Middle East

Democracy, But Not Necessarily Freedom

by Sheldon Richman May 1, 2005

Democracy is breaking out all over. Or thats the impression we get from the daily news. Maybe its true. Elections have been held in Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the Palestinian territories. Theres talk (just talk) of a real presidential election in autocratic Egypt. Whos next? One need not sanction the imperial Bush Doctrine to take inspiration from two salient ...

Mr. Bush, Are You There?

by Sheldon Richman August 4, 2004

If President Bush is trying to convince us that he hasn’t the slightest understanding of the Middle East, then he’s doing an outstanding job. Every statement he makes — and this goes for his secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, too — is soaked in ignorance. Any American who is paying attention should be ...

9/11 Could Have Been Prevented

by Sheldon Richman April 21, 2004

From Richard Clarke to Condoleezza Rice, the security establishment agrees on one thing: there was no sure way to stop the attacks of September 11, 2001. Maybe, maybe not. But if that is correct, it doesnt get the Bush administration and its predecessors off the hook. The very inability to prevent terrorism is a powerful argument against the interventionist polices ...

Background of the Middle East Conflict, Part 1

by Wendy McElroy October 1, 2003

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 The modern-day Middle East centers on Israel, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt — clustered close to the Mediterranean Sea. Lying near the juncture of Europe, Asia, and Africa, the Middle East has traditionally acted as a commercial, cultural, and military route between the worlds of East and West. The British ...

Letter to the Editor of WorldNetDaily

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 2003

This letter to the editor was originally published on WorldNetDaily.com August 25, 2003. To the editor: Ilana Mercers recent column, in which she maliciously persists in trying to link me with the Institute for Historical Review, states, I am presuming that his own publication in the Journal of Historical Review, Volume 18, No. ...

Peace Prize to a Man of War

by Sheldon Richman January 27, 2003

The day before former President Jimmy Carter formally received the Nobel Peace Prize, he told a reporter he hoped the honor would spotlight the more favorable things that happened during his term in office, such as the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978. Camp David is widely known. Not so well known is another foreign-policy achievement of ...

Arrogance Is Humility

by Sheldon Richman January 1, 2003

Taking a step back from all the particulars, the real lesson of September 11 is that for more than 50 years, the U.S. government has put the American people in harm’s way by its heavy-handed intervention in the bitter disputes throughout the Middle East. Then, despite the hundreds of billions of dollars spent each year on “national security” and ...

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Classical-Liberal Alternative

by Richard M. Ebeling June 1, 2002

A MAN IS WALKING through the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland, late one night. Suddenly there is an arm around his throat and he is pulled into a dark alley. A gun is then put to his head and the voice behind him asks, Be yeh a Protestant or be yeh a Catholic? Thinking fast, the man replies, Im ...