Tag - middle-east

 
 

MIDDLE EAST

COMMENTARY / World
Apr 5, 2015
Pan-Arab military force — a good idea or bad?
The Arab League's decision to establish a joint military force is a major accomplishment for Saudi Arabian foreign policy, but comes with serious risks.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 3, 2015
Iran's preliminary nuclear deal finds Gulf Arabs on edge, weighing own options
Officials of Gulf Arab states traditionally wary of Iran were silent on Friday about an initial deal intended to curb the nuclear program of their regional rival, and state-owned media made only passing mention of the development.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Apr 1, 2015
Iran nuclear talks miss deadline; U.S. threatens to walk away
Six world powers and Iran negotiated past a March 31 deadline into the wee hours of Wednesday, struggling to conclude an outline accord on Tehran's nuclear program in the face of a U.S. threat to abandon the talks.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2015
A Sunni coalition is a welcome development
The U.S. and Israel should probably welcome the Egyptian president's announcement of an agreement by the Arab League to create a joint military force, as the Islamic State group is unlikely to be defeated by air power alone.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2015
Netanyahu's surprise victory
The Israeli election results represent an impressive personal comeback for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reflect the sense among Israeli voters that, more than ever, they feel threatened by numerous enemies.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2015
Doctors being targeted in Syria's brutal war
After four years of war in Syria, some medical suppliers now fear being arrested or shut down if they sell gauze or surgical thread to doctors operating in areas under siege by government forces.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 18, 2015
Palestinians want world pressure on Israel after Netanyahu win
Palestinian leaders on Wednesday called for international pressure on Israel and support for their unilateral moves toward statehood after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election win.
EDITORIALS
Mar 17, 2015
GOP blunders into foreign policy
A letter by 47 U.S. Republican senators to the government of Iran has exposed them as irresponsible amateurs in the practice of foreign policy.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2015
Netanyahu plays the security card
Israelis really don't need proof that the Iranians are actually working on nuclear weapons. Their anxiety on the issue is so deeply rooted that it resists all the reassurances by Israel's own military and intelligence communities that Iran is not working on such weapons.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 6, 2015
Islamic State torches oil field near Tikrit as militia advance
Islamic State militants have set fire to oil wells northeast of the city of Tikrit to obstruct an assault by Shiite militiamen and Iraqi soldiers trying to drive them from the Sunni Muslim city and surrounding towns, a witness said.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 3, 2015
Joining Islamic State is stupid, but why is it illegal?
As with so many other basic legal precepts, the right of Americans to serve in a foreign army has been eroded since 9/11.
EDITORIALS
Feb 23, 2015
Yemen's disintegration
Sustained chaos in Yemen could allow violent groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaida to use the country as a base for operations elsewhere.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2015
Iran's poison-penned peace letter to Obama
A letter that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is reported to have sent to President Barack Obama, saying Iran was open to a more direct alliance against the Islamic State group if negotiators could iron out a deal on Tehran's nuclear program, should be viewed as coming from a poison pen.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 21, 2015
Japan, Qatar agree to strive for Middle East peace
Japan and Qatar agreed Friday that stability in the Middle East serves as a foundation for international peace and prosperity and pledged to cooperate on addressing the threat of terrorism.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2015
This is no time to abandon Yemen
To ensure that the recent overthrow of its government by the Shiite Houthi rebel movement does not deal Yemen the lethal blow that it has avoided so far, the international community must not abandon the country in what may be its hour of greatest need.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2015
Uses, and abuses, of history in the Middle East conflict
There remains in the U.S. an incorrigible conviction that it is the 'indispensable' nation, and that it alone can bring peace to nations. And that's done by more intervention and war, splitting nations in civil, tribal and sectarian battles in which the U.S. chooses sides and nominates the leaders.
WORLD
Feb 19, 2015
Iran wields power from Syria to Gulf as rise alarms Sunni rivals
The commander of the foreign wing of Iran's Revolutionary Guards was upbeat as he addressed a rally marking the 36th anniversary of the uprising that ushered in theocratic rule.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 10, 2015
Obama's Middle East fantasy
For all of the problems posed by significant U.S. ground forces in the Middle East, it is the only option right now if President Barack Obama wishes to stop the advance of the Islamic State group without aiding the advance of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 7, 2015
Poll: 57.9% say Japan's Middle East aid should be nonmilitary
A majority of Japanese think the Abe government's aid for Middle Eastern countries fighting the Islamic State group should be limited to nonmilitary aid, a poll shows.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 3, 2015
Hostage crisis could influence Japan's Mideast priorities
As shock waves over the execution of two Japanese hostages by the Islamic State group continue to reverberate, questions emerge about the effect the crisis may have on Japan's Middle East policies.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals