List of all articles filed under “viewpoint” category.
Viewpoint
An Israeli-Palestinian Commonwealth?
Secretary John Kerry is reported to making progress in restarting the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Many analysts and high-ranking officials assert that “everyone knows what a final agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians would look like,” as Bill Clinton put it.
Viewpoint
China’s STEM Lead a Red Herring
Back in 1961, the front cover of a popular history of science included the memorable pitch “Any Russian schoolboy could understand this book. Can you?” This bit of publishing hype reflected a growing hysteria about Soviet achievements in math and science education. The US, it seemed, was falling dangerously far behind in the race to produce new scientists and engineers.
Viewpoint
The Myth of US-China Carbon Cooperation
There is no reason to expect any reduction in China’s enormous carbon footprint. Beijing has never been able to regulate emissions effectively and its green-energy priorities often do little more than encourage Potemkin environmentalism on the part of lower-level officials. Cooperation with the US will do nothing to make Chinese environmental policy more effective.
Viewpoint
Lebanon: What’s happening to us? Bombs and…bees?
The use of pesticides and herbicides in Lebanon has led the country to Honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder – a condition where the bee population decreases rapidly.
Viewpoint
Tunisia: Analyzing the Dawn of the Arab Spring
As Tunisia’s GDP continued to show healthy growth in recent years, Tunisians’ life evaluations continued to plummet. While Mohamed Bouazizi’s protest over the confiscation of his vegetable cart sparked the “Arab Spring,” Tunisians’ perception of entrepreneurship as a viable option for employment soured. In Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s last year of rule, Tunisians’ satisfaction with basic infrastructure, the cost of living, and basic services dropped noticeably.
Viewpoint
Chinese Growth Set for Lower Lows
China is slowing fast. Since hitting a post-financial crisis high of 11.9% in the first quarter of 2010, Chinese quarterly GDP growth has risen in just two of the subsequent thirteen quarters.
Viewpoint
SKeyes: Press and Cultural freedom violations in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine
In Lebanon, violations against journalists increased in scale, especially during the coverage of clashes between the Army and Islamist militants in Sidon, and against civic activists, during the protests against the extension of the Parliament’s term. In Jordan, the Press and Publication Department (PPD) blocked 213 news website, which raised a storm of protest, and the Israeli authorities continued their violations against Palestinian journalists and artists in the West Bank and the 1948 Territories.
Viewpoint
Israel’s Prawer Bill: Aiming to fully marginalizing and dispossess its Bedouin citizens
The Israeli Knesset recently passed the controversial Bill on the Arrangement of Bedouin Settlement, also known as the Prawer Bill, in the Negev, which would force the relocation of over 30,000 Bedouin currently living in unrecognized village in the Negev to recognized communities and would compensate the Bedouin for land claims.
Viewpoint
Is extremism in Islam changing?
Militant Islamism appears to be entering a new phase, a new cycle that seems to be afoot. Now before anyone shouts victory, it may still be a long while before we see any obvious change take effect, as these cycles are slow in coming about.
Viewpoint
The Moral Minimum in Arming Rebels
The debate about whether to arm the Syrian rebels is centered around the question which groups are “good” rebels (those who favor democratic regimes and the United States) or “bad” rebels (various kinds of jihadists).
