Word: arabize
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Nobody seems to recognize this more than the autocrats themselves. There is only one Saddam Hussein in the pantheon of Arab despotism. But every Arab leader has something to answer for when it comes to freedom and human rights. Many of them began initiating political and economic reforms on the fringes years ago, but the threat of Islamic extremism and Bush's dramatic response to it has moved the matter of reform to center stage...
...most prominent, if unlikely, advocate of substantial change in the Arab world is Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud. Although he has been dabbling with change since becoming the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia several years ago, the Iraq crisis has made him a man in a hurry. Last January, the Saudis sent Abdullah's reform proposal to the Arab League. It called for "political participation," "building Arab capabilities," "an Arab common market" and "a comprehensive Arab awakening." He proposed that states be jettisoned from the Arab League if they didn't adopt principles of reform, democracy...
...Still, the outlook is anything but certain, and things can go very badly awry. If much depends on Arab leadership, much also depends on American leadership. With hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops actually occupying an entire Arab country, it is hard for Washington to pretend that it does not have the power to influence decisive change elsewhere in the region. It will have to help foster democracy in Iraq and not embed American puppets in Baghdad. But it will also have to midwife a settlement in the Holy Land that is truly fair to Palestinians as well as Israelis...
...Bush administration, in short, will have to follow the road map of Middle East reform. More than ever before, America is entrenched here. As a current wisecrack circulating the Middle East puts it, "Why doesn't the U.S. just join the Arab League...
...woman I have spoken to is the maid who knocks on my door to clean the room. I have started to avoid looking at women or walking too close to them, for fear of arousing the ire of their male guardians. Among the Shiites, in particular, it seems that Arab tribal mores have combined with religious conservatism to keep women socially imprisoned, more reminiscent of their status behind the Taliban's burkas than the situation in Shiite-ruled Iran, where women enjoy far more participation and liberty. There is a great danger right now that any future government may exclude...