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
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
There was a certain symbolism in the recent dinner in Damascus between Sheikh Nasrallah. Leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad . The US has been frantically trying to reverse the mishandling of diplomatic relations wi
03.2.2010 | Iran, Middle East, Syria | Stuart Ford
In a case of better late than never, the Obama Administration finally seems to have put its strategy ducks in order and moved to a more reasoned policy towards Syria. The timing is critical as Israel and Syria indulge in a war of words against the backdrop of escalating tension in the region The
02.8.2010 | Americas, Editorials, Middle East, Syria | Stuart Ford
"If the Prophet Mohammed had asked me to deem Christians or Jews heretics, I would have deemed Mohammed himself a heretic"- Sheikh Ahmed Hassoun, the Mufti of Syria We have always argued that Al Qaeda and other associated insurgency franchises are not religious movements but transnational pol
The US just can’t seem to get the policy on Syria in step with Europe. Syria ha strengthened ties with France, has definitely boosted links with Turkey and seemed to be enjoying rapprochement to some degree with the UK. America however remains intransigent when it comes to even the most basic
While in the West we have long been used to restrictions as to where one can smoke and the health effects of passive smoke, this has not been the case in many other parts of the world. Despite being reformed ourselves, one expects to be exposed to smoke when travelling in Asia Africa and the Mid
While we would love to claim prescience, we were not alone in predicting Syria as the potential key to the current regional quagmire. We have probably mentioned the issue more regularly, but there were several other analysts who recognized the same thing. The Bush Administration missed the strat
Many Arab nations are challenged as to how to create economic independence for women in traditionally male dominated cultures. It has been observed universally that the more women are educated and engaged in the economy the greater the advances made at a national development level. Queen Rania of
The world is changing its attitude toward Syria, and we suspect the invisible hand of the US is behind the softening of opinions towards Damascus. We reported recently about how Turkey has welcomed Syria back into the fold. Now another regional power, Saudi Arabia, has shaken the hand of the once le
10.13.2009 | Lebanon, Middle East, Syria | Clarity Staff Reporter
In recent weeks there have been some interesting changes in the geopolitical landscape in the Middle East. Some of it is internal reconfiguration, but much of it has been in reaction to changes in the broader international sphere. Saudi Arabia, it is rumored, has potentially made a covert agreement
A little story that slipped through the net in many papers is the report that for the first time in five years a senior Syrian diplomat is visiting Washington, DC for talks with the Obama Administration. Syria has a reasonable relationship with Iran, both have been pariah states to the US for ye
09.30.2009 | Iran, Middle East, Syria | Clarity Correspondent
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