The Olivebranch Network stems from the desire to help our friends in the Middle East and to educate those ignorant about Middle Eastern culture. All though I [olivebranch] have big hopes for this network the initial scope must be limited in order to set reasonable goals for keeping it alive and recruiting the right members.

The plan so far is to deal with two umbrella groups (Iran, Iraq) with important sub-topics being covered by writers/bloggers who have experience or expertise in the particular sub-topics. The topics will cover a wide range of issues from the economical & political, to the cultural and the social.

Middle Eastern culture is vastly different to the kind we are familiar with in the West, and knowledge of these differences (sometimes ever so small) is what allows people to grow closer. It is in this spirit we hope to provide a valuable resource for those seeking to understand the current situation in wich the we find the Middle East at the centre of global economics & politics, yet so socially, religiously and culturally isolated from the West.