President Barack Obama came nearly full circle on Iraq Thursday, sending military advisers back to cope with that country’s disintegration, as U.S. officials lobbied for the replacement of a prime minister that America helped install. These were the right choices, but they were a measure of how badly U.S. policy has gone awry. Obama has… اقرأ المزيد
By Hussein Dakroub BEIRUT: Prime Minister Tammam Salam scrambled Thursday to reassure jittery Lebanese increasingly worried about a negative fallout from militants’ military gains in Iraq, pledging to shield Lebanon from regional conflicts. Salam sought to allay what he termed “Lebanese fears” over “painful events” in Syria and Iraq and the prospects of the… اقرأ المزيد
Let’s look at the reality on the ground in the Middle East: Iraq and Syria are effectively partitioned along sectarian lines; Lebanon and Yemen are close to fracturing; Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia survive intact, but as increasingly authoritarian states. In the current, chaotic moment, we see two postimperial systems collapsing at once: The… اقرأ المزيد
There has been much talk lately of the possibility that the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East will lead to a redrawing of the region’s borders. While these borders have lasted for almost a century, in the last decade Sunni-Shiite antagonism has escalated, bringing into doubt the survivability of states with mixed sectarian or… اقرأ المزيد
By Hussein Dakroub, Hasan Lakkis BEIRUT: The Future bloc and its March 14 allies will not attend Thursday’s Parliament session, a Future lawmaker said Wednesday, after parliamentary blocs failed to reach agreement over funding the public sector’s wage hike bill. “All the March 14 lawmakers will not attend Thursday’s session. In the absence of an… اقرأ المزيد
By Wassim Mroueh BEIRUT: Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun warned Tuesday a prolonged presidential vacuum in Lebanon would push the country into an “explosive” political situation. Meanwhile, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt flew to Paris and is expected to meet Former premier Saad Hariri Friday, Future Movement sources told The Daily… اقرأ المزيد