Protesters came out in rural towns such as Amouda and Deraa again on Friday, calling for the ouster of the Baath regime of Bashar al-Asad. Some reports estimated that hundreds of thousands of people came out to rallies. Homs and Hama also bulked large in these protests, apparently, though it is hard to be sure […]
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Middle East
US Reaching out to Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
The Obama administration has decided to open direct contacts with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood long ago gave up violence and has been a responsible parliamentary actor for many years, though it largely promotes right-wing policies. People who believe in democracy should welcome the incorporation into the parliamentary process of all major political blocs, […]
Senate Committee Backs Obama on Libya as Rebels capture major Arms Depot
Muammar Qaddafi’s increasingly beleagured security forces were hit with three demoralizing developments on Monday and Tuesday. First, the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations voted to authorize President Obama to pursue the Libya war for one year. Although members of the committee were critical of the president for not coming to them in the first […]
Qaddafi, son, indicted by International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court has issued indictments against Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and the head of the secret police. This move is a great good thing, and combines with an increasing conviction among close observers that the regime’s time in Libya is coming to a slow, inexorable close. Free Libya forces […]
The Audacity of the Gaza Flotilla
A new Gaza aid flotilla is set to take off from Greece on Sunday, including 600 persons representing 22 countries, on ten ships. Pulitzer-prize winning author Alice Walker is among them. (Swedish author Henning Mankell participated in the 2010 flotilla). Yonatan Shapira explains why he is taking part in the new flotilla: The US State […]
House Libya Vote: Anti-War or Just Anti-Obama?
The Republican-dominated US House of Representatives voted down an authorization for President Obama to have the US participate in the Libya War on Friday. (Many Democrats also joined in). The House did not agree to cut off funding for the war. With regard to US domestic politics and the rule of law, the vote would […]
Kukis: Leave Iraq, Too
Mark Kukis writes a guest column for Informed Comment: Leaving Iraq: Why total U.S. military withdrawal is best By Mark Kukis The Obama administration’s move to accelerate a U.S. withdrawal in Afghanistan inadvertently highlighted an unsettled question about American forces in Iraq. Will U.S. troops leave Iraq entirely at the end of 2011, as outlined […]
Key developments in the Arab Spring Today
Tens of thousands of Yemenis took to the streets Monday to demand an end to the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh and a move to a transitional government and elections. Saleh is recuperating in Saudi Arabia after surgery for injuries sustained in a rocket attack. Among the demands of the demonstrators is the departure of […]
Gates: Winding down the Wars
Outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was on CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley on Sunday, and he sees a diminished American superpower on the horizon. Gates foresaw the winding down of the Afghanistan War, a slow grinding ultimate victory for NATO in Libya, fairly deep cuts in the war department budget on […]