Cyprus
Mutually incompatible visions
From Michael Jansen in Nicosia
On 23 April, hard-line Turkish Cypriot nationalist Derviș Eroğlu assumed the presidency of the breakaway region in northern Cyprus occupied by Turkey since 1974. He had defeated the incumbent president, Mehmet Ali Talat, in an election on 18...
A step closer to partition
From George Tsalakos in Nicosia
The election of Derviș Eroğlu as the new Turkish-Cypriot leader, succeeding Mehmet Ali Talat, complicates efforts to find a solution to the Cyprus problem. Eroğlu's political animateur has been the ex-leader of the Turkish-Cypriot community...
Positive statements, low expecations
From Nicole Pope in Istanbul
Derviş Eroğlu's electoral victory was expected, but it nonetheless marked a setback for Turkey's ‘zero problem' regional foreign policy, given his opposition to the notion of a single sovereignty for Cyprus. What will happen next is...
International law
Occupation and criminal responsibility
From Michael Jansen in Nicosia
During a lecture delivered in Nicosia on 16 April, South African judge and legal expert John Dugard suggested innovative remedies to combat the phenomenon of "new colonialism" as it has developed in Cyprus, Palestine and Western Sahara. Dugard,...
Palestine
Taxing times in Gaza
From Nicolas Pelham in Gaza
Gaza's economic doldrums deepened in April as the Hamas authorities substantially hiked local taxation on the already beleaguered population. Taxes climbed highest on goods smuggled by tunnel from Egypt: cigarettes rose from seven to 10 shekels a...
Expecting nothing
From Diana Buttu in Ramallah
When David Hale, deputy to US Special Envoy George Mitchell, flew to meet Mahmoud Abbas in Amman on a surprise visit on 21 April, many believed that a breakthrough was afoot in the repeatedly stalled ‘proximity talks' between the PLO and...
Israel
One holy row....
From Peretz Kidron in West Jerusalem
In the improbable event of Israeli towns and cities mounting a contest for the ugliest building within their domains, Jerusalem apparently has the best chance of winning. The architectural monstrosity concerned is a complex of five towers, adjoined...
....and the cynicism grows
From Haim Baram in West Jerusalem
The atmosphere of pervasive sleaze is almost suffocating. It is further exacerbated by the extensive TV coverage, which shows snatched images of famous public figures, their unkempt hair and swollen eyes betraying deep anxiety. The suspects normally...
Syria
Much ado about Scuds
From Omayma Abdel-Latif in Beirut
On 11 April, the Kuwaiti daily al-Ra'i al-Aam published a report by its Washington correspondent referring to a "silent crisis" between Damascus and Washington over accusations of recent Scud missile transfers to Hizbullah. The paper's...
Lebanon
A drizzle of light rain
From Nicholas Blanford in Beirut
The Lebanese government has been publicly dismissive of the latest flurry of reports suggesting that Syria has transferred Scud missiles to Hizbullah that can strike any target in Israel, even from the Lebanese group's camouflaged strongholds in...
Jordan
Mysterious missiles
From Sana Abdallah in Amman
Mystery continues to surround two, or possibly three, short-range rockets that were supposedly aimed at Israel in the early hours of 22 April. One of the missiles struck a deserted warehouse on the outskirts of Jordan's Red Sea port city of Aqaba,...
Iran
Flexing muscles
From Paul Sampson in London
After a brief lull, tensions have been rising in Iran on both the regional and domestic fronts. In the Gulf, the Revolutionary Guard (Sepah) spooked Arab neighbours by carrying out a five-day military drill that involved firing missiles in the...
United States
The ties that bind
From Graham Usher in New York
Fifteen months after he became president, a distinctly Barack Obama foreign policy is starting to emerge. Unlike the imperial overreaches in Iraq and Afghanistan that characterised the watch of George W Bush, Obama's marks a return to a...
Unrepresentative chequebooks
From Ian Williams in New York
Recently, Ronald S Lauder, the lipstick magnate, and Elie Wiesel, one of many dubiously entitled Nobel Peace Prize winners, took out full-page advertisements in the major American newspapers attacking their own government's foreign policy over...
Turkey
Whirlwind diplomacy
From Nicole Pope in Istanbul
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has embarked on a dizzying round of diplomatic talks in the past couple of weeks, travelling from Washington to Brazilia, from Tehran to Brussels as well as to Baku. His most pressing foreign policy...
Iraq
Perilously in the balance
From Jim Muir in Baghdad
Iraq is living through some of its most crucial moments in the fateful struggle over its future. With the Americans preparing to stage major troop withdrawals, a rash of bombs giving Baghdad its bloodiest day so far this year, and political tension...
Iraqi media: under pressure, under fire
From Peter Feuilherade
Iraq retains its dark reputation as one of the world's most dangerous places for journalists. The country has the worst record for unsolved murders of journalists and media workers, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)...
Sudan
‘Instruments of power' prevail
From Julie Flint in London
Twenty-one years after seizing power in a military coup, and 14 months after being charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, President Omar al-Bashir has been elected to lead Sudan for the next five years in the country's...
Egypt
Water worries
From Issandr el Amrani in Cairo
"Call Egypt's bluff," said an editorial in Kenya's Daily Nation last week. The bluff in question was over Egypt's refusal to sign a new Cooperation Framework Agreement after the latest meeting of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), in Sharm...
Yemen
The signs bode ill
From Philip McCrum in Bath, UK
The failed attack by a suicide bomber on the British ambassador in Sana'a on 26 April has ensured that the terrorist threat from Yemen remains headline news. In preceding weeks, al-Qa'ida's activities in the country had dominated international...
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia: tiptoeing towards legal reform
From Neil Partrick
The Higher Council of Ulema (HCU), the most senior clerical body in Saudi Arabia, has reportedly decided to approve the codification of shari'a law, a move that could alter radically the country's legal system and, in the process, challenge...
