Some good articles and blog posts on issues covered recently here at Brains Like a Shoe.
On Darfur, Alex de Waal takes on the chatter among some Darfuris about self-determination. He discusses the various arguments in support of self-determination in the context of current Sudanese politics. And this week in the medical journal The Lancet researchers concluded that about 300,000 people died over the past six years in Darfur, but that disease, rather than violence, killed at least 80 percent of them. This is probably the most reliable mortality study to date. I am sure people like Mahmood Mamdani will make as much hay as they can with this study to argue that the conflict in Darfur has been exaggerated by activists. He and others will no doubt in the process conveniently ignore the fact that roughly 3 million Darfuris fled the violence and still remain in displaced camps.
On the United Arab Emirates, The New York Times ran a more analytical than normal piece on the now crumbling image of the Emirates as an Arab model of modernity: “Then the crash came and revealed how paper-thin that image was, political and financial analyst. That realization, not just in Dubai but also in Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich capital of the United Arab Emirates, has cast a harsh light on an opaque, top-down decision-making process, not just in business but in matters of crime and punishment as well, political and financial analysts said.”
And here are some quick recommendations of other interesting pieces:
- Marc Lynch on the controversial politics of Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the most influential satellite mufti: “Hate him or love him, the man has a keen sense of Arab opinion — whether he’s following or leading it — and has a proven track record of driving the debate.”
- US Policy in Gaza Remains Unchanged: My friend Amjad Atallah at the New America Foundation in the article argues that the United States is seen as completely complicit in the humanitarian crisis: “The idea that the U.S. is impotent… is something that no Palestinian in Gaza who we met believed.”
- Human Rights Watch’s Seven Principles for Effective International Engagement in Yemen: “To be effective, international counterterrorism policy in Yemen should take into account the lessons from the response to al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan: military tactics such as airstrikes that cause high civilian casualties, and arbitrary arrests and abusive treatment of suspected militants undermine efforts to reduce local support for al Qaeda. The Yemeni government has engaged in all of these actions against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).”
- UN Dispatch – American Engagement Caucus Formed: Russ Carnahan, a Democrat and Anh “Joseph” Cao, a Republican, launched the “American Engagement Caucus” at an event on Capitol Hill last week. The caucus is dedicated to enhancing international cooperation and engagement.
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