Middle East Quarterly

In 1994, when the first issue of this quarterly came out, I read it eagerly. And I've read every issue since then. It's my favorite journal on the Middle East.

Here is why this journal exists. As explained in that first issue, only one US President since 1948 has failed to speak "forcefully about the benefits that accrue to the United States from deep and deep relations with Israel." However, the other quarterlies about the region all disparaged the ties between the US and Israel. The other quarterlies presented Israel as a liability to the US. The other quarterlies saw Zionism as "a racist offshoot of imperialism." And they apologized for the terrorist acts of Yasser Arafat and saw recognition of his gang as a way to achieve peace in the region.

The other journals also criticized US involvement in the war to liberate Kuwait. They criticized any government in the Middle East that seemed to be vaguely supportive of the United States, such as Turkey. And they praised terrorists and warlike tyrannies to the skies.

Basically, the politics of the other journals was simple. Anything the US did was wrong, no matter what it was. Anything the terrorists did was right. And that meant that there was no journal that addressed Middle East issues from the perspective of most Americans.

I feel that if most Americans simply were accepting gross untruths, it would make sense if every single scholarly quarterly took a very different stand all the time. But the reverse has been the case. The scholarly journals other than this one, in my opinion, were spouting reactionary lies. Those journals were opponents not only of truth, but of justice and of human rights. And it is the latter problem that made me so interested in this quarterly.

You see, I support human rights.

If you support human rights, and if you have any interest in what is going on in the Middle East, this journal is for you.