Articles

The Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, was rocked by four massive explosions late on May 12, as Crescent was going to press. They were apparently aimed at Western targets in the city, including residential compounds where Western expatriates live, and the headquarters of an American-owned company, the Saudi Maintenance Company.

The announcement on April 29 by US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld that American troops and aircraft would be moved out of Saudi Arabia by the end of the summer does not mean the end of trouble for the ruling al-Saud family.

Only days after the parliamentary elections in Yemen on April 27, the US agency for international aid (USAID) announced the return of its mission to the country after seven years, saying that its activities would be restricted to the areas of public health, primary education and the provision of security, and the sources of income and food in certain rural areas.

Barely four months after the second ceasefire was signed between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the deal has crumbled yet again, though no one is surprised.

The telephone conversation between Pakistani prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Indian prime minister, on April 28, is believed to have renewed hopes for restored diplomatic relations between the two nuclear neighbours.

As evidence emerges of manipulation of intelligence on Iraq’s weapons of mass-destruction (WMDs) by the governments of the US and Britain, demands for proof that Baghdad did indeed possess such weapons are being replaced by calls for the abandonment of an unsustainable stand.

Islam and the Problem of Israel by Ismail Raji al-Faruqi. New edition; published by The Other Press, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2003. Pp: 114. US$6.00. (available from www.ibtbooks.com)

Globalization Unmasked: Imperialism in the 21st Century by James Petras and Henry Veltmeyer. Pub: Zed Books, London and New York, 2001. Hbk: $19.95.

Few empires have ever justified their enslavement and exploitation of subject peoples in such terms; the US is no exception. The Romans justified their imperialism by offering law and order...

The Oslo ‘peace process’ was finally buried at Camp David in July 2000 when the Palestinians refused then Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak’s ‘generous’ offer of a final settlement. It was immediately clear that Israel’s object was to kill the peace process, while blaming the Palestinians for its demise...