February 2011

The Arab democratic revolution and Saudi Arabia

by News Sources 02.28.2011

A group of Saudi intellectuals have published an open letter calling for national reform. We are witnessing, along with the rest of the Saudi population, the receding of Saudi Arabia’s prominent regional role; the deterioration of the government apparatus and administrative competence; the prevalence of corruption and nepotism; the exacerbation of factionalism; and the widening [...]

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Intifada update

by News Sources 02.28.2011

Saudi activists push for political reform Democracy activists in Saudi Arabia say the government is closely monitoring social media to nip in the bud any protests inspired by uprisings that swept Arab countries, toppling leaders in Egypt and Tunisia. Activists have set up Facebook pages calling for protests on March 11 and 20, with more [...]

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Libya uprising

by News Sources 02.28.2011

In ‘Free Libya’: Hey, who, exactly, is in charge here? It’s easy to find the headquarters of the Libyan opposition in Benghazi, the country’s second city and the hotbed of the uprising against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. Just head down to the Corniche, the city’s Mediterranean waterfront, and follow the cheering crowds hanging Gaddafi [...]

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Andy Kroll: the spirit of Egypt in Madison

by TomDispatch 02.28.2011

Reprinted with permission of TomDispatch.com Right now, at the invaluable Antiwar.com website — overflowing with blazing headlines — you can see two worlds of trouble awkwardly intertwined.  The first is a Middle East newly afire, one in which Muammar Qaddafi’s rotting, mad regime is shrinking to the size of Libya’s capital, Tripoli, while the rest [...]

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CIA linked to Pakistan Taliban

by News Sources 02.27.2011

Pakistan’s Express Tribune, which is affiliated with the New York Times, reports: As American newspapers lifted a self-imposed gag on the CIA links of Raymond Davis, in place on the request of the US administration, The Express Tribune has now learnt that the alleged killer of two Pakistanis had close links with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan [...]

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Libya uprising

by News Sources 02.27.2011

The New York Times reports from Zawiya: In this city 30 miles west of Tripoli, hundreds of people rejoiced in a central square on Sunday, waving the red, black and green flag that has come to signify a free Libya and shouting the chants that foretold the downfall of governments in Tunisia and Egypt: “The [...]

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The racist entity that is taking over Israel must be toppled

by News Sources 02.27.2011

Sefi Rachlevsky writes: The wretchedness of the law in the face of Rabbi Dov Lior has many meanings, and Lior’s refusal to be interrogated over his support for “The King’s Torah – The Laws for Killing Gentiles” – only marginally gets at the heart of the matter. Thirty years ago, the terrorist organization known as [...]

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Egypt: the military’s gambit

by News Sources 02.27.2011

Issandr El Amrani writes: I’m not sure how long the general Egyptian public can maintain the bizarre idea that the army is so great. This is the army that took power in a coup in 1952 and ended political pluralism, lost tons of wars after that and continued to justify its predation on the national [...]

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The military/media attacks on the Hastings article

by News Sources 02.27.2011

Glenn Greenwald writes: Last June, when Rolling Stone published Michael Hastings’ article which ended the career of Obama’s Afghanistan commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal — an article which was just awarded the prestigious Polk Award — the attacks on Hastings were led not by military officials but by some of Hastings’ most celebrated journalistic colleagues. The New [...]

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Why isn’t Wall Street in jail?

by News Sources 02.27.2011

Matt Taibbi writes: Over drinks at a bar on a dreary, snowy night in Washington this past month, a former Senate investigator laughed as he polished off his beer. “Everything’s fucked up, and nobody goes to jail,” he said. “That’s your whole story right there. Hell, you don’t even have to write the rest of [...]

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Intifada update

by News Sources 02.27.2011

The Economist’s index of unrest in the Arab world Tunisian interim PM Ghannouchi resigns over protests Tunisian interim Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi has announced on state TV that he is resigning – a key demand of demonstrators. He was speaking at a news conference in Tunis, after making a lengthy speech defending his record in [...]

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Libya uprising

by News Sources 02.26.2011

The New York Times reports: A bold effort by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi to prove that he was firmly in control of Libya appeared to backfire Saturday as foreign journalists he invited to the capital discovered blocks of the city in open revolt. Witnesses described snipers and antiaircraft guns firing at unarmed civilians, and security forces [...]

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Intifada update

by News Sources 02.26.2011

23 killed in Iraq’s ‘Day of Rage’ protests Tens of thousands of Iraqis surged into the streets Friday in at least a dozen demonstrations across the country, storming provincial buildings, forcing local officials to resign, freeing prisoners and otherwise demanding more from a government they only recently had a chance to elect. At least 23 [...]

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The ongoing revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia

by News Sources 02.26.2011

Following overnight clash between protesters and the Egyptian army outside the cabinet office near Tahrir Square, Cairo, Jack Shenker reports: The international press is reporting that the army has issued an apology for its brutality, which included demonstrators being beaten and tasered, but that’s not quite true. In fact it has posted a series of [...]

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Amid all the turmoil in the Middle East, al Qaeda remains invisible

by News Sources 02.26.2011

Jason Burke writes: In the summer of 2007, the senior leadership of al-Qaida decided on a major effort in Egypt, Algeria and Libya. Their campaign elsewhere in the Middle East, after an apparently promising start, had not been going very well. Public sentiment in key countries had turned against the extremists the moment bombs started [...]

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Iran reports a major setback at Bushehr nuclear power plant

by News Sources 02.26.2011

The New York Times reports: Iran told atomic inspectors this week that it had run into a serious problem at a newly completed nuclear reactor that was supposed to start feeding electricity into the national grid this month, raising questions about whether the trouble was sabotage, a startup problem, or possibly the beginning of the [...]

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Libya uprising

by News Sources 02.25.2011

Libya’s UN Ambassador Mohamed Shalgham addressing the UN Security Council: Ambassador Shalgham’s press conference: The New York Times reports: The United States closed its embassy in Tripoli on Friday and announced plans to impose unilateral sanctions against Libya, including the freezing of billions in government assets, as the Obama administration made its most aggressive move [...]

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Intifada update

by News Sources 02.25.2011

Hundreds of thousands protest across Mideast Hundreds of thousands of protesters turned out in cities across the Middle East on Friday to protest the unaccountability of their leaders and express solidarity with the uprising in Libya that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi is trying to suppress with force. The worst violence of the day appeared to be [...]

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Rescuing the white people from Tripoli

by Paul Woodward 02.25.2011

Ben Plesser spoke to the CBS’s Early Show about the situation at Tripoli’s airport: “There are thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of people packed into the terminal, mostly foreign workers. They’re Egyptians, they’re Turks, they’re from Southeast Asia. Every once in a while you see a western face. “They are living on the floor, wrapped [...]

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A great change is sweeping Arab political culture

by News Sources 02.25.2011

Issa Khalaf writes: As soon as news emerged that the Libyan protestors were also planning to take to the streets, I was horror-struck. This wasn’t going to be Egypt or Tunisia, or even frightened emirs, sultans, and monarchs. Libya has neither Egypt’s vibrant civil society nor developed institutions, nor a military that can easily challenge [...]

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Libya’s past and future

by News Sources 02.25.2011

George Joffe writes: Libya is essentially a desert, with the only areas that can support intensive residence located in the Jefara Plain, around Tripoli in Tripolitania, and the Jabal al-Akhdar behind Benghazi in Cyrenaica. The result has been that Libya’s six million-strong population, as a result of oil-fired economic development in the rentier state that [...]

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Christian-Muslim unity in Alexandria, Egypt

by Paul Woodward 02.25.2011

On Wednesday in Alexandria, a huge Egyptian flag was flown connecting the Coptic al-Qiddissin (Saints) Church to the adjacent mosque in a powerful display of religious and national unity. On New Year’s Day, the church was the target of a bombing that killed 23 people. The attack was internationally condemned. The Interior Ministry blamed “foreign [...]

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The US Army psy-ops operation designed to deceive America

by News Sources 02.25.2011

Michael Hastings reports: The U.S. Army illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in “psychological operations” to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war, Rolling Stone has learned – and when an officer tried to stop the operation, he was railroaded by military investigators. The orders came from the [...]

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Britain’s role in arming Gaddafi

by News Sources 02.25.2011

Associated Press reports: When Moammar Gadhafi told the world he was a changed man, some leaders were skeptical. Others, like Britain’s Tony Blair, were quicker to see the benefits of rapprochement with the oil-rich nation. Now, as Gadhafi’s regime crumbles, questions are being raised about whether Britain, the United States, and others were too quick [...]

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