Amir Taheri is author of 11 books on the Middle East, Iran and Islam. He has been a syndicated columnist for American, British, and Middle Eastern publications since the 1980s. He has edited newspapers and magazines in his native Iran as well as Britain and France. He has been writing for the New York Post since 2002. In 2005, Taheri was named Senior Fellow at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy.
Has the Obama administration abandoned its illusions about Bashar Assad? A senior source in the administration answers with “an emphatic yes.” “We have concluded that, far from being a force for reform in Syria,...
August 12, 2011 12:00 AM
Yesterday, rumors were making the rounds in Tali ban circles that Mullah Omar had died. In fact, sources tell me that he is alive and hiding in the Pakistani city of Quetta. But his recent failures will make it hard to...
July 21, 2011 12:00 AM
Each July for the last decade, the Syrian regime has staged North Korean-style "popular marches" marking President Bashar al-Assad's accession to power in 2000 after the death of his father Hafez. But this year,...
July 19, 2011 12:00 AMDefeated in Iraq and shut out of Af ghanistan, al Qaeda may be trying to transfer its principal bases to its birthplace, Saudi Arabia. At least, that's what the Riyadh government claimed in a series of leaks to the...
July 15, 2011 12:00 AM
Talk to high officials in Western capitals these days and you hear that it's time for the United Nations to "do something" about Syria. "The UN cannot remain silent," says British Foreign Secretary William Hague....
July 05, 2011 12:00 AM
Convinced that President Obama is preparing the United States for a strategic retreat, the leaders of Iran's Khomeinist regime have put their latest military hardware on show in support of their claim of domination in...
June 29, 2011 12:00 AM
South African, Tunisian and European "fixers" are seeking a "magic formula" for the "early and peaceful departure" into exile of Libyan dictator Moammar Khadafy and an ending the NATO-led operations to topple his...
June 15, 2011 12:00 AM
Sunday's voting in Turkey is already being described as historic. At a time of turmoil across the region, Turkey's 80-year-old democracy -- despite its imperfections -- remains a beacon of hope for other Muslim Mideast...
June 08, 2011 12:00 AM
In a move toward creating a united front, Syrian opposition parties this week decided to set up a coordination committee to prepare for the transition from despotism to democracy. The decision came at the start of...
June 02, 2011 12:00 AM"We are five brothers Five cute brothers Wherever we go, we p - - - on everything!" This is the refrain of a comic song that has been making the rounds in Tehran for the past two years. The brothers in question...
May 29, 2011 12:00 AMBetter late than never -- that's the phrase that comes to mind after lis tening to President Obama's speech on the wave of revolutions in the greater Middle East. It took Obama two years to move away from another...
May 20, 2011 12:00 AMLast year, when the Arab League decided to hold its next summit in Baghdad, Arab leaders hoped they'd be patching up differences and fostering the illusion of unity by putting the Israel-Palestine issue atop the agenda...
May 18, 2011 12:00 AMThree months after it threw away its despot, Egypt is trying to find its way to a different and hopefully better life. Pessimists claim Egypt may've already lost its way. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has...
May 12, 2011 12:00 AM
When Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sent tanks to crush pro-democracy marchers, he hoped for a quick victory, after which the army would return to its barracks. Six weeks and hundreds of deaths later, the despot...
May 10, 2011 12:00 AM
When he ordered a full-scale inva sion of Deraa last week, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad wanted to turn the rebel city into a warning to others not to rise against his despotic rule. On the eve of another nationwide...
May 05, 2011 12:00 AMDoes anyone swallow the Pakistani government's claim that Osama bin Laden lived in that Abbottabad villa for at least six years without anyone getting wind? As it happens, I know Abbottabad rather well, having...
May 04, 2011 12:00 AMThe physical demise of Osama bin Laden comes long after the death of the ideology he promoted for decades. At first, "bin Ladenism" was an effective formula. In operations against the United States, it used enough...
May 03, 2011 12:00 AMLast weekend, pro-democracy forces de clared the southern city of Deraa to be the first "liberated zone" in Syria with plans to set up a "People's Council" to run it. Yesterday, however, the few Deraans still able to...
April 28, 2011 12:00 AM
Theoretically, yesterday was the first day that Syrians had the right to demonstrate without arrest and im prisonment under a State of Emergency imposed 48 years ago. It was also the first test of President Bashar al...
April 23, 2011 12:00 AM
People across Tehran are asking: Where is "Allah's Spook"? Half jest, the question refers to Aya tollah Heidar Moslehi -- Iran's Minister of Intelligence and Security and thus head of VAVAK, the most vicious secret...
April 21, 2011 12:00 AM
The Arab uprising has so far targeted the "usual suspects" -- despotic regimes dating back to the last century. But now it may be moving to challenge "pan-Arab" organizations sustained by discredited regimes. Top of...
April 19, 2011 12:00 AM
Yesterday was supposed to be the first day of what Syrian despot Ba shar al-Assad had dubbed "social calm"; he hoped his mixture of promises and repressive measures would silence the pro-democracy uprising that has...
April 16, 2011 12:00 AM
Is the world drawing to an end? The question is raised in a new "documentary" that has intensified the power struggle in Iran's ruling establishment as it prepares for parliamentary elections fraught with dangers for...
April 13, 2011 12:00 AMIn a bid to divide opposition to his re gime, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has promised to restore "full citizenship" to more than a million ethnic Kurds along the country's frontiers with Iraq and Turkey. Those...
April 09, 2011 12:00 AMTwo months after Libyans started demonstrating against Col. Moammar Kha dafy's regime, the crisis they triggered has reached a fork in the road. At first, it was a popular uprising, modeled on the events that led...
April 07, 2011 12:00 AMOn Sunday, Malta released the last of five Iranian ships it had seized on a tip from the German police. Maltese authorities said the vessels were carrying "unauthorized cargo," a euphemism for weapons, in violation of...
April 06, 2011 12:00 AMA month ago, Bahrain was set to ex plode. Today, it's a ticking bomb that threatens an even bigger explosion next to the HQ of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet -- and on the border of the world's largest oil exporter, Saudi...
April 04, 2011 12:00 AM
The other day, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad broke his silence to ask the people to keep quiet until a commis sion reports on "needed reforms" on April 25. Yesterday, Syrians ignored him with marches calling for an...
April 02, 2011 12:00 AM
Despite the stalemate set tling around the strategic city of Brega, Libyan opposition forces plan to open a front in the west of the country to isolate the capital, Tripoli, which Col. Moammar Khadafy still controls....
April 01, 2011 12:00 AM
Facing nationwide uprisings, Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad appears to be on the same trajectory of other Arab tyrants brought down by popular revolt in recent weeks. With the regime's security forces having killed...
March 30, 2011 12:00 AM
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