POMED Notes: “A Changing Middle East: Iran, Turkey, and Prospects for Peace”
November 16th, 2010 by Jason
On Monday evening, as part of the 2010 Foreign Policy Initiative Forum, a panel discussion was held titled “A Changing Middle East: Iran, Turkey, and Prospects for Peace.” The discussants were Elliot Abrams, of the Council on Foreign Relations, Ambassador Eric Edelman, of the Foreign Policy Initiative and Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, and Reuel Gerecht of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The discussion was moderated by Lee Smith of the Weekly Standard.
(To read full notes, continue below the fold or click here for pdf.)
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Posted in Freedom, Human Rights, Iran, Islamist movements, Israel, Middle Eastern Media, Palestine, Political Parties, Reform, Turkey, US foreign policy | Comment »
Jordan: Israel as a Campaign Issue
November 8th, 2010 by Jason
Jamal Halaby, writing for the Associated Press, explains the role that Israel and the failed peace process have had in the run-up to tomorrow’s parliamentary elections in Jordan. “Behind the anger expressed by candidates and voters lies U.S. ally Jordan’s greatest fear: that if peacemaking collapses, Israel will try to force it to take in the residents of the West Bank and stand as the Palestinian state.” According to Halaby, “[i]ssues of rising inflation, steep increases in fuel and food prices and unemployment,” have all been featured in the campaign, but “anger at Israel,” has been a primary political tool for some standing for election. “Many candidates trumpet denunciation of Israel on their campaign banners, and on the stump they call for “political resistance” to defend Jordan from the Israeli threat - avoiding any calls for violence - and for ending the peace treaty, a step King Abdullah II is highly unlikely to take.”
Posted in Elections, Israel, Jordan | Comment »
Transparency International Releases Corruption Rankings
October 26th, 2010 by Evan
Transparency International (TI)
released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index today. In the Middle East, little changed over the past year. Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, Iran and Libya continued to experience dangerous levels of corruption all scoring 2.2 or under on TI’s 10 point scale (10 being “very clean” and 3, “very corrupt”). Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Israel once again led the region in transparency, all scoring above 6.
Posted in Iran, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Qatar, Reform, Sudan, UAE, Yemen | Comment »
Egypt: Gamal Mubarak’s DC Visit Draws Criticism
September 2nd, 2010 by Evan
In the Daily Star, Jamil K. Mroue writes that while Gamal Mubarak should have the right to run for president, his candidacy “illuminates the deep-seated and systemic problems afflicting Egypt.” According to Mroue, there is little that is genuine about the younger Mubarak’s campaign: “Gamal Mubarak is little more than another crown prince awaiting succession to the throne of a purported Arab democracy.” The American Coptic Union also recently criticized the Obama administration’s decision to invite both Hosni and Gamal Mubarak to this week’s Israeli-Palestinian peace talks: “His son plans to inherit his father’s position as if he were entitled to it. This invitation is a slap to the face of those who believe in the US position on promoting democracy in Egypt.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Egypt, Elections, Israel, Mideast Peace Plan, Palestine | 1 Comment »
Western Media: Enabling Arab Autocracy?
August 16th, 2010 by Jennifer
Khaled Abu Toameh writing for the Hudson Institute in New York lambasts what he describes as Western media’s “hypocritical approach” to covering human rights abuses in the Arab world. According to Toameh, the media leaps to report on stories of Israeli abuse against Arabs, while largely refusing to cover human rights violations committed against Arabs by their own dictatorial states. Toameh says that “the mainstream media in the US, Canada and Europe are turning a blind eye to recent developments in Jordan, where the government has introduced a law that restricts media freedom.” Further, he cites the Palestinian Authority’s recent arrest of seven Palestinian university lecturers in the West Bank– a story that only one of “at least a dozen foreign correspondents and newspaper editors in North America and Europe” chose to run –as an example of the media’s “double-standards” approach to news items, stating, “One can only imagine the reaction of the international media had the Palestinian academics been arrested by Israel.” Toameh also asserts that this pattern is “not a new phenomenon,” arguing that “many Western correspondents based in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv refused to publish stories about bad government, abuse of human rights and rampant financial corruption under Yasser Arafat’s administration.”
Posted in Human Rights, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, US media | Comment »
Arab Public Opinion: No Love for Liberal Democracy?
August 11th, 2010 by Jennifer
Barry Rubin writing at the blog for the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center argues that the data in the recently released 2010 Arab Public Opinion Poll reveal “the realities of the Arabic-speaking world: the hegemony of radicalism among the masses, passionate hatred for Israel and the West, and lack of sympathy for democracy or liberalism.” Noting that participants in the survey registered high approval ratings for the Turkish and Iranian premiers, but not for any moderate Arab leaders, Rubin points to “a decline in Arab nationalism that would have been unthinkable during the 1950-2000 era.” He goes on to harshly criticize the poll’s conductors at Brookings, who he said attempted to spin the study’s results to suggest that the Obama administration’s overly “friendly” stance toward Israel was the primary cause of negative sentiment toward the U.S. He says that this conclusion is untenable, arguing that the real problems faced by the Arab world are not Israel, but the “failure of Arab statist dictatorships and Arab nationalist ideology”; a “stifling traditional culture that clashes with modernity”; and “internal group conflicts,” among other challenges. According to Rubin, the U.S. cannot change trends in Arab public opinion by distancing itself from Israel, achieving a two-state solution, or practicing engagement and “appeasement,” since “the only solution is internal and it will take decades at best.” Instead, he urges the West to “defend itself, help the most relatively moderate forces (both governments and mass opposition movements as in Lebanon and Iran), and stand up for its own values.”
Posted in Israel, Public Opinion, Publications, US foreign policy | Comment »
Palestine: It’s Not Just About Economics
July 6th, 2010 by Farid
In a new piece in Foreign Policy, Carnegie’s Michele Dunne argues that any U.S. efforts on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process have to go far beyond simple economic agendas. She proposes that U.S. policy on this issue revolves around two basic, yet false assumptions: first, that negotiations between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will eventually “outmaneuver Hamas”; and second, that international funding will enable Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to build more efficient and stronger institutions
Pointing out the internal divide between the Hamas-led Gaza and Fatah-controlled West Bank, Dunne explains that “without a unified Palestinian community behind him or even a valid electoral mandate, Abbas cannot take risks in negotiations with Israel.” She also notes that “Fayyad’s hands are tied in building durable, democratic institutions” due to a variety of reasons, including the inability of the legislative branch to convene for over 3 years. Dunne suggests that U.S. policy has historically exacerbated such problems of illigitimacy and ineffectiveness through its “inclination to delay, ignore, or manipulate internal Palestinian politics in the service of short-term goals related to Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.” Instead, Dunne proposes promoting Palestinian reconciliation as the key to Gaza’s future and the peace process.
In that regard, Dunne makes the following suggestions for U.S. policy: first, prioritizing “Palestinian reconciliation and institution-building”; and second, supporting efforts for a power-sharing arrangement between Gaza and the West Bank. Dunne argues that as long as the emerging Palestinian government is dedicated to achieving peace and allows the PLO to negotiate with the Israelis, the U.S. should not reject a Palestinian “modus vivendi” even if it fails to fulfill some of the principles laid out by the Middle East Quartet.
Posted in Israel, Mideast Peace Plan, Palestine, US foreign policy | Comment »
Obama in the Middle East: “Mixed” Success, Divergence with Israel
June 30th, 2010 by Jennifer
Tablet Magazine today released the first section of a two-part series of analyses on President Obama’s policy in the Middle East. The article included commentary from four regional experts: Elliott Abrams of the Council on Foreign Relations, Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group, Dore Gold of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and Andrew Exum of the Center for a New American Security.
Abrams proposes that the administration’s approach to the region is creating a “diminished America” and a power vacuum. He argues that the administration has overemphasized the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in U.S. policy; according to Abrams, the key struggle in the region is not territorial, but ideological– pro-Western moderateness vs. Islamist-jihadism. To him, America’s main challenge is not Israel, but Iran.
Malley calls the success of the administration’s policy “mixed,” and suggests that Obama has succeeded in improving the image of the U.S. abroad, but not its credibility. He points to a number of factors inhibiting concrete results. Most of all, Malley blames what he characterizes as the administration’s mistaken, overly black-and-white perception of the region as divided into two camps– militants vs. moderates, whom the U.S. must support.
Gold observes that Obama began his term at a time of increased divergence between American and Israeli policy priorities, as Israel’s government has moved to the right and focused more on security issues, while the U.S. administration’s approach has emphasized diplomacy and dialogue. He notes that while Obama focused on the Israel-Palestinian conflict early in his administration, Israel’s chief concern has become Iran.
Finally, Exum comments that the administration’s policies in the region have centered on the “three I’s”: Israel, Iran, and Iraq. Citing Obama’s overall record on Israel and Iran as a failure– noting that relations with Israel’s leaders have been “badly managed,” while Iran appears poised to continue its nuclear program despite the new UN sanctions –Exum interestingly counts Iraq’s fragile stability as “the lone U.S. success story in the Middle East.” On the other hand, he points to Obama’s focus on Afghanistan as evidence that the administration is placing less interest and importance in the Arab world.
Posted in Afghanistan, Diplomacy, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Mideast Peace Plan, US foreign policy | Comment »
Palestine: “If You Build The State, It Will Come”
June 18th, 2010 by Farid
In a very interesting new piece in Foreign Policy, Hussein Ibish diverts the general attention from the Gaza flotilla to Palestinian domestic developments. According to Ibish, Palestinian financers are have been meeting in Bethlehem for the second Palestine Investment Conference, “in which Palestinians are increasingly turning to the mundane, workaday tools of governance and development as their principal strategy for ending the occupation.”
Most notable of these domestic developments is the commitment to build institutions in order to enhance state administration, infrastructure, and economic goals. “The idea is that, if you build the state, it will come,” says Ibish. Ibish argues that by depending on a bottom-up strategy rather than waiting for American and Israeli commitment to a Palestinian state, Palestinians are able to determine their own future. The motivation is very simple, Ibish argues – self-determination and self-governance.
According to Ibish, there are significant tangible developments: the establishment of two new telecommunication companies, the first planned Palestinian city, and a growth rate of 8.5 percent in the West Bank last year. Additionally, half of the Palestinian Authority’s budget comes from Palestinian taxes rather than international economic support, he explains. Nevertheless, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are still in disagreement over the Palestinian identity and objectives and “the future of Hamas will likely be determined by the success or failure of the PA’s state-building project, and its diplomatic efforts,” Ibish explains.
However, Ibish’s assessment of the future is not entirely reliant on the domestic political forces in Palestine. Instead he argues that according to the World Bank and IMF, the development and prospects for a viable state are limited as long as Israeli occupation of the territories continues.
Posted in Hamas, Israel, Mideast Peace Plan, Palestine | Comment »
Freedom of the press for Palestinian journalists?
June 17th, 2010 by Jennifer
Yossi Melman writes in Haaretz that Nasser Laham, a Palestinian journalist who is founder and editor-in-chief of the Ma’an news agency and is close to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, was denied access by Israeli authorities to the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem. Laham was attempting to obtain a visa to join Abbas in his visit to the United States to meet with President Barack Obama about two weeks ago. Israel cited security considerations but did not provide details on the motivation for its refusal to allow Laham to enter the Israeli city.
Laham served time in an Israeli jail from 1985 to 1991 due to his membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, but since has become an advocate of peace. Laham questioned the Israeli decision, commenting, “I have visited Israeli many times; I’ve interviewed Israeli leaders, including president Ezer Weizman at his residence in Jerusalem. So why now do I pose a security risk? I support the Palestine Liberation Organization, support the authority and President Abbas. I support a peace agreement with Israel, so why specifically do you harm people like me?”
Laham further accused the Israeli administration of oppressing journalists and restricting freedom of the press, saying, “Israeli journalists can visit us, but we aren’t allowed to visit Israel? Is that your freedom of the press?”
Melman calls the action to restrict Laham’s movements “the latest gimmick of the Israeli occupation under the guise of “security considerations.’”
Posted in Israel, Palestine | Comment »
Palestine: The Need for Institution Building
June 7th, 2010 by Farid
In the context of the Gaza flotilla crisis, Michele Dunne argues in an interesting new Carnegie Endowment paper that American strategy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been short-term with traits of neglect and manipulation of the domestic Palestinian political sphere. Instead, the U.S. should take a strategic approach by encouraging an all-inclusive political establishment where competition is welcomed rather than ignored or rejected. Click here for the full PDF version of the paper.
This does not mean that the U.S. should negotiate directly with Hamas, which Dunne says would have “the unfortunate effect of validating the group’s violent and rejectionist tactics.” However, she argues that the United States must “develop a strategy that patiently supports Palestinian institution building and tolerates the internal Palestinian political competition and bargaining that must accompany it.”
Daoud Kuttab, Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University, voices a different argument, asserting that Hamas should be included in the peace negotiations. Nevertheless, Kuttab recognizes that while Hamas has recently shown willingness to commit to a long-term cease-fire, it must agree to a complete cease-fire for talks to proceed.
Posted in Diplomacy, Hamas, Israel, Mideast Peace Plan, Palestine, Political Parties, US foreign policy | Comment »
Obama’s Cairo Speech, One Year Later
June 4th, 2010 by Farid
Today marks the anniversary of President Barack Obama’s remarkable speech to the world’s Muslim communities in Cairo. While the speech received widespread positive reactions from Arabs, Muslims, and Americans at the time, now, a year later, many observers are disappointed that the speech did not in fact bring the “new beginning” that it promised.
According to a Washington Post op-ed by Michele Dunne and Robert Kagan, a year later Egyptians have lost much confidence in Obama. As Dunne and Kagan see it, the U.S. has continued to unconditionally support a highly unpopular regime under President Hosni Mubarak and has failed to adhere to the voices of the Egyptian populace. The Obama administration has cut democracy spending by half in Egypt and has not pressed the Egyptian government over its human rights record. They describe the Obama administration as succeeding in engaging with governments in the Middle East, but not its people. As Egypt prepares for upcoming elections, the U.S. has an opportunity to end this trend and save America’s image in the Middle East by privately and publicly pushing for free and fair elections.
The Foreign Policy Middle East Channel features three interesting articles looking at U.S. engagement with the Muslim world in the year since the Cairo speech. Kristin M. Lord and Marc Lynch caution that although the administration has finally begun to deliver on the promises made in Cairo through a number of initiatives, its broader engagement with the region is severely undermined by the lack of progress on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, underscored by this week’s Gaza flotilla crisis. They warn that if President Obama fails to seize this crisis as an opportunity to reinvigorate the peace process and address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, then this will defeat any hope of new engagement with the Muslim world.
Fawaz A. Gerges is more hesitant to put all the responsibility on the American president, instead calling for Arab populations and leaders to understand that one man in the White House is not omnipotent and that they too must help to steer Obama in the right direction. Peter Mandaville explains that to reverse the negative perceptions and disappointment across the region, the U.S. must focus on three broad areas: First, the U.S. must genuinely act to establish peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. Second, Obama must show his support for moderate Islamist parties. And third, the U.S. must avoid the danger of exceptionalism in its relations with Muslim communities, but must aim to normalize and integrate these relationships into its broader global outreach.
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Egypt, Elections, Human Rights, Islam and Democracy, Israel, Mideast Peace Plan, Palestine, US foreign policy | Comment »
Obama’s Cairo Speech: Assessing the Relationship Between Rhetoric and Action
June 2nd, 2010 by Josh
Ahead of the one-year anniversary of President Obama’s Cairo address, Scott Carpenter and Dina Guirguis of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy unpack the last twelve months of Middle East engagement with respect to the seven core issues identified in the speech as paramount to U.S.-Muslim relations: the need to confront violent extremism; the Arab-Israeli conflict; Iran’s drive to obtain nuclear weapons; democracy; religious freedom; women’s rights; and economic development.
Overall, Carpenter and Guirguis conclude that “tangible deliverables from the Cairo address were in short supply.” Perhaps recognizing this reality, the administration has spent the last few months “reframing the speech’s intent and legacy” away from “outreach to Muslims” and toward a notion of “global engagement” that articulated a “generational mission statement” rather than a series of initiatives. “In this context,” the authors write, “the issuance of a new National Security Strategy (NSS) just days before the Cairo anniversary is apparently no coincidence.” Yet even though the NSS strengthens what Carpenter and Guirguis view as the speech’s relative deficiencies, “Washington’s strategy remains open to the same critique as the original Cairo address.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Diplomacy, Freedom, Human Rights, Iran, Israel, Mideast Peace Plan, Reform, Terrorism, US foreign policy, Women | Comment »
Arab Attitudes One Year After Cairo
May 24th, 2010 by Chanan
As the one year anniversary of President Obama’s address in Cairo soon approaches, the folks over at Bitter-Lemons hosted four perspectives to debate the state of Arab public opinion and the United States.
James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, writes that the “Obama bounce” in favorability ratings among Arab public opinion is still in evidence, though attitudes toward the president himself are down since its peak during his Cairo address. He explains: “Arab attitudes one year after Cairo are both cautious and mature. They are neither unrealistically hopeful nor excessively deflated. They are still waiting for needed change and open to recognizing it when it comes.”
Mohamed A.B. Yossif, a Cairo-based journalist, stressed “that Arab public opinion toward the US is passing through a transitional phase where new and more complex standards are used to judge US polices in the region.” Whereas the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was at one time the primary prism through which Arab attitudes toward the U.S. were formed, now millions of Arabs are judging the U.S. based on its support for authoritarian regimes in the Middle East. Many want the U.S. to apply pressure on Arab governments to reform and “a prioritization of democracy promotion on the agenda of Arab citizens.”
David Pollock of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy cites a number of intriguing findings about the state of Arab opinion toward the U.S., but highlights that perhaps the most striking finding is that “the US is just not that much on people’s minds in the region.” And Khalil Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Research, explains the even though Palestinians see the United States as inherently biased toward Israel, they still predominantly support strong U.S. intervention in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Posted in Democracy Promotion, Diplomacy, Egypt, Human Rights, Israel, Palestine, Public Opinion, Reform, US foreign policy, Uncategorized | Comment »
West Bank: Fayyad Sets Date for Local Elections, Receives Call for Internal Reshuffle
April 28th, 2010 by Josh
In spite of strong push-back from Hamas and other Islamists in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s government recently signed off on local council elections in the West Bank, scheduled to take place on July 17. This will be the first attempt at elections on any level since the cancellation of presidential and parliamentary elections last January — and, if successful, will mark the first local council vote since 2005.
Meanwhile, leaders of Fatah, the dominant West Bank party, are calling upon Fayyad to “reshuffle” his cabinet and in order to give Fatah members greater power over interior affairs, finance, and foreign affairs. One senior Fatah official claimed that Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, “also wants a reshuffle” and does not object to the ministerial demands of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council.
But Fayyad’s singular focus is still on building the institutional architecture for Palestinian statehood, write Karin Laub and Mohammed Daraghmeh at the Huffington Post. “He is moving ahead with an ambitious plan,” they say, referring to Fayyad’s efforts to pave roads, reform the judiciary, and plan new cities. However, his active, hands-on approach that often circumvents the traditional “power structures of the Fatah movement” may be one of the reasons for Fatah’s demand for greater cabinet-level representation, which could begin to cause additional internal rifts. And according to Robert Blecher of the International Crisis Group — quoted by Laub and Daraghmeh — Fayyad’s biggest challenge will be walking a “tightrope between the coordination with Israel that his statebuilding plan requires and the defiance of Israel that Palestinians demand and toward which they are gravitating.”
Posted in Elections, Hamas, Israel, Judiciary, Palestine, Political Parties | Comment »
Will Health Care Reform Affect Foreign Policy?
March 22nd, 2010 by Josh
While most political insiders are busy unpacking the political implications of last night’s health care reform vote, Marc Lynch attempts to examine the landmark victory (assuming it emerges unscathed from the Senate) through a foreign policy lens. More precisely, he wonders if the seemingly chaotic and ill-conceived health care process can offer a “roadmap for Obama’s Middle East strategy,” perhaps indicative of a “long game” approach that doesn’t succumb to impatience, but instead maintains a “coherent, common method to dealing with intractable problems.” Lynch applies this conceptual framework to both Iran and Israel/Palestine to test for strategic similarities, and although he concludes that it’s hard to determine whether Obama truly subscribes to “long game” policymaking, “[his] health care victory should at least get people to reconsider the strategic logic behind his administration’s Middle East strategy.”
Meanwhile, Shadi Hamid senses an opportunity to seize the health care momentum in order to construct a new Obama narrative, one which projects durability and strength as his defining characteristics. “This is the new storyline. Obama the tough guy. And now Obama the tough guy — rather than the dour, feckless Obama of two weeks ago — will be conducting U.S. foreign policy.”
But Stephen Walt rejects the notion of narrative-based policy analysis, viewing day-to-day storylines as superficial relative to the “larger structural forces that are shaping events and constraining choices.” Despite today’s euphoria, Walt contends that yesterday’s victory will not translate into additional clout abroad. “Bottom line,” he says, “Obama’s foreign-policy in box will look about the same at the end of the first term as it did when he took office.”
Posted in Diplomacy, Iran, Israel, Palestine, US foreign policy | Comment »
POMED Notes: “Different yet Similar: Governance in the West Bank and Gaza”
March 19th, 2010 by Josh
The Palestine Center – the educational arm of the Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development – hosted an event to explore the similarities and differences between systems of government in the West Bank and Gaza. How have they made institutional improvements and has this effected the balance between security and liberty? How sustainable and vulnerable are these state-like systems? Dr. Yezid Sayigh, Professor of Middle East Studies at King’s College in London, addressed these questions and provided an overview of an evolving Palestinian political landscape. Expected speaker Dr. Khaled Hroub from the University of Cambridge was not able to attend.
Click here for POMED’s notes in PDF, or continue below the fold.
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Posted in DC Event Notes, Democracy Promotion, Foreign Aid, Freedom, Hamas, Human Rights, Islam and Democracy, Israel, Mideast Peace Plan, Palestine, Political Parties, Reform | Comment »
POMED Notes: “The United States and Turkey: A View from the Obama Administration”
March 17th, 2010 by Chanan
The Brookings Institution, in collaboration with Sabanci University, held the sixth annual Sakip Sabanci Lecture with Philip H. Gordon, Assistant Secretary of European and Eurasian Affairs, to discuss the Obama administration’s perspective on Turkey, its relationship with the United States and the European Union, and its role across the Middle East and throughout the world.
For POMED’s notes in PDF, click here. Otherwise, continue reading below.
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Posted in Afghanistan, DC Event Notes, EU, Iran, Iraq, Islam and Democracy, Israel, Middle Eastern Media, Pakistan, Political Parties, Turkey, Uncategorized, sanctions | Comment »
POMED Notes: “Iran at a Crossroads: Assessing a Changing Landscape”
March 10th, 2010 by Chanan
The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) hosted a morning-long event to discuss the prospects for democracy in Iran and to evaluate the current state of U.S.-Iranian relations.
Following some brief welcoming remarks by Trita Parsi, president of NIAC, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) delivered the opening address by stating that “Iran is at a crossroads like no other.” As members of the Green Movement fight and die for more basic freedoms, “the world is watching how this popular movement plays out.” Eshoo, whose district has one of the largest Iranian-American populations, expressed appreciation for the role played by technology in combating the government’s abuse of power, specifically citing Facebook’s creation of a mobile application that could not be blocked by Iranians and the decision by Twitter to delay maintenance to help dissident Iranians communicate during last summer’s protests. She also criticized the U.S. invasion of Iraq for emboldening Iran and expressed skepticism about the value of sanctions in achieving U.S. goals: “We have to work very hard to educate our colleagues of the very failure of sanctions because they will end up hurting the people we want to help.”
For POMED’s notes in PDF, click here. Otherwise, continue reading below.
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Posted in Afghanistan, Congress, DC Event Notes, Elections, Human Rights, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, US foreign policy, Uncategorized, Women, sanctions | Comment »
Goldstone Report: UN Votes to Extend Time
March 1st, 2010 by Josh
Via the Majlis, the UN General Assembly voted 98-7 to grant both the Israelis and Palestinians five additional months to investigate the findings from the Goldstone Report. Although a Palestinian Authority official applauded the action as a victory for both the Palestinians and international law, Alejandro Wolff, U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the UN, criticized the resolution and reiterated the administration’s position that the report is deeply flawed (Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also briefly addressed this issue in response to a question from Congressman Gary Ackerman at last week’s HCFA hearing). You can read the full GA resolution here.
Posted in Hamas, Human Rights, Israel, Military, Palestine, Terrorism, United Nations | Comment »
