By Chen Kane – The Finnish Undersecretary of State Ambassador Jaakko Laajava, also the current Facilitator of the 2012 Middle East Conference, presented his interim report on May 8, 2012 to the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom). It was Laajava’s first official statement since he was nominated to convene the 2012 Middle East Conference. It should come as no surprise to those who heard him last month, and followed his extensive visits to the region, that he is struggling to...
By Bilal Y. Saab – If we are to understand the future of arms control in the Middle East, we must continue to study the growing role of non-state or hybrid actors in that part of the world, for some of them have more military and political power than national leaders and bureaucrats. One of these actors is Hezbollah, the pro-Iran Lebanese Shi’ite party that has a semi-autonomous military wing. My friend Nicholas Blanford, correspondant for the Times of London and the...
Israeli public supports a nuclear-free Middle East
By Bilal Y. Saab – Former Brookings colleague Shibley Telhami and his co-workers conducted a poll of Israelis on their attitudes toward a Middle East Nuclear Free Weapons Zone. 64% of Israeli jews favor the establishment of a Middle East free of nuclear weapons. This is quite remarkable. I am not sure how much impact it will have on actual Israeli policy or even the policy debate itself (polling is an imperfect science and one could question the methodolgy...
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Thank you Uzi. You have obviou
Bruce came back to CSTPV's 20t
Bruce came back to CSTPV's 20t
Thanks for publishing in detai
The 'deal' also leaves Israel
I think that Geneva Talks pose