Author: Alejandro

According to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, at least 69% of Americans want some sort of cut in the Iraq war funding: Most in Poll Want War Funding Cut (Washington Post) Although the US has tried several different carrot-and-stick approaches to weakening the rebels in Iraq, several Sunni nationalist and Islamist armed groups have…

After effectively crushing Egypt’s weak secular opposition, the government seeks to contain the powerful Muslim Brotherhood through a series of whimsical arrests and military tribunals: Cairo Moving More Aggressively To Cripple Muslim Brotherhood (Washington Post) Reviewer Diane Wertz says the new comedy-drama series focusing on a Muslim teenager’s sojourn with an American family “is too…

Alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 13 other “high value” detainees are finally given the right to seek legal counsel after it being denying to them for almost five years: U.S. to Allow Key Detainees to Request Lawyers (Washington Post) “It is as if he is trying to sound like the ‘agents of [in]tolerance’…

15 Independent Egyptian papers forge a consensus on protesting the government’s recent clampdown on journalists and papers, refusing to publish in early October, while local Tunisian civil society groups score a small, but important win for freedom of speech as persistence combined with raised awareness in the international community wins the freedom of prominent dissent…

Christian Science Monitor editorial points out that the Burmese Buddhist monks’ protests are just the latest movement in a tradition of faith-based pro-democracy activism that includes the Catholic Church’s involvement in liberating Eastern Europe from Communism and the Indonesian Muslim Nahdlatul Ulama’s contributions to overthrowing the dictator Suharto: Monk If You Love Freedom (Christian Science…

While some Iranians were receptive to Ahmadinejad’s boldness to speak in New York, others found the insults and jeers at Columbia University to be counterproductive, taking attention away from needed reforms and substantive dialog: D.C. Area Iranians Criticize Reception Of Ahmadinejad (Washington Post) Ahmadinejad Lauded in Iran for “Lion’s Den” Visit (Reuters/Washington Post) Former three-star…

As Ahmadinejad comes to New York City to deliver speeches at the UN and Columbia University, Iran releases the fourth and final Iranian-American detained: Iran President In NY Campus Row (BBC News) Iran Bails Last US Dual National (BBC News) Judges under kangaroo court system say that its planned trials for Guantanamo detainees can finally…

Seeing the success of Bi’lin as an example, Palestinians are beginning to re-shift tactics away from militancy and back to the non-violent methods of the First Intifada: Nonviolent Protest Gains in West Bank (Christian Science Monitor) Washington Post columnist details and laments over the Bush administration’s abandonment of supporting Egypt’s fledging independent press: Forsaking the…

Despite tough talk from Maliki, his government won’t remove Blackwater from his country; but the Interior Ministry continues its investigations to see what that company’s involvement may have been in other shooting incidents as well as if weapons were being illegally smuggled into Iraq: Iraq Says Won’t Move to Expel Blackwater (Reuters/Washington Post) Iraq Expands…

Further ominous signs of Iraq’s political implosion manifest themselves as Shi’a on Shi’a violence is suspected behind the deaths of two prominent aides to Ayatollah Sistani, while an Iraq government report concludes that the “Blackwater company is considered 100 percent guilty through this investigation” of the unprovoked killing of eight Iraqis and recommends removing private…