March 2011

Comments on War in Context

by Paul Woodward 03.19.2011

For much of the last year, I’ve been wondering whether it’s worth me devoting time to moderating and responding to reader comments. Initially, this issue arose because my coverage of Israel/Palestine was attracting the attention of increasing numbers of Zionist trolls. In recent days it’s become clear that I’ve alienated a number of readers due [...]

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Mohammad Nabbous, face of citizen journalism in Libya, is killed in Benghazi

by News Sources 03.19.2011

NPR’s Andy Carvin described Mohammad Nabbous as “Libya’s Cronkite” and “the face of Libyan citizen journalism.” CNN’s Ben Wedeman: “Mohammed Nabbous was one of the courageous voices from Benghazi broadcasting to the world from the beginning. Smart, selfless, brave.” Andy Carvin: “One thing to take away from Mo’s death this morning. His final reporting made [...]

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Libyans disappoint the anti-war movement and the anti-imperialists

by Paul Woodward 03.19.2011

The mere fact that Gaddafi has been served notice that continued military operations will bring reprisals has not been sufficient to persuade him to implement a unilateral ceasefire which he already promised. Benghazi is currently under attack. Meanwhile, as missiles are coming down on the last refuge of the Libyan revolution, a strange message is [...]

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Libya, the US, and the moral imperative to intervene

by News Sources 03.18.2011

Shadi Hamid writes: Finally, after much “dithering” – which seems to be the consensus word choice for Obama’s sputtering Mideast policy – the US has finally suggested that it can, sometimes, do the right thing, even if it does it three weeks later (I looked back to see when I had written my Slate article [...]

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How Obama turned on a dime toward war

by News Sources 03.18.2011

Foreign Policy reports: At the start of this week, the consensus around Washington was that military action against Libya was not in the cards. However, in the last several days, the White House completely altered its stance and successfully pushed for the authorization for military intervention against Libyan leader Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi. What changed? The [...]

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Libya – rough guide to the new UN Security Council resolution (1973)

by News Sources 03.18.2011

Carne Ross writes: Here’s a quick and provisional analysis of the main provisions of last night’s SCR 1973. I am not a lawyer, so my reading may not be wholly accurate, though I have negotiated a lot of these kind of resolutions, including on Libya and Iraq. This analysis should serve as a rough and [...]

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What next? How does this end?

by Paul Woodward 03.18.2011

How does this end? The time at which this became a question whose answer could not be avoided was this beginning of this week. It was not in reference to a no-fly zone or any other form of international military action aimed at Libya. It was in reference to Muammar Gaddafi’s advance on Benghazi. For [...]

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The fight for Libya

by News Sources 03.18.2011

Simon Tisdall writes: Muammar Gaddafi’s ceasefire offer will not satisfy western leaders queuing up to take a shot at him – but it’s unclear what will. When the US and its allies invaded Iraq in 2003 the aim was to overthrow Saddam Hussein. When Nato entered Kosovo in 1999 its purpose was to stop ethnic [...]

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Intifada update

by News Sources 03.18.2011

The revolution reaches Damascus Until this week, it appeared that Syria might be immune from the turmoil that has gripped the Middle East. But trouble may now be starting to brew. On March 18, popular demonstrations escalated into the most serious anti-government action during Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s decade-long rule. Security forces opened fire on [...]

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Toward a strategy for the new Middle East

by News Sources 03.18.2011

Paul R. Pillar writes: The wave of popular unrest in the Middle East has stimulated armchair strategists to offer over-arching advice on how the United States should deal with what may be a substantially changed region. As with any other fast-moving foreign policy challenges (or opportunities), policymakers will necessarily be focused more on what is [...]

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A marriage made in hell

by News Sources 03.18.2011

Hossein Askari writes: While there may be truth to the adage that “opposites attract,” a happy and long lasting relationship must be based on common values, respect and shared interests. Do America and the absolute rulers of Saudi Arabia share such a basis for a long-lasting relationship? How will Muslims judge our marriage to the [...]

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Obama weighs talking to the Taliban, Hezbollah

by News Sources 03.18.2011

David Ignatius writes: In a rapidly changing Islamic world, the Obama administration is weighing how best to talk with adversaries such as the Taliban and, perhaps, Hezbollah. One model for the administration, as it thinks about engagement of enemies, is the British process of dialogue during the 1990s with Sinn Fein, the legal political wing [...]

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The fight for Libya

by News Sources 03.17.2011

Hana El-Gallal, a law professor from Benghazi, writes: The global community must act to stop Gaddafi and his forces reaching Benghazi. If he gets here, he will kill everyone. We in Benghazi, in what is left of Free Libya, have a very simple message for the Security Council. Please, do something. We are desperate for [...]

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Intifada update

by News Sources 03.17.2011

Opposition leaders arrested in Bahrain as crackdown grows Bahrain arrested six opposition leaders on Thursday, kept the main hospital surrounded by troops and tanks and imposed a nighttime curfew on the center of its capital as it moved to the next stage of its crackdown on reform-seeking protesters, sending the political opposition into crisis. A [...]

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Bradley Manning’s military doctors accused over treatment

by News Sources 03.17.2011

The Guardian reports: A leading group of doctors in the US concerned with the ethical treatment of patients has questioned the role of military psychiatrists in Quantico, Virginia, where the suspected WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning is being subjected to harsh treatment that some call torture. The advocacy body Physicians for Human Rights has sounded the [...]

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Tom Engelhardt: What U.S. air power actually does

by TomDispatch 03.17.2011

Taking the “war” out of air war By Tom Engelhardt When men first made war in the air, the imagery that accompanied them was of knights jousting in the sky. Just check out movies like Wings, which won the first Oscar for Best Picture in 1927 (or any Peanuts cartoon in which Snoopy takes on [...]

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UN Resolution 1973/2011 adopted

by News Sources 03.17.2011

UN Security Council Resolution 1973/2011 on Libya – full text 10 in favour, zero against, five abstentions. Voting for the resolution: Permanent members: United States, Britain, France Non-permanent members:: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Gabon, Lebanon, Nigeria, Portugal, South Africa Abstentions: Permanent members: Russia, China Non-permanent members: Germany, Brazil, India The Resolution authorizes member states “to [...]

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Obama’s indecision on Libya has pushed Clinton over the edge

by News Sources 03.17.2011

The Daily reports: Fed up with a president “who can’t make his mind up” as Libyan rebels are on the brink of defeat, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is looking to the exits. At the tail end of her mission to bolster the Libyan opposition, which has suffered days of losses to Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s [...]

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The death of fear

by News Sources 03.17.2011

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International alliance forming to stop Gaddafi

by News Sources 03.16.2011

Libya’s Deputy Permanent UN Representative warns that a convoy of 400 military vehicles are headed to destroy Ajdabiya and that the UN must intervene in the coming hours. The New York Times reports: The prospect of a deadly siege of the rebel stronghold in Benghazi, Libya, has produced a striking shift in tone from the [...]

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We in the Middle East have replaced humiliation with dignity

by News Sources 03.16.2011

Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, writes: The wave of revolutions in the Arab world was spontaneous. But it also had to happen. They were necessary in order to restore the natural flow of history. In our region – west Asia and the south Mediterranean – there were two abnormalities in the last century: first, colonialism [...]

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Bahrain regime promoting sectarian division

by News Sources 03.16.2011

Marc Lynch writes: While the American and international debate over Libya continues, the situation in Bahrain has just taken a sharp turn for the worse. A brutal crackdown on the protestors followed the controversial entry of security forces from Saudi Arabia and three other GCC states. Media access has been curtailed, with journalists finding it [...]

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Egypt’s army cracks down

by News Sources 03.16.2011

Rania Abouzeid reports: The bare-chested 20-year-old Egyptian turns slowly to reveal a broad back that resembles a work of sadistic abstract art — a bloody, bruised composition of pink, red and purple. Long, deep gashes had been sliced through his skin; welts, pinker and more superficial, crisscross his body. His upper left arm is a [...]

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