Iranian.com reports:FSA says Al-Qaeda to announce Islamic state in Syria. Europeans now believed unlikely to arm Syrian opposition. Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat—A senior figure in the Free Syrian Army (FSA) has told Asharq Al-Awsat that Al-Qaeda was about to announce an Islamic state in northern Syria. The source, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the time for the announcement was confirmed to be the first day of Eid, at the end
The Lebanese newspaper Daily Star published the following article: Wave of attacks on Egypt Copts, state failing to act: NGO CAIRO: Egypt’s Christians have been targeted in a wave of attacks since the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Mursi, and the state is failing to protect them, an NGO said Monday. Sectarian violence since the latest political upheaval in Egypt began has killed four Coptic Christians in Luxor governorate, with
RT reports: Russia has overtaken Germany as the fifth largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, according to the latest World Bank ranking that measures 214 economies based on their 2012 GDP performance. Russia’s oil and export driven economy, ranked fifth amongst the top ten economies in the world with $3.4 trillion in GDP. In 2011, Germany surpassed Russia in GDP with $3.227 trillion compared to Russia’s $3.203 trillion.
Since Putin sacked Serduikov and replaced him with Shoigu, the Russian military has been regularly tested in surprise large-scale military exercises involving a sudden order to prepare for battle typically followed by a long distance move to an unknown location. This time it is the the Eastern Military District which has undergone such a readiness test, but on a scale previously unknown. It involved an emergency relocation from the city
Plenty more good news this Friday. First, all the members of the MERCOSUR trading alliance have decided to recall their ambassadors from the European countries involved in the grounding of the Bolivian president’s plane. I am particularly happy to see that Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff supported the decision and did not cave in to Anglo pressures. Of course, a similar decision by UNASUR would have been even better, but with
RT reports: A senior figure of the rebel Free Syrian Army has been executed by Al-Qaeda-linked militants during negotiations. Multiplying conflicts between moderate and extremist rebels confronting President Assad might lead to an opposition split-up. Supreme Military Council member Kamal Hamami, also known for his call-sign Abu Bassel al-Ladkani, was meeting with members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the Syrian port city of Latakia when
by Khaled Abou El Fadl for ABC Religion and Ethics Legitimacy (shar’iyya) is a key word in the Arab world these days. In Egypt, it is the most contested word in the political language of the day. Morsi’s supporters are willing to die in the name of shar’iyya, and his opponents claim that the true source of shar’iyya are the masses of Tahrir Square. The Egyptian intelligentsia do not seem
By Michael Scheuer for Information Clearing House Egyptian president Mohammad Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood were elected a year ago in what the so-called “International Community” judged a free and fair election. They and Egypt’s Salafist movement garnered nearly 65-percent of the vote. On Friday, Egypt’s military intervened in the political arena and overthrew and detained Morsi. Why? Because those who deservedly and miserably lost to the Islamists in 2012 did
There you have it, from the horse’s mouth: “You have created a new Taliban and a new al-Qaeda in Egypt”
Unlike most bloggers, I am by no means an Egypt specialist, never been and never will be. In fact, let me begin this post by confessing to the fact that I am a self-confessed Egypt ignoramus. Please keep that in mind and forgive me all the nonsense I am about to write below and let me begin by saying that I am very disturbed not only by the events in
As Ramadan begins, more than 100 hunger-strikers in Guantánamo Bay continue their protest. More than 40 of them are being force-fed. A leaked document sets out the military instructions, or standard operating procedure, for force-feeding detainees. In this four-minute film made by Human Rights organization Reprieve and Bafta award-winning director Asif Kapadia, US actor and rapper Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def), experiences the procedure: UPDATE:Today I came across
The LA Times reports:Seeking to make a political point, a group of Russian lawmakers is initiating a request to seek extradition from the United States of a Russian intelligence officer, Col. Alexander Poteyev, who escaped to America in 2010 after betraying a major network of Russian spies in the U.S. The lawmakers are comparing the case of Poteyev to that of NSA leaker Edward Snowden, who remains holed up in
RT reports:Bolivian President Evo Morales has threatened “measures” against European countries in response to the grounding of his plane in Vienna last week, demanding they reveal the source of false information that Edward Snowden was on board. “We are expecting European countries that forced me to land to explain what made them think I was transporting the fugitive US citizen. Where did this information come from, and why are they
(Though I am personally far more critical of Morsi and his gang of losers, I do agree with Eric that Egypt future looks extremely bad – The Saker) by Eric Walberg During the past few months, dozens of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood (MB) members have been murdered and their offices sacked and burned. The police openly refuse to protect them. Rather than ordering the opposition to drop their demand that Egypt’s
Radio Cadena Agramonte reports:General Secretary of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), Ali Rodríguez, confirmed today to Prensa Latina that a special meeting of the Council of Heads of State will be held tomorrow in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The summit of presidents, at a request made by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, has been scheduled for 16:00 local time in that Bolivian city. Rodriguez told Prensa Latina by phone from Caracas
I have to admit that I am quite amazed at the celebratory tone of much of the blogosphere in regards to Egypt. Let me say immediately that I have no use for Morsi or his al Ikhwan al Muslimun but, guys, is it not apparent what is going to happen now?Kaveh L Afrasiabi aptly summarized it for the Asia Times: Henceforth, a post-Morsi Egypt will likely embed itself more firmly
Latest BBC headline: Snowden case: France apologises in Bolivia plane row. Then this, further down the article:The French foreign ministry issued a statement on the incident. Ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said: “The foreign minister called his Bolivian counterpart to tell him about France’s regrets after the incident caused by the late confirmation of permission for President Morales’ plane to fly over [French] territory.” In diplomatic language, “regrets” mean something very specific.
Here is a short update on the fallout following the “Imperial Skyjacking” of President Evo Morales’ airplane over Europe. Paris expressed “regrets” but did not present excuses. Demonstrators threw stones at the French Embassy in La Paz The Bolivian Parliament will demand the expulsion of the French, Italian and Portuguese ambassadors The Argentinian President Christina Fernandez de Krichner has declared that the Europeans “they have all gone completely insane!” UNASUR
