its closure, extended a hand to the Muslim world, then at his generals' demand, escalated the war in Afghanistan.

He demanded a total Israeli settlement freeze then backed down, announced plans for a world free of nuclear weapons but went on to implement it selectively against Iran.

Obama's foreign policy sermons preached new foreign policy on the basis of "mutual respect and mutual interest" and extended "a hand to those who unclench their fists".

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium, Middle East on January 18th, 2010

laden1.jpgYou have probably heard of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, but have you heard of Mohammed Badie and the Muslim Brotherhood?

If not, you should reconsider all of your assumptions about Islam and al-Qaeda's terrorism and whether confronting or reforming Islam is the answer to the al-Qaeda challenge.

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood - which boasts an estimated half a million members and commands the support of about one third of the country's population (there are no accurate public figures) - has over the weekend elected Badie, a 63-year-old scientist, as its leader or "guide".

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium, Americas on January 14th, 2010

What does it say about Washington's ''war on terror'' that dozen and a half people with paper cutters forced hundreds of thousands of Western troops into the battlefields of the "greater Middle East" region;
 
That 100,000 foreign soldiers are bogged down in occupied Afghanistan wondering how many dozens of al-Qaeda operatives have remained, if any;
 
That the most liberal democracy enacted new controversial illiberal laws and unpatriotic practices under its "Patriot Act";
 
That one shoe-bomber has forced millions of people to take off their shoes every time they take a flight;
 
That one underpants-bomber will expose every other traveler in most humiliating of ways;
 

Recent Comments

This work is licensed under Creative Commons. Please read our attribution policy.