Viewpoints

Greece, Israel, Cyprus and the United States agreed to enhance cooperation in energy, cyber and infrastructure security, Greek Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said on Wednesday after ministers of the four countries met in Athens. Natural gas discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean in the past decade have rendered the region a …

By Thomas L. Friedman If only Stephen Paddock had been a Muslim … If only he had shouted “Allahu akbar” before he opened fire on all those concertgoers in Las Vegas … If only he had been a member of ISIS … If only we had a picture of him …

By GIANCARLO ELIA VALORI — The autonomous region of Xinjiang, in the People’s Republic of China – with a relative majority of Turkmen Muslim people (45%) and the Han Chinese who since 1949 have risen from 6% to 41% of the population – is an issue not only for China, …

By Robert L. Borosage for Reuters — The patter of establishment calls for Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to end his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination has built into a hailstorm. “Bye, bye, Bernie,” the Washington Post editorialized prematurely, echoing numerous talking heads. Politico reports Democratic pols are quietly urging …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By Muhammad Zamir Assadi* — Islamabad: Corruption cases against a leading business tycoon and an owner of commercial bank in Pakistan are heaping up day by day but the pending investigations against the influential banker of putting these inquiries to logical conclusion are either hampered by …

THE LEVANT NEWS – By Graham E. Fuller* — Rajan Menon’s new book, “The Conceit of Humanitarian Intervention,” (Oxford) launches a timely argument against a dominant argument lying behind so much of modern American foreign policy—“humanitarian intervention” or “liberal interventionism.” We are, of course, well familiar with Republican and neocon …

By ANDREW SCOTT COOPER for THE NEW YORK TIMES — FOR the past half-century, the world economy has been held hostage by just one country: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Vast petroleum reserves and untapped production allowed the kingdom to play an outsize role as swing producer, filling or draining …

by Leon Tressell for Dissident Voice — Since the New Year there has been a lot of speculation in the mainstream and alternative media about Saudi Arabia and Turkey directly intervening into the war in Syria. Each week there have been threats, demands, and sabre rattling from Saudi Arabia and …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By​ ​ Marc Lynch* — The House Judiciary Committee recently passed a resolution calling on the State Department to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. This resolution resonates with the feverish anti-Islamic politics of the Republican primary, fueled across the spectrum by candidates from Donald …

THE LEVANT NEWS — Our company is looking for creative freelance writers, who will be able to produce the high-quality unique content for our website about Middle East politics and Political Islam. Please email your proposals to: thelevantfirm@gmail.com

Prominent Republican hawks are debating whether to hold their noses and vote for Clinton instead. By MICHAEL CROWLEY for POLITICO — Donald Trump calls the Iraq War a lie-fueled fiasco, admires Vladimir Putin and says he would be a “neutral” arbiter between Israel and the Palestinians. When it comes to …

Stratfor Analysis — With each passing day, it is becoming increasingly clear that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s term could come to an abrupt end. Both the opposition-controlled legislature and Maduro’s own party are calling for him to resign to deflect public anger from the government. According to Stratfor sources, the …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By Ghassan Michel Rubeiz — US policy on Iran should be integrated with policies on other vital issues. Considering the growing threat of ISIS, the worsening tragedies in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Libya, the ignored Arab Israeli conflict, the fragmentation of an entire region, considering all …

The Levant News — By Graham E. Fuller — A renowned Arab religious scholar in the 14th century, ibn Taymiyya, is sometimes quoted as saying, Al-zulm afdal min al-fawda— “oppression is to be favored over anarchy.” Although ibn Taiymiyya was no establishment figure in his time, this perspective was welcomed …

THE LEVANT NEWS — Here is the Keynote address by Shri M. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India at the 2nd West Asia Conference on “Ideology, Politics and New Security Challenges in West Asia”, in New Delhi on Jan.19, 2016: “I thank the IDSA and Ambassador Jayant Prasad for inviting me …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By Ishaan Tharoor for The Washington Post — On Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was in Islamabad, meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The recent flaring of tensions between the Saudis and their regional foe, Iran, compelled the visit to a …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By Robert L. Borosage for Reuters — Is Barack Obama a transformational president? That was his ambition: to be more, as he put it, like Ronald Reagan than Bill Clinton, to launch a new era, not simply tack to the prevailing winds of the old. Not …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By MOHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIFFOR THE NEW YORK TIMES — THE world will soon celebrate the implementation of the landmark agreement that resolves the unnecessary, albeit dangerous, crisis over Iran’s nuclear program. All parties hoped, and continue to believe, that the resolution of the nuclear issue would …

THE LEVANT NEWS– By Ghassan Rubeiz — Should we be fearful of Muslims in our community? Regrettably, this regressive question is one of the most hotly debated issues in the current US presidential race. To win the war on terror Western societies should be more inclusive, not less. The current …

By The Editorial Board of The New York Times — The execution of the popular Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 other prisoners on Saturday was about the worst way Saudi Arabia could have started what promises to be a grim and tumultuous year in the kingdom and across …

The setback in relations with Iran is just one of Saudi Arabia’s many problems. By Matthew Philips for BLOOMBERG — THE LEVANT NEWS — The collapse in Saudi relations with Iran after the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric marks a grim start to the new year for Saudi Arabia’s …

THE LEVANT NEWS EXCLUSIVE –By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem* — LAAYOUNE, Western Sahara — The Western Sahara issue has resurged to the forefront after the European Court of Justice decided on Dec. 11, 2015 [http://www.wsj.com/articles/court-annuls-eu-trade-accord-with-morocco-cites-western-sahara-issue-1449768327] to cancel a trade deal between the European Union (EU) and Morocco. The Polisario Front [Popular …

THE LEVANT NEWS — di Dr. Haytham Mouzahem — Nonostante Israele non abbia dichiarato la propria responsabilità per l’assassinio del dirigente di Hezbollah Samir Kuntar, i suoi funzionari e media hanno invece lodato le relazioni siriane e libanesi secondo cui Israele ha ucciso Kuntar. Il ‘Jerusalem Post’ domenica ha citato …

THE LEVANT NEWS — BY Graham E. Fuller — It is depressing to witness the ongoing vitriolic voices of vituperation spewing out over the airwaves these days in what passes as “political debate,” especially in Republican circles. Depressing also to know that we still have nearly a year more to …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By YOSSI MELMAN FOR THE JERUSALEM POST — The big question disturbing Israel after the assassination of Samir Kuntar is whether Hezbollah will respond, and if so, how and on which front. The answer to this question does not solely depend on the Lebanese Shi’ite group, …

THE LEVANT NEWS – By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem — First published in www.worldsecuritynetwork.com on 11-Feb-2005 — Following the issuance of the United Nations Security Council resolution 1559, the future of Hizbullah in Lebanon is in jeopardy because the resolution called for the disarmament of the militias in Lebanon, in an …

This article has been published on November 2013 THE LEVANT NEWS — By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem — Recent clashes between Houthis and Salafists near the town of Dammaj in north Yemen have raised questions whether the sectarian conflict is still local or has become an extension to the regional Iranian–Saudi …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem –-A love of God links many religions and sects. As Imam Mohamed Al-Baqir asked, “Is religion anything but love?” Except that the de facto Arab and Muslim reality today is missing the “love” that is the core of the relationship between God …

THE LEVANT NEWS EXCLUSIVE — By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem – Al-Ahbash or the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects (jam’iyyat al-mashari’ al-khayriyya al-islamiyya) is a Sufi religious movement which was founded in Lebanon in the mid-1980s. Al-Ahbash is a name attributed to the founder of the group, Sheikh Abdullah al-Harari, known …

THE LEVANT NEWS –By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem — The German researcher Sabine Schmidtke (born in 1964) is German scholar and Professor for Islamic Studies and Director of the Research Unit Intellectual History of the Islamicate World at Freie Universität Berlin. She has a BA (summa cum laude) from the Hebrew …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By ROBERT SWIFT FOR THE MEDIA LINE — In the halls of power of both the United States and the United Kingdom, renewed discussions have been taking place over the status of the organization known as the Muslim Brotherhood. In Washington, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a …

The Levant News – By Congressman Mike Honda — In 1988, President Ronald Reagan—the president whom Donald Trump and most of the Republican presidential candidates have said they admire the most—signed the Civil Liberties Act into law. This law recognized that the internment of Japanese Americans in the aftermath of …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By THE EDITORIAL BOARD of The New York Times — Ali al-Nimr was sentenced to beheading and crucifixion for participating in a protest at age 17. Raif Badawi was to receive a thousand lashes — a punishment sure to kill — for his blog posts. A …

From the fall of Saddam and internment in a US prison in Iraq to the Arab Spring, the ISIS leader’s influence grew THE LEVANT NEWS — By JASON BURKE — A hagiography and former associates have described Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri, better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader …

THE LEVANT NEWS — BY Jim Tankersley  for The Washington Post —  A year after his 700-page opus “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” stormed to the top of America’s best-seller lists, Thomas Piketty is out with a new argument about income inequality. It may prove more controversial than his book, which …

THE LEVANT NEWS – By Sundeep Waslekar* — In December 2009, I met Walid Muallem, Foreign Minister of Syria, in his office in Damascus, along with an eminent British politician. He rolled out before us his vision of peace process with Israel in phases. He had two essential conditions. First, …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By Ambika Vishwanath for STRATFOR– The Islamic State’s use of natural resources to achieve its strategic goals is nothing new. Oil, one of the group’s biggest sources of funding, plays an especially important role in its calculations — something the countries fighting the Islamic State are …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By Juan Cole  for THE WAHSINGTON POST —  Did the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 lead to our current crisis over the Islamic State? The question has been posed baldly in this campaign season, as when a young woman at a campaign rally said …

  THE LEVANT NEWS — By Petula Dvorak for THE WASHINGTON POST — Looks like fear — not turkey — is the main course being served in our country this week. Political opportunists running for president have been cooking up a heaping platter of anti-Muslim sentiment since the Nov. 13 terrorist …

by Mohamed Mohamed* for Palestine Center– The Hebrew word “hasbara” translates to “explaining,” but it is a euphemism for the propaganda that endorses the state of Israel and its actions. In its efforts to influence world opinion and promote itself on the international stage, Israel’s hasbara campaign has relied on …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By Joshua Cook – for http://truthinmedia.com/ — Reports have confirmed that US Intelligence knew in 2012 that backing Syrian rebels would result in an ISIS victory. A newly declassified DIA document from 2012 confirms that arming the anti-Assad rebel forces and Islamist groups would lead to …

THE LEVANT NEWS — by Rabbi Reuven Firestone FOR The Jewish Journal– This time it’s Paris. It was already Paris earlier this year. It was also Madrid, London, New York and suburban Washington D.C., and it was the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk in 1999, and the infamous …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By Ghassan Michel Rubeiz: West Palm Beach– Currently, the liberation of Palestine is not being exploited as a recruiting tool for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS. The Palestinian struggle is antithetical to the ideology of ISIS. This fifty-year struggle is national, secular and …

THE LEVANT NEWS — By David Ignatius for THE WASHINGTON POST– Do Western nations think that Muslim lives matter less? Most of us would resist any such characterization of callousness. But Western outrage about the carnage in Paris, coupled with near-indifference to similar killings in the Arab world, suggests to …