We are used to thinking of Gaza as a war-torn stretch of ground. A place where life goes grimly on in the face of an intractable conflict. A graveyard not only for civilians caught in the crossfire, but…
- Lecturer in Middle East Studies, Deakin University
We get the English word ‘chess’ from the Persian word Shah (king). The linguistic identification of this part of the world with chess belies its Indian origins, but in a country where the ancient nobility…
The release of Peter Greste from an Egyptian prison is surprising only in that it happened without too much telegraphing of the exact date. A deportation-style resolution of the case had been on the cards…
The passing of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia will change little in the kingdom and its relations with the West. The monarch had been ailing and reclusive for some years and his anointed successor (and…
Just over a week ago Turkish Airlines announced that it was no longer flying to the Libyan town of Misrata, a provincial centre about two hundred kilometres east of Tripoli. Whilst it is unlikely that…
The jail sentences handed down to Australian journalist Peter Greste and his Al Jazeera English colleagues have deeply shocked supporters in the west. While spending a few years in an Egyptian prison is…
As we undertake our annual remembrance of Australians at war, some attention should be paid to those personnel who were taken captive by the enemy and then faced long years in brutal conditions. Enduring…
A decade ago US air power was talked about as an instrument of “shock and awe”. In August 2013 it is apparently being downgraded, with President Obama referring to potential strikes on Syria as “a pretty…
The quick and ruthless deposal of Mohamed Morsi is testament to two realities of post-Mubarak Egypt: the broken economy and the deep-rooted political and economic interest of the armed forces. When he…
In the annual discussion of the Gallipoli campaign Australians are subjected to a variety of hyperbole and parable as commentators and reporters offer up the same old chestnuts for want of something else…
In the 10th anniversary analysis of the invasion of Iraq a lot of the focus will be on what we paid. Lives, dollars, influence and squandered reputation will be totted up against the lack of WMDs and the…
“Argo: the movie that shows how Hollywood solved the Iran Hostage Crisis”. So said the increasingly well-preserved Richard Wilkins the other morning as he gushed through the usual Oscars fluff on the Today…
The use of unmanned aircraft in the War on Terror has been extensively covered by the media and academic hacks like me. We are accordingly quite used to stories of Predators loitering in the skies of Helmand…
The United States has backed a project that aims to translate American textbooks into Arabic and make them available without copyrights restrictions to educators and students in the Middle East. The Open…
If you’re looking for rapid aerospace engineering and technology progress forget about those laggards at Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, NASA, and EADS. You’ll be wasting buckets of billions and waiting years…
In all the language used to discuss the Israel-Palestine situation, “dilemma” is surely the most redundant. A dilemma implies that there are two equal alternatives to opt for and that one must be foregone…
In the Hollywood version of hostage rescue things always go down fast and final. A sniper kills the sentries from two miles away with a crossbow and then the Delta Force or SAS warriors blast through the…
While Israel and Hamas traded explosive ordnance last month a friend of mine remarked that as a Middle East commentator I had a “future proof profession”. It does seem like that and even I have been known…
In the lead up to the constitutional referendum in Egypt the protestors and armed forces are taking their familiar roles around Tahrir Square. The decree by President Mohamed Morsi over-ruling the powers…
Just over a year ago I was interviewed for an article here on The Conversation about the failed Palestinian bid for full member status of the United Nations. I pointed out that it was largely a symbolic…
The hostilities between Israel and Hamas this week are just another sad exchange of munitions of no benefit for anyone, least of all the impoverished residents of Gaza. Rockets go one way, Hellfire missiles…
The re-election of Barack Obama to a second term will have significant ramifications for an America struggling with economic and social difficulties. But will it have the same impact on residents of the…
The exchange of artillery fire between Turkish and Syrian forces over the past few days has seen a renewed focus on the possibility of an escalating war between Damascus and Ankara. It seems that not since…
What if they had a gun buy-back scheme and somebody turned in a tank? That’s exactly what happened in Libya this week. Twice. In an attempt to get a grip on the huge arsenal of military-grade weapons in…
A few months ago I mentioned how Iran was trying to join the game of drones. The engineers of the Islamic Republic were attempting to build their own unmanned aircraft, possibly with some technical cannibalisation…
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