The murder Tuesday of Ahmad Wali Karzai, the behind-the-scenes authority over Qandahar province and brother of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, shows the continued instability in that country. It is not entirely clear the killing was a political assassination. The bodyguard who pulled the trigger is rumored just to have had a personal grudge with his […]
Clinton: al-Asad has lost Legitimacy after Mobs Storm US, French Embassies
The mob attacks on the US and French embassies by ‘pro-regime elements’ in Damascus on Monday provoked a heated response from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said that President Bashar al-Asad had now “lost legitimacy” by neglecting to live up to his obligations in international law to protect foreign diplomats. She warned him that […]
Today’s Top 5 Crises in the 2011 Arab Revolutions
1. The protest movement in Egypt, which started up in earnest again last Friday, is expanding. Thousands were camped out in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo throughout the weekend, and people streamed there Sunday evening. The crowds closed the Mugamma` administrative building. They are demanding a cleaner break with the old regime, trials for security […]
On Panetta and Defeating al-Qaeda
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said on his arrival in Kabul that the US could be on the verge of defeating al-Qaeda, and could do so in the wake of the killing of Usama Bin Laden by keeping the pressure on in Afghanistan, northwest Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. According to the Department of Defense, Panetta […]
Egyptian Revolution 2.0?
Thousands of protesters came back to Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday. Despite the sometimes dark depictions of continuing unrest in the Western press, from all accounts the atmosphere was light and carnivalesque. Crowds chanted, “No parties, no Muslim Brotherhood! The Egyptian people are in the square!” (La ahzab, la Ikhwan! Al-Sha’b al-Misri fi al-Maydan!” according […]
Anthony Case Index
Number of murders in US in 2009: 13,636 Number of murders committed by firearm: 9,146 Number of alleged murders discussed for past 3 years by t.v. “news”: 1 Number of most-talked-about accused murderers convicted of murder: 0 Number of extended profiles of any of 4,471 US troops killed in Iraq in a war fought on […]
Yemen’s Saleh Addresses Nation from Hospital Bed
Badly wounded and burned Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh appeared on Yemeni television on Thursday in a pre-recorded address that reiterated his intent to hold onto power even as he made vague noises about including the opposition. Saleh still speaks as though his leadership were robust enough to allow for opposition participation in government, something […]
Free Libya Forces Advance in Western Mountains
Rebel forces took the city al-Qawalish on Wednesday, extending their control toward the capital and putting them in striking distance of the key city of Gharyan. Meanwhile, a Russian report said that Qaddafi was willing to step down (this strikes me as extremely unlikely, and why is it only coming via Moscow? Qaddafi has a […]
10 Ways Arab Democracies Can Avoid American Mistakes
Dear Arab World: Your peoples have demonstrated enormous courage and idealism in challenging a whole series of seedy police states throughout the Middle East. In two instances, Tunisia and Egypt, you have managed to overthrow dictators who had ruled through fear, intimidation and massive theft of public resources for decades. In Yemen, you are keeping […]
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