Month: May 2007

Dispute over TV station reveals various State interferences in the media: U.S., Saudis at Odds over TV Station (LA Times) Meanwhile, Morocco blocks YouTube for permitting a video showing Moroccan police beating women during a protest over the Western Sahara: YouTube Site ‘Blocked’ in Morocco (BBC) Turkish Parliament reasserts peoples right to directly elect the…

Observers in Pakistan find that greater civic engagement and power-sharing between “secular” democratic forces and the government will roll back extremism, not the status quo…  Moderate Voices from a Pakistani City (Christian Science Monitor)  … meanwhile, for the first time since the controversy began, the nation’s former Chief Justice provides detailed allegations of pressure by…

Analysts and opposition members alike find that Musharraf is steadily losing grip on power and will soon be at a crossroads: either step aside and allow for free and fair elections, or declare martial law… Musharraf’s Grip Falters in Pakistan (Los Angeles Times) …meanwhile religious radicals continue to advance their agendas and fill in the…

As the US and Iran directly talk to each other for the first time in more than 28 years, discussing security issues in Iraq, other nations are seeing the spillover effects of that country’s terrorism problems come into their territory: U.S., Iran Meet to Discuss Iraq Security (Washington Post) Militants Widen Reach as Terror Seeps…

UK Experts and former US defense secretary warn against military on strike Iran, finding it ineffective and counterproductive:  Former U.S. Defense Chief: Israel Must Not Attack Iran (Haaretz)  UK Experts Wary of Preemptive Iran Hit (Jerusalem Post)  Antiwar conservative academic reflects on his son’s death and the lack of political will to back out of “a profoundly…

Tehran and Washington up the ante–with warships, military exercises, detained Iranian-Americans and the latest IAEA report–before talks begin on Iraq’s security: Stakes Rise in US-Iran Standoff (Christian Science Monitor) Editorial in the Washington Post urges the Bush administration to press Musharraf on strengthening Pakistan’s democratic institutions as an alternative to religious extremists coming to power:…

As body count from Iraqi morgues shows sectarian violence continues to rise and domestic opposition to the occupation of Iraq increases, US military official announces that capture/kill strategy for Iraq stabilization not working, instead, “need to bring them to them to the negotiating table”:  Morgue Data Show Increase In Sectarian Killings in Iraq (Washington Post) …

Fighting stops – at least for now – but fighting is used by various political parties to call for “unity”, outside actors to funnel arms to the government and refugees to flee the fighting: Fragile Truce Takes Hold in Nahr al-Bared (Lebanon Daily Star) Arabs Send Arms for Army – and US May Follow Suit…

Residents of Baghdad’s Kadhimiya district live in relative peace in exchange for a certain level of extortion and ethnic cleansing of Sunni residents while violence elsewhere in the city has led to the near-complete departure of a sizable Christian community and closed shops in a once busy market district:  Baghdad District Is a Model, but…