Articles Index
What Is Libya's National Transitional Council?
Libya's National Transitional Council, or NTC: a brief explanation of the post-Qaddafi regime's transitional government.
What Is Sharjah of the United Arab Emirates?
Brief portrait of Sharjah, one of the United Arab Emirates' seven federated, autonomous mini-states.
What Is the Powers Act?
War Powers Act FAQ: How the War Powers Act of 1973 requires US presidents to seek congressional authorization to engage US troops in hostilities for longer than 60 to 90 days.
What Is OPEC, the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries?
OPEC: History and member countries of the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries.
What Is the Haqqani Network in Pakistan and Afghanistan?
The Haqqani Network: Sirajuddin Haqqani,Mawlawi Jalaluddin Haqqani and the al-Qaeda-Haqqani Network in Pakistan and Afghanistan: a challenge to American efforts.
What Was Operation El Dorado Canyon, the US Attack on Libya in 1986?
Operation El Dorado Canyon, the 1986 U.S. Attack on Libya in retaliation for the terrorist bombing at a Berlin discotheque.
What Is Israel's Peace Now?
Description and brief history of Peace Now, one of Israel's largest non-governmental and human rights organizations working for a two-state solution and a resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
What Is Pakistan's ISI or Inter-Services Intelligence?
FAQ: What Is Pakistan's ISI or Inter-Services Intelligence? All you need to know about the rogue intelligence agency termed a "state within a state," and its support of the Taliban and Islamist militants.
Who Are Egypt's Copts and Coptic Christians?
Brief explanation and history of Egypt's Copts and Coptic Christians, minus the misconceptions and misapplications of the terms.
What Are Hama Rules?
Hama Rules is an expression coined by Thomas Friedman to describe Syria's ruthless repression of dissent, emanating from Hafez el Assad's massacre in Muslim Brotherhood-controlled Hama in February 1982.
What Is the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar?
Description and brief history and purpose of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, designed by I.M. Pei
What Is Al Fujayrah of the United Arab Emirates?
Brief portrait of Al Fujayrah, one of the United Arab Emirates' seven federated, autonomous mini-states.
Who Is Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Man Behind the Ground Zero Mosque?
Brief profile and background on Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is at the heart of the controversy over the so-called Ground Zero mosque in Lower Manhattan.
What Is the Military's Heat-Ray Gun, or "Active Denial System"?
The U.S. military deployed a heat-ray gun, or "Active Denial System," as a weapon of crowd control in Afghanistan. The gun projects an intolerable beam of energy that burns the skin from a distance.
What Is Ajman of the United Arab Emirates?
Brief portrait of Ajman, the smallest of the United Arab Emirates' seven federated, autonomous mini-states.
What Is Abu Dhabi?
Brief portrait of Abu Dhabi, one of the United Arab Emirates' seven federated, autonomous mini-states.
What Was the Khartoum Declaration of 1967?
Less than two months after the Six Day War of 1967, Arab nations recognized that the solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict would have to be by political, not military, means.
Who Is Gulbuddin Hikmetyar?
Mujahideen insurgent Gulbuddin Hikmetyar, or Hekmatyar: a brief profile/biography of the Taliban-affiliated Afghan insurgent.
Who Was Peace Activist Rachel Corrie?
FAQ on Rachel Corrie, peace activist killed by an Israeli army bulldozer as she was protesting the demolition of a Palestinian house in Gaza.
Is Hezbollah Still a Terrorist Organization?
It has an unquestionably terrorist past, but is Lebanon's Hezbollah still a terrorist organization? The answer isn't as simple, or stereotypical, as the United States makes it out to be.
Are U.S. Troops Operating in Pakistan?
History and extent of US troops operating secretly in Pakistan since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan in 2001.
What Is Shebaa Farms?
Basics of the dispute over Shebaa Farms, the sliver of land at the Lebanon-Syria border that Israel has occupied as part of the Golan Heights since 1967.
What Is the Goldstone Report?
The UN Human Rights Council's Goldstone Report on abuses in Gaza and the Occcupied Territories: Origins and Consequences.
What Is UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency?
Brief mission and history of UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency.
What Is Yemen's Houthi Rebellion?
History and meaning of the Shiite Houthi Rebellion in Yemen.