New technologies and civil society engagement can provide better results through foreign assistance from the US to the Middle East.

David Holdridge, a frequent visitor to Qatar over the past decade, argues that sooner rather than later the US will realize that it should distance itself from the autocracies of the Gulf. Oil and military concerns aside, the Arab street will not tolerate these medieval structures much longer.

David Holdridge, who was awarded permission by the Syrian Government in 2008 to set up a Relief and Development office in Damascus, warns of the untoward outcomes of US intervention in the Syrian Civil War.

As new technologies change the way war is waged, important new 'sociologies' emerge - both within the nations inventing and using the new weapons and among those upon whom they are inflicted.

Stripped of the usual polemics and accompanying rhetoric, here, in the wake of Operation Pillar of Defense, an American humanitarian worker tries to give a citizen's perspective of the Palestinian issue within the context of the Arab world and its relations with the west.

The "Other"

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist”(farewell address by President Dwight Eisenhower, January 17, 1961).

As the US presidential election looms, David Holdridge argues that Washington must make some fundamental changes if it is to be relevant to the new global dynamic, particularly in the Middle East.

Even as Asia has been booming, the Arab world awakened and Africa now rising, Russia's "near abroad" is now on the ropes. The expectations following Independence have been dashed. Here is an account by someone who lives and works that regional trauma.

What happens if the current trends continue? What if Central Asia continues on its current path? What might life be like in 2025?

As the Syrian Civil War disrupts Lebanon's perpetually precarious military and political balance, we are urged to listen carefully to the rumours and prophecies of a Lebanese population that have so often been tragically implicated in regional conflicts. Here, we look back to June 1982 in trepidation of the “Past as Prologue”.

The enduring languor of the American economy, the disillusionment with nation building, and the increasingly participative nature of governance in the Arab world are challenging traditional relationships between the US and the Middle East.