Blogging the democratic revolution
It doesn’t get much better than this. I’m translating an excerpt from an article in the Iraqi newspaper Al Bawaba, “Parliament Reviews the Constitution Issue and Jabar Renews His Attacks on Saudi Arabia“: The Iraqi interior minister renewed his attacks on Saudi Arabia during an interview broadcast on Tuesday focusing on how Saudi Arabia treats women and Shia Muslims two days after he described a member of the Saudi royal family as “one of those Bedouin riding a camal.” Interior Minister Bayyan Jabar told the satellite channel Al-Jazeera that it is upon the Saudis first to establish a democratic system……
Amid the heaviest fighting since the intifada, the Palestinian government of PM Qureia is coming under ÄfigurativeÅ fire for its inability to deal with parallel military authorities like Hamas. Policeman stormed the parliament building to protest the government’s inability to equip and train them properly to deal with the problem, while legislators themselves voted that Qureia should be replaced within two weeks if this doesn’t happen soon. About 40 Palestinian policemen broke into the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza City on Monday, firing in the air to protest what they said was the humiliation police are facing because of attacks…
While the most over-reported story (and the most debunked) story in the press this past August was the drafting of and the opposition to the Iraqi constitution, the most under-reported story in September is how ongoing negotiations have moderated large portions of the document’s opposition. In fact, as some of the contentious issues have been negotiated down, and the document has circulated amongst the general population, its approval and acceptance has become more likely. While we can’t perfectly predict what will happen, major leaders on the playing field are saying that they will not mount strong campaigns against the constitution,…
From the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri on Feb. 14 to the almost successful assassination attempt on journalist May Chidiac this past Sunday, there have now been 13 attacks in Lebanon which have appeared to target Lebanese opponents of Syrian domination (Reuters:
Confirming strongly our theory that the babes go where the heart of the action is. At the Iraq war counterrallies this weekend to defend Iraqi freedom and stand up for U.S. troops, there are some spectacular examples. Go see it here.
Israel began its “disengagement” from the Gaza Strip five weeks ago, essentially removing all Jewish settlers within a week, although the withdrawal of the IDF from all Palestinian areas was not completed for a few weeks afterward. Prior to the withdrawal, there were some, including myself, who argued that withdrawing from Gaza without an agreement with the Palestinian Authority to disarm terrorist groups – especially Hamas – would lead to not only more attacks on Israel, but increased internecine Palestinian strife, possibly even the implosion of the PA itself, requiring a bloody reoccupation by the Israeli military. (If it helps…
This report from the Guardian Unlimited draws an accurate picture about how Islamist groups like the Badr Brigade and the Sadrists, while they forcefully maintain the peace, have infiltrated government and society at all levels to the point where they are, in fact, the ones in control. Basra has not been beset by the levels of violence seen in Baghdad and the Sunni triangle but the relative calm that has held since the fall of Saddam Hussein is now under threat, say residents and diplomats. They draw a picture of a once proud but now impoverished port city steadily falling…
The difficulties that Iraqi Shia, Sunnis and Kurds have had in governing their country following their elections have given the world lots of headaches, especially for the United States. But if you really want to see a group of political parties having a difficult time putting together a stable coalition, look to Germany. The best headline I’ve seen in a while comes from the English version of Der Spiegel: Germany Loses Its Own Election. Here are some other English language links from the same publication: Merkel’s Bitter Defeat Who Want’s to be Germany’s Chancellor? Preliminary Results Show Schroder, Merkel Stalemate…
I have now posted my Middle East Week in Review post for Sept. 18. I also have a seperate post explaining why I have decided to stop posting daily and instead focus on just posting 1-2 in-depth analysis pieces per week, plus my Week in Reveiw news bulletin.
The delegation of the United States, along with those of many other countries, were not present as Iran’s terrorist president was delivering a speech at the United Nations summit. Meanwhile, over 2000 people outside protested his visit to America. Ouch. In other mainstream news, Iranian president blasts US in first United Nations speech.
The Weekly Standard published its 10th anniversary edition this past week, and as part of that had a series of articles from its writers on what they changed their thinking about given the passing of events. You have to have a subscription to read the articles, but there was one that stood out enough that I thought it worth excerpting. The excerpt is from Reuel Marc Gerecht, a specialist in international affairs and intelligence reform. I focus on this one because I have gone through a similar transformation myself. In both his case and mine, the 9/11 attacks were a…
Ever since the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri earlier this year, there has been a strong suspicion that Syria was behind it, although proof was lacking. The UN-led investigation of the murder seems to be turning up some clues, however. Meanwhile, U.S. and Iraqi officials turn up the heat on Damascus over its role in supporting the terrorist insurgency in Iraq. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) commented on both issues today: …In Lebanon, a U.N. investigation led by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis (and assisted by the FBI) is making arrests and turning up leads in the…
Unofficial counts are giving Mubarak a vote count perhaps as high as 80%, with liberal opposition candidate Ayman Nour only up to 12%. This is, perhaps, pretty realistic given the circumstances, and for more on that you should read my previous post. I went into great detail on how fraud and irregularities can be committed by the government, and because of all of these things, the opposition is now claiming massive fraud in the elections. CAIRO (AFX) – Indignant opposition candidates and independent monitors claimed that incumbent Hosni Mubarak’s camp had massively violated electoral law during Egypt’s first contested presidential…
Egyptians voted on Wednesday in the country’s first ever multi-candidate presidential elections. They no longer had to choose between yes or no for Mubarak, but between ten different candidates. Despite this, however, the day was marked with intense voter apathy. Egyptians are casting their ballots in the country’s first ever presidential election. And no-one in Egypt doubts who will win. The incumbent – Hosni Mubarak – who’s been in power for 24 years and is running for another six-year term, faces no real competition from the nine other candidates, most whom are virtually unknown. The better known ones, such as…
Sandmonkey has an update on the Egyptian elections taking place very soon. In sum, the NGOs want to monitor the election, the electoral commission said no, the courts said yes, the commission said “screw you,” and for some reason a delegation from the House of Representatives doesn’t mind. It goes back to the judicial rebellion a couple of months ago, when somewhere around 4000 judges all demanded that they be given complete oversight of the election process, not limited to just the polls as the government has tried to do. Most of the fraud will occur behind the scenes, after…
I hadn’t noticed this since I was moving, but The Belmont Club linked to my essay, “It all comes down to federalism,” and discussed it with a great deal of historical context. Here’s an excerpt with the conclusion: Each behind his Mason-Dixon Line. Of course it can hardly stop there. With a Shi’ite state in southern Iraq and an independent Kurdistan, fueled by vast oil reserves, the wrecker ball may keep on rolling. Syria and Turkey, with their large Kurdish minorities would soon have to reckon with the new Kurdish state. Iran may try to dominate southern Iraq, but a…
In the interest of continuing the elevation of debate, I think it’s about time to once again tackle the issue of swim suits in Saudi Arabia. You will want to read the first post if you haven’t, which deals with what exactly these swim suits look like, and then the second post, which deals with the discussion that erupted because of it. Stefania dropped an image off that explains everything perfectly. Just click here. That’s right, folks, another reaffirmation that Publius is not a blog to be showing your kids before bed time.
Every reason about why Iraqis are divided over the constitution, from Islamic law to oil distribution to Saddam’s tighty whities, has been beaten like a dead camel in the desert. And almost all of these controversial issues have been worked out, getting down to nit-picky arguments about words like a and the. Important words, no doubt, but ones that could be and were eventually resolved through necessary negotiation. The only issue that can’t seem to be resolved is that of federalism, probably the single most divisive and important issue regarding how Iraq will be ruled in the years to come.…
Al-Hayat is reporting that the editor of the independent newspaper Al-Wasat was kidnapped by armed men driving a government vehicle at about 6:00 a.m. on Aug. 23. He was bound, beaten, and threatened with beheading. Then they told him that he might want to “remember his children.” What did this journalist do to deserve this? As Al-Hayat reports: “Al-Wasat had published information regarding the children of government officials studying in the United States, Britain and Malasia with all expenses paid by Ästate-runÅ oil companies.” It has also “published articles criticizing the political system.” For more details, see this post from…
It seems that my post on sexy Saudi swimwear has turned into something of a blogospheric debate. Our good friend Stefania over at the Free Thoughts blog posted on the swimwear as well, and it triggered some disagreement with Egyptian blogger Miss Mabrouk, who says that we were being culturally insensitive and the real issue is modesty. My post got linked under the word “disrespect.” Ouch. In any case, Stefania wrote another post responding to Miss Mabrouk in which she lays out how it isn’t really about modesty, but how women should have the choice of whether they want to…
In my post yesterday, “Perspective on Islam in Iraq’s constitution,” I argued that Afghanistan has near similar wording in its own constitution and that the mainstream media didn’t harp on it in January 2004. Afghanistan has also not turned into a religious police state like Iran since then. So why is the media barking lunacy over the Iraqi constitution? Alenda Lux was kind enough to prove me wrong. No, not that the media didn’t talk bad about the Afghani constitution, but they actually praised it lavishly. Here is what the New York Times said in an editorial back then: Afghanistan’s…
I’m going to make this short and sweet. Bill Roggio posts the latest excerpt from the Iraq constitution and believes that the threat of Islam being a main source of legislation, thus creating an Islamic state like Iran, is overstated by the media. Here is the excerpt: The political system is republican, parliamentary, democratic and federal. 1. Islam is a main source for legislation. * a. No law may contradict Islamic standards. * b. No law may contradict democratic standards. * c. No law may contradict the essential rights and freedoms mentioned in this constitution. Bill Roggio is absolutely correct…
If you’re sick and deranged like me, you’ve been refreshing Iraq the Model every five minutes to see the latest updates on the National Assembly meeting. It looks as if they have delayed the vote on the draft itself for three more days so that the parliamentarians will have time to read it over, discuss amongst themselves, and make grandstanding statements to the press. That said, the Shiites and the Kurds have gone ahead and worked out their differences in the constitution, including oil distribution, federalism, and the role of Islam in making laws. The latter being the most disheartening…
The Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), known for its civil unrest and terrorist tactics from countries ranging from Syria to Turkey to Iran, has declare a truce with the Turkish government after the prime minister promised to resolve the problem through more democracy — meaning, trying to help the Kurds out in their demands. I think it’s a good development. ANKARA, Turkey – Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in this nation’s impoverished southeast region on Friday announced a one-month cease-fire. A top commander of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, confirmed what he termed a “suspension of hostilities”…
Oh, yes. Mubarak has his official election campaign website up, in English, complete with an “email the president” feature. Click here to let him know what you think about him. As for me, I’ve written him a poem: Roses are red Violets are blue Babes in bikinis Look better than you But that’s probably a given. I was never particularly good at poetry. Jim Hoft writes: Roses are red. Violets are blue. Mubarak will win hands down. Do you think it will rain?