Nine months stand between the presumed Arab summit in Damascus, scheduled for the end of March, and the end of George W. Bush's term in office, as American presidential elections come to an end next fall. Nine months, during which the Iranian-Syrian partnership will have the opportunity not only to...

The US Administration and European governments are stumbling as they seek the benefits of policies of isolation versus engagement with states and groups such as Iran, Syria and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The advocates of dialogue and understanding with anyone, no matter who, are battling with the opponents of dialogue...

US President George W Bush is politically and morally responsible toward a small country called Lebanon because he took the initiative to make statement after statement in which he pledged support for this country's path toward independence and democracy and its standing up to extremism and plans to turn it...

The meltdown by the Iranian leadership as it criticizes the Annapolis Conference, hosted by President George W Bush to launch the establishment of a Palestinian state, has a flavor that we are unaccustomed to seeing from Tehran, which is known for its political acumen and avoiding hysteria. Perhaps this reaction...

One shouldn't compare the Annapolis Conference with any comprehensive peace conference, such as Madrid, or Palestinian-Israeli negotiation sessions, such as Camp David. The Annapolis Conference will be the first international gathering for the sake of establishing a Palestinian state on the basis of international resolutions and reference points, including the...

The Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, has -- if he wants -- the option of taking the initiative to save Pakistan from chaos and unrest and save his personal reputation and legacy from the stain of his recent adventures at the expense of the democratic process. He is a smart...

Iran has begun to take the place of Iraq as a leading topic of interest in the early stage of the US presidential election campaign. Attention is shifting from the actual war that the US is waging in Iraq to scenarios for war with Iran, most of which involve military...

The secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, presented an important report to the Security Council this week. The report returns to the forefront the issue of disarming Hizbullah as a cornerstone to enabling the Lebanese state to recover full sovereignty over its territory. Ban Ki-moon called for...

Among the most important items offered by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during this week's Caspian Sea Summit in Tehran was a rescue of the latter from encirclement, a rehabilitation of this strategic friend, and the sending of a picture of the two of them together...

Conditions in Iraq require, at this historical juncture, a bilateral relationship with the US that takes the place of the Chapter 7 relationship between Iraq and the United Nations. Conditions in Lebanon require the international community to share in the consequences that will result if Lebanon slips into a political...

Iraqi prime minister, Nouri Al-Maliki asserted that national conciliation is his good choice to resolve political and security conflicts. In an interview with Al-Hayat in New York where he was attending the UN General Assembly session, he stated that militias are an alien phenomenon that he will fight along with...

Of course, the Syrian government has the right to make the recovery of the Golan Heights a priority, whether through peaceful negotiations with Israel or liberating the area through armed resistance. Certainly, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is right when he said, "I'm the president of Syria and not the president...

Intentionally or unintentionally, the position by the International Atomic Energy Agency on the Iranian nuclear issue met the two chief objectives of the Islamic Republic. These are: buying time while Tehran continues to enrich uranium and block the UN Security Council on additional sanctions on the country, by moving the...

The media blackout imposed by Israel - about its violation of Syrian airspace last week in an attack whose objectives, messages and consequences remain obscure - has been suspicious. It's clear that Israel violated Syrian sovereignty. The strange part is the timid Syrian response to what the government...

The victory by the Lebanese Army over Fatah al-Islam is a victory for the state over the militias and states-within-a-state. The Lebanese Army crushed these "red lines," which the secretary-general of Hizbullah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, had set down when he stood, in practical terms, against the legitimate army, to prevent...

A change must come in Iraq, after the US commander there, David Petraeus, and the US Ambassador in Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, submit a key report next month on evaluating the results of the US force surge this year, and on the political and security conditions inside Iraq. This change will...

High-level American military sources with deep knowledge of the Gulf, the Middle East and North Africa expect that Lebanon will be the leading and most important destination for the flight of al-Qaida volunteers and their like. This will not be in the wake of an American withdrawal from Iraq,...