By Gaukhar Mukhatzhanova – In October 2011, Finland was designated as the host country for the 2012 Conference, and the Finnish Undersecretary of State Ambassador Jaakko Laajava was named as the Facilitator. In May 2012, the Facilitator reported on his work to the first PrepCom meeting. Despite conducting intensive consultations with states in the Middle East, as well as with the NPT depositaries and co-sponsors of the 1995 Resolution (Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States), Laajava indicated...
Powering Lebanon’s grid
By Georges Pierre Sassine – Rolling blackouts have become a symbol of the political crisis affecting the Lebanese government. According to the World Bank, Lebanese citizens incur on average 220 interruptions of electricity per year, which is the worst performance in the Middle East. Today, electricity production stands at around 1,500 megawatts (MW) while demand exceeds 2,400MW at peak times, resulting in rationing cuts from between 3 to 20 hours a day, depending on where you are in Lebanon....
By Dr. F. Dalnoki-Veress – The death of the former president of the Palestinian National Authority Yasser Arafat on Nov. 11, 2004 has always been shrouded in mystery. His symptoms were wrongly assumed to be the flu but his condition worsened rapidly. A special corps of expert doctors was flown in to Ramallah to treat Arafat but his condition kept deteriorating. Rumors of a variety of illnesses from cirrhosis of the liver to HIV Aids still did not explain the...
Civil society engagement in Middle East arms control
By Ala’ A. Alrababa’h and Naomi Egel – This article serves as an overview of civil society organizations (CSOs) currently involved in arms control, regional security, and nonproliferation issues in the Middle East. The importance of the role of regional CSOs in such areas cannot be overstated and will continue to grow given the deadlock in multilateral negotiations at the official level. The CSOs The Middle East Scientific Institute for Security (MESIS)[i] emphasizes capacity-building and disseminating information...
By Salah Tabbara – For a small country Lebanon has significant wind resources, and while other Arab countries are planning on relying on nuclear energy to meet their present and future power needs this tiny Levantine nation can invest in a much cleaner and safer source for power: wind. In many wide-ranging areas average wind speeds are in excess of 9-10 meters per second per year and, in many other areas, average wind speeds are in excess of 6.5 to...
By Bilal Y. Saab – This took longer than I expected, but it is finally out. For expert commentary on the 2012 conference on a WMD-free zone in the Middle East, I urge you to take a look at this CNS special roundtable report. It includes contributions from 12 specialists in the field of arms control in the Middle East. My essay (I am lead editor of the report) takes a long-term view at the future of arms control in...
Do Arab rulers and publics think the same about Iran’s nuclear program?
By Chen Kane – I find public opinion polls highly problematic, especially when conducted in non-democratic states. Aside from the multiple “technical” issues of designing “objective” questions and gathering a representative sample of the population, the answers of those surveyed in closed societies could be biased and influenced by concerns about the identity of the pollsters, the purpose of the survey, and the likelihood that anonymity will not be respected. These concerns caused my hesitation about writing on...
By Ala’ Alrababah and Ghazi Jarrar – Sheikh Hamzeh Mansour, chief of the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Jordan, criticized Jordan’s nuclear program in an interview with The Jordan Times: “If implemented, Jordan will suffer the project’s dangerous political, economic, social, financial, health, environmental and security burdens in return for selling others clean electricity at cheap prices and on their terms.” Clearly, Sheikh Mansour views the nuclear program as an...
By Ibrahim Said – Egypt’s next leader could be a member of the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Yet even if Muhammad Mursi, the presidential candidate fielded by the MB, does not win the elections, the Islamist movement-turned political party will have a growing role in Egyptian political life and a domineering presence in the country’s parliament. As a result, the perceptions, worldviews, and preferences of the Brothers’ leaders on various issues related not only to domestic affairs but also to foreign...
By Bilal Y. Saab – I am fascinated by the current political debate among Egyptians. There is real freedom of speech in Egypt today, which is so refreshing. But what do Egyptians want? Shibley Telhami and colleagues try to provide answers to this question in this public opinion survey, which they conducted in early May 2012. I encourage you to read its findings. On foreign affairs, the numbers I am most interested in are the 73% of Egyptians supporting presidential candidate Mitt Romney and 25% supporting President...
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