News and Analysis (7/14/13)

Islamic law requires Muslims to break fast at sunset during Ramadan. Are the guards at Guantanamo “using the Muslim holy month … to massage hunger strike numbers” in claiming “that less than half of the inmate population are now on strike”?

• Guantánamo Officials Accused of ‘Cheating’ over Hunger Strike Numbers (Guardian)

With the US sending a senior envoy to Egypt, the military-installed interim government moves quickly to take power, threatening Gaza, turning its back on Syrian refugees, and leaving the Muslim Brotherhood and Mursi supporters — their funds frozen by the public prosecutor — to submissively negotiate for a place at the table:

• State Dept. Sending Senior Official to Egypt; First Since Morsi’s Ouster (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
• Egypt Government Takes Shape (Reuters)
• Egypt’s Defense Minister Defends Ousting President (AP / abc News)
• Hamas Leader Lambasts New Egyptian Regime (AP / abc News)
• Egypt, Jordan, Iraq Seek to Stem Syrian Refugee Flood (Christian Science Monitor)
• Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Admits It Has Been Negotiating with Army (Guardian)

As Turkey comes closer to completing it long overdue transition to civilian rule …

• Turkey Parliament Curtails Army Powers (BBC)

… it has yet to complete acceptance of public demonstrations of popular dissent:

• Turkish Police Fire Tear Gas at Istanbul Protesters (Reuters)

“With its ability to launch attacks reduced by a military crackdown, Boko Haram is redrawing the battle lines in Nigeria’s four-year insurgency by going after softer targets” …

• Boko Haram Leader Calls for More Schools Attacks After Dorm Killings (Guardian)

… and a school headmaster, wide-eyed “with horror at describing the attack on the iron-roofed school built by British colonizers in the 1950s”  describes the militants’ brutal shooting of pubescent students followed by the burning of their bodies:

• Nigeria Islamists Hit Schools to Destroy Western Ideas (Reuters)

Even the ADL has felt the need to issue a statement against FrontPage Magazine’s absurd bigotry in claiming that the Brooklyn-born Palestinian-American offensive lineman was a “Muslim extremist”:

• Jets’ Oday Aboushi Defends Himself (ESPN)

“Muslims will get a 75 percent share of metals resources and an equal split on fossil fuels, Ghadzali Jaafar, the front’s vice chairman, said in a phone interview yesterday”:

• Philippines, Muslim Rebels Forge Wealth-Sharing in Peace Accord (Bloomberg)

“Such weapons would help to upgrade significantly Syria’s capacity to target manned planes, drones and incoming missiles and would complicate efforts to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria if the US and other nations were to initiate one”:

• Israel Targeted Russian-made Missiles in Syria, US Officials Say (Guardian)

ImadadDean