Blogging the democratic revolution
Perhaps another confirmation of what we may see in the future of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah promised Condoleezza Rice that the kingdom would be sufficiently liberalized to hold national elections within 15 years. Saudi King Abdullah promised Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a series of reforms that could give the desert kingdom an elected government within 10 to 15 years, says a senior U.S. official who was present when the two met in June. “He professed to transform his country and talked about having a representative government within a decade or a decade and a half,” said the official, who…
Looking for beautiful women in bikinis? Try Monterrey. Definitely don’t look in Saudi Arabia. Check out the latest summertime fashion in Riyadh. Hat tip to Light Seeking Light. Click here for the rest of this tantalizing assortment of swimsuits. UPDATE: Now here we go. The Religious Policeman does a mock interview with the Saudi Minister of tourism: RP: So men and women will be able to go swimming up there? M: Certainly RP: Together? M: I didn’t say that. Swimming together, as you know, is un-Islamic. Most hotels only allow the men to go swimming. However there are one or…
Even with the winner a foregone conclusion, the unprecedented multi-candidate presidential elections in Egypt started today. The official campaign period for Egypt’s landmark presidential election opened Wednesday. Ten men, including sitting President Hosni Mubarak, are vying for the presidency in the country’s first multi-candidate election. The three leading contenders for the presidency all scheduled rallies for Wednesday to launch their election campaigns. Incumbent President Hosni Mubarak decided not to wait for the rally and took out a full-page ad in Egypt’s largest newspaper, the government-run Al-Ahram. A private television station bought space on another page, trumpeting its exclusive coverage of…
Unrest from the Kurds in Syria is continuing to forment against the Assad regime, driving cracks into its shaking rule on power. Protests and riots have become more and more frequent in recent months. Violent clashes between Syrian Kurds and police have erupted in the northern town of Ein al-Arab, according to a human rights organisation. The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in Syria said rioting broke out after Kurds were prevented from showing their support for a banned separatist group. Cars were damaged and stones thrown at police who responded by firing tear gas and making a number of…
In the email: One of the most positive recent developments in Morocco has been the rise of TelQuel Magazine, a French-language weekly publication that regularly push the envelope in shocking ways. Most prominent was a massive cover story a few months ago detailing King Muhammad VI’s salary. Other taboo-breaking cover stories have included pieces on re-interpreting the Quran, homosexuality in Morocco, and the country’s drug sub-culture. For a while, TelQuel’s groundbreaking and thrilling journalism seemed to be a sign of progress toward genuine freedom of expression in Morocco – albeit with an unquestioning respect for the king’s right to rule.…
For anyone else watching the riveting countdown to the constitution, Iraq the Model is the place to be. Omar has been giving up-to-the-minute updates on the National Assembly session, which was required to approve a draft constitution for referendum by midnight. They convened at just past 11, which really means that they were cutting things close. Given that a few very important issues remain unresolved, however, the assembly voted to change the TAL charter to allow themselves an extra week to work on the draft. BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – Iraq’s parliament agreed to a seven-day extension for leaders to complete…
Joshua Landis at Syria Comment reproduces an interview with a Syrian human rights lawyer and opposition activist, Anwar al-Bunni. The entire post is worth reading, but I’m just going to excerpt part of it to focus on two issues: (1) the relationship between regime change in Iraq and the position of Kurds in Syria and (2) the relationship between the Syrian opposition and U.S. foreign policy. I’ll have some comments below. This is an excerpt from the interview, “Anwar al-Bunni: Interview with Syria’s leading Human Right Lawyer, By Joe Pace“: …We hear a lot that the Iraq war empowered Syrian…
With Monday looming as the deadline to submit the Iraqi constitution to the National Assembly for a vote, we’re all sitting here wondering, “Will it be done on time?” President Talabani thinks so. In fact, he’s saying that it will be done early. BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – Iraqi leaders rushing to finish a constitution Saturday reported tentative agreements on distribution of oil wealth and other issues, but there was no deal on the main obstacle: federalism. President Jalal Talabani predicted the constitution would be submitted to the National Assembly on Sunday – one day before the deadline for parliamentary approval.…
I have generally had a moderate to good impression of Abd al-Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution, to which Iraq’s current prime minister also belongs. Perhaps this is because when I have seen Hakim it has mainly been on Al-Jazeera, where he appears with other commentators, most of whom are yelling about how much they want to kill Americans, so he comes off as an epitome of reason and tolerance. But I think right now he is on the course of promoting an idea which is really bad. Hakim is advocating that the Iraqi constitution, which…
With the government of Israel maintaining staunch in its position, and opponents to the plan becoming desperate as the day of reckoning comes ever the more closer, an enormous rally was held in the capital of Tel Aviv in protest of the Gaza pullout plan. Youth activists set up a little tent village as their base for singing and handing out orange ribbons to passersby. Demonstrators poured into Rabin Square, asking for general elections while reciting prayers. The police would not give a number, but it is estimated that somewhere between 100,000 and 300,000 people joined the rally Thursday evening.…
As the deadline for drawing up the new constitution for Iraq is approaching, women and civil society groups are becoming more and more vocal of their opposition to groups who wants sharia to be the civil law of the land. However, whenever they take to the streets to protest, their stalkers arise out of the mist. These stalkers aren’t men, but other women who are perfectly willing to see them subdued. It’s a game of demonstrators versus counter-demonstrators. BAGHDAD (AFP) – A group of ultraconservative Iraqi women confronted a protest by their liberal opponents in central Baghdad as tensions mounted…
When Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. troops and handed over to Iraqi democracy to face justice, just about every Western ambulance-chasing lawyer on the left leapt to his defense. They were a seasoned lot, having one way or another defended every tyrant they knew, some from the days of Daniel Ortega in Marxist Nicaragua, and some from even earlier, as in the days of Vietnam or Stalin’s USSR. They were in the same package of people who come to commie countries to cut cane sugar or teach ‘literacy’ in the name of propping up some dictator. But…
There has been much debate over whether Abdullah’s formal succession to the throne will allow reform to begin its progression in Saudi Arabia; a task that no doubt has odds generated by entrenched totalitarianism stacked against it. A move that looks promising, and is hopefully an indication of things to come, is that Abdullah just pardoned high-profile reformists who were jailed simply for their dissent. JEDDAH, 9 August 2005 ???????? In a day of dramatic developments and in a show of magnanimity, King Abdullah just seven days into his reign, pardoned three jailed high-profile reformists and a group of Libyans…
With news of the draft constitution circling the streets, women aren’t all that happy knowing that legislation will be based on sharia and certain rights won’t be given. So what do they do about it? Make their views known by exercising their right to assembly! This was the first civil rights protest held by women’s groups in the holy city of Najaf. It was reported by Radio Free Iraq, but this is the only account I could find of it on Google News (now that’s pathetic!). Women representing 17 civil society groups took the streets of Najaf on Aug. 3.…
The new terrorist president of Iran will have to give an address to the United Nations soon. The Bush administration is thinking of preventing that from happening. The Bush administration is considering taking the unprecedented step of preventing a visting head of state from addressing the United Nations in New York by denying a visa to Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, Iran’s new elected conservative president. Officials said a decision rested on investigations into whether Mr Ahmadi-Nejad was involved in the 1979 US embassy hostage crisis and the killing of an Iranian-Kurdish dissident leader in Vienna in 1989. Iran denies his involvement in…
U.S. blogger Steven Vincent, whose book ‘In The Red Zone’ about Iraq, was kidnapped by Iraqi terrorists dressed as police in Basra and shot dead several times. His blog and his books were critical of terrorist infiltration into the Iraqi government, and were favorably reviewed. What an atrocity. What a damn shame. If you are not familiar with Steven Vincent, you can read about him here and here. UPDATE – with a hat tip to M: This recent essay about the sexiness of democracy in the Middle East is exquisite. What a terrible tragedy this writer’s death is! Don’t miss…
Eric Raymond has an interesting and well-reasoned piece up about our notion of Iraq’s recovery. His hypothesis is that as long as the Kurds want in, Iraq’s fine; if the Kurds see trouble, they’ll get out — and we’ll know. Makes sense to me. Definitely read the whole thing, for ESR’s typically lucid writing as well as for the rest of his thoughts. (Also, of course, the discussion in the comments thread.) UPDATE: Chrenkoff throws in some upward-looking opinion poll results.
The lessons of history never fail to escape the minds of some. Hitler raged on about his goals in the most overt manner while the rest of Europe believed that one invasion after the other would be enough to appease him. Likewise, the government of Iran, best known for its chants of “Death to America,” is beginning to remove the UN seals on its nuclear reactors while maintaining that the energy will only be used for peaceful purposes. This program has been secret for 18 years, who really believes that? Who really believes now that North Korea’s secret program, even…
Hear that poofing sound? It’s the showering, shattering of electronic pixels as one by one, British Intelligence destroys al-qaida Web sites. The move cuts critical communication lines among terrorists. Suddenly they can’t plot and giggle together through sinful Western Internet technology. They’ll have to go back to inscribing on Stone-Age tablets or something. Or give up terror altogether. In war, it’s not enough to just cut financing lines and indoctrination houses like madrassas – communication lines are important, too. It’s so in any war. Britain and the U.S. should have done this a long time ago. This is war and…
Yesterday Robert posted an entry, Pro-Mubarak Thugs Beat Up Kefaya Protesters, dealing with the attempt by democracy activists in Egypt to hold a rally and Hosni Mubarak’s violent reaction. There is also an article in today’s New York Times (registration required) on this, so I won’t go into the details. I wanted to add that there are some new photos of the attacks on protesters. You can see them here and here. (Hat tip: The Arabist Network) I would like to suggest that now is a good time for President Bush to announce that the United States is ending its…
A reader named “Cynic” made a response to my post, The Atlantic Monthly on Yasir Arafat, which raised both a valid factual point and an argument that needs to be rebutted, to explain why it is wrong. Cynic wrote: What is known and not discussed is that the State Department went along with the Arab League and the EU, in the 80s, and ???????elected???????? Arafat, and his PLO, as sole representative of the Palestinians. Now had this not come about, how many lives could have been spared? Imagine if the the families of the dead and the maimed could take…
Fausta at BadHairBlog, citing someone named ‘Cake Eater’ has a truly marvellous comparison of the efforts of the McCartney sisters to break the back of the vile IRA terrorists, versus the non-efforts of too many Muslim “moderates” to halt the Islamofascists among them. it’s been speculated that it’s because these moderate Muslims are afraid to speak up, for fear that the Islamofascists will turn on them. Well, it appears that six women—who loved a man as a brother and a fiancee—proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back when it came to the IRA. Robert McCartney, a Belfast…
Jim Hoft is rounding up all the news on this. In other news, the candlelight vigil against terrorism being organized by Egyptian bloggers was cancelled. Big Pharaoh posts his reaction. Egyptian Sandmonkey is also feeling melancholy, and so is Karim Elsahy. Better luck next time guys, I wish it would have worked out.
An exceptional example of good journalism, the current issue of the Atlantic Monthly has a front cover article on Yasir Arafat, “In a Ruined Country: How Yasir Arafat Destroyed Palestine.” It is very detailed, and I think it would be especially enlightening to those who haven’t followed Arafat closely over the years, but even if you have it is worth reading. Written by David Samuels, it is based not simply on documentary records but on a series of interviews with old Arafat companions following his death. This is what makes it entertaining. You can’t read it online without a subscription,…