Posts tagged politics

Photo: Turkish and Syrian protesters shout slogans against Syrian President Bashar Assad at a demonstration after Friday prayers in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo Credit: Tolga Bozoglu / EPA)

Photo: Turkish and Syrian protesters shout slogans against Syrian President Bashar Assad at a demonstration after Friday prayers in Istanbul, Turkey.

(Photo Credit: Tolga Bozoglu / EPA)

US policymakers hope they can control the Arab Revolution The Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a US think tank is hosting a book launch for “The Arab Uprising: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East” by Dr. Marc Lynch. US policymakers hope they can control the Arab Revolution and shape the nature of change according to US interests.    In The Arab Uprising, Dr. Lynch examines the emerging regional landscape in the Middle East, one in which, he argues, the old heavyweights - Iran, al Qaeda, even Israel - have all been disempowered, and nations like Saudi Arabia are powering a new cold war. Dr. Lynch highlights the new fault lines that are forming between forces of revolution and counter-revolution and shows what it all means for the future of U.S. foreign policy. Deeply informed by inside access to the Obama administration’s decisionmaking process and first-hand interviews with protestors, politicians, diplomats and journalists, The Arab Uprising is an unprecedented and indispensible guide to the changing lay of the land in the Middle East and North Africa.

US policymakers hope they can control the Arab Revolution

The Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a US think tank is hosting a book launch for “The Arab Uprising: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East” by Dr. Marc Lynch. US policymakers hope they can control the Arab Revolution and shape the nature of change according to US interests.   

In The Arab Uprising, Dr. Lynch examines the emerging regional landscape in the Middle East, one in which, he argues, the old heavyweights - Iran, al Qaeda, even Israel - have all been disempowered, and nations like Saudi Arabia are powering a new cold war. Dr. Lynch highlights the new fault lines that are forming between forces of revolution and counter-revolution and shows what it all means for the future of U.S. foreign policy. Deeply informed by inside access to the Obama administration’s decisionmaking process and first-hand interviews with protestors, politicians, diplomats and journalists, The Arab Uprising is an unprecedented and indispensible guide to the changing lay of the land in the Middle East and North Africa.

Syria timeline: how the conflict has escalated - interactive

Syria timeline: how the conflict has escalated - interactive

Guardian

Over 10 years in Afghanistan and US forces have still learned nothing ISAF personnel at Bagram Air Base improperly disposed of a large number of Islamic religious materials which included Korans… When we learned of these actions, we immediately intervened and stopped them. The materials recovered will be properly handled by appropriate religious authorities. (General Allen, ISAF) (Photo Credit: Shah Marai/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images)

Over 10 years in Afghanistan and US forces have still learned nothing

ISAF personnel at Bagram Air Base improperly disposed of a large number of Islamic religious materials which included Korans… When we learned of these actions, we immediately intervened and stopped them. The materials recovered will be properly handled by appropriate religious authorities. (General Allen, ISAF)

(Photo Credit: Shah Marai/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images)

In Bashar al-Assad’s Syria, it is not just forbidden to speak, demonstrate and protest: it is also forbidden both to give medical treatment, and to receive treatment yourself. Since the beginning of the uprising, the regime has been waging a merciless war against any individual or institution capable of bringing medical aid to the victims of repression. “It’s very dangerous to be a doctor or a pharmacist,” a pharmacist from the Baba Amro neighbourhood of Homs tells me. Medical personnel are imprisoned – like the nurse in the nearby district of al-Qusayr, arrested the day after he showed me around his hidden emergency-care centre, its carpets covered with plastic tarpaulins to protect them from blood – or killed, like Abdur Rahim Amir, the only doctor in that centre, murdered in cold blood in November by military security, while he sought to treat civilians wounded during the army’s assault on Rastan to the north. Or tortured.
First published in Le Monde. Translated by Charlotte Mandell. (c) Jonathan Littell

Guardian

Morocco’s resilient protest movement On February 20, 2011, Moroccan youth activists, inspired by protesters in Tunisia and Egypt, staged major demonstrations for democratic reform and “freedom and dignity for all Moroccans.” Avoiding the indecision and dramatic scenes of repression seen in other Arab capitals, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI responded rapidly with a televised address that acknowledged the protesters’ grievances and promised major constitutional reforms, including a stronger parliament, free and fair elections, and the protection of human rights. Following a national referendum on the king’s constitutional amendments and watershed elections that brought new leadership to power, what has the February 20th movement accomplished? Who has benefited from the protest movement? One year on, who are the winners and losers? By Adria Lawrence, an assistant professor of political science at Yale University

Morocco’s resilient protest movement

On February 20, 2011, Moroccan youth activists, inspired by protesters in Tunisia and Egypt, staged major demonstrations for democratic reform and “freedom and dignity for all Moroccans.” Avoiding the indecision and dramatic scenes of repression seen in other Arab capitals, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI responded rapidly with a televised address that acknowledged the protesters’ grievances and promised major constitutional reforms, including a stronger parliament, free and fair elections, and the protection of human rights. Following a national referendum on the king’s constitutional amendments and watershed elections that brought new leadership to power, what has the February 20th movement accomplished? Who has benefited from the protest movement? One year on, who are the winners and losers?

By Adria Lawrence, an assistant professor of political science at Yale University

mideast.foreignpolicy.com

Cultural Cleansing in Iraq Why Museums Were Looted, Libraries Burned and Academics Murdered by Raymond W. Baker, Shereen T. Ismael, Tareq Y. Ismael Why did the invasion of Iraq result in cultural destruction and killings of intellectuals? Convention sees accidents of war and poor planning in a campaign to liberate Iraqis. The authors argue instead that the invasion aimed to dismantle the Iraqi state to remake it as a client regime. Post-invasion chaos created conditions under which the cultural foundations of the state could be undermined. The authors painstakingly document the consequences of the occupiers’ willful inaction and worse, which led to the ravaging of one of the world’s oldest recorded cultures. Targeted assassination of over 400 academics, kidnapping and the forced flight of thousands of doctors, lawyers, artists and other intellectuals add up to cultural cleansing. This important work lays to rest claims that the invasion aimed to free an educated population to develop its own culture of democracy.

Cultural Cleansing in Iraq
Why Museums Were Looted, Libraries Burned and Academics Murdered
by Raymond W. Baker, Shereen T. Ismael, Tareq Y. Ismael

Why did the invasion of Iraq result in cultural destruction and killings of intellectuals? Convention sees accidents of war and poor planning in a campaign to liberate Iraqis. The authors argue instead that the invasion aimed to dismantle the Iraqi state to remake it as a client regime.

Post-invasion chaos created conditions under which the cultural foundations of the state could be undermined. The authors painstakingly document the consequences of the occupiers’ willful inaction and worse, which led to the ravaging of one of the world’s oldest recorded cultures. Targeted assassination of over 400 academics, kidnapping and the forced flight of thousands of doctors, lawyers, artists and other intellectuals add up to cultural cleansing. This important work lays to rest claims that the invasion aimed to free an educated population to develop its own culture of democracy.

plutobooks.com

Syria: seven–year–old girl shot as she called messages of support from bedroom window

The bravery of Assad’s regime:

As Syrian troops unleashed the first wave of the week – long barrage against Homs last week, mosques across restive districts of Damascus called citizens to prayers of protest. At 2.30 in the morning, calls of “God is Great” washed across the districts from the minarets and residents took to the streets in angry protest. “Julnar heard the mosque’s call, so she started to wake me up. She wanted to join in,” said her mother. “I put a chair at her bedroom window for her to stand on and I started chanting ‘Allah Akhbar’ with my daughter.” Suddenly the little girl fell to the ground.

Blood was oozing from two bullet wounds in her stomach. Panicked, her mother rushed her to a neighbour’s ground – floor apartment. Outside came the constant rattle of gunfire as government troops sought to silence the protest. “I knelt quietly next to my dying daughter on the floor. I held her hand, I whispered with her verses that Muslims must say before they die,” said her mother. “Around me everyone was weeping and screaming. Somebody massaged her chest”.

Read More

If the western protests, such as the Occupy movement and the Indignados, are put in this global context, then a picture begins to emerge of world-wide reaction against a common predicament. This may be the case, but there is an important caveat. The opposition to economic trends in the wealthier countries stems from people, who are by no means desperate, yet are educated, frustrated and angry with the concentration of wealth, as well as facing prospects much poorer than their parents. In the majority world of the South, people face far greater problems, often concerned with basic issues of health, nutrition and even survival.

They are more educated and knowledgeable than a generation ago, and their predicament gives scope for the rapid evolution of radical, and even extreme, social movements - the Naxals being an example. What is not clear is whether the coming years will see a coalescing of diverse movements into a phenomenon that is more truly global. It is certainly possible, and it could be aided by two factors - the duration of the period of austerity and even recession in western states, and the extent to which a global economic downturn makes the situation even more difficult for the majority in the Global South.

A World Divided - or Coming Together?

Paul Rogers January 2012
The Oxford Research Group (ORG)

oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk

In No One’s World, Charles A. Kupchan boldly challenges this view, arguing that the world is headed for political and ideological diversity; emerging powers will neither defer to the West’s lead nor converge toward the Western way. The ascent of the West was the product of social and economic conditions unique to Europe and the United States. As other regions now rise, they are following their own paths to modernity and embracing their own conceptions of domestic and international order. Kupchan contends that the Western order will not be displaced by a new great power or dominant political model. The twenty-first century will not belong to America, China, Asia, or anyone else. It will be no one’s world. For the first time in history, the world will be interdependent—but without a center of gravity or global guardian.

In No One’s World, Charles A. Kupchan boldly challenges this view, arguing that the world is headed for political and ideological diversity; emerging powers will neither defer to the West’s lead nor converge toward the Western way. The ascent of the West was the product of social and economic conditions unique to Europe and the United States. As other regions now rise, they are following their own paths to modernity and embracing their own conceptions of domestic and international order.

Kupchan contends that the Western order will not be displaced by a new great power or dominant political model. The twenty-first century will not belong to America, China, Asia, or anyone else. It will be no one’s world. For the first time in history, the world will be interdependent—but without a center of gravity or global guardian.

cfr.org

We do trade with governments that are not democratic and have bad human rights records.

Vince Cable, the UK Business Secretary, quoted in an article by the Sydney Morning Herald, “Britain still supplying arms as Bahrain crushes protests”. 

…in the third quarter of last year Britain exported arms to Saudi Arabia, including components for combat vehicles. During last year’s uprising, Saudi Arabia sent forces to Bahrain in British military trucks… Foreign Secretary William Hague told the committee Saudi forces were sent into Bahrain last year ”to guard installations but not to take part in dealing with unrest in Bahrain, so they did not fall foul [of export guidelines]”.

We feel rest assured by the integrity of the UK government as a beacon and upholder of human rights.

Syria’s Info Wars: Branch 225

The Arab Awakening is distinguished by how information and communication technologies have contributed to precipitating change in the Arab world, and how autocratic regimes have tried to use open technologies to crush the people.  

Branch 225, a unit within Syria’s intelligence services appears to coordinate the regime’s info war strategy by instructing the country’s mobile operators to block text messages, which contain terms pertaining to the Syrian Revolution.

The country’s mobile operators are using filtering technologies developed by Irish based companies, Cellusys and AdaptiveMobile to weaken the ability of the people to coordinate political activities. Bloomberg News reports:

Read more »

Algerian artist paints his generation’s despair The self-taught artist shows off a series of his portraits of friends, members of a disaffected generation who walk the streets of Algiers without training, degrees, jobs or much hope for the future. Anger and disillusionment are rife among Algeria’s young. Those aged under 35 now make up two thirds of the unemployed among the 36 million people of the oil-rich but impoverished north African country.

Algerian artist paints his generation’s despair

The self-taught artist shows off a series of his portraits of friends, members of a disaffected generation who walk the streets of Algiers without training, degrees, jobs or much hope for the future.

Anger and disillusionment are rife among Algeria’s young. Those aged under 35 now make up two thirds of the unemployed among the 36 million people of the oil-rich but impoverished north African country.

france24.com