{"id":666,"date":"2008-05-21T09:49:53","date_gmt":"2008-05-21T14:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=666"},"modified":"2008-05-21T09:51:56","modified_gmt":"2008-05-21T14:51:56","slug":"news-and-analysis-52108","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/?p=666","title":{"rendered":"News and Analysis (5\/21\/08)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">Violence and tensions in the Levant ebbing? Lebanon appears to be getting its house back in order, ending eighteen months of political deadlock\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/span><\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\" style=\"margin-top: 0in\">\n<li class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2008\/05\/21\/AR2008052100120_pf.html\">Lebanese      Political Factions Reach Agreement<\/a> (Washington Post)<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6meanwhile Hamas and Israel look to be nearing a ceasefire agreement\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/span><\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\" style=\"margin-top: 0in\">\n<li class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/2008\/0521\/p25s09-wome.htm\">Hamas, Israel      Appear on Brink of Cease-Fire<\/a> (Christian Science Monitor)<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6and Syria and Israel confirm their involvement in indirect talks over a permanent peace agreement centered on the Golan Heights:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\" style=\"margin-top: 0in\">\n<li class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hurriyet.com.tr\/english\/turkey\/8991018.asp?gid=231&#038;sz=67787\">Syria,      Israel Launch Peace Talks Under Turkey&#8217;s Auspices<\/a> (Hurriyet)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">Injustice in Saudi Arabia continues as the government arrests prominent democratic dissident Matrouk al-Faleh\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/span><\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\" style=\"margin-top: 0in\">\n<li class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2008\/05\/20\/AR2008052001560_pf.html\">Saudi      Critic Jailed After Decrying Justice System<\/a> (Washington Post)<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6meanwhile Indonesian activists reflect on the 10<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of Suharto\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fall and find sweeping reforms like decentralization and establishing the rule of law have yet to be fully implemented:<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial\" \/><\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\" style=\"margin-top: 0in\">\n<li class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thejakartapost.com\/news\/2008\/05\/21\/reform-agenda-unfinished-activists-say.html\">Reform      Agenda Unfinished, Activists Say<\/a> (The Jakarta Post)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">An Inspector General\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s report from the DoJ finds strong dissent among FBI special agents over CIA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s torture tactics, and massive failure by higher-ups to bolster those views:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\" style=\"margin-top: 0in\">\n<li class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/05\/21\/washington\/21detain.html?partner=rssuserland&#038;emc=rss&#038;pagewanted=print\">Report      Details Dissent on Guant\u00c3\u00a1namo Tactics<\/a> (New York Times)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">Peace between Khartoum and southern Sudanese factions remain fragile as fighting breaks out between both sides over an oil-rich region of the country:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\" style=\"margin-top: 0in\">\n<li class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.iht.com\/articles\/ap\/2008\/05\/20\/news\/Sudan.php\">Sudanese      Soldiers Battle Former Southern Rebels<\/a> (Associated      Press\/International Herald Tribune)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">Internet visionary Jimmy Wales predicts the Internet&#8217;s expansion in the Mideast will widen the marketplace of ideas and strengthen mainstream Arab voices:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\" style=\"margin-top: 0in\">\n<li class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/s\/afp\/20080518\/wl_mideast_afp\/mideastarabinternetwefwikipedia\">&#8216;Ordinary&#8217;      Arabs to Retake Internet: Wikipedia Founder<\/a> (AFP\/Sydney Morning      Herald)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\">Parties in the unofficial republic of Somaliland agree to hold their next round of elections in the middle of December 2008:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\" style=\"margin-top: 0in\">\n<li class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial\"><a href=\"http:\/\/allafrica.com\/stories\/200805210012.html\">Somalia: Elections      Timetable Consensus Reached in Somaliland<\/a> (Garowe      Online\/AllAfrica.com)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Violence and tensions in the Levant ebbing? Lebanon appears to be getting its house back in order, ending eighteen months of political deadlock\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Lebanese Political Factions Reach Agreement (Washington Post) \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6meanwhile Hamas and Israel look to be nearing a ceasefire agreement\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Hamas, Israel Appear on Brink of Cease-Fire (Christian Science Monitor) \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6and Syria and Israel [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.minaret.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}