Islamic Societies Review WEEKLY

Thursday, April 04, 2013

Why the Iran Sanctions Don't Work

Thursday, April 04, 2013 No comments

The United States has used its leverage over the international financial system to create the most comprehensive unilateral sanctions regime in history. The move against Iran has played a key role in convincing the European Union to implement its own set of unilateral sanctions—all with the central objective of changing Tehran’s nuclear calculus and forcing it to agree to a deal that it otherwise would refuse.

Those associated with the regime openly acknowledge that sanctions are having a devastating impact on the Iranian economy, but they have not achieved their stated objective: shifting Iran’s nuclear stance. For this to happen, the regime’s stakeholders must start building narratives that enable such policy shifts, and subsequently lobby the government for those shifts.

In a new report published last week (Never Give in and Never Give Up)—which relies on over thirty in-depth, vetted and anonymous interviews with senior Iranian political officials, analysts and members of the business community—we show that neither phenomenon has emerged within the Iranian elite in a measurable or impactful way.

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Syria: 'up to 100' British Muslims fighting in war

Wednesday, April 03, 2013 No comments

There are “hundreds” of Europeans now fighting in Syria, some of whom are with groups linked to al Qaeda, the Home Office told MPs.

The British-born jihadis are said to have joined the fight with Jabhat al-Nusra, the country’s most militant al-Qaeda gang.

The fighters have come from range of ethnic backgrounds include young Asians, converts to Islam and men from north African backgrounds.

Some are said to have fought in conflicts elsewhere while others waging war for the first time.

Officials warned of the risk to Britain and other European nations posed by foreign fighters now gaining military experience in Syria.

Monday, April 01, 2013

The Emir of NYU: John Sexton's Abu Dhabi Debacle

Monday, April 01, 2013 No comments

In February 2008, I attended an New York University faculty meeting about the school's plans to open a new campus in the tiny desert emirate of Abu Dhabi. I was there reporting for a New York magazine article about the first major U.S. research institution to open a complete liberal-arts university off American soil. Hoping to be a fly on the wall, I instead found myself seated at the head of the table, bombarded with rapid-fire questions by exasperated professors looking for any kernel of information about the new project:

"Who will do the hiring?" one professor asks.
"Will there be tenure? You can't have academic freedom without tenure, right?"
"Where will the students come from?"
"Why Abu Dhabi?"
"What exactly is the status of Abu Dhabi's relationship with Israel?"
"Will we become the next Guggenheim franchise?"

I quickly learned that the new initiative was being personally driven by NYU's larger-than-life president, John Sexton -- and that many faculty felt completely left out of a decision that had the potential to effect the university dramatically.

...

This mirrors the concerns I heard when I interviewed dozens of NYU's faculty about the Abu Dhabi project. Many expressed substantive concerns about academic freedom, diluting NYU's brand, human rights violations in Abu Dhabi, and discrimination against gay and Israeli students.

... read full article

read also, UAE "Blacklisting" of Dr. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

Libya's south teeters toward chaos — and militant extremists

Monday, April 01, 2013 No comments

SABHA, Libya — Their fatigues don't match and their pickup has no windshield. Their antiaircraft gun, clogged with grit, is perched between a refugee camp and ripped market tents scattered over an ancient caravan route. But the tribesmen keep their rifles cocked and eyes fixed on a terrain of scouring light where the oasis succumbs to desert.

"If we leave this outpost the Islamist militants will come and use Libya as a base. We can't let that happen," said Zakaria Ali Krayem, the oldest among the Tabu warriors. "But the government hasn't paid us in 14 months. They won't even give us money to buy needles to mend our uniforms."

Krayem is battling smugglers, illegal migrants bound for Europe and armed extremists who stream across a swath of the Sahara near the porous intersection of southern Libya, Chad, Niger and Algeria. Since the 2011 Arab uprisings that swept away Moammar Kadafi and other autocrats, Western countries and Libya's neighbors fear that this nation may emerge as an Islamist militant foothold.

Kadafi was replaced by a weak central government that has struggled with economic turmoil and the lack of judicial reform and a new constitution. The long-neglected south has grown more lawless. The Al Qaeda-linked militants, including Libyans, behind the January assault on a natural gas processing complex in Algeria that killed at least 37 foreigners traveled from Mali through Niger and Libya's poorly patrolled hinterlands.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Arab League summit showcases Qatar’s swagger

Friday, March 29, 2013 No comments

Hamad looking down at his Arab colleagues.

Doha, Qatar • Qatar’s emir looked over an assembly of Arab leaders Tuesday as both cordial host and impatient taskmaster. His welcoming remarks to kings, sheiks and presidents across the Arab world quickly shifted to Qatar’s priorities: Rallying greater support for Syrian rebels and helping Palestinians with efforts such as a newly proposed $1 billion fund to protect Jerusalem’s Arab heritage.

No one seemed surprised at the paternal tone or the latest big-money initiative. In a matter of just a few years, hyper-wealthy Qatar has increasingly staked out a leadership role once held by Egypt and helped redefine how Arab states measure influence and ambition.

Qatar gives al-Khatib Assad's seat; was it premature?

Little more than a spot to sink oil and gas wells a generation ago, Qatar is now a key player in nearly every Middle Eastern shakeout since the Arab Spring, using checkbook diplomacy in settings as diverse as Syria’s civil war, Italian artisan workshops struggling with the euro financial crisis, and the soccer pitches in France as owners of the Paris Saint-Germain team.

As hosts of an Arab League summit this week, Qatar gets another chance to showcase its swagger.

With power, however, come tensions. Qatar has been portrayed as an arrogant wunderkind in places such as Iraq and Lebanon where some factions object to its rising stature, and Qatar’s growing independent streak in policy-making has raised concerns among its Gulf Arab partners. It also faces questions — as do other Gulf nations and Western allies — over support for some Arab Spring uprisings while remaining loyal to the embattled monarchy in neighboring Bahrain.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Erdoğan doing everything to make Israel regret apology: Israeli far-right leader

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 No comments

The leader of Israel's far-right Jewish Home party, Naftali Bennet, slammed Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's comments following his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu's apology for the Mavi Marmara killings, Israeli media reported March 27.

"It seems that since [Netanyahu's] apology, Erdoğan is doing everything to make Israel regret it," Bennett, the economy and trade minister in Netanyahu's new Cabinet, wrote on his official Facebook page, according to Jerusalem Post. "He is running a personal and vitriolic campaign at the expense of Israeli-Turkish relations," he said.

Islamists, secular rebels battle in Syria over Nusra Front’s call for Islamic state

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 No comments

TAL ABYAD, Syria — Two Syrian rebel groups – one seeking an elected civil government, the other favoring the establishment of a religious state – are battling each other in the city of Tal Abyad, on the border with Turkey, in a sign of the tensions that are likely to rule this country if the government of President Bashar Assad falls.

Four people were killed Sunday in fighting here between the Farouq Battalions, which favors elections, and Jabhat al Nusra, or the Nusra Front, which the United States has declared an al Qaida-affiliated terrorist group. Since then, Farouq has been massing men here in an example of the growing friction that’s emerged in recent months as Nusra has captured strategic infrastructure across Syria’s north and east, including oil and gas installations, grain silos and a hydroelectric dam.

Raqqa province, where Tal Abyad is, and Hasaka province, to the east, are poverty-stricken but vital to Syria’s agriculture. Hasaka and Deir el Zour province to the south are the center of the country’s oil industry.

“They want to control the border crossing here,” said Abu Mansour, a member of Farouq in Tal Abyad. Like other rebels, he uses a nom de guerre to hide his identity from the government.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/03/26/186970/islamists-secular-rebels-battle.html#storylink=cpy

Terror in Timbuktu: A trip through the heart of Mali

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 No comments

I have been writing about Mali since before the military coup last March. My friend Yeah Samake, the mayor of Ouelessebougou, was running for president until the coup destabilized the country and the elections were called off.

Islamist extremists took advantage of the ensuing lack of governance in the northern region and seized control of the towns of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu. They instituted Shariah law and brutalized the Malian people in these towns and surrounding villages. There was also an influx of insurgents from countries as far away as Pakistan and Afghanistan. Northern Mali — about the size of France — had become the epicenter for the Islamists in the Sahel. Many of these insurgents were involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

On Jan. 10, Malian President Dioncounda Traore called French President Francois Hollande and asked for military help because extremists from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA) had moved south and taken over the town of Konna, just 300 miles from Bamako, the capital. The next day French troops and Mirage jets arrived from nearby Chad.

Additional troops also came from several neighboring countries. The Islamists were quickly driven from Konna, and within weeks Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal were liberated. The Islamists were driven into the northern frontier mountain region near the Algerian border, where French and Chadian troops are still seeking the extremists.

Since I continue to write regularly about Mali, I planned an information trip to the northern region for mid-March. Mr. Samake arranged for me to meet with Mahamadou Alou Toure, the mayor of the town of Bourem Sidi-Amar, 30 miles from Timbuktu.

BRICS plan new 50bn bank to rival World Bank and IMF

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 No comments

BRICS leaders, 2013

The ‘big five’ of the developing world will discuss creating their own global World Bank as their 5th annual summit kicks off Tuesday in sunny Durban.

The move is linked to the developing world’s disillusionment with the status quo of world financial institutions. The World Bank and IMF continue to favor US and European presidents over BRICS nations, and in 2010, the US failed to ratify a 2010 agreement which would allow more IMF funds to be allocated to developing nations.

"Not long ago we discussed the formation of a developmental bank... Today we are ready to launch it," South African President Jacob Zuma said on Monday.

The ‘big five’- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and its newest addition, South Africa, come together for the annual conference this year in Durban, South Africa in hopes of establishing a new development bank which will fund infrastructure and development projects in the five member states, and will pool foreign currencies to fend off any impending financial crisis.

“We will discuss ways to revive global growth and ensure macroeconomic stability, as well as mechanisms and measures to promote investment in infrastructure and sustainable development,” Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday, before heading to Durban.

The BRICS have called for a reconstruction of the World Bank and IMF, which were created in 1944, and want to put forth their own ‘Bretton Woods’ accord. And they are serious.

"Brics is not a talk show. It is a serious grouping," Zuma told reporters at the presidential guest house in Pretoria.

Israel's apology to shift Mideast balances: Turkish PM

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 No comments

Israeli apology to Turkey over the Mavi Marmara incident changed equation in the Middle East peace process as the bilateral deal obligates Israel to cooperate with the Turkish government over this process, the prime minister has said.

“The point we have arrived at as a result of our consultations with all our brothers in Palestine and peripheral countries is increasing our responsibility with regard to solving the Palestinian question and thus is bringing about a new equation,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in his address to his lawmakers yesterday at the Parliament. Erdoğan added that Israel agreed to make cooperation with Turkey on carrying out talks with Palestine for the Middle East peace process.

He said all his regional interlocutors, including Khaled Mashaal of the Hamas, admit that a new era has begun in the Middle East what they all call after Turkish victory on Israeli apology.