Blogging the democratic revolution
Al-Hayat has reported that an Egyptian court has legalized a moderate Islamist political movement (“Egypt: Judge Qubtay Grants Islamist Party a License by Decree“). Under Egyptian law, political organizations have to have a license to operate, and the country’s largest Islamist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, is still denied one. This decree means that the New Center Party, led by Abu Ala Madi, an engineer, is the only legal Islamist party in Egypt. The article notes that this decision overrules a decision by the state Council for Party Affairs. The party, associated with what in Egypt is referred to as al-wasatiyya…
Students at Tehran University launched a protest against the regime to release all political prisoners. Of all people, a Reuters journalist was on the scene and wrote about it with pictures. TEHRAN, July 12 (Reuters) – Iranian police beat dozens of protesters with batons on Tuesday at a demonstration to call for the release of Iran’s most prominent jailed journalist. About 150 people, mostly students, had gathered in front of Tehran University chanting “political prisoners must be freed” when dozens of police moved in to break up the protest. The rally was in support of Akbar Ganji, an outspoken critic…
Reality Check Time on the Israeli/Palestinian Front – Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, now scheduled for next month, is leading the Israeli-Palestinian peace process – if such a thing exists – toward disaster. Ironically, the withdrawal, known in Israel as the “Disengagement Plan,” has wide support everywhere in the world outside Gaza itself – from most Israelis, from other Arab governments, especially Egypt, which is helping in the implementation, from the European Union, the United Nations and from the United States. I originally supported it myself, but it has become clear to me that this will lead to a…
Another car bomb has gone off in Beirut, but this time with a twist. This politician, Elias Murr, is considered pro-Syria. Lebanon’s caretaker Vice Premier and Defense Minister Elias Murr survived an assassination bombing ambush with minor and medium burns in Beirut’s suburban district of Naccache Tuesday. Local media reports spoke of one to four others killed in the explosion that ripped Murr’s motorcade to shreds. The reports said Murr, 45, the son-in-law of President Lahoud, was helped out of his armor-plated four-wheeler Porsche by onlookers and was taken to the nearby Serhal hospital in Lebanon’s Christian heartland where he…
Big Pharaoh posts this. I think it’s extremely revealing and effective. It shows the progress of female status in Egyptian society over the years. 1900-1920 1920-1940 1940-1975 2005 2020? 2050?
Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Abbas offered Hamas to take part in the government cabinet so that a stable situation can be built post-Israeli pullout. At least that’s the reason he gives. In any case, it didn’t take much brain power to know that they’d refuse this offer. Palestinian mujahid group Hamas rebuffed an invitation to join the Palestinian cabinet, snubbing President Mahmoud Abbas who wants a unity government to help him control Gaza after Israel’s planned pullout. Hamas spokesman Mushir al – Masri said that Forming a unity government at this late time will not be useful. But…
Probably not a coincidence either: It’s becoming all too predictable. Whenever there is an important date for the pro-democracy forces inside of Iran, the student movement website is shut down. July 9th is the anniversary of the bloody crackdown on student demonstrators in Iran.
It looks like some people in Lebanon are suffering post-electoral loss syndrome. That is, the pro-Syria crowd outside of Hizb’allah is going nuts out of office. Perhaps they don’t know what to do with themselves now that they can’t terrorize people’s lives with the government. With this dire impropriety in their lives, it must be hard for them to keep still and play cricket like the rest of the blue hairs, so they’ve had to resort to shooting rival politicians. Lebanon worried Sunday over the outbreak of post-elections violence that left one man dead and seven others hospitalized as Premier-Designate…
According to the New York Times (registration required), Syrian Kurds, many of them denied not only equal protection of the law but also citizenship, are increasing pressure on Damascus for change. With democratic revolutions under way to the west in Lebanon and to the east in Iraq, the former being explicitly anti-Syrian and the latter being anti-Baathist, the Baathist regime of Bashar Assad in Damascus is feeling the heat. This is an excerpt from the NYT report (“Kurds, Emboldened by Lebanon, Rise Up in Tense Syria”): …But as Syria endures heavy international and domestic pressure to change, storm clouds are…
I hate to say “I told you so,” but I recall a few people not believing me or the pictures that I posted, so consider this a kick in the butt. Even moreso when you consider that the “average” numbers are inflated as well. Election date has been made available on the Interior Ministry’s website. The Guardians Council, the body tasked with supervising Iranian elections, announced on 29 June its endorsement of the second round of the Iranian presidential election five days earlier, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported. Yet analysis of election data — available at the Interior…
Interesting choice, too. It was a foregone conclusion that Saad Hariri probably wouldn’t try for it, as he and Lahoud would constantly clash — and that’s not good for a newcomer into politics (Lebanese politics, no less). But I thought that they may have stuck with Mikati, who replaced Karami. Here’s the article. By Lucy Fielder BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Lebanese parliament on Thursday chose Fouad Siniora, the anti-Syrian former finance minister, to head the first government in three decades to take office without Syrian troops in the country. President Emile Lahoud, a long-time Syrian ally, is obliged to respect…
Those interested in development issues in the Arab world might find it worth while to read a back and forth discussion of the future of the Arab world taking place between my blog and that of an Egyptian architect-turned-political activist, Karim Elsahy (pronounced es-sahhi, with a hard “h”). Elsahy’s blog, One Arab World, contains a few posts explaining his political project followed by a series of comments by various (mostly) Arab bloggers (but in English). My post deals with two different things: the first part is a response to a request for comment by Elsahy regarding a statement in President…
One of the two key problems facing the new Lebanese government is what to do about pro-Syrian President Lahoud and who to elect to the position of Parliament Speaker. The new parliament, which has not yet convened, has called on Lahoud to resign, a call he is obviously ignoring. WASHINGTON (AFX) – Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, who most of his parliament wants to resign, said he will remain in his post despite accusations he covered up assassinations. ‘I’m not resigning,’ he told CNN. ‘I’m staying until the end of my term.’ On Thursday, Lebanon’s new parliamentary majority called for Lahoud…
Pro-Syria, pro-Hizbollah Speaker Nabih Berri has been re-elected by the anti-Syrian parliament: The 128-seat assembly, dominated by opponents of Syria for the first time since the 1975-1990 civil war, voted by an overwhelming majority of 90 for Berri, despite international and local reservations over retaining one of the main enforcers of Syria’s grip over its tiny neighbor. Though the May 29-June 19 elections were won by groups that opposed Syria’s role, they had little choice but to back Berri for a fourth straight term after his alliance with the Hizbollah guerrilla group won over 80 percent of the Shi’ite Muslim…
Christopher Hitchens has another must-read article in this month’s Vanity Fair. This time, Hitch visits Iran (now becoming possibly the only “scribbler” to have visited all three Axis of Evil members since 2000). I have a post and link on the article here. Hitchens once again reveals what is at the base of another rancid government that keeps an ancient and great civilization under its heal. The value here is that the author has no agenda to push from either the right or left. He’s perfectly willing to credit the Bush Administration when credit is due and continues to refuse…
Fraudster to fraudster, who could be more pleased with Iran’s stolen election than Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez himself? I guess this means he’s not the only guy at the election fraud party. Read the whole thing here.
I was just about to post a translation of an article from Al-Hayat on the Libyan opposition’s conference which closed yesterday, and then I noticed that one of my collaborateurs beat me to it with this article a few hours ago (linking to ABC’s website). But the Al-Hayat article takes a different angle on the issue from the ABC article, and so may be worth reading as well. I’ll just provide the link: Window on the Arab World, and More! I will note that whereas our own A.M. Mora y Leon makes the point that the Libyan opposition seemed to…
It sure looks like it: LONDON Jun 25, 2005 ???????? Mohammed al-Senousi calls himself a prince, although he has had no throne since his grandfather was ousted in a 1969 coup by Moammar Gadhafi. Al-Senousi, 42, joined hundreds of Libyan opposition members in London on Saturday to push for Gadhafi’s ouster their first conference in exile to tell the world, they said, there is an alternative to Gadhafi that is not Islamic extremism. This group, though seems pretty negative and thinks it more important to condemn the U.S. for recognizing Khaddafi for his improved record than just getting on with…
Let’s get one thing straight: whether it was Rafsanjani or Ahmadinejad who was selected to win, it doesn’t really matter. When looking at Iran, one only has to know that irregardless of anything, the Guardian Council and Supreme Leader Khamenei in particular control the political levers of the country. Michael Ledeen puts it eloquently, much better than I at two in the morning: Please keep two basic facts in mind as this melodrama unfolds: Neither Rafsanjani nor Ahmadinejad has any intention of altering the basic structure of the Islamic Republic, nor of “liberalizing” Iranian society (the Reich was not notably…
Last week, I wrote about how the media got the story wrong on Iran. Hopefully, they will not make the same mistakes that they made then. To help them out, I’m going to compile articles and photos that show that the Iranians once again boycotted the sham elections in huge proportions. The word has to get out to the world that the regime is completely illegitimate even in the eyes of its own people. If there was ever a time to act, it’s now! Click “more” for all the articles and photos. And remember, if you are a journalist or…
UPDATE: The regime was forced to move the Los Angeles station. New location is listed at the link. The regime is simply relentless! Here is the list of polling places that will be set up tomorrow. If there is one in your hometown or nearby, investigate! Assemble! Protest! Call the FBI. I’m currently in Sacremento at the moment, without a car, and with no ride out. Lucky for them. So if anyone is in one of these local areas, please get out there! A notable removal from the list is the polling place in Tucson, Arizona. Ha! I guess they’re…
For those of you have have read my report on the Iranian polling station in Tucson, you may be pleased to know that the Washington Times, in an article entitled “Iran’s sham election — on U.S soil,” has picked up my experience as well as that of Will Franklin’s down in Houston and will be investigating further. But the dissidents have their own informal intelligence networks that gather information about where the voting will take place, a fact that displeases the regime and its supporters. On Friday, a clash occurred at one of the polling places, located at the Commerce…
Kirk just yesterday wrote a great article detailing the way that the U.S. strategy is moving forward to deal with political reform in Egypt. I think linking our aid to moves in the direction of sustained political openness is definitely the best way to go. In light of reading his article, I though I’d check to see if there have been any immediate after-effects, and indeed, it appears as if Mubarak has allowed a protest to go unhindered by the riot police. CAIRO — Egyptian police opened the streets of north Cairo yesterday to political protests for and against President…
Your profession is a noble one. A free press is foundational to a free society. In challenging powerful institutions to answer the hard questions others fear to ask, journalists have led to the collapse of corrupt leaders and helped ensured our democracy. You have done so by reporting the truth in spite of the threats and objections of those in power. Reporting from Iran is dangerous. It is hard to tell the truth in Iran. It takes courage. We are all to aware of the case of photo-journalist Kazemi, who was murdered by the Iranian government, for merely photographing a…
I have traditionally been a supporter of the foreign aid that the United States gives to the Egyptian government, mainly on the premise that the soft authoritarianism of Hosni Mubarak’s government was the only alternative to an Islamist takeover which could throw the region into war. Following the 9/11 attacks and further reflection, however, I have come to the view that Mubarak’s stifling government and our close relationship with it breeds anti-Americanism, and furthermore acts as an incubator for militant Islamism because all non-Islamist civil society is snuffed out. On Tuesday, Congress passed its $20 billion foreign aid budget which…