Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
An open letter to President Bush signed by 103 Arab and Muslim intellectuals and activists called on America to reaffirm its commitment to sustained democratic reform in the Arab world. Freedom and democracy are the only ways to build a world where violence is replaced by peaceful public debate and political participation, and despair is replaced by hope, tolerance and dignity.
Political reform in the Arab world is a top priority in U.S. foreign policy and Morocco is often held up as an example of a country successfully moving toward democracy under the guidance of an enlightened monarch. The threat to a democratic transition lead by the Islamist PJD Party is not that it is too radical, but that it may be co-opted by the monarch.
In four key regions—East Asia, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, and Latin America—a combination of factors has created a new, fluid alliance that could potentially oppose the U.S. and other democracies. In all four regions, countries that have flirted with democracy since 1989 have begun to turn their backs on it. And, in all four regions, authoritarian regimes have a new weapon: oil.
The United States cannot talk to the world about nonproliferation if it is ignoring its own message. Nuclear proliferation remains an essential threat underplayed by the Bush administration.
Through the efforts of the Lebanese government and the international community, the war with Israel was brought to a negotiated end through UN Resolution 1701 that lays the foundation for lasting security and stability in and around Lebanon. 1701 provides a great opportunity to consolidate a secure, democratic and prosperous Lebanon
The central problem with Iran is not its nuclear technology but rather Iran’s behavior as a revolutionary state with ambitions that collide with the interests of its neighbors and the West.
As the August 31 deadline for Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment activities approaches, Iran remains defiant and determined to not give up its right to engage in these activities. While the war in Lebanon was raging and the UN Security Council took a firmer stance on the nuclear issue, statements from Iran clarified that, far from suspension, Iran plans to expand its enrichment activities.
The war in Lebanon deeply altered the concerns of elites and citizens in Arab societies. Following three years of unprecedented political dynamism and debates regarding the prospects for democratic transformation in the Arab world, the Arab-Israeli conflict returned to the forefront, turning attention away from the question of democracy.
Carnegie's Amr Hamzawy appeared on Al Jazeera TV to talk about the current crisis in the Middle East. Hamzawy discussed prospects of a national unity government in Palestine, Iran's nuclear ambitions, French-American differences regarding the war in Lebanon, America's strategic interests in the Middle East, and the confrontation between Hizbullah and Israel.