In the News...

Everyone in Cairo reads newspapers; there are about forty different daily publications, but only a couple of them are in English (and the state newspaper is published in English on Thursdays only). In the spirit of an informed populace, I thought I'd post some pertinent links to news stories about what's going on in the Middle East.

The New York Times reported today that Sunni extremist groups in Iraq have begun a systematic extermination campaign targeted at police officials, Ministry of the Interior bureaucrats, and tribal leaders. According to the paper, "Sunni Arab militant groups have a history of using such high-profile killings to sow fear in the public and to discourage people from working with the government."

Haaretz reports that Syria is willingly allowing the United Nations to take custody of the contested Shaba Farms, which is currently under Israeli control. The sovereignty of the Farms has been enshrouded in confusion since 1923, but in 2000 the UN ruled that the land belongs to Syria rather than Lebanon. Israel is refusing to withdraw as it would be a "prize to Hezbollah."

Unable to reach a quorum, the Lebanese Parliament postponed its presidential elections until October 23rd, hoping that the extra month will stimulate dialogue and the emergence of a consensus candidate between the anti-Syrian and pro-Syrian blocs. This postponement is on the heels of a recent assassination of an anti-Syrian MP.

Monday's Los Angeles Times commented on the popularity of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Middle East, especially in Egypt. "Ahmadinejad's appeal is especially strong in Egypt, where he is compared to the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser, whose bold, yet doomed vision of pan-Arabism in the 1950s was also aimed at stemming Western influence. In the minds of many Egyptians, Iran's quest to expand its nuclear program despite United Nations sanctions is similar to Nasser's confrontation with the British and French over nationalizing the Suez Canal. What's striking in Ahmadinejad's case, however, is that the leader of a non-Arab Shiite nation has ingratiated himself with the Middle East's predominantly Sunni Arab population...'He's a brave man,' said Tayseer Ibrahim, an employee of the Egyptian Education Ministry, who was hurrying toward the subway the other day. 'He's standing up to the U.S. He could have been intimidated after what happened to Saddam Hussein in Iraq, but he's not. The Iranian people must love him a lot. Hopefully, our Arab leaders will see that you can defy the West and nothing will happen to you.'"

An incredibly biased account regarding press freedom in Egypt is running in the English, state-owned Al-Ahram weekly.

Under new leadership, France is lacing its combat boots to prepare for conflict with Iran.

And, since U.S. partisanship and politics don't actually end at the water's edge, Senator Clinton is leading Senator Obama by 23 points in the most recent New Hampshire poll. Both have different visions for the Middle East, foreign policy in general, and the War in Iraq, and will also influence the Republican-Democratic debate over the war in both the Senate and the presidential elections.