A few years back when Washington was preparing for the then highly touted Annapolis Peace Conference, I remember commenting that I was "hopeful, but not optimistic". Read More »
Something remarkable happened on November 4, 2008. Despite economic distress, uncertainty and insecurity, voters went to the polls and chose hope over fear electing Barack Obama President of the United States. Read More »
OCRACOKE ISLAND, N.C. We are just ending a family vacation on this little island off the coast of North Carolina. We have been coming here for 35 years now, and though so much has changed, the simple beauty of the place remains. It was Ocracoke's remoteness and its simplicity that brought us here 35 years ago. That, and stories about the Wahabs who lived there. Read More »
Republicans have dug a deep hole for themselves on matters related to the Middle East and Islam reflecting the extent to which the Party has become captive of the neo-conservative "clash of civilization" crowd and their partners on the evangelical Christian right. This drift becomes clear listening to statements by Republican leaders and surveying the attitudes of the party's base. Read More »
Air Date: August 5, 2010
On Thursday's edition of Viewpoint with James Zogby: Josh Kraushaar, Executive Editor of The Hotline, the National Journal; Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel at the ACLU; Andrew Serwer, Writing fellow at The American Prospect. Read More »
Air Date: July 29, 2010
On Thursday’s edition of Viewpoint with James Zogby: P.J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the State Department; Honorable Robert Wexler, former Florida Congressman and President of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace; Hilary Shelton, Director of the NAACP’s Washington Bureau. Read More »
After a century in which tragedy has been heaped upon tragedy across the Middle East, it is distressing to see how many dangerous illusions still shape the behavior of so many of the region's principal players. Read More »
As an Arab American, I can empathize with Shirley Sherrod, the Georgia Department of Agriculture official who, last week, after being falsely accused of making anti-white racist comments, was forced to resign from her post. Read More »
Air Date: July 22, 2010
On Thursday's edition of Viewpoint with James Zogby: Robert Malley, Middle East and North Africa Program Director at the International Crisis Group, Washington, DC.; Ken Mekhaus, Somalia expert and Professor of Political Science at Davidson College, NC Read More »
White House spokesperson, Robert Gibbs, caused a bit of a stir last week when, in an appearance on Meet the Press, he suggested that Democrats might lose control of the House of Representatives in November. Read More »
Air Date: July 15, 2010
On Thursday’s edition of Viewpoint with James Zogby: Daniel Levy, Senior Fellow and Director of the Prospects for Peace Initiative at The Century Foundation and a Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East Initiative at the New America Foundation; Nuh Yilmaz, Director of the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA); Jafar Farah, Director of the Mossawa Center. Read More »
Two decades ago, I remember Jesse Jackson noting that when dealing with controversial issues that created deep divisions, one should be careful "not to excite one side, while only inciting the other". Although these cautionary words apply perfectly to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they have too frequently been ignored. Read More »
Air Date: July 8, 2010
On Thursday's edition of Viewpoint with James Zogby:David Sedney, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Afghanistan; Hanan Ashrawi, Member of the PLO Executive Committee and the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC); Lara Friedman, Government Relations Director for Americans for Peace Now; Paula Yacoubian, Journalist and Host on Future News (Lebanon). Read More »
Two separate incidents of Muslim-bashing occurred last week. Because they involved comments by prominent individuals and were so brazen, they caused some concern. But because neither resulted in any benefit to the offenders, only embarrassed silence or scorn, there is some hope that we may be turning a corner. Read More »
Air Date: July 1, 2010
On Thursday’s edition of Viewpoint with James Zogby: Ronald E. Neumann, Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan (2005-2007) and president of The American Academy of Diplomacy; Taghreed El-Kodary, Visiting Scholar, Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace; Charles Kupchan, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of the new book “How Enemies Become Friends: The Sources of Stable Peace”. Read More »
I am not easily shocked. I’ve been doing this work for too many years and I’ve seen too much to become outraged by bad behavior or acts of indecency or inhumanity. But two stories that recently came across my desk were so disgraceful, and in some ways dangerous, that I feel compelled to write about them. Both featured players in the Middle East crassly abusing the living and the dead. Read More »
Air Date: June 24, 2010
On Thursday’s edition of Viewpoint with James Zogby: M.J. Rosenberg, Senior Foreign Policy Fellow at Media Matters Action Network; Genieve Abdo, Fellow and Iran analyst at The Century Foundation; Ronit Avni and Julia Bacha, Executive Producer and Director of the Film Documentary Budrus; Ayed Morrar, Protagonist of the documentary Budrus and co-founder of The Popular Committee Against The Wall. Read More »
The success of a President is measured not only by how well he handles the agenda he sets for his term in office, but by how he responds to the unexpected. This week President Obama was tested by challenges of each type. Read More »
Air Date: June 18, 2010
On Thursday’s edition of Viewpoint with James Zogby: Michael Isikoff, Investigative reporter for Newsweek; Geneive Abdo, Fellow and Iran analyst at The Century Foundation; Raed Jarrar, Senior Fellow at Peace Action.
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In trying to change direction and find “a better approach” to dealing with the long running crisis facing Gaza, the Obama Administration is confronting several deeply entrenched obstacles. Read More »
A few years back when Washington was preparing for the then highly touted Annapolis Peace Conference, I remember commenting that I was "hopeful, but not optimistic". Read More »
Air Date: August 5, 2010
On Thursday's edition of Viewpoint with James Zogby: Josh Kraushaar, Executive Editor of The Hotline, the National Journal; Michelle Richardson, Legislative Counsel at the ACLU; Andrew Serwer, Writing fellow at The American Prospect. Read More »
The story of Arab Americans coming of age, as an organized community, is a classic American tale—a story of immigrants seeking opportunity, benefiting from America’s freedoms, but also experiencing, at times, the dark side of exclusion and discrimination that has, for so many, haunted our nation’s history. Read More »
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