Surprising most analysts, the AKP wins a clear majority in parliament, enough to rule without a coalition but not enough to allow Erdogan to completely monopolize power:
- Turkey Election: ErdoÄŸan and AKP Return to Power with Outright Majority (Guardian)
- Erdogan, Eyeing Greater Powers, Says Turks Voted for Stability (Reuters)
- Turkey Election: Opposition Supporters on Why They Didn’t Vote for the AKP (Guardian)
- Will ErdoÄŸan Allow Greater Press Freedom in Turkey? Don’t Count on It (Guardian)
- ErdoÄŸan’s Election Win Means He Can Dictate Terms to EU on Refugees (Guardian)
Having failed to deny Iran a seat at the Syria peace talk, are the Saudis trying to provoke them to walk out?
“What the Government is really saying is that its classification system trumps the decisions of the federal courts as to the public’s access to official court records; in other words, the Executive Branch (in this case, the Military) purports to be a law unto itself – Judge Gladys Kessler:
“[T]he courage and heroism of those Muslims who risked their own well-being to save the lives of Jews, and rescuing the names of these people from obscurity, is … useful response to the Netanyahu uproar. This is a story that has received remarkably little attention” …
- Muslim Heroes of the Holocaust (Reason)
… while a viral video exposes “the inhumanity of Zionism…. It is not simple hatred that motivated the disgusting comments from the onlookers, it is an ingrained, inter-generational sense of superiority bred of dehumanization of the Palestinian, and the Arab generally”:
- Israel, the Media and the Anatomy of a Sick Society (Counterpunch)
“CISA is … a surveillance bill masquerading as a cybersecurity bill, … giving the NSA access to more personal information for its expansive databases. CISA is fundamentally flawed because of its broad immunity clauses for companies, vague definitions, and aggressive spying powers”:
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has determined unanimously that Malaysia’s imprisonment of Anwar Ibraham is a violation of International Law and that he shjld be reeased immediately and have all his political rights restored:
- Opinion #22/2015 of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UN Office of the High Commissioner / Perseus Strategies)
“Khin Maung Thein, the lone Muslim candidate, is only campaigning in Mandalay’s mosques, rather than on its streets, and is concerned that Ma Ba Tha monks might harass the people he canvasses”:
Two Muslims crossing from the Muslim ghetto “to enter the Christian sixth district … were slain and their bodies chopped up into pieces, while [a] third … was later stoned to death by a crowd near a church. In an apparent act of retaliation, a Christian man was killed” the next day:
- Pope Francis May Cancel Central African Republic Visit Over Christian-Muslim Clashes, Religious Violence (International Business Times)
“Even if the situation in Iraq gets better, no matter how safe it is, there’s no guarantee it won’t happen again,†says Naghm Yousif Abdel Meseeh, now resigned to “[l]eaving the land where Assyrians have lived for thousands of years”:
- Christians Ready to Leave an Iraqi Homeland that ‘Doesn’t Love Us’ (Christian Science Monitor)
