There’s always more than one way to skin the proverbial cat. One of the challenges that the coalition troops face in Afghanistan and Iraq is how to marry traditional cultural views on females and effectively police the villages.  For example, there is case cited by Dexter Filkins in ‘The
The forces of globalization and international commerce are unstoppable. Whether you are a fan or a naysayer matters little; the genie of globalization is out of the bottle and won’t be put back in. What is amusing is that some great powers thing they can control who gets to benefit from this t
Iran announced it is sending an aid flotilla to the Gaza, and our media spins as to how this is s direct challenge to the West and a threat to Israel. While that might be a side product, the West has an inflated opinion of how much its actions shape Iran’s agendas. Iran is indeed sending a
A while back we wrote a piece about how the Lebanese economy was rebounding based in part on the fact that Lebanese entrepreneurs and workers send home to Lebanon a staggering $7.5 billion a year from overseas. Now it seems that Syria’s less centralized economy, integration of women into busin
As a long-time critic of Israeli foreign policy, I always wondered how far Israel would have to go before it brought down the wrath of the moderate international community. It seems the flotilla debacle was one blockade too far. The Lebanon Wars weren’t apparently enough to anger Israel’s alli
It is interesting to note Iran’s relative silence in response to the tragic killings by the IDF of peace activists on the Gaza flotilla. It would seem an opportunity for the Iranian regime dressed for the plate and ready to be served. Here is an opportunity for Iran to join the worldwide clamo
I am fascinated by how emerging technology raises new ethical issues to be dissected and discussed. A few days we raised tongue-in-cheek some of the dilemmas raised by the increasing capacity for defective human organs to be replaced by technology parts, 'Virus transferred from man to machine'.Â
06.5.2010 | Europe, Israel | Stuart Ford
In the wake of the tragedy of the IDF operation to stop the peace flotilla breaching the Gaza blockade, condemnation or support are vehemently expressed by both sides, each clamoring for the dominant story. You always have to approach the Israel-Palestine issue with caution, particularly in t
Perspective is always dictated by where you stand. Looking in from outside, the latest attraction to open in the Lebanese mountains seems somewhat bizarre - a Hezbollah theme park complete with mock Israeli tanks and faux guerrilla fighters. However, from within the region perhaps even such a ho
I have never been a fan of sanctions. They don’t work very well anyway as we have reported before, such as in our piece on Tehran, natural gas and the avoidance of sanctions.  Sanctions are a very blunt tool that generally end up hurting the poor in the targeted society, they also tend to for
It is an interesting exercise to follow the various declarations from Islamist extremists and discover a common thematic. Despite being a lose transnational coalition with an ideology that ranges from earthy political pragmatism to the most fundamentalist belief set, Â you can tell their health
I am always a little dubious of those who hold strong opinions but seem absent the evidential underpinnings to support them. I talk to many people who seems absolutely sure about who is in the right in relation to the Palestine-Israel situation. These people often also opine about how Palestine's
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