Turning and turning in the widening gyre, The falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; The centre cannot hold, Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world … — William Butler Yeats By all accounts, 2011 has been a cataclysmic year in the Middle East. What began with a government official’s harassment of Mohamed Bouazizi,...
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(ed. note: The following was written by Arlene Kushner, formerly the Senior Analyst for the Center for Near East Policy Research, and currently serving that agency as a consultant. Additionally Arlene is an author, free-lance investigative journalist and blogger.  You can find a wealth of postings and investigative material at her website, www.arlenefromisrael.info. EMET...
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As I write these words, my heart is heavy with pain.  A convoy of buses is now making its way from Ayalon Prison, carrying 550 Palestinian prisoners due to be released as part of Israel’s deal with Hamas that has freed the captured Israel Defense Forces soldier, Gilad Shalit. These prisoners make up the...
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By: Sarah Stern and Kyle Shideler This past Friday, at a policy conference in Washington, Puneet Talwar, Senior Director for Iran, Iraq and the Gulf States at the White House National Security Council addressed the group. In his “on the record” remarks, Mr. Talwar calmly stated, “We have a three legged stool in our...
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This past Friday at the Brookings Institute, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta excoriated Israel for the lack of progress in the peace process.  Sandwiching his remarks between the usual boilerplate platitudes, our Secretary of Defense made it absolutely clear that he and the administration feel that the responsibility  for the sorry state of affairs...
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