titlegif

Oil, occupation, conflict, Islam, terrorism, politics, history, too much history.

We view this diverse region through a very dirty lens. Much of what we think we know is fantasy.

Welcome

On this page you can find sources about the Middle East generally. Take the area links below for more focused probing.
Especially recommended

The best source that I've ever seen, bar none, is the magazine, "Washington Report on Middle East Affairs." This is a monthly, approximately 130 pages of densely packed information on the Middle East in the broad sense (including Iran, Central Asia, and Turkey). It reports what our U. S. newspapers are afraid to say about Israeli government policy. Covers the Israeli lobby in the U.S. Very information dense.

[And, by the way, I felt this way before they published my writing on Iran.] (Up 6/17/07, posted 11/28/99)

Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion Blog by Prof. Juan Cole, History, U. of Michigan. (Up 10/21/08; posted 5/29/04)

Was good, is now into conspiracies. Also has been very inaccurate at predicting events in Lybia and Syria.
 
Area focus

Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon The center of the conflicts

Gulf States [under construction]

Iran (Featured page, but getting out of date)

Iraq

Saudi Arabia (Under construction)
Other Featured Sites

Iran Press Service

Institute for Public Accuracy

Center for Strategic & International Studies
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News
BBC Mideast News Good source for daily updates on main stories. (Up 10/21/08, posted 2/13/00)
Al Jazeera A voice for independent media in the MidEast. We forget how much trouble they've gotten from conservative Arab governments. (Up 10/21/08; posted 4/9/03)
Ha'aretz Israel newspaper, good detail, sometimes more detail on US actions than in US media. Search engine. Also has English language print weekly. (Up 7/26/06, posted 2/13/00)
LinkTV Publish a wonderful podcast summary of news from various Middle East set of agencies under the label Mosiac. (Up 10/21/08)
Al-AhramGovernment owned. Publish a print weekly in English also. (Up 10/21/08; posted 5/21/06)
Missing Links Transations of material from the Arab press. (Up 10/21/08; posted 11/28/06)
The Belgravia Dispatch Gregory Djerejian's careful, lengthy analytical pieces. Thoughtful. (Up 10/21/08; posted 7/29/06)
Whisky Bar Billon's blog. I don't know if his focus on the Mid East is just temporary, or because it is the Bush screw up of the moment, but for now his blistering analysis goes here. (Up 7/29/06)
Conflict Blotter "News, analysis and original reporting on the Middle East " (Up 6/26/07)
Abu Aardvark Blog by Marc Lynch, Prof. of Middle Eastern studies at Williams College. (Up 7/16/06)
Angry Arab "A source on politics, war, the Middle East, Arabic poetry, and art." (Up 7/25/06)
ArabNews Collects stories from western media, also has collection of opinion pieces and news stories by writers from several countries. (Up 9/12/06, posted 2/13/00)
Middle East Media Research Institute Translates articles from the Mid-East media. (Up 5/20/06)
Middle East Online Based in London. News stories by country as well. (Up 7/31/05; posted 3/29/03)
Zaywa Economic and Business issues. (Up 9/12/06; posted 9/13/01)
Debka file Intellegence reports, by region. (Up 8/8/06; posted 5/20/06)
Arabic News Has sections for each country. (Up 8/8/06, posted 11/17/99)
Middle East Daily From the world news network. (Up 8/8/06; posted 10/8/01)
Information Clearinghouse Ranting & data. (Up 8/30/06)
Gulf News Based in the United Arab Emirates, with an average daily circulation of 91,000 in 1999. Business and social news focus with some hard news. (Up 6/17/07, posted 2/13/00)
Gulf BusinessFocus on current economic news.Site under construction. (Up 6/17/07, posted 2/13/00)
Washington Post Mideast News An extensive list of stories. Irritating signup screen. (Up 6/27/07, posted 2/13/00)
Muslim Media Self description: "Muslimedia is an Internet news and feature service from Crescent International, the newsmagazine of the global Islamic movement" Covers entire Muslim world, not just Middle East (Up 6/27/07, posted 2/13/00)

 

 

 

 

Analysis
Hizballah: Terrorism, National Liberation, or Menace. Sami G. Hajjar, Aug. 2002, Strategic Studies Institute of the Army War College. (You may need to navigate from publications, to Middle East to find this). (Up 6/17/07; posted 11/21/02)
Mixed Message: The Arab and Muslim Response to 'Terrorism', Mustafa Al Sayyid, Washington Quarterly, Spring 2002 (Up 6/17/07; posted 3/28/03)
Crude Vision: How Oil Interests Obscured US Government Focus on Chemical Weapons Use by Saddam Hussein, Institute for Policy Studies (second edition out Dec. 2003). (Up 6/27/07; posted 4/9/03)
Youssef H. Aboul-Enein & Sherifa Zuhur, Islamic Rulings on Warfare, Strategic Studies Institute, Oct. 1994. (Up 6/27/07; posted 8/7/05)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perspectives
mep Middle East Policy is published by the Middle East Policy Council.  It features more scholarly articles and opinion pieces as compared to the Washington Report.  It covers in detail the internal issues of the Gulf nations, including Iran. (Up 6/17/07, posted 2/13/00)
Islamica Magazine Glossy, high content, intellectual magazine analyzing current events. (Up 6/17/07; posted 7/31/05)
meria Middle East Review of International Affairs. Magazine. (Up 8/7/05, posted 2/13/00)
Washington Institute for Near East Policy Funded by one of the major Israeli lobbies, but useful. Publishes regularly so covers current issues. (Up 8/7/05, posted 2/13/00)
U S Liberty Memorial Page In honor of the ship attacked by Israel in June 1967. (Up 6/26/07)
Middle East Realities Finally has an organized front page. (Up 7/31/05, posted 2/13/00)
Human Rights Watch: Middle East Leading human rights organization. (Up 7/31/05)
Arab Data Net Focus on business news. (Up 7/31/05; posted 9/15/01)
ME Economic Survey Oil news and related stories. (Up 7/31/05, posted 2/13/00)
The Middle East Journal Journal by the Middle East Institute in Washington D. C. (Up 6/27/07, posted 2/13/00)
Hamas Everyone has (or had) a web site these days, even groups judged terrorist who operate underground. This link has been dead for a while, and I have not tracked them to a new site. The site was said to have been hosted in Sweden and then moved to Russia. It also was said to contain a lot of crude anti-Jewish propaganda, but of course, I can't read it. (Unavailable 7/31/05; up 9/15/01, posted 12/5/99)
Hezbollah This site has recent references to it online, but seems to be blocked. Whatever its roots, Hezbollah has transformed itself largely into a guerilla organization with a social arm. (Site down 7/31/05; posted 12/5/99)
ME History Sourcebook Scholarly focus on ME history since 1914. (Up 6/17/07, posted 1/09/00)
Palestine Times Monthly political journal out of London. Gone? (Up 9/15/01, posted 2/13/00)
Encyclopedia of the Orient Reference material. (Up 9/12/06; posted 1/09/00)
Oriental Institute Oriental Institute Research Archive. Resources for the study of Ancient Mesopotamia, museums, texts, etc.. (Up 9/12/06, posted 1/09/00)
Arabic Literature Columbia University, Middle East Studies. (Up 9/12/06, posted 1/09/00)
alt Middle East Insight. Magazine. Website appears to have been hacked. (Unavailable 7/31/05; Up 9/15/01, posted 2/13/00)
T, J & HR in ME Truth, Justice and Human Rights in the Middle East. Interesting, but web site is gone. (Unavailable 7/31/05; Up 12/5/99)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Last modified 12/8/16; posted 11/28/99; originial content © 2016, 1999 John P. Nordin