Blogging the democratic revolution
John Burgess has another article by a woman writing in support of suffrage., as well as letters to the editor regarding a previous article. Very cool stuff. Women’s suffrage shouldn’t even need evidence to back itself up, however, these womens’ ability to write logically and eloquently on the subject lends a great deal of additional…
Picked up the story from Bloggledygook. Captain Ed reports a little-told story that the Taliban in Afghanistan is starting to give up the fight and rejoin society on peaceful terms. One of the Taliban’s most senior and charismatic commanders has become a key negotiator as more and more members of the Islamic militia in Afghanistan…
Across the Bay has a couple pictures of the protests in Lebanon. No smoke or mirrors — that’s a lot of people.
Arthur Chrenkoff lands a sweet interview with Michael Ledeen, holder of the Freedom Chair at the American Enterprise Institute. If you were a member of that “war cabinet” what three things you would suggest the United States should do that is not currently doing? We should be funding more (mostly private) radio and television broadcasting…
This is why I hate waking up late. The Lebanese are continuing their rather impressive protests to end the occupation by Syria. And it looks as if the French are working with America on this. BRUSSELS, Feb 21 (AFP) – US President George W. Bush and his French counterpart Jacques Chirac on Monday called for…
The BBC has an article by the same name, dealing with the imprisonment and torture accorded to those who oppose the mullahs. Iran is becoming an increasingly dangerous place to keep an online diary. Web logs have become a popular forum for dissent. And the Iranian government has responded by arresting dozens of bloggers. Some…
This is Egypt, a country I’m not too familiar with in terms of the political situation. So you’ll have to judge for yourselves on the character of the prostesters. CAIRO (Reuters) – Several hundred Egyptians protested in central Cairo on Monday in the largest street demonstration since the launch last year of a campaign against…
Another crazy report, just like a lot of the bunk charges that come out of Human Rights Watch. Great name, great mission. Terrible follow through. LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Nearly two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, women there are no better off than under the rule of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, the…
A sly man by the name of Tony let me know about his blog today, called Across the Bay. This is not a paid advertisement — I could only be so lucky — but this blog is of special note because it is totally about Lebanon. Here is a little bit about the author: Ph.D….
Do I ever say how much I love news roundups? Yes, quite often. Even though I have many posts on Lebanon already, Arthur Chrenkoff offers a fantastic multi-dimensional roundup of his own!
Thomas L. Friedman makes an eye-opening personal account in the Houston Chronicle regarding the rules Syria plays by, namely, none: When Syria’s Baath regime feels its back up against the wall, it always resorts to “Hama Rules.” Hama Rules is a term I coined after the Syrian army leveled ???????? and I mean leveled ????????…
There are two noteable articles on Lebanonwire that I noticed. The first is that Chirac is being accused of aiding the opposition. BEIRUT, Feb 19 (AFP) – Lebanese Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad accused French President Jacques Chirac Saturday of encouraging the opposition during a visit to pay condolences after the assassination of former premier…
Regime Change Iran’s daily briefing is up. New satellite intel shows that Iran is building an underground tunnel just north of the Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) at Esfahan. It appears too big to be only for storage. It might be intended to house production facilities for some uranium conversion processes.. Iran already has about 500…
John Burgess at Crossroads Arabia posts an article from Arab News written by a woman that counters arguments against women’s suffrage. Last week, Raid Qusti wrote yet another article about women and elections. This was not the first time he tackled the issue, making it clear to all of us, again, that he agrees with…
In a sweeping post, The Faces of G comments on the new alignments: Several key anti-U.S. states have been more public in their movements and alignments. A week ago, North Korea boasted of its nuclear weapons. Syria and Iran get together to build a ‘common front’ Änothing new, just a PR stunt reallyÅ. Today, Russia…
Sweet: BEIRUT, 19 February 2005 ???????? The opposition parties in Lebanon declared an ???????uprising for independence??????? yesterday and called for the pro-Syrian government to step down so that a new government can be formed to oversee a Syrian military pullout. This escalated a war of words following former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri????????s assassination on Monday….
Regime Change Iran’s news briefing is up, with quite a few items that are easily missed otherwise.
There are a couple of more reactions to the events on Lebanon that I thought were worth reading. The first comes from Ali at Free Iraqi: It seems that the horrible crime that took place in Beirut won’t go unpunished. Despite the continues allegations of the Syrian and Lebanese government and the crocodile tears their…
John Burgess posts what first seems like a pretty insignifcant story: JEDDAH, 18 February 2005 ???????? The Labor Ministry????????s recent decision to postpone for another three years the Saudization of taxi business infuriated Saudis working in the sector who have now sought the intervention of higher authorities. The drivers complained of the losses they said…
Winfield Myers emailed me to let me know about this post of his on Democracy Project. Harvard will be paying for six Iraqis to attend its institution for the weekend. A fantastic idea, in theory, until the curriculum became available: Getting full exposure to the typically busy life of a Harvard student, the Iraqi visitors…
For background on ex-PM Rafik Hariri, Wikipedia has it, and this post by Kirk H. Sowell is a great primer to Lebanon. I guess moral support really does help: BEIRUT (Reuters) – President Bush (news – web sites) called on Syria on Thursday to withdraw its forces from Lebanon as Lebanese opposition leaders vowed to…
John at Crossroads Arabia has been posting quite frequently, so I think it is only fitting to let you know about some some of them. First, he has an editorial on the lack of female participation in the Riyadh elections, then one how how Saudis view their country post-election. Also, here is one regarding who…
Before I hit the sack, CNN has a picture gallery of the events before and after Hariri’s assassination. It includes pictures of the protest against Syria. I also found a Lebanon news in pictures website, along with a Lebanon news wire.
Regime Change Iran has posted its Wednesday news briefing on what’s going on in Iran.
Just today, the Israeli parliament approved funds for the pullout and compensation of settlers in Gaza. JERUSALEM, Feb. 16 — Israel’s parliament on Wednesday approved a nearly $1 billion financial package to pay for withdrawing Israeli troops and Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, delivering a major victory to…