Archive for the ‘Sharmine Narwani’ Category
What the Syrian death tolls really tell us
February 15th, 2013 | 
Author: By Sharmine Narwani
Unreliable data can incite and escalate a conflict – the latest UN-sponsored figure of 60,000 should not be reported as fact.
Less than two months after the UN announced “shocking” new casualty figures in Syria, its high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay estimates that deaths are “probably now approaching 70,000”. But two years into a Syrian conflict marked by daily death tolls, the question arises as to whether these kinds of statistics are helpful in any way? Have they helped save Syrian lives? Have they shamed intransigent foes into seeking a political solution? Or might they have they contributed to the escalation of the crisis by pointing fingers and deepening divisions?
Continue reading in The Guardian, February 15, 2013
Russia and China: Arms around the Middle East
By Sharmine Narwani
Russia and China have drawn a great deal of censure this past year for resisting UN Security Council resolutions to intervene in the domestic affairs of Syria and Iran.
Why, many ask, would this duo leverage their growing global political clout for two Mideast states that have been so actively marginalised by the other UN Security Council permanent members – the US, UK and France?
And do these new Russian and Chinese positions place them on a collision course with Washington – in the Middle East and elsewhere?
Continue reading at The BRICS POST
Posted in China, Future perspectives, Iran, Middle East, Russia, Sharmine Narwani, Syria, US Empire, World order/governance | 
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Lebanon’s red lines, bared
By Sharmine Narwani
What a difference a week can make in the Middle East.
On October 19, when a car bomb tore through the upscale Christian neighborhood of Achrafiyeh in Beirut killing a major security official, Lebanon shuddered in fear that the era of political assassinations was back.
Politicians and commentators didn’t miss a beat. The murder of Internal Security Forces (ISF) Information Branch head Wissam al-Hassan was compared to the killing of his former boss, ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005. And the Hariri-allied pro-West, anti-Syria, pro-Saudi “March 14” political coalition lined up to deliver a visceral blow to their opponents, just as they had in 2005 when they ejected Syrian troops from Lebanon.
Hassan’s body was not yet cold before his political allies started pointing their fingers at Syria and whipping up fury in the anti-Syrian Sunni enclaves of Lebanon. Read the rest of this entry »
Sharmine Narwani’s CV
Sharmine Narwani
Sharmine Narwani joined TFF as Associate in autumn 2012.
Senior Associate at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University. She holds a Masters of International Affairs degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in both Middle Eastern studies and journalism. She writes commentaries and analyses on Mideast geopolitics, with a focus on the shifting balance of power in the region.
Her articles appear in Al Akhbar English, The New York Times, Al Jazeera English, USA Today, Salon.com and others.
Sharmine Narwani is on Twitter and Facebook. And here is her blog, The Mideast Shuffle.
Sharmine joined TFF as Associate in autumn 2012.