Category: The Middle East
July 12, 2010 update: This Haaretz article, titled “On one thing they agree: ‘Allahu akhbar’,” was the beginning of a years-long email conversation with Janna. Sometimes heated but always interesting… http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/on-one-thing-they-agree-allahu-akhbar-1.219670 or http://bit.ly/9UfSj6 or http://tinyurl.com/3ayjus7 The article was about the interaction of Jewish and Muslim worshippers at an ancient shrine regarded as Joshua’s grave, located in the heart of the Palestinian village of Kifl …
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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/05/05/pistachios-and-other-nuts/
According to today’s Washington Post, Baghdad’s Shiites are increasingly using explosively formed projectiles, averaging the size of a coffee can. “The growing use of the projectiles is a major concern for American commanders because the weapons are powerful enough to punch through the heaviest U.S. armored vehicles, including the Abrams tank.” I’ve always wondered what …
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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/05/04/barbarians-at-the-gate/
Ed is the son of medical missionaries to Yemen and Gaza during the 50s, 60s, and 70s (I think). He went to school in Alexandria, then back here in the USA, and finally at the American International School near Tel Aviv — I think you’ll find a familiar perspective borne of his years “over there.” …
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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/05/01/reflections-from-palestine/
Dear Friends: Former CIA Director James Woolsey gave a talk at Princeton University last week. I decided not to attend, fearing that I might be unable to restrain myself from causing an ugly scene. But I am extremely pleased and proud to forward to you a letter written to the campus newspaper the next morning …
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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/04/30/woolsey-disgraces-himself-again/
Fisk on the death of journalism: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-we-are-now-in-the-firing-line-sadly-446522.html or http://bit.ly/bnqdXg or http://tinyurl.com/38h6k57 And here’s one on how surgingly swell things are for the British in Basra: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/serving-british-soldier-exposes-horror-of-war-in-crazy-basra-446395.html or http://bit.ly/bA4W72 or http://tinyurl.com/32duxzw And, if you can find it, the farewell telegram from Sir Ivor Roberts as he left his job as Rome ambassador is quite interesting. Sir Ivor got in trouble …
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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/04/28/war-games/
I have noted from several recent newspaper and TV accounts covering the “surge” in Iraq that a significant percentage of the “Iraqi Army” soldiers engaged in joint operations with the US Army are actually members of Kurdish units — presumably peshmerga militia forces assigned temporarily to Baghdad and the surrounding area as part of the …
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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/04/26/the-real-meaning-of-surge/
Thanks Fadwa. What a beautiful country! Whenever I see pictures like these and read accounts from the same time period, I wish I could have walked the countryside paths and ridden on four-legged beasts instead of whizzing around in noisy cars and airplanes. Imagine the time they had back then, to think, to see and …
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Permanent link to this article: https://levantium.com/2007/04/18/lebanon-1890-1900/
