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The Daily Star - Opinion Articles - Wikileaks helped expose the indignities of Arab leaders

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Daily Star (Lebanon) - Dec. 02 (Opinion) -

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Whoever is leader, North Korea faces an unstable future

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Yoon Young-kwan - Sep. 30 (Opinion) - Regardless of whether the young Kim becomes the new leader, North Korea most likely faces an unstable future. The cost of maintaining internal order will continue to rise as the system’s fundamental defects force the new leader to confront stark new challenges. Moreover, responsibility for managing that potential instability extends far beyond the leadership in Pyongyang.

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Lebanon moves away from being a failed state

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Stephen Dockery - Jul. 02 (News Report) - BEIRUT: Lebanon was ranked the 29th most failed state in the world by Foreign Policy's online annual index released last Wednesday. The placement is an 11-rank improvement from last year's ranking of 18th, but still a far cry from the country's position as 65th in the 2006 index.

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The Daily Star - Politics - Beirut violence underscores still-simmering tensions

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Nicholas Kimbrell - Jun. 30 (News Report) - The brief eruption of violence in Beirut Sunday night underscores the unresolved political tensions and sectarian suspicions facing Lebanon's next government, political and security analysts told The Daily Star Monday. The street clashes, on the eve of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri's first round of consultations to fill the new cabinet, left one dead and at least three injured and snapped the period of calm since fiercely-contested parliamentary elections at the beginning of the month.

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March 14 coalition retains majority after parliamentary elections

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Mirella Hodeib - Jun. 08 (News Report) - Lebanon's opposition conceded defeat against the March 14 coalition in pivotal polls Sunday after weeks of fierce campaigning. "We've lost the election," a senior opposition source, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. "We accept the result as the will of the people." "We'll go back to the way we were," the source added.

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The forked-tongue eunuchs and Israel

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Rami G. Khouri - Mar. 20 (Opinion) - For years, US administrations called Israeli settlements "illegal" and an "obstacle to peace," but in recent years those terms have been replaced by a mere "unhelpful." On her first official trip to the region earlier this month, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton referred to the Israeli demolition of Palestinian Arab homes in East Jerusalem as "unhelpful." Earlier this week, the European Union presidency said that Israel's demolition of homes in the Silwan neighborhood of Jerusalem "threatens the viability of a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement, in conformity with international law."

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Second-term climbdowns might salvage scraps for Bush legacy

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Jim Lobe - Jan. 14 (News Analysis) - During a farewell news conference on Monday, US President George W. Bush once again expressed the belief that his eight-year presidency - particularly his foreign-policy record - will be vindicated by history, the portents are not particularly good. Already last spring, nearly two thirds of 109 professional historians polled by the "History News Network" rated Bush the worst president in the nation's history, while another 35 percent said he was among the 10 worst of the 42 who preceded him. And that was six months before the mid-September financial crisis that most economists agree will turn out to be the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

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Solve the Gaza problem at its roots

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Rami G. Khouri - Jan. 09 (Opinion) - We are now witnessing the interplay between warfare and diplomacy in Gaza, which is a better situation to be in than witnessing only warfare. Yet one of the telling things about the complexity of the current fighting is that one does not quite know what to call it. Is it the Israel-Hamas war? The Israel-Gaza war? The Israel-Palestine war?

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What Europe can do to alleviate the global food crisis

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Michael Barnier - Nov. 29 (Comment) - The world has been shaken by unprecedented spikes in food prices, by hunger riots, and by social tensions that demonstrate that food supplies have returned as a source of insecurity - to which global warming and declining natural resources are adding unprecedented urgency. By 2050, it is estimated that there will be 9 billion people on earth, so the need for food may double - primarily among urban populations in the world's poorest countries. But there is more to finding a solution than simply identifying those nations that are capable of feeding the rest of the world. It is increasingly urgent that every nation gain the means of feeding itself. This means that agriculture should become an international priority, with the poorest countries helped to safeguard the security and independence of their food supplies.

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Bush's attack on Syria is typical of his disastrous presidency

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - Oct. 30 (Editorial) - Sunday's cross-border raid into Syria by US forces serves as a reminder that although George W. Bush is now a "lame duck" president, he still retains the ability to make dangerous waves in the Middle East. His power might be easier to accommodate if it had been wielded over the years with good judgement for the purpose of achieving clearly defined objectives.

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Obama's Biden pick could herald a better US foreign policy

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - Aug. 25 (Editorial) - Biden would come to the post of vice president with more than 35 years of experience in the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee. During that period of time, he has visited the region on numerous occasions and is known to have listened attentively to the concerns of local leaders and citizens. He has also been among the most outspoken critics of Bush's haphazard policies in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Pakistan and other countries in the broader region. Biden's extensive hands-on experience makes him a suitable candidate to guide US foreign policy in a much more realistic direction.

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God's warriors are multiplying, for our foul luck

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Raja Kamal - Aug. 20 (Opinion) - Time is not on the side of peacemakers in the Middle East. Even relentless optimists are giving up. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become increasingly overshadowed and orchestrated on both sides by extreme and uncompromising religious groups that view their political mandate as holy and sacred.

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Sound advice for Iran's notoriously outspoken president

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - Jul. 02 (Editorial) - A top adviser to Iran's supreme leader has offered some good advice that should be heeded by all Iranian leaders who care about their country's future. In remarks published by an Iranian newspaper on Tuesday, Ali Akbar Velayati, foreign affairs adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, cautioned leading politicians against adopting an overly aggressive stance when publicly discussing the issue of Iran's nuclear program. "Officials and experts need to avoid provocative and illogical declarations and slogans," Velayati said, adding that the Western states involved in the international dispute over Iran's nuclear program scrutinize "every word of such speeches and slogans."

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Targeting media outlets is never a good idea

Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - May. 12 (Editorial) - One of the most disturbing aspects of the violence that broke out in Beirut last week was the targeting of media outlets. The extent to which freedom of the press is respected in Lebanon is one of the most important features distinguishing this country from less fortunate peers across the Middle East. Any failure to cherish and protect this characteristic is therefore a failure to preserve the principles of tolerance which alone can help make Lebanon's diversity a strength rather than a weakness.

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Four days that changed the Middle East

Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Rami G. Khouri - May. 12 (Opinion) - The new domestic political balance of power in Lebanon will reflect millennia-old indigenous Middle Eastern traditions of different and often quarreling parties that live together peacefully after negotiating power relationships, rather than one party totally defeating and humiliating the other. Lebanon can only exist as a single country if its multi-ethnic and multi-religious population shares power. As the political leaders now seek to do this, they operate in a new context where the strongest group comprises Iranian- and Syrian-backed Islamist Shiites and their junior partners, Christian and Sunni Lebanese allies. They will share power in a national unity government with fellow Lebanese who are friends, allies, dependents and proxies of the United States and Saudi Arabia.

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Barak leads chorus of Israeli worries over unstable situation in Lebanon

Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Agence France-Presse - May. 12 (News Report) - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday called the situation in Lebanon "serious" after deadly clashes between pro-government and opposition forces, some of which are backed by Israel's arch-foe, Iran. "Hizbullah's taking of control [in western Beirut] is a serious development," Barak said during the weekly cabinet meeting, public radio reported. Barak's view was shared by other Israeli ministers who raised doubts about the ability of the Lebanese government and army to control Hizbullah and its allies, which briefly seized control of large parts of the capital before withdrawing on Saturday and Sunday.

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Day 2: Violence intensifies, spreads to more areas

Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Anthony Elghossain - May. 09 (News Report) - The eruption of violence is immediately rooted in a Cabinet decision to take action against a Hizbullah communi-cations network and reassign Rafik Hariri International Airport's security chief, General Wafiq Shucair, for failing to prevent Hizbullah's alleged video surveillance of a runway, among other potential breaches.

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Israelis blow off Hamas offer for cease-fire in Gaza as 'not serious'

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Patrick Moser - Apr. 25 (News Report) - Hamas called for a six-month truce in Gaza, stressing that the move must be "reciprocal, simultaneous and comprehensive" and that Israel must end its crippling blockade of the impoverished territory. It dropped an earlier condition that the agreement also include the Occupied West Bank. Israel responded by saying it would only stop military raids on Gaza after Hamas gives up "terrorism" and after militants in the territory stop attacking the Jewish state and smuggling in weapons from Egypt.

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The good, the bad, and the bizarre in Lebanese elections

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 09:50:41 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - Aug. 06 (Editorial) - The bad news, though, is stark and pervasive. These elections were held in a glaring constitutional crisis, with the president, speaker of the house and leading opposition movement all stating they did not recognize the validity of the vote. So it is not clear if the winners will be able to take their seats in Parliament. The election campaign in the Metn region, which was the most significant, was shockingly devoid of serious discussion of policy issues, or the provision of studied proposals on how Lebanon can tackle its pressing national challenges in the fields of economy, education, youth, environment and security. Rebuilding the country was not high on the priority list of candidates' proposals, and thus the elections will not advance the cause of national reconciliation and political reconstruction that is so critical for all Lebanese.

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Saudi and Jordanian monarchs call for end to Palestinian infighting

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 14:48:08 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - Jun. 27 (News Report) - Key US allies Saudi Arabia and Jordan cautioned Wednesday that a bloody conflict between Hamas and Fatah could hamper the creation of an independent Palestinian state and gives Israel an excuse not to make peace. The warning came on a bloody day for the Gaza Strip, where Israel launched raids that killed at least 13 Palestinians, including an 11-year old boy, and wounded scores others. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, who is the first Saudi ruler to visit Jordan in more than 25 years, and Jordan's King Abdullah II also warned of the "dangerous repercussions of the situation in the Palestinian Territories," according to a royal palace statement.

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Instability has damaged Turkey's international standing

Fri, 11 May 2007 15:16:20 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Joseph S. Nye - May. 11 (Opinion) - Turkey will hold its parliamentary election in July, four months earlier than scheduled, thereby narrowly avoiding a constitutional crisis over the choice of the country's next president. Nonetheless, Turkey's bout with political instability has damaged its foreign policy and international standing. At the center of the storm are Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, head of the moderately Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP), and Yasar Buyukanit, chief of the General Staff of the Turkish military, which regards itself as the guardian of the secular republican tradition established by Kemal Ataturk. When Erdogan contemplated moving from the prime minister's job to the presidency earlier this spring, the military and secular political parties indicated profound dissatisfaction. Buyukanit said in April that the country's new president must be secular "not just in words, but in essence."

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Giving to Bashar Assad, and taking away

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 10:57:22 -0800

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Michael Young - Dec. 21 (Opinion) - While in Beirut this week Senator John Kerry remarked, in reference to any future discussion between the United States and Syria: "Lebanon is not on the table, nor is the Hariri tribunal. So what do you do with Bashar Assad? What does he want?" The statement was reassuring on Lebanese sovereignty, but also showed why wondering about what to do with Assad can often end up being another way of saying: What do you give Assad?

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Residents welcome Lebanese Army's historic deployment in South

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 21:06:49 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - Aug. 19 (News Report) - Residents of South Lebanon welcomed arriving Lebanese troops on Friday, throwing rice and flowers at passing convoys as Hizbullah supporters waved resistance flags. Some 15,000 troops are expected to deploy in the region by Saturday after a nearly 40-year absence. Lebanese soldiers arrived at the southern border with Israel Friday, sending a single jeep on patrol through the town of Kfar Kila, which is where Israeli forces withdrew in 2000 and ended an 18-year occupation.

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The way to beat Iran's confrontationists

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 22:23:04 -0700

Daily Star (Lebanon) - By Karim Sadjadpour - Apr. 28 (News Analysis) - Though Iranian officials publicly project a unified mindset, in reality the country's ruling elites are divided into three broad categories: those who favor pursuit of the nuclear fuel cycle at all costs; those who wish to pursue it without sacrificing diplomatic interests; and those who argue for a suspension of activities to build trust and allow for a full fuel cycle down the road. Understanding and exploiting these differences should be a key component of any diplomatic approach.

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