A Listing of Articles from the Middle East Brief for January, 2008

Articles
The Internet is the New Mosque: Fatwa at the Click of a Mouse
Abdallah El-Tahawy
Arab Insight, World Security Institute - January, 2008
...the Internet has become not only a clearinghouse for Koranic text, but also for religious guidance and even fatwas (religious edicts). This new, global online Islam has been propagated by countless websites maintained by sheikhs, religious scholars and even laymen.
Brotherhood Bloggers: A New Generation Voices Dissent
Khalil Al-Anani
Arab Insight, World Security Institute - January, 2008
Often constrained in their own organization, Brotherhood bloggers have begun to savor the freer outlet of the Internet. Though the Muslim Brotherhood may have initially approved of its younger members starting blogs, the bloggers have gone beyond their role as a media tool; now they are writing unprecedented, blunt public criticism of certain aspects of the Brotherhood.
Iran Sanctions: Impact in Furthering U.S. Objectives Is Unclear and Should Be Reviewed
General Accounting Office - January, 2008
Iran's global trade ties and leading role in energy production make it difficult for the United States to isolate Iran and pressure it to reduce proliferation and support for terrorism.
Al Qaeda in Lebanon
Nir Rosen
Boston Review - January, 2008
Lebanon's twelve Palestinian camps form an archipelago both inside and outside the state. Inside the camps Palestinian identity is shaped and maintained, and the main employers are the United Nations and resistance factions who compete and occasionally clash with one another. Outside the camp Lebanese factions and even neighboring countries have always used Palestinians to further their sectarian or political interests.
Still No Peace
Stephen Zunes
Foreign Policy in Focus - January, 2008
President George W. Bush has been using somewhat stronger language than he has uttered previously about the Israeli-Palestinian situation and has made some optimistic predictions of a peace agreement within a year. Nevertheless, there is little reason to hope that the president is any more serious about or is any more likely to be successful in bringing about a negotiated settlement to the conflict.
GCC-Iran Watch
Marc Lynch
Abu Aardvark Blog - January, 2008
President Bush has come to the Gulf and gone, delivering stern messages in public and, reportedly, in private about the Iranian threat and the need for stiff, manly resolve. Did he manage to sway the Gulf leaders who had previously appeared to be more in the mood to engage with and accomodate rising Iranian power? Today's Arab media offers some suggestive hints:
Bush and Palestinian-Israeli Peace Efforts
Charles D. Smith
Informed Comment: Global Affairs - January, 2008
Any doubts as to the president's sincerity in committing himself to the Palestinian-Israeli peace process were increased, not dispelled, by his performance once he left Israel for Abu Dhabi.
Four Comments on Bush's Visit to Israel
Daniel Levy
Prospects for Peace - January, 2008
What most argues against a presidential success on Middle East peace is the particularly blinkered "war on terror" narrative to which the president has so rigidly adhered since 9/11. In the Israeli-Palestinian context this dramatically handicaps the president's ability to understand and interpret the conflict in a sophisticated, meaningful and realistic way.
Between Fitna, Fawda and the Deep Blue Sea
The Economist - January, 2008
It is not easy to be an Arab these days. If you are old, the place where you live is likely to have changed so much that little seems friendly and familiar. If you are young, years of rote learning in dreary state schools did not prepare you well for this new world. In your own country you have few rights. Travel abroad and they take you for a terrorist.
Stairway to Paradise & Obama's Religion
M.J. Rosenberg
Israel Policy Forum - January, 2008
New Study Estimates 151 000 Violent Iraqi Deaths Since 2003 Invasion
World Health Organization - January, 2008
Knowledge as Necessity
Amr Hamzawy
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - January, 2008
Bush's Israel Problem -- And Ours
Ira Chernus
Foreign Policy in Focus - January, 2008
Dependency Politics
Ahmad Khalidi
Conflicts Forum - January, 2008
Israel's False Friends
John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt
LA Times - January, 2008
An American in Iran
Max Rodenbeck
New York Review of Books - January, 2008
As Iraqis See It
Michael Massing
New York Review of Books - January, 2008