This issue of “Madarat Gharbiya” explores one of the most controversial issues in the region - Minorities in the Middle East, from the perspectives of several American and European researchers and writers. This gravely sensitive issue has been approached via both historical and contemporary directions taking into consideration its geo-strategic aspects.
 

• The publisher of “Madarat Gharbiya”, Dr. Mohammed Nehme, conducted an interview with French anthropologist Mikail Barah. Dr Barah spoke of the geo-political aspects of the minority and ethnic mobilization within the Arab World, its effects on Arab nationalism, and the future aspects of such movement.
   
• British historian David Fromkin highlights the historical background for the inception of the “Middle East” between 1914 – 1922, noting the role of the ethnic minorities and the ambiguity of this creation as a result of the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the new imperial powers during WWI.
   
• Mark Lavergne reports on the latest developments of the conflict in Southern Sudan focusing mainly on the roots and roles of the Janjawid militia in the Darfur region.
   
• Iraqi affairs expert Jean-Pierre Luizard writes about the restructuring of power in Iraq in the midst of a severely acute division among the Iraqi racial, ethnic, and sectarian groups. He suggests a way to prevent the disintegration of Iraq.
   
• German writers Daphine Antachopoulos and Annika Schipke provide their analytical views regarding the latest developments in Iraq and Sudan.
   
• American writer Peter Galbraith argues whether “balkanization” is the best solution for the future of Iraq.
  
  

• A dialogue with French researcher Benyamin Stora about the minorities of Northern Africa, highlighting the tribal conflict between Algeria and Morocco and its effects on the future of the region.
   
• “The Armenians of Lebanon Post WWI,” is a document published by the Armenian Cultural Association in France that focuses on the existence of the Armenians in Lebanon and their social, cultural, economic, and political activities, since their deportation and massacres, on the hands of the Turks, during WWI.
   
• French writer Jean-Louis Peninou, in an article titled “The Desolation of Darfur,” reflects on the latest developments of peace and war in that region.
  

• European thinker and geographer Pierre George analyzes the factors of unity and disintegration discharged by the geo-politic of minorities throughout the world and its role in changing local, regional, and international maps at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
  
  

• Madarat teams assorted a collection of documents and reports that deal with minorities in the Middle East, namely the Kurds, Mauritania’s tribes, and the minorities of Southern Sudan.
  
  

• In this section, the reader finds an article on the relationship between the Internet and democracy. Another article surveys the web position of the North-African tribes, as well as an interview with the web-based Amazig language developer, Abdul-Razzaq Mihamo.
  
  

In the last section of this issue, “Books”, the reader finds a selection of book reviews (from Europe and North America) that shed more lights on the File's Issue: