The U.S. wants a U.N. investigation of the most recent chemical weapons accusations in order to protect itself from repeating Bush’s error in Iraq (where yet another 26 people were killed today) and Russia  wants it because it is expects the rebels have fabricated the evidence …
- On Syria, Obama Says No Rush Toward Costly Interventions (Reuters)
- In Syria Chemical Weapons Debate, Russia Toes Middle Line (Christian Science Monitor)
… but even the children who have escaped the carnage of the war cannot escape its consequences …
- Â UN: Syrian War Has Uprooted 1 Million Children (Christian Science Monitor)
… and FBI director Robert Mueller fears Americans fighting in Syria may bring the war home with them:
Blaming his murder spree during his fourth deployment on alcohol and other drug abuse, Sgt. Bales is sentenced to life …
- Sgt Robert Bales Apologises for Afghan Massacre (BBC)
- U.S. Soldier Who Killed Afghan Villagers Gets Life Without Parole (Reuters)
… but why wasn’t Maj. Hasan, an American soldier who boasts to having deliberately targeted other American soldiers because he switched sides in a war tried for “treason” rather than “murder”?
- Fort Hood Shooter Selected ‘Personal Kill Zone:’ Prosecutor (Reuters)
- Fort Hood Gunman Maj Nidal Hasan Guilty on All Counts (BBC)
In the Qur’an God says “fear them not, but fear Me”; although Mubarak was released on a technicality, the timing of the release makes it symbolic of the of the significance army’s full-force repression that, although it intimidates many, does not intimidate all Egyptians, and thousands continue to go to the streets …
- Muslim Brotherhood Names New Chief as It Struggles to Rally Supporters (McClatchy)
- Low Turnout at Egypt’s Protests Highlights Islamists’ Disarray (Christian Science Monitor)
… and “[t]housands of Bahrainis were allowed to march peacefully outside Manama calling for democratic reforms on Friday, 10 days after police cracked down on scattered protests organized by an online group inspired by recent demonstrations in Egypt”:
“We have some female flight attendants. Would you be able to follow their instructions?” Oh, sure, that question would be nowhere near as insulting had it been put to a Muslim passenger; but Jetblue stands by its crew member’s decision to deny the brown-skinned man service:
“Four rockets fired on Thursday caused damage but no casualties in northern Israel. They were claimed by an al Qaeda-linked Sunni Muslim group rather than Hezbollah” but to Israel an Arab is an Arab whether Sunni, Shia, or Christian and a spokesman says it “will not tolerate terrorist aggression originating from Lebanese territory” …
… but to the Lebanese the distinctions are only too clear:
Khalid Asakreh, released in the deal brokered by John Kerry “now supports nonviolent ways of ending Israel’s occupation of the West Bank,” but the man who taught him nonviolence, called Palestine’s Nelson Mandela, continues to languish in an Israeli jail along with thousands of other political prisoners:
- Released Palestinian Prisoner: “I Have Changed Completely“Â (Christian Science Monitor)
With a $5m bounty on his head, the man “accused of masterminding a deadly siege at an Algerian plant in January” has announced the merger of his al-Qaeda linked “Masked Men Brigade and the Mali-based Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa” to “take revenge against France for its military campaign in Mali”:
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