Monthly Archives: October 2011

A cold war re-emerges

Jerusalem Post, 21/10/2011 The underlying strategic contours of the Middle East remain largely unchanged; the contest between Iran and Saudi Arabia remains central. Winston Churchill, speaking in the British House of Commons in 1922, discussed the transformative effect of the … Continue reading

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Reflections on the Shalit deal

The most common response in Israeli public discussions to any expressions of doubt regarding the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal of recent days has been ‘well, what if it was your son who had been kidnapped?’ This phrase, with its … Continue reading

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Why did the Syrian regime kill Maashal Tammo?

Pajamas Media, 16/10 The murder this month by the Assad regime’s security forces of Syrian Kurdish leader Mashaal Tammo is the latest act of unprovoked brutality by this most cruel of regimes. Tammo was killed in his own home in … Continue reading

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Armed resistance emerges in Syria

Jerusalem Post, 7/10. It has long been apparent that the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria has no intention of being driven from power by unarmed protests and demonstrations. The Syrian uprising is now seven months old. The regime has … Continue reading

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38 years since Yom Kippur 1973

Over the Rosh Hashanah weekend, I decided to re-read Avraham Rabinovich’s estimable book about the Yom Kippur War of 1973. it was a good decision. Rabinovich’s prose evocatively conjures those terrible October days, when the future of Israel hung in … Continue reading

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Storm clouds over the eastern Mediterranean

Jerusalem Post 28/09/2011 Early this week, the US-based Noble Energy Company began exploratory drilling for offshore gas deposits off the coast of Cyprus. They did so with the agreement of the Nicosia authorities, in an area indisputably located within Cypriot … Continue reading

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