News Round Up (25 November 2009)
Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell November 25, 2009 Washington, D.C. MR. MITCHELL: Great. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Prime Minister Netanyahu has just announced his government’s moratorium on new settlement buildings. I think it’s important to look at this issue in a broader context, particularly how it affects the situation on the ground and how it can contribute to a co

Syria and Iraq and Lebanon and ….
Eric Schwartz (center), US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, talks to schoolgirls during his visit at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) girls' school at a Palestinian refugee camp in Zarqa near Amman, on Mo

France Champions Syria While US Says Differences with Damascus are “Profound”
France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy (L) greets Syria’s President Bashar Al-Assad at the Elysee Palace in Paris November 13, 2009. [Landis analysis] France is getting ahead of the US and Israel in championing Syria and possible peace with Israel. Feltman says US differences with Syria are “profoun

Azmeh and Zubaida Join the Neolibralism Debate.
Neo-liberalism in Syria: Long live the TINA Argument By Shamel Azmeh (See his Blog) Margaret Thatcher used to challenge her critics by employing what became known as the TINA argument (There is no alternative). Following her example, and for about two decades, neo-liberals, using their influence in governments, media, and academic institutions, managed to convince the world that TINA is a valid argument and that unless you

Omar Dahi and Ehsani Debate “Neoliberalism” and Economic Reform
Omar S. Dahi Critiques Ehsani and “Neoliberalism” Nov. 2009 For Syria Comment Omar S. Dahi is Assistant Professor of Economics, Hampshire College.