“Know thyself, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.” In the case of Iran and the U.S., Sun Tzu’s prescient advice — combined with the thorough research of “your correspondent” — suggest that peace might be an easier wager than recent history predicts. With their popularity on the wane, like-minded conservatives in their ranks, and religious ideology on their side, Bush and Ahmadinejad have more in common today than either care to admit…

With ink still drying on the UN Security Council’s draft resolution, Nusrullah has finally agreed to a cessation of hostilities, but insists that the fight will continue as long as Israeli troops are still on the ground. This, at a time when Israel itself has just voted to triple the size of its current military operation and continues to airlift troops into Southern Lebanon. Only time will tell if this latest in a long series of diplomatic efforts will succeed where the others have so catastrophically failed…

Below is a transcript of the Charlie Rose interview with Rami Khoury, Editor-at-Large of The Daily Star, a leading English-language newspaper in Beirut. In the Middle East it’s been difficult to find a convincing argument against continued Israeli engagment in a non-Arab tongue, but this exchange, filmed on July 19th, cuts as close to the heart of the conflict as I’ve seen from a Palestinian commentator.

Few scholars have had such a profound impact on their field of study as Bernard Lewis, Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. In this recent Q&A, he addresses the untold roots of Arab rage, the complex challenges of expanding Western empires, the rise of the Islamic mullahcracy and the mystery of the Danish cartoons. Now into his 90s, the outspoken orientalist continues to search for the ultimate compromise, contrasting “a nation divided into religions” with “a religion divided into nations”. The transcript is a little bit lengthy but well worth the read…

Described as the first direct communication from an Iranian leader to an American president since 1979, Ahmadinajad’s recent letter to President Bush touched on a broad array of socio-political matters that strike at the very heart of the current standoff between Tehran and Washington. Below is an exerpt of that letter — originally translated from Farsi…
Mr George Bush, President of the United States of America
For sometime now I have been thinking, how one can justify the undeniable contradictions that exist in the international arena — which are being constantly debated, specially in political forums and amongst university students. Many questions remain unanswered. These have prompted me to discuss some of the contradictions and questions, in the …