Blogging the democratic revolution
The Iranian regime for decades has been a state sponsor of terrorism, both domestically and internationally. Concern is ever the more mounting after the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who may have been involved in, or even the leader of, the 1979 embassy hostage crisis. But how directly involved is the Iranian regime in funding and aiding terrorist groups? Apologists might say that the regime’s money trail and links to groups like Hizb’allah and Islamic Jihad are too obscure to trace and may not even exist at all. Well, they’re apologists, what do you expect? Even if there was ever evidence…
Bahrain isn’t exactly known for its vibrant civil society and liberal democracy, but it has slowly been developing since King Hamad began introducing slow reforms when he took power in 1999. That’s why protests there are so interesting to highlight. Today, 4000 protestors took to the streets because of a law recently passed that would restrict the greater freedom of association that had been earlier granted. I can imagine that wouldn’t sit well with anybody! MANAMA (AFP) – About 4,000 activists demonstrated to protest the ratification of a law regulating political associations in Bahrain, which opposition groups said will restrict…
In the wake of terrorist bombings against his country, Egypt’s President Mubarak has declared his candidacy in the upcoming presidential elections. Not that there was any doubt that he’d run for a fifth term, but now he has a platform to go on. President Hosni Mubarak announced his bid yesterday to run in Egypt’s first multicandidate elections on Sept. 7, promising new legislation to “besiege” terrorism and replace the country’s much-criticized emergency laws. Mubarak, 77, Egypt’s leader for almost a quarter of a century and a key U.S. ally in the Arab world, has cast himself as a moderating influence…
It looks like a couple of things are going down in Iran. Jim Hoft is rounding up news on a protest in front of Tehran University calling for the release of Akbar Ganji. But there is other unrest throughout the country. I’ve reported over the past week about the state of emergency and mass unrest in the Kurdish Iranian city of Mahabad among others. Here is an update on that.
It’s time for another hard hitting report by Amnesty International, and this time the Iraqi “insurgents” have found themselves in their, er, verbal crosshairs. They’re still recovering from the whole “Guantanamo = Gulag” controversy, so this is the perfect time to wise up and release a real report on real human rights abuses. It’s the perfect way to both get their credibility back and do the work they were started to do. The press release starts off really well too; with a real bang, if you’ll excuse the pun. Armed groups opposed to the US-led multinational force and Iraq’s government…
Earlier in the week I wrote about martial law being declared in Mahabad, a city in the north-western Kurdish area of Iran. According to Kurdish Media, protestors are defying the crackdown. And now, the protests are spreading throughout Kurdish cities in Iran. Since the killing of Shuana Kardi, a Kurdish activist, on Saturday July the 13th by the Pastaram in the city of Mahabad, Iranian Kurdistan, the people of this city have come every day to the streets in order to protest against the Iranian state????????s oppressive policy towards the Kurds. They expressed their demands for democracy, their national and…
OK, so it’s a bit of a stretch to put this under babes of politics, but I think you’ll let this one go: Pounding a beat, pistol in hand, an Iraqi woman soldier is a novelty in Baghdad: Pounding her Baghdad beat, wrapped in a bulletproof vest and brandishing a pistol, Sgt. Bushra Jabar definitely stands out in the new Iraq. She’s the only woman in the Iraqi Army unit patrolling the Kharkh district in the heart of the capital. … Her day starts with a ride to her base in the back of a military pickup truck. She’s wearing…
This is a roundup for the Egyptian blogosphere (plus some other Arab blogs) and the protests against terrorism which they are organizing. I’ll be updating this post as I get new links. I would like to note that I was in Luxor, Egypt in December 1997, shortly after the gunning down of foreign tourists at the Temple of Hapsetshut there. It really hurt the local people and they were very angry. There were signs in the streets saying “No to Terrorism” in Arabic only; this wasn’t a campaign for foreign consumption. There was also an Arabic-only interview with Egyptian national…
I have already discussed thoroughly the ongoing trade embargo that Syria is imposing on Lebanon. By closing off the border, Syria is effectively shutting out Lebanon’s only means by which to transport their goods to the rest of the Arab world. This in the middle of an enormous fiscal crisis worth upwords of $30 billion. Effectively, Syria is waging a trade war against Lebanon to throw it into crisis while saying that the Lebanese “can’t govern themselves.” One of Syria’s other tactics at sowing discord has been the targeted assassination of politicians in Lebanon. Today, another bomb went off in…
Kurds in western Iran, on the border with Iraqi Kurdistan, have been engaging in massive unrest following the election. Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty has superb background on the story as usual. Unrest among Kurds living in western Iran, which has been continuing for several weeks, has prompted a government investigation that began on 20 July. This comes on the heels of low levels of Kurdish participation in the June presidential election, which may be indicative of their sense of exclusion from the country’s politics. The Kurds are not promoting separatism, and the central government may find that meeting…
On July 19th I posted on a leak of the draft Iraqi bill of rights, which was published in Arabic on June 30 and translated to English on July 6. After I posted about that draft, a new one was released on July 20 and subsequently translated by Nathan Brown at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Given the three weeks of separation between these two drafts, significant and progressive changes can be seen since June 30. You can read the full text of the new draft, accompanied by the old one, here. One of the smallest yet significant changes…
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice decided to pay a surprise visit to Beirut, Lebanon this fine Friday. The purpose of the visit is to give support to the new government after the withdrawal of Syria. Here are the details: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Beirut on Friday for a surprise visit, the first by Washington’s top envoy to Lebanon since Syria’s April troops withdrawal from this country under U.S.-led international pressure. Rice arrived on a private plane that landed at 1 p.m. (1000 GMT) and she is expected to meet President Lahoud, according to presidential spokesman Rafik…
It looks like there is a mass mobilization against the self-serving and corrupt government. Check it out: SANA????????A ???????? Violence spread through a number of cities in Yemen on Wednesday, July 20, resulting in a number of deaths and numerous injuries, as protestors displayed their anger at price increases imposed on fuel and gas. The protests turned violent when crowds in the capital????????s areas of neighborhoods of Tahrir, Al-Hasaba, Hayl, and Taiz Street began to smash advertising hoardings and block roads with uprooted trees and bushes, and burnt tires. Dozens of security force units were dispatched to the scenes and…
After several attempts at presenting various cabinet line ups, President Lahoud has finally approved a package of ministers worked out by Premier-designate Seniora that will form the whole of the new government. Again, can someone say finally? It’s been exactly a month now since parliamentary elections were held. Now, Seniora will begin working with the cabinet toward fixing the country’s problems, especially dealing with Syria and the debt crisis. Prime Minister Fouad Seniora gave a dramatic assurance to the nation that he would not levy new taxes as his newly formed government went through the motions of taking office Wednesday…
The al-Mada newspaper on June 30 published what is apparently a draft version of the equivalent to the Bill Of Rights that is being worked on by a subcommittee in the Iraqi legislature. Omar from Iraq The Model first reported this on that day and provided his commentary on the document, but ultimately it was too large to translate. Nathan J. Brown of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace provides a valuable public service by translating the entire document, so a big hat tip to him. Let’s take a quick look at some of the features of this bill, as…
The leader of the Christian political party Lebanese Forces, who has been in jail for over eleven years, has been given parole by the new parliament, thus securing one of the major demands of the original anti-Syrian opposition. Church bells rang across Lebanon’s Christian heartland Monday as parliament overwhelmingly passed a parole bill that put Lebanese Forces commander Samir Geagea on the homestretch of his race to freedom, hopefully by the end of the week. Long convoys of cars with honking horns joyously toured the streets of Besharri, Geagea’s hometown in north Lebanon’s cedar mountains and around his house in…
Right now I am in the midst of a three-part series on the aftermath of the London bombings of July 7. I just finished part two early this morning, and part three will be a progress report on both current progress and failures in the global war. Two things I have read recently have prompted me to draw together some disparate comments on the Muslim role here – Karim Elsahy’s Pray4Peace project and the recently released Pew survey on Muslim attitudes toward democracy, terrorism and al-Qaeda. Karim’s project, Pray4Peace, centers around the idea of a Muslim-led campaign, inclusive of members…
It’s disgusting to watch Assad, knowing that he’s going to lose in the end, as he continues to kick and scream all the way to the graveyard. Yet the man just can’t help himself. You have to wonder how some “experts” can still consider this guy a reformist when he is doing every thing he can to make sure that the progress being made in Lebanon. For that, he still has his goon in place, dearest President Lahoud, who continues to veto every single cabinet line up presented to him by the Premier-Designate. President Lahoud and Premier-Designate Fouad Seniora were…
Last Tuesday I posted an entry about Egypt, Egypt Legalizes Moderate Islamist Movement, which suggested a watershed event for the Wasat (Center) Party, a moderate Islamist front. I also posted the same entry on my blog, and a reader who is apparently from Egypt made the point that there is still a level of review above the court which approved Wasat’s political license, and that the government has in the past used this higher level review to disapprove of parties. My post may therefore have overstated the significance of this event. You can read the comment and my response at…
According to Al-Hayat, the Jordanian government of Prime Minister Adnan Badran is having further problems surviving a vote of confidence due to recent increases in the price of basic foods (see “The Badran Government Seek the Confidence of Representatives and Opposition Parties Call for Him to Leave,” July 15, but no longer on the paper’s site). This is a partial translation: …Tens of demonstrators representing the leaders of the parties and the heads of the professional unions demanded the resignation of the government, describing it as “The Hunger Government” and holding up signs rejecting the government’s decision to raise the…
Big Pharaoh posts what he thinks each religion should do in order to make the world a better place. There are many I don’t agree with, but then again, I find some of them both agreeable and hilarious. Allah does not give a dead rat’s ass about a girl’s hair. If you’re sexually excited when you see a girl’s hairs then you’re the sick pervert. Hijab is not a fard (obligation). It does not add or decrease the “good points” that a girl gets when she makes it to heaven. Perceived verses about women’s covering were for the women of…
An interesting poll was released the other day that shows terrorism has lost its clout among Muslims in the Middle East, while democracy has made solid gains. Ed Morrissey has more thoughts on this, which I agree with. So the question begs: Are we witnessing the beginning of a dramatic shift of opinion against extremism in the Muslim world? Perhaps, as this other recent survey shows, people in the Middle East are worried about the election of Iran’s new president. London, Jul. 15 ???????? A recent survey conducted by a research and studies website run in the United Arab Emirates…
The following is a translated letter from Akbar Ganji, courtesy of the Free Ganji blog. It is an interesting read, from a man who is becoming the largest rallying cause for human rights inside Iran.
Now, let’s be all dramatic like most of the headlines which say, “Middle East Ceasefire Shattered.” Because honestly, the truce was a big lie anyway. Now the possibility exists that the Palestinian government will have to succumb to more terrorist leadership or kill it outright. Policeman of the PA and Hamas terrorists are fighting now in Gaza as Abbas has declared a state of emergency. The fighting began when the government confronted Hamas after it attacked Israel. The Palestinian Authority declared a state of emergency in the Gaza Strip last night, hours after an Israeli woman was killed when a…
Kirk let me know about this a couple of days ago. It’s interesting, because you see several groups ranging from the Muslim Brotherhood to Kifaya coming together to put a crack in the current system. This is a trend in all authoritarian countries with emerging oppositions, but nonetheless, these are some unlikely temporary bedfellows. In any case, expect Kirk to have more on this later, but here’s the news anyhow. CAIRO, Egypt ???????? Opposition movements from across Egypt’s political spectrum joined in opposition to President Hosni Mubarak Wednesday with calls for a boycott of September’s presidential vote ???????? heralded by…