Category Archives: Situation Report

European Hypocrisy: A Palestinian View

It is with great pleasure that I welcome back Saifedean Ammous, one of my favorite Rootless Cosmopolitan readers and correspondents — he really is a far better political analyst than he is at predicting football results! Saifedean, currently completing a … Continue reading

Posted in Featured Analysis, Guest Columns, Situation Report | 43 Comments

Yes, Bush is Naked, What of It?

Eloquent Image: There’s nothing on the table I posted this piece last week on TomDispatch: President Bush’s announcement of a new Middle East summit is being dutifully reported as a move to “revive” the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, designed to culminate … Continue reading

Posted in Situation Report, Unholy War | 4 Comments

The Dissembling of Dennis Ross

It is time someone in the mainstream media (besides my hard-working friend Scott MacLeod, here and here) took to task Dennis Ross, the AIPAC man who served the first Bush Adminsitration and then Clinton as a Middle East mediator, before … Continue reading

Posted in Situation Report, Unholy War | 15 Comments

Still Looking Busy in the Mideast

In his latest effort to look busy on the Israeli-Palestinian front, President Bush has now proposed a regional conference to be chaired by Secretary of State Condi Rice, in which Israel would join its Arab neighbors at the table. But … Continue reading

Posted in Situation Report, Unholy War | 24 Comments

Perry (& others): Why an EU That Knows Better Apes the U.S. on Hamas

A couple of days ago, I did a quick survey of some of my regular readers to canvas opinions on why it is that Europe, so obviously knowing better, has nonetheless wholly embraced the disastrous U.S. boycott of the democratically-elected … Continue reading

Posted in Guest Columns, Situation Report | 39 Comments

The West’s Costly Hamas Error

Hamas represents the moderate current in Islamism that advocates for democracy and electoral politics. The alternative — which the West is effectively chosing — is violent nihilism First, it’s worth noting that the whole idea that Palestinian “moderates” are being … Continue reading

Posted in Featured Analysis, Situation Report | 93 Comments

Cracks in the Anti-Hamas Front

It’s all very well getting Egypt, Jordan and Israel together with Mahmoud Abbas to scold Hamas and talk about “strengthening Abbas,” but the problem is that the U.S. and Israel, on the one hand, and the Arabs and Abbas, on … Continue reading

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Cracks in the Anti-Hamas Facade

In a fashion typical of its strategic and tactical ineptitude, the Bush Administration has responded to Hamas’s ouster of Fatah security forces from Gaza by madly rushing to cobble together an anti-Hamas alliance through a series of high profile gestures … Continue reading

Posted in Situation Report, Unholy War | 36 Comments

The 8 Fallacies of Bush’s Abbastan Plan

“Hello, Condoleezza Rice,” the Hamas gunman joked, speaking into the President Mahmoud Abbas (a.k.a. Abu Mazen)’s phone from the Palestinian Authority president’s chair in his abandoned Gaza office. “You have to deal with me now, there is no Abu Mazen … Continue reading

Posted in Featured Analysis, Situation Report | 52 Comments

Gaza: Another Mess Made in U.S.

Coming, as he does, from Fox News, Tony Snow is obviously a deeply cynical fellow, but this takes some beating: Asked to comment Wednesday on the bloodbath in Gaza, he answered: “Ultimately, the Palestinians are going to have to sort … Continue reading

Posted in Situation Report, Unholy War | 47 Comments