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The Middle East Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Yemen  Contribute to collating information: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1K132vA6Gza0hkWwmLx0YVH6YpRjcNPny2qpNEH364a8/viewform?c=0&w=1 The collected information: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WBdeug1Rs-oFL-A0ACm7qR5U5ME49pCssgiaUMLOpx4/edit#gid=1395554344 Timeline thus far (Updated June 2015): Tunisia: Revolution in 2011. Rejected introducing Sharia Law in March 2012 by a secular government. Held first democratic elections in November 2014 which appears to be moderate. The country appears to be moving along relatively well. Egypt: Revolution in 2011. Morsi elected in 2012 with much controversy in his policies over the next year. He was deposed by the military in 2013 in a coup and any opposition to the coup was crushed brutally. The following years restrictions on freedom of speech and press were put in place and those questioning the military's power and motives were crushed. Many of the Islamic Brotherhood were incarcerated and executed. The military coup followed with protests reminiscent of the Tahrir protests, however there was a brutal intervention by the military. El-Sisi, head of the military then instituted himself as the president in "free" elections. The military currently rules under the illusion of a democracy. Tension still simmers however, and normalcy has not been restored. Libya: Revolution began in Feb 2011 after the success of Tunisia and Egypt. A civil war broke out over the coming months and eventually the seemingly united revolutionary forces had secured the capital by August 2011 with assistance from NATO forces, and in October the revolution had secured its win, and Gadhafi's death. July 2012 the first parliamentary elections were held and in August an interim government was created. Between now and then there have been ongoing tribal, sectarian and regional fighting between militias. The government remains weak and divided, and bloodshed continues to be spilled with many players in action vying for power. Syria: In March 2011 an uprising against the Assad regime began. At first it appeared hopeful, however it became entrenched and global players all had their hands in the conflict, and it turned into a civil war embroiling the entire country with the Free Syrian Army coming into existence to fight the Assad military. As the war went on, in around 2012-2013 foreign groups started arriving and taking advantage of the destabilization from the war. A dominant Islamist group sprouted up and was established in the war in 2014 called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). This powerful group with much support and a background of insurgency leadership from the US war in Iraq and ongoing Middle Eastern instability, grew suddenly and fast, and succeeded in a large insurgency from the East in Syria. They crushed much of the Free Syrian Army and more moderate groups fighting Assad in their regions. In response, as ISIS were growing in momentum in Iraq and Syria, Kurdish groups from Iraq and Turkey joined the fight against them and support from Western nations also provided military support in 2014 and 2015 to lead a counter-insurgency against the group, which at current in June 2015 has had much success and the fight within Syria and Iraq against ISIS appears to be pushing their area of influence and insurgency back. Assad remains in power, and continues to bomb cities and kill masses of civilians, and lead a war against dissidents and rebel forces, and also continues to fight the ISIS forces on other fronts as well. It is unknown where this civil war will lead, but it appears to be a protracted conflict with many factions and forces with different agendas, and the regime appears to be slowly losing ground. Yemen: In 2011 protests began against the Saleh government. Saleh handed over power to the vice president under immunity. This paved way for a multi-region republic to be created, however in 2014 a Shia insurgent group called Houthi took over the capital, and the government disbanded. The situation is very precarious currently, and there are many groups within Yemen and global interests. It appears that there may been under-table promises and interference from old-world groups which may lead to Saleh or his son vying back their power, and their plan to be create a dynasty. UAE governments have now intervened and sent in troops and bombing runs in April 2015, and are pushing the Houthi groups back, looking for them to surrender. This has caused many civilian deaths and the outcome and impact of this intervention is yet unknown. Good posts in this thread kustomkarkommando's breakdown of Kurdish forces fighting in Iraq and Syria Brown Moses posts regular updates fade5 makes a lot of quality posts regarding progress in Syria and Iraq Information Al-Jazeera English - Live Feed 24/7 Al-Jazeera English - Website Previous Threads Egypt 1 Egypt 2 The revolutions, civil war and wars that are interwoven through this period in time:                            kustomkarkommando's Kurdish forces breakdown 
Lascivious Sloth fucked around with this message at 17:58 on Nov 5, 2015 |
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Feb 17, 2011 21:48
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Does anyone else find it suspicious that there is so much upheaval in the area and it just so happens that the US has taken an active interest in the region?
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Feb 17, 2011 21:53
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Turtle before the Storm posted:Does anyone else find it suspicious that there is so much upheaval in the area and it just so happens that the US has taken an active interest in the region? Yes because they certainly haven't taken an interest over the last 15 years eh?
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Feb 17, 2011 21:56
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superv0zz posted:Yes because they certainly haven't taken an interest over the last 15 years eh? Try 50. But yeah I'm not sure what's "suspicious" here.
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Feb 17, 2011 21:57
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Lascivious Sloth, could you tack these three Twitter lists to the end of the OP please? http://twitter.com/#!/list/IckyEtardo/middle-east-news http://twitter.com/#!/list/ThomasMeadia/live-from-bahrain http://twitter.com/#!/list/ThomasMeadia/newegypt They're good for following the news on the ground as it happens. I might find more good specific lists later. For instance, I haven't been able to find a good list for Algeria, so if I do find one, I'll let you know.
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Feb 17, 2011 21:57
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Earwicker posted:Try 50. Yeah, I didn't want to blow his mind with too much history
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Feb 17, 2011 21:58
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Or it could be that people who were fed up before but thought they were alone/had no way to organize now have access to that thing called the internet, which helps them do that tremendously? Oh, who am I kidding, Bush did WTC!
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Feb 17, 2011 21:58
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Very nice OP, I was wondering what became of the Iran protests.
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Feb 17, 2011 22:02
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I think it's a lot of factors that ignited this all, including: tech-savyness/internet, large unemployed group of youth, bad economy, high prices for food and basics, large group of oppressed and educated youth etc. Apology posted:Lascivious Sloth, could you tack these three Twitter lists to the end of the OP please? Is that okay?
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Feb 17, 2011 22:03
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The following link contains a dead baby from Bahrain: http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/183652_165414813510316_100001253966056_400835_4808560_n.jpg (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Feb 17, 2011 22:06
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I keep on forgetting how freaking tiny Bahrain is. Also that image of the dude whose head got blown apart is going to haunt me forever.
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Feb 17, 2011 22:08
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Glad to see these threads still going strong. I was really active in the Egypt one and took a few days away when Mubarak fell for work and just to detach myself from it. The intensity was starting to get too much for me and I'm half-way across the globe from Egypt! Egyptian prosecutors have ordered the arrest of former ruling party chief and three other ministers from the Mubarak government. http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/17/egypt.revolution.arrests/
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Feb 17, 2011 22:15
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Lascivious Sloth posted:I think it's a lot of factors that ignited this all, including: tech-savyness/internet, large unemployed group of youth, bad economy, high prices for food and basics, large group of oppressed and educated youth etc.
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Feb 17, 2011 22:17
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Furious Mittens posted:Egyptian prosecutors have ordered the arrest of former ruling party chief and three other ministers from the Mubarak government. Not just that, Al Adly, the minister of interior is being investigated for coordination of/collaboration in the new year's eve church bombing which killed 23 Egyptians, the government blamed that on palestinian islamists.
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Feb 17, 2011 22:18
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NYT writer Nick Kristof is in Bahrain covering it, sounds like the ruling family is trying to get him kicked out: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/opinion/18kristof.html?_r=1 http://twitter.com/NickKristof
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Feb 17, 2011 22:18
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Here's a link to a Twitter portfolio of photos documenting the violence in Bahrain: http://twitpic.com/photos/halmustafa None of them are as bad as the one of the guy with his head destroyed, but still, there are dead bodies and a lot of blood in some of them.
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Feb 17, 2011 22:21
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Iran's got some good looking wimmenz
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Feb 17, 2011 22:23
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5ive posted:Iran's got some good looking wimmenz I followed the 2009 protests avidly and it's true, everyone in the threads agreed, Iranian women are super fine. But more to the point, the Green Movement was a massive women's rights push as well, with women being a big part of the protests.
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Feb 17, 2011 22:27
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Apology posted:Here's a link to a Twitter portfolio of photos documenting the violence in Bahrain: I don't know exactly how to say this, but seeing that guy's injured foot gave me this sick sense of happiness after seeing that entire row of images. "Oh look, awesome! He didn't lose his brain, I love this picture at the bottom. I had that happen to me once in a bowling accident, I feel for him." All of this is so intense. So much good can come of this and yet so bad. We need more good. I want the world in revolution.
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Feb 17, 2011 22:33
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SoroScrew
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5ive posted:Iran's got some good looking wimmenz I think by contrast I didn't see that many hot Egyptian women.
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Feb 17, 2011 22:34
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Glad to see the new thread Lascicious SLoth, and that's a really impressive OP. e: just a suggestion, but AJE has a spotlight on Tunisia and Algeria and a live blogs for Bahrain, Libya and Egypt. The Live blog for Egypt was espcially helpful in the Egypt thread. Live Blogs: Bahrain Egypt Libya Spotlight on Algeria Spotlight on Tunisia Narmi fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Feb 17, 2011 |
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Feb 17, 2011 22:35
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I've switched back over to Chrome so that I can get automatic translations in Arabic, and now, Farsi. It doesn't seem like Google translates Farsi so well, but heck, it's better than nothing. A translated article that claims that live bullets, not rubber bullets, were used on the protesters in Bahrain, and after seeing that guy's head blown apart, I think they must be using elephant guns: Fidh, translated from Arabic by Google posted:Security forces fire at protesters And a statement from the Green Way Path of Hope group on Facebook: Green Way Path of Hope, translated from Farsi by Google posted:For months that educators, teachers and scientists have taken the country hostage, students were deprived of the right to education and youth Rashid blood homeland are dormant, but mercenaries and thugs, comfort and dignity of people with the official green light to beat unfit disruption your imagination, call for justice and freedom for people to silence those who fear the funeral, on defenseless citizens clubs and daggers kill them in Bydadgah to accuse War, under protest desecration, torture and justify killing civilians. But this exercise is no object, except that the nation's determination in seeking the right to traverse the path to a more firm.
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Feb 17, 2011 22:36
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The government of Bahrain's strident claims they're trying to prevent sectarian riots simply make it more clear they're trying to undermine any call for reform as mere sectarian troubles. The attempts to incite sectarian violence to prevent political reform hinge on Sunni solidarity. The shiite majority in Bahrain needs to pull in some sunni faces publicaly to remove the regime's cover.
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Feb 17, 2011 22:42
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Excellent OP. Is that equestrian statue Alexander? (I assume in Alexandria?)
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Feb 17, 2011 22:49
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euphronius posted:Excellent OP. Thanks and yes it is, which I thought was awesome for the OP. Narmi posted:e: just a suggestion, but AJE has a spotlight on Tunisia and Algeria and a live blogs for Bahrain, Libya and Egypt. The Live blog for Egypt was espcially helpful in the Egypt thread. Thanks, Done!
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Feb 17, 2011 23:01
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Vladimir Putin posted:I think by contrast I didn't see that many hot Egyptian women. The one in the OP is such an uggo. 
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Feb 17, 2011 23:05
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Anyone else watch that interview with the UK advisor on Bahrain just now? He was saying that the protesters are "malcontents" and a "vociferous minority" who want to change Bahrain away from being a tolerant nation and are basically ruining it for the rest of the Bahrainis.
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Feb 17, 2011 23:13
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I really hope another protest succeeds in toppling an autocrat soon, the region needs it to solidify momentum.
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Feb 17, 2011 23:14
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Nihiliste posted:I really hope another protest succeeds in toppling an autocrat soon, the region needs it to solidify momentum. I'd say Bahrain, considering the tweets I'm reading from there have far far more venom that anything I ever read from Egypt, I'd say they're going to topple the king or the king will have no subjects (because he killed them all).
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Feb 17, 2011 23:19
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Radio! posted:Anyone else watch that interview with the UK advisor on Bahrain just now? Missed it, but you'd think that after backing the wrong horse last time they'd keep from betting on his brother now.
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Feb 17, 2011 23:19
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Radio! posted:Anyone else watch that interview with the UK advisor on Bahrain just now? Got to justify selling them more weapons somehow!
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Feb 17, 2011 23:22
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Radio! posted:Anyone else watch that interview with the UK advisor on Bahrain just now? I hear a lot of misplaced criticism of Obama, but all the negative and ignorant comments and statements I've heard on these protests have been from the UK.
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Feb 17, 2011 23:22
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For good info on the ground in Bahrain http://twitter.com/angryarabiya If you want to add them to the OP, I've been getting the bulk of my info from them.
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Feb 17, 2011 23:23
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Oxfordgirl is good for Iran related stuff.
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Feb 17, 2011 23:25
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I'm sitting here in my comfortable white middle class American ivory tower wishing my Middle Eastern friends a peaceful resolution and the rights that I take for granted that they too deserve. Assalamu Alaykum, as it were.
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Feb 17, 2011 23:29
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/02/tunisia-saudi-official-says-ben-ali-condition-grave.html Ben Ali is reported to be in a coma. Is this like a new 'thing'? I made an arrested development joke in the other thread but it didn't catch on.
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Feb 17, 2011 23:31
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The Government of Bahrain has effectively declared war on its people. There's no way this can end well. Seriously, even if the Bahrain monarchy survives, it will only do so through a pile of its subjects' corpses and the end of any plausible claim it has to being a "moderate" state. It seems like it's trying to out-Iran Iran in terms of brutal suppression. Also, I never thought I'd see the day that Libya, of all places, felt the stirrings of revolt. I'm deeply skeptical that it'll go anywhere, but even the attempt shows that the Libyan people haven't been totally cowed by half a century of lunatic rule. Masha'allah, you protesters. Masha'allah.
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Feb 17, 2011 23:34
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Radio! posted:Anyone else watch that interview with the UK advisor on Bahrain just now? This ought to shut his mouth, an Al Jazeera piece filmed at a local Bahraini hospital. The video is fairly disturbing and features dead bodies, but the worst of it is blurred out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6RCBOC-MAM Yes, doctors and nurses are "malcontents" and part of the "vociferous minority". 
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Feb 17, 2011 23:37
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Radio! posted:Anyone else watch that interview with the UK advisor on Bahrain just now? Was it Ian Henderson? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Henderson_(police_officer)
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Feb 17, 2011 23:42
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Regarding Bahrain, is the government still trying to place the blame on "violent protesters" for the more serious injuries and deaths? Nobody seems to be buying it.quote:12.45am New York Times columnist Nicolas Kristof, based in Manama, wrote: NYT source
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Feb 17, 2011 23:45
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