This is better than Wolfowitz?

Administration officials are saying that President Bush has a new leader for the World Bank: Robert Zoellick. The best thing that Zoellick has going for him is that unlike Wolfowitz, Zoellick actually has some experience working with international economic organizations. He was the U.S. trade representative for much of the Doha round. [...]

Lessons Learned

Yesterday was the first formal talks between Iran and the United States since 1980.  The two sides met to discuss the situation in Iraq.  Juan Cole does a good job of summarizing the mutual interests of Iran and the U.S.  The most important is that the U.S. doesn’t want to see Iraq collapse into anarchy [...]

Saudi Arabia in the New York Times

For the past two days, the New York Times has published articles on the recent social changes in Saudi Arabia.  There was a good article about a popular radio show that tackles previously taboo political issues.  The show has been hit a with the listeners according to the large numbers of callers, but there are [...]

Turkey’s Presidential election 101 taught by Professor Shahid

Although it’s not getting as much attention as France’s second round for president, Turkey’s presidential race has also been in the news a lot lately. After Prime Minister Erdogan chose not to run for the Presidency, his Justice and Development Party (AKP) did put forth one of their own, Abdullah Gul. His [...]

The price of being beautiful

In the fall, I had read Brian Whitaker’s Unspeakable Love: Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East.  Whitaker’s book was engaging and informative.  I also enjoyed Whitaker’s ability to discuss complex social issues in the Middle East in clear and simple language.  I’m also a fan of Whitaker’s column on the Guardian.  In his [...]

What Would Maradona Do?

Diego Maradona must be scratching his head.
Technorati Tags: dishdash, middle-east, football, maradona

Venezuela in the News and in the Classroom

This week has seen a strange alignment of the stars.  In my World History AP class, we looked at the history of oil in Venezuela.  In my Creation and Representation of the Third World, we have been discussing the IMF.  And today, there is the news of Hugo Chavez asserting greater control over Venezuela’s oil [...]