Syrian opposition call on Assad to quit immediately

Syrian opposition groups called Thursday for President Bashar al-Assad’s immediate resignation, in a joint declaration at the end of a two-day meeting in Turkey.

The statement, read out in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya, urged the “immediate resignation of President Bashar al-Assad from all functions he occupies.” (more…)

Syrian turmoil: No end in sight

NOW in its third month, Syria’s uprising shows no sign of abating. Indeed, though the weekly death toll goes up and down, the strife is worsening. On Friday May 27th, 12 people are known to have died—a lower number than on most previous Fridays. (more…)

Syria: Human Right Watch warns “We’ve never seen such horror”

The protests in Syria initially started after a group of 15 young boys, all under 18, were arrested in the city of Daraa, located in the southern part of Syria, after they were accused of writing graffiti slogans against the government on a wall. (more…)

Clinton says the world should get on the right side of history in Syria

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says countries that have been slow to denounce Syria for its political crackdown should toughen up and get on what she says is “the right side of history.”

The message appeared to be directed at Russia, China and Arab countries. (more…)

The Ecological Footprint of the Arab World: disastrous

It is so common to speak about environmental degradation but unfortunately no country or group of people seem to be willing to do anything meaningful about the single most important challenge that humanity has ever faced.

Op-Ed- Hoping for Arab Mandelas

The more Arab Mandelas emerge, the more they will be able to manage their own transitions. Will they emerge?

Human Development of the Arab World.

By Ghassan Karam
The Human Development Index for the year 2010 was released by the UNDP on the 4th of November. This is a grand issue. It reintroduces to the public both Mahbub Al Haq and Amartya Sen whose ideas and enthusiasm for a multidimensional development index resulted in the HDI in 1990. Ever since [...]

Civil Rights of Non Moslems in the Arab World

By Ghassan Karam
Logical internal consistency is a fundamental characteristic of a model that has withstood the rigours of investigation both empirical and otherwise. The advocates of an internally inconsistent model, especially one that suffers of an apparent logical fallacy are often chided for their position and for their inability to promote rational thinking. Such is [...]

Peak Oil: WorldCrisis, Arab Oil Producers Benefit.

By Ghassan Karam

Energy is best defined as the “capacity to do work”; there cannot be life without it. That is simply what is meant by saying that life on planet earth

Arabian Gulf: 2 words that can get you fired in Iran

Here are two words that will cost you your job in Iran: “Arabian Gulf.”
Iranians take seriously their claim that the body of water separating them from the Arabian Peninsula should be called the Persian Gulf, and not the Arabian Gulf, as people in the Arab world call it.
A Greek flight attendant for the Iranian-owned Kish Air learned this lesson the hard way.
He was fired, according to Iranian media, after he allegedly traded words with passengers who complained against the use of the phrase “Arabian Gulf” on a plane’s in-flight monitors.
Iranian officials have reprimanded the airline and deported the flight attendant. LAT.