Middle East Thread of Despair: More Broken Than Syria

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Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

Koine posted:

Why would the Brits send a "junior diplomat"?

Maybe they didn't want to send anyone who wasn't somewhat expendable? I'm just guessing though.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2011 07:41

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# ¿ May 20, 2024 05:30

Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

lil sartre posted:

If you want to know more about the history of Sudan and how/why the South became independent, check out this very good Al Jazeera documentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7okF15IeSXE&hd=1

One interesting thing that isn't mentioned in the documentary is that originally the british intended for what is now South Sudan to be part of Kenya (which would have made sense since it shares a lot of cultural/ethnic ties with Kenya or even Uganda), then it was supposed to be an independent country. But Egypt, which at the time intended to annex Sudan in it's territory, intervened and convinced the british to give the South to Sudan, even though the 2 regions don't have anything in common other than arabs raiding the South kidnapping people to sell into slavery.
By the way, that part of history shaped a lot of the discrimination faced today by blacks in North Sudan and North Africa, where "slave" is a very common pejorative word for black people.
It doesn't help that the Nilotic ethnic groups (Dinka, Nuer, etc) which make up the large majority in South Sudan have distinct physical characteristics, like being very tall and having the blackest skin in Africa, so even in North Sudan where an outsider may think Arabs are also black, the Southerners stand out just by how they look.

Another interesting fact, Barack Obama's father was from the Luo tribe which is a Nilotic ethnic group that migrated from what is now South Sudan to Kenya a few hundred years ago. Maybe that's why Obama has been taking special interest in South Sudan's independence, pressuring the North in order to avoid a new conflict.

Thank you, I will watch this.

The worst part of the Darfur thing happened when I was more focused on myself and pointedly ignoring the news and politics. I'd see one picture of a skinny little kid and automatically change the channel during that time. It's never too late to catch up.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2011 18:18

Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

A scary unconfirmed report:

quote:

@ProtestWatch
Protestwatch.org.uk
RT: @25FebFreedom: The Yemeni gov now has cut off the internet in Aden , Sanaa and in other cities , there is something going 2 happen

Eyes on Yemen today.ProtestWatch has been fairly accurate and doesn't usually retweet or post things without links, so this caught my attention right away.

A clip from a good article about a reporter who came under fire multiple times in Yemen:

quote:

Normally it started with stone throwing or gunshots in the air. The Saturday I met Ahmed they were shooting right at us.

Running was usually the best option, but since the shooting was so close I instead darted into a small streetside restaurant.

�You ran to the cafeteria but didn�t grab my hand. Thanks a lot,� Ahmed teased me later. But quickly added, �Nah, no offence taken. At least you did call for me.�

The restaurant owner let me slip in just before he closed the tin door and that�s when I turned back to see if Ahmed was behind me and shouted. Seconds later he was in, too.

We crouched in the kitchen, me beside a bag of carrots, Ahmed leaning on potatoes, as the door was punctured with rocks and gunfire.

To pass the time, Ahmed tried to correct my horrendous Arabic accent while the fighting went on outside. When someone asked why the owner was hiding a foreign journalist, Ahmed calmed him down.

Ahmed later told me we were in the restaurant for more than an hour, which I couldn�t believe. �You were busy tweeting,� he said.

We left when my driver was able to walk into the area to find us. The restaurant owner asked if we wanted lunch first. Ahmed later marvelled, �We had more equipment on us than what the whole cafeteria was worth and he offered us lunch, even though he risked his life for taking us in.�

It's a good article and not too long, you should read it:

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/949519--yemen-both-dangerous-and-beautiful?bn=1

Wahhabi clerics just have to air their pompous opinions:

quote:

"The Council of Senior Clerics affirms that demonstrations are forbidden in this country. The correct way in sharia (Islamic law) of realising common interest is by advising, which is what the Prophet Mohammad established," said the statement by the body headed by the Mufti Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh.

"Reform and advice should not be via demonstrations and ways that provoke strife and division, this is what the religious scholars of this country in the past and now have forbidden and warned against," said the statement, carried by state media.

Security forces have detained at least 22 Shi'ites who have staged small protests for about two weeks in the kingdom's oil-rich east, activists said. The region is near Bahrain, scene of protests by majority Shi'ites against their Sunni rulers.

More than 17,000 people backed a call on Facebook to hold two demonstrations in Saudi Arabia this month, the first on Friday. The interior ministry said on Saturday that protests violate Islamic law and the kingdom's traditions.

"You should not demand your rights, this is rude and upsets King Abdullah. Instead, you should ask us nicely so we can continue to ignore you--it's tradition. You are a slave by Allah's will, Islamic Law, and by Kingdom tradition. Now get back in the cellar and finish peeling those potatoes like Allah wants you to."

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE7250EO20110306

This article is mostly rehash and opinion, but it had a nice summary of the "Arab Dictator Revolution Prevention Measures" playbook:

quote:

The Gulf rulers have prepared for possible protests in several ways. Some have �responded� to the demands of the masses and made a number of political changes, mostly tactical; others have placed an emphasis on economic reforms in the hope that they will be sufficient to nip any fomenting activity in the bud. While such preventive measures are intended to take the sting out of any possible protest, they testify to the rulers� fears as to the stability of their regimes, and they may even whet the political appetites of the masses further. Another customary step is pointing an accusing finger at foreign involvement (read: Iran) in inciting the riots.

Individual steps by the various regimes have included identifying with the struggle of the Arab masses; making changes in their governments (Bahrain and Oman); raising salaries in the private sector (Oman) and the public sector (Saudi Arabia); releasing Shiite prisoners (Saudi Arabia and Bahrain); increasing security around Shiite areas and oil facilities (Saudi Arabia); increasing internet surveillance; arrests of demonstrators and tightened supervision of Shiite clerics (Saudi Arabia and Kuwait); preventive arrests (Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates); and increased control of entry of foreign citizens, especially Arabs (Kuwait).

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/34108?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

If you're willing to flee to Liberia for safety, that's pretty bad:

quote:

MONROVIA/ABIDJAN, Mar 6 (Reuters) - Heavy fighting erupted in western Ivory Coast between rebels and forces loyal to incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo, sources along the Liberian border told Reuters on Sunday.

Gunfire could be heard by residents in Liberian border villages and wounded fighters were crossing over, seeking medical attention, the sources said.

Ivory Coast has been in turmoil since a disputed November election that threatens to rekindle the West African state's 2002-03 civil war, and has already drastically hindered exports from the world's top cocoa grower. [ID:nLDE70N1TU]

The standoff has escalated into open armed conflict in the west and parts of the main commercial city Abidjan, and fears of another civil war have pushed cocoa futures to break regular 32-year highs. [ID:nLDE7221J0]

"We in Tapeta, here, did not sleep last night from the sounds of the guns (in Ivory Coast)," a Red Cross official said, asking not to be named.

"It sounded like the war was moving into this area.

http://af.reuters.com/article/ivoryCoastNews/idAFLDE7250EB20110306?feedType=RSS&feedName=ivoryCoastNews&pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

The article goes on to say later that Liberia is not stable enough to handle a large influx of refugees. "Tens of thousands" of Ivorians have fled there already, according to the article. It's sad, too; Ivory Coast looks like it would be a very nice place to visit as a tourist if you didn't have to worry about being murdered in your sleep. Maybe if they can be rid of their tin-pot dictators they could go back to producing the world's cocoa and maybe attract some tourism. Your Swiss Miss with those dried-out little marshmallows is going to cost a lot more in the near future.

Actually I shouldn't make fun here, cocoa prices are serious. Nearly everything that's chocolate-flavored contains cocoa---cookies, cakes, pies, ice cream, chocolate syrup, and cheap candy like Palmer's. All of those things are going to be more expensive now. Learn to like vanilla because it's going to be cheaper than almost any sort of chocolate.

Apology fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Mar 6, 2011

# ¿ Mar 6, 2011 19:23

Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

A video I found about Libya. Clearly someone wants to try out every different wipe that their new video editing program provides, the music is horrible, and the volume of the different clips jumps from nearly inaudible to HOLY poo poo LOUD, but it's still worth watching. There's also a charity recommendation at the end, since some people have asked about it. I have trouble donating money to any sort of religious authorities so YMMV:

WARNING: DEAD BODIES :nms:

(fans of this thread have seen much worse though)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi2HZFisZ_c

Most of what I like about this article is the writing style. It's very long, but well worth reading.

quote:

Are Zimbabweans less human?
She buttresses her point by a reference to Marange diamonds fields where she says helicopter gun-ships were used against the people.

She continues: "Meanwhile, these diamonds are being sold onto the open market, making Mugabe and his cronies wealthier by the day while the majority of his people cannot even afford to feed themselves."

Turning to Britain, she sorely adds: "Over the last few years, there has been a lot of talk that the Iraq invasion only took place because of the oil reserves there.

"I was reluctant to believe that, and hoped that the British government at least, was better than that, and cared more about human lives than about natural resources.

"Now, faced with dictatorial leaders falling left and right, the only situation that has sparked any interest from the British government is that in Libya, the richest of them all in terms of oil.

"So the question I wish for you to answer is why, if not for oil, has Britain condemned Gaddafi's actions, but quite happily ignoring the exact same behaviours in many other countries, including Zimbabwe?

"Why is military action against the Libyan people unacceptable, yet against Zimbabweans it is ignored and brushed under the carpet?

"Are the people of Zimbabwe any less human?"
And she closes with a mighty threat: "I have circulated copies of this letter to a number of newspapers including the BBC, a number of independent Zimbabwean news sources and human rights activists in South Africa, and I know we are all eager to hear your response."

Beautiful ones will never be born
Gentle reader, I don't know what you make of this short letter from the young lady. I will tell you my reading of it. It marks settler anger renewed across gender and generations. Institutionalised anger which proves quite clearly that on this one matter, the beautiful ones may never be born. On both sides, I can assure you.

Placed in similar circumstances, an African girl would just be as bitter, of course without the privilege of writing a British Prime Minister. She would most probably find her own kith and kin.

Land is a core asset and identity of a people. It does not quite matter whether it is rightfully yours or wrongfully acquired. It seeps into your very blood and psyche, making you part of it. This is where the discourse gets a bit unfriendly.

Taking back the land was a very bold decision by us, a very painful decision for those on the receiving end of it. The bitterness of the latter would be as sharp as our collective happiness as the former, something akin to the action and reaction nexus. Why did we ever think Britain, Europe and America would react through polite sanctions? Why?

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/opinion-4615-The+day+the+lion+knew+how+to+draw/opinion.aspx?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

The guy's not just pulling stuff out of his rear end, either, I can back him up:

quote:

--------------------------------
Diamond Trade a Violent Business
--------------------------------

�10. (C) The diamond frenzy in Chiadzwa has led to hundreds
and possibly thousands of homicides. Word of easy diamonds
spurred a rush of Zimbabwean and foreign diggers to the area
including Angolans, Congolese, Mozambicans, South Africans
and Zambians, as well as diggers from as far away as Sierra

Leone and Cote D'Ivoire Cranswick estimated there are
currently around three or four thousand diggers swarming over
the 70 hectare Chiadzwa site. The police have unsuccessfully
tried to prevent the site from becoming overrun, and
routinely use live fire to chase away diggers. Anyone trying
to enter the area has to present a Zimbabwean national
identification card with a registration number that ends in
"75", signifying the person is a resident of the Mutare
region of Manicaland.

�11. (C) During the first weekend of November, police killed
at least five panners in Chiadzwa, according to the on-line
newspaper Zimbabwe Times. While usually operating on foot
with attack dogs, this time the police used a helicopter to
shoot at panners. Passmore Nyakureba, a lawyer with the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said, "This has become an
everyday scenario. Up to five people die every week as a
result of being shot at by police or after being bitten by
dogs." Cranswick said that at the peak of the frenzy in
2007, up to a hundred panners were shot in a week.

�12. (C) In response to aggressive police action, diggers
began arming themselves with handguns and in some cases
automatic weapons. They also formed loose gangs in an
attempt to protect themselves as well as "claimed" areas.
Cranswick said that some members of the police and army have
deserted in order to join the digging, and they typically
brought their firearms with them. Some former police even
still wear their uniforms as they search for diamonds.

-------------------------------------
Police Corrupted; Community Destroyed
-------------------------------------

�13. (C) Cranswick said that the police were rotated into the
area on two-week shifts to control the mining and keep
unauthorized diggers out, but they were immediately
corrupted. Police officers routinely charged 100 rand or
US$10 a person for a day's digging in Chiadzwa. The military
has largely avoided the area out of fear that commanding
officers would lose control of their troops, according to
Cranswick.

�14. (C) Cranswick maintained that local chiefs were on ACR's
side in its pending court battle to win back its claim. They
realized that the "curse" of diamonds had wreaked havoc in
the community. Children were no longer attending school, the
environmental degradation was severe, lawlessness and
violence reigned, and the community was not benefiting from
the resource. According to an independent weekly newspaper,
three quarters of the schools in Marange, Buhera, and
Chimanimani districts failed to open this term because
teachers and students alike were digging for diamonds.

http://wikileaks.arane.us/cable/2008/11/08HARARE1016.html

The cable was written two years ago, and not much has changed since then.

And since I'm rummaging around in the cables again, I found one about Ivory Coast. Everyone knew that the elections were going to be a sham before they were held.

quote:

�1. C) Summary: Although key figures in the Ivorian government
and opposition continue to insist publicly that elections
must be held as scheduled on November 29, resident diplomats
are highly skeptical, as are most politically-savvy Ivorians.
The gap between public pronouncements and the
behind-the-scenes reality has become so clear, in fact, that
UN SRSG Choi has started referring in private conversations
to the "myth and reality" of elections in Cote d'Ivoire. This
message describes the key myths and realities as we see them.
End Summary (snip)

�3. (S) The Reality: There will not be an election unless
President Gbagbo is confident that he will win it -- and he
is not yet confident of the outcome. This has been the
assessment of some analysts since 2005 and the political
landscape in Cote d'Ivoire helps to explain why. (another snip)

�4. (S) In addition to these calculations, there are other
reasons for the governing coalition to want to hang on for as
long as they can. Cote d'Ivoire will celebrate the 50th
anniversary of its independence in August 2010. Savvy
observers do not believe that President Gbagbo (who savors
the role of Le Grand Chef) will risk losing the prestige and
celebrity that goes with hosting such an historic event. (snip)

...For despite months of dedicated work and millions of dollars
worth of expenditures, not a single voter registration or
national ID card has been produced. Data collected partly by
hand on over 6 million individuals must be computerized,
linked up with fingerprints and vaQed before cards can be
produced and distributed. The likelihood that this will be
accomplished before November is slim, and there is no
indication that either the President or the Prime Minister's
office is pushing for rapid action.

http://wikileaks.arane.us/cable/2009/07/09ABIDJAN406.html

This cable was written in July of 2009. According to the text within the US knew something was rotten in Ivory Coast as far back as 2005.

Edit: This might have already been posted, but I'm posting it again in case it hasn't. When I read this thread late at night I have a tendency to not click video links because a lot of them are screamingly loud and I don't want to wake everyone in the house.

For your viewing pleasure, if you haven't seen it: ZENGA ZENGA (has hot chick dancing too)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBY-0n4esNY

Sorry if it's a repost, but it just amused me, and if you haven't seen it, you might enjoy it.

Apology fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Mar 6, 2011

# ¿ Mar 6, 2011 20:13

Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

A really cool video of a car bomb explosion at the Peugeot factory in Iran:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZBni1Ok73s

Gooo Speed Racer Goooooo! Oh poo poo, Speed, you're on fire!

Pencil in Lebanon on the list of countries that are protesting:

quote:

Beirut protesters demand end to sectarianism
By Middle East correspondent Anne Barker

Posted 1 hour 15 minutes ago

As battles rage in Libya, civil unrest in other parts of the Middle East continues to worsen, with anti-government protests now spreading to Lebanon and violence increasing in Yemen.

Thousands of people in Beirut are demanding an end to the country's sectarian political system.

Protesters say the strict quota system which shares power between Lebanon's different religious groups is the cause of all the country's woes going back decades, including corruption, cronyism and the devastating civil war that lasted 15 years.

The power-sharing deal dates to 1943 and ensures Lebanon's president is a Maronite Christian, the prime minister is a Sunni Muslim and the parliamentary speaker is a Shiite Muslim.

Other government jobs are also allocated according to religious affiliation.

The protesters are demanding the agreement be replaced with a fully secular system of government.

"The people want the fall of the regime," chanted the protesters of all ages as they marched to the headquarters of the state electricity authority.

Some of the banners at the rally read: "Confessionalism is the opium of the masses" and: "Revolt to topple the agents of confessionalism."

Inspired by the success of uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, several groups demanding an end to Lebanon's confessional system sprouted on Facebook.

Sunday's protest came after a smaller one last week, when hundreds of demonstrators braved heavy rain and marched on the state courthouse.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/07/3156644.htm?section=world&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

This division of power that they're talking about should go on the other list, the one that's titled "Sounded Like A Fair Idea on Paper". Since there are some large minority groups in Lebanon, there's just no way to divide the power along religious lines without giving some groups a disproportionate amount of power. It's also not fair to go to majority rule, since the large minority groups would then be disenfranchised. A secular government sounds like a good idea for Lebanon.

I don't know what it is about looting that appeals to me. Nothing that they take is going to keep them fed over the next few weeks and months, since nobody has any money to buy the looted items from the looters. Still, it tickles me every time it happens, no matter where it is.

quote:

Ivorian politicians' houses looted
Homes of UN-recognised leader Ouattara's officials and supporters ransacked and property carted away.
Last Modified: 06 Mar 2011 21:56 GMT

Ouattara, second from left in a suit, is recognised by the UN as the winner of the November 28 elections [AFP]
Armed men aided by police have ransacked about a dozen houses in Cote d'Ivoire's commercial city, Abidjan, carting away property belonging to officials allied with the country's internationally recognised president, witnesses say.

The looting happened on Sunday as heavy fighting broke out in the country's west.

Cote d'Ivoire has been in turmoil since the disputed election of November 28, which saw Laurent Gbagbo clinging to power claiming he won the election although Alassane Ouattara, his main rival, is recognised by the United Nations as the winner.

A witness reported seeing a pickup van belonging to the elite paramilitary police force CECOS leaving the house belonging to Ouattara's finance minister on Saturday.

The CECOS vehicle was loaded down with a refrigerator and it later returned to the house owned by Charles Koffi Diby, leaving a second time with a large safe, said the witness.

Dozens of teenagers smashed the doors and windows of the house and later left wearing suits and robes, carrying dishes and other valuables, said the witness, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution.

Ouattara women's-issues adviser, Ami Toungara, was among those whose houses were looted. She said the police were targeting people they know to be at the Golf Hotel - where Quattara is holed up - and unable to protect their houses.

Toungara said that after the valuables were taken from her house on Friday, the looters made off with tanks of cooking gas and bags of rice.

"They stole a back massager and we later found it in the garden," she said.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/03/20113620246797131.html

I can just imagine the conversation regarding the back massager:

"My back hurts from carrying that TV away, Amadou."

"Here, I found a back massager, let's take it, Alain."

"What, are you crazy? We haven't had power for a week. Where are we going to plug it in? Put that thing down. Let's take the propane tanks and a bag of rice instead, at least we'll eat for a few days."

"Okay." <abandons the massager in the back yard of the mansion>

# ¿ Mar 7, 2011 00:59

Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

A woman rammed two protesters with her car and drove away in Bahrain:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuYJwn78-3I

The sad part is the guys who got hit were actually trying to get the protesters to move out of her way so she could get through. Unconfirmed reports say that she spit on the protesters and otherwise provoked them before running two of them down. Both are said to have non-life-threatening injuries and will be okay.

Seems the best thing we could do for Zimbabwe is carpet-bomb them with unbiased newspapers:

quote:

WILF MBANGA: We need to keep telling Zimbabwe�s stories
�Zimbabwe is like a tinderbox. Everybody is afraid. Mugabe and his generals are particularly terrified�
Published: 2011/03/02 06:59:27 AM
LAST weekend, 46 individuals met in Harare to discuss lessons to be learnt from the developments in North Africa. Suffering under the oppressive 31-year yoke of President Robert Mugabe, the participants felt particularly keenly the victories of the masses over long- time dictators Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia.

Those 46 people, who include 11 women, are now bloodied and beaten in Mugabe�s jails. Ten have been tortured in an attempt to extract confessions that they were planning Egypt-style uprisings to end Mugabe�s rule. All were initially denied access to their lawyers and medical help. They have now been charged with treason and face death by hanging if found guilty.

This iron-fisted overreaction by Mugabe shows the level of his panic. Ever since the North African protests gathered momentum, the state-controlled radio, television and newspapers that dominate the media landscape in Zimbabwe have downplayed the news. Sycophantic Zanu (PF) columnists have been given hundreds of column centimetres to pontificate that such things could never happen in Zimbabwe � and if anyone dared try, the army was ready and willing to use maximum force to crush them.

Desperate for information, Zimbabweans are watching satellite television and reading whatever independent news they can get hold of. Newspaper readership is much higher than circulation figures suggest � week-old newspapers are passed on and read avidly, eventually making their way to the remotest rural areas. The good news is that 4- million Zimbabweans have cellphones and SMSes are a key form of communication.

Fighting for the right to inform the people about what is happening in their own and other countries are a few independent newspapers and foreign-based radio stations.

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=135938&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

I strongly feel that "something should be done" about the situation in Zimbabwe and Ivory Coast, but I have no idea what "something" is and am completely powerless to effect that "something".

There was heavy fighting in Ivory Coast yesterday:

quote:

Fighting flares in Ivory Coast

AT IT AGAIN:Renewed hostilities between forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo and Alassane Ouattara have sent tens of thousands of refugees fleeing into Liberia

AFP, ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
Fighters allied with Ivory Coast�s globally recognized president seized a western town held by his rival, Laurent Gbagbo, as the African Union pressed on with efforts to end a deadly political stalemate.
Fierce fighting broke out on Sunday between forces loyal to Gbagbo and former rebels who now back Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, as a senior African Union official flew out of the country after meetings with both leaders.
The pro-Ouattara fighters had captured Toulepleu, near the border with Liberia, sources from both sides said.
�There has been bitter fighting at Toulepleu ... The New Forces [FN, ex-rebels] have taken the town,� a local politician said. �The rebels outnumbered our young people who are defending the town and who had to pull back.�
A source at the ex-rebels� command confirmed the news.
�The town is entirely controlled by the FN,� he said.
One FN fighter said they were now looking to take the town of Blolequin, further to the east.
A source in Gbagbo�s Defense and Security Forces (FDS) also spoke of �heavy fighting with the use of heavy weapons� in Toulepleu on Sunday.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2011/03/08/2003497682

Oh dear god, not my coffee :cry:

quote:

DJ Ivory Coast Oct-Jan Robusta Coffee Exports Down 27% On Year
ABIDJAN, Mar 07, 2011 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) -- Ivory Coast exported 26,653 metric tons of robusta coffee in the October-January period, down 27% on the 36,634 tons shipped in the preceding season, official port data showed Monday.

Ivory Coast produces about 2% of annual global coffee output and is Africa's second largest-coffee producer, after Ethiopia.

The coffee marketing season runs from October to September and peaks in January to May, during the seasonal lull in cocoa harvesting.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2011/03/07/5359641.htm

The US sends some bread crumbs and table scraps to help out in Ivory Coast:

quote:

BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL
POLITICS FROM THE NATION'S CAPITAL
Obama sends $12.6 million to Ivory Coast
By: Hayley Peterson 03/07/11 2:28 PM
Examiner Staff Writer
President Obama is sending $12.6 million in humanitarian aid to the African Ivory Coast, where hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing from escalating violence between warring political parties.

Obama signed off on the aid on Monday following an announcement that he would send Libya another $15 million in assistance.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/03/obama-sends-126-million-ivory-coast

A pittance. Besides, who exactly are they giving the money to? This makes a huge difference as to whether or not the money helps the poor who need it or is spent on a shiny SUV for an African dictator. I don't think the US cares, really, as long as they can shrug and say "I tried to help".

# ¿ Mar 7, 2011 22:20

Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

It's International Women's Day, so expect a lot of the news stories to have a women's issues slant towards them.

Ivory Coast News:

Ivorian women held another protest in honor of their 7 sisters who died in the assassination drive-by last week:

quote:

Ivorian women protest over killings
Hundreds march over shootings of women during a protest last week as four people reported killed in Abidjan.
Last Modified: 08 Mar 2011 17:28 GMT

The killing of the seven protesters has triggered mass protests and international condemnation [AFP]
Hundreds of women protested Tuesday in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire's commercial capital, over last week's fatal shooting of seven female demonstrators.

Seven women were killed by security forces as they took part in a demonstration against President Laurent Gbagbo, who has scoffed at calls to step down despite losing the November 28 election that the UN says was won by Alassane Quattara, his main rival.

Soldiers reportedly shot dead four people on Tuesday in an incident separate from the march.

The Associated Press said its photographer saw the bodies of three men and one woman inside a clinic where the victims had been taken for treatment.

The overwhelmed clinic had nowhere to put them, except on the floor where the blood of the dead pooled together, the photographer said.

Earlier, male relatives built a wall of burned-out cars to block the mouth of the freeway leading into Abidjan's suburb of Abobo where the female protesters, dressed in white and wearing red headbands, had gathered.

Mariam Bamba, 32, picked up a tree branch next to one of the blood stains on the pavement where the women were felled by gunfire.

"This leaf is all that they were carrying when they were killed," she said.

http://english.aljazeera.net//news/africa/2011/03/20113815518827469.html

My French is very rusty but the signs say--(center) "On March 8, 2011, Gbagbo arrested and murdered women and their children. Enough is enough! Out! Out! Out!" This is a paraphrase of course. There are a couple of words on the sign that don't make sense to me.

(right) "Simone how can you condone the murdering of mothers..." Some of the words are obscured and some of them don't make sense to me.

Gbagbo's response? Why, shoot some more of them!

quote:

Soldiers backing Ivory Coast's rogue leader Laurent Gbagbo have again opened fire on civilians, killing at least four people hours after hundreds took to the streets to protest against the shooting dead of seven women at a march last week.

The bodies of three men and one woman were seen by an Associated Press photographer inside a clinic where they were taken for treatment. The overwhelmed clinic had nowhere to put them except for the floor.

A women's march in the Treichville neighbourhood of Abidjan had ended when security forces rushed into the area and began shooting. Earlier on Tuesday, hundreds of demonstrators had gathered in the Abobo suburb near the bloodstained pavement where at least the unarmed women were killed last Thursday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/08/ivory-coast-troops-open-fire-civilians?CMP=twt_fd

International Women's Day isn't going so well in Egypt either, it seems:

quote:

CAIRO �For someone whose rally was just disbanded by plainclothes policemen and thugs wielding knives, Amal Abdel Karim is remarkably calm. The Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated candidate for parliament, now sitting serenely in the parlor of her makeshift campaign headquarters in the poor Cairo neighborhood of Agouza, tells me she has been through far worse.

On Sunday, Nov. 28, Egyptians will head to the polls to elect a new lower house of parliament. Elections in Egypt are routinely marred by violence and allegations of fraud -- and this People's Assembly contest appears to be no different. The relatively short official campaign period of two weeks has already witnessed detentions, charges of vote-buying, and violent clashes. And Karim has suffered through much of it: The mother of four has had her office ransacked, her posters torn down, and her supporters intimidated and threatened, while she reports being put under surveillance herself and summoned repeatedly to court.

This was supposed to be Egypt's pro-women election. In 2009, President Hosni Mubarak's long-standing National Democratic Party government passed a law creating a new quota system, adding 64 seats to the People's Assembly that can be contested only by women. The new quota, which will stay in place over two five-year election cycles, will ensure that women control at least 12 percent of the assembly. Announcing it, the regime proclaimed the end of a system that saw women holding only nine of the outgoing parliament's 454 seats.

But the quota system -- which government critics dismiss as little more than a vote-amassing scheme -- isn't necessarily a female-friendly institution. Because of engrained sexism and political cynicism in Egypt, it may end up creating a worse situation for female candidates than their earlier situation. "[Quotas] don't get to the root of the problem, [which] is that the culture in the Middle East now is not supportive of active women's participation," says Shadi Hamid, director of research at Brookings Institution's Doha Center. "That's why when there are free and fair elections, people in the Arab world don't vote for women."

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/11/27/egypts_pro_women_election_turns_ugly?page=full

Part of having a free and open democracy includes enfranchising women, Egypt. It isn't really a democracy if men are the only benefactors of the newfound freedom. They fought for you, they died next to you, they fed you and treated your wounds, and now it's time for you to acknowledge them and share power with them.

~*BIASED NEW ALERT*~

It's not a good day for Coptic Christians either, apparently the cease-fire during the protests is over, and the new interim government has to deal with the fallout:

quote:

Egyptian Christians continued to protest today after the homes of Coptic Christians were attacked and the Church of St Mina and St George was torched during an attack on a village on the outskirts of Cairo on 5 March.

A mob of 4,000 Muslims attacked the village of Sool, Atfif in Helwan Governate on Friday in reaction to the relationship between a Christian man and a Muslim woman, forbidden under Shari�a law.

The woman�s father was reportedly murdered by a cousin for refusing to sanction the honour killing of his daughter, and the cousin was in turn killed by the woman�s brother. The attack on Sool allegedly followed the cousin�s funeral.

During the attack the mob exploded gas cylinders inside the church of St Mina and St George, pulled down the cross and domes, and torched the building. According to news reports, the fire brigade was prevented from entering the village by the mob, and the army, which has been stationed for the last two days in the village of Bromil, 7 kilometres from Sool, initially refused to attend the scene of the attacks.

Following the violence, a crowd of at least 1,000 Coptic Christians were joined by Muslims on 5 March in a protest outside the headquarters of state television station Egypt TV, which they have vowed to continue until the perpetrators are apprehended.

Despite the initial unwillingness of the army to intervene, Egypt�s new Prime Minister, Essam Sharaf, met with representatives from the Coptic community. There is an ongoing dialogue of engagement, with more meetings planned in future. Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling military council, told Reuters news agency that the army would rebuild the church before Easter holidays.

http://pakistanchristian.tv/news/20..._medium=twitter

I give the biased news alert because "Pakistani-Christian TV" is hardly the most unbiased resource. I've passed on posting many stories from other Christian media sources. Christian media loves to claim "Haha! We're still being persecuted!" while at the same time, denying that the various sects of Christianity that are actually being persecuted are true Christians at all. In case that sentence was too convoluted for you, Pentecostal Christians and Evangelicals in the US would probably deny that Coptic Christians were true Christians if the Coptics showed up in the US. This story is relatively unbiased except for the "Aha! Persecution!" factor. Christian media is almost gleeful when a Christian is killed by a Muslim.

I'm waiting for the T-Shirts that say "Miss me yet?" :smug:

with a picture of Mubarak on them:

quote:

A few weeks ago, Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak found himself up to his eyeballs in trouble. His regime was crumbling, the Egyptian people were demanding he step down from his dubious position as "President for Life," and every time he turned on his TV, cell phone cameras showed his goons beating up protesters.
As Mubarak stepped down, other nations across the Middle East gave protesting the old college-try. Some places have had good luck. Others not so much? But all eyes turned to Libya and it's ruler Col. Muammar Gaddafi this month, as the Libyans took to the streets demanding change. The difference is, Mubarak is no Gaddafi.
To be more specific, Mubarak carried himself like a politician, relying on his friends in the West to keep foreign trouble out of his yard and using his police force to keep his people quiet. Meanwhile he carved out a nice little piece of the proverbial pie for himself. Gaddafi, on the other hand, maintains his power like a James Bond villain, with flamboyant costumes and an army of female bodyguards to boot.

http://www.thestylus.net/madness-in-the-middle-east-1.2082227?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

I have to admit that Gaddahfi makes Hosni look good.

There is gang warfare in Algiers:

(translated from French by Google Chrome)

quote:

[Neighborhoods] The security services helpless. The gang war rages
by DzWikileaks on Monday, March 7, 2011 at 1:40 am
Gang neighborhood benefit from the complicity of the security services. Instead of getting rid of the police makes them allies. "

Khaled, a young forties Oued Koriche, denounced the attitude of the security services who attend without intervening in the battles gang neighborhoods of Beau-Strawberry and Climat de France. "The police often attend without moving to pitched battles between the groups who come from nearby neighborhoods. After the departure of slum dwellers in The Quarry, it's time for Strawberry Youth Beau Climat de France to fight. Authorities to let the thugs who terrorize the population, "this installment young computer specialist who works day in a box Bouzar�ah. Residents of neighborhoods of Oued Koriche surprised by the "molting" recently made by some offenders.

"The neighborhood thugs, who used knives, arm themselves with weapons of war. I saw some with rifles. Wadi Koriche has nothing to envy the favelas of Brazil. Eventually, there will be shootings and the only victims are still honest people in the neighborhood, "predicts a resident who has approached the writing without wanting to reveal his identity," for fear of being attacked "if found . A climate of terror imposed on the neighborhood's population that has suffered for years from the horrors of terrorism.
The "curfew" is imposed by groups that engage battle almost every night. "At 21h, there is no soul. The premises are closed. The dwellings of the district are cramped and people are obliged to do caulking. The insults by young people gathered at the bottom of the buildings are our daily lot, "one says indignantly.
Repeated attacks ...

It does not go a day without attending to armed attacks. Last week, a crime occurred at Beau-Strawberry where one resident with a gun, killed two of his neighbors.
Young offenders prey on private property, but also those of the state. A bus acquired by APC for athletes has been destroyed. Cars of a pound were vandalized. "Oued Koriche is abandoned to criminals. Even eradicated slums without pushing the police services and the CPA or the wilaya delegated intervene. The houses were built in green areas, the only places of entertainment of the population, "notes does one at the PCA, unable to handle this situation.
The police have the means to fight against crime that has been established for over a year in the neighborhoods of Oued Koriche. "The police has a brigade, and a BMPJ urban security. The police, claiming not to have means, could ever ask for reinforcements and investing sites. The population dropped to hands and feet tied crazy youth must be reassured. Residents will get justice one day if the police did not intervene. But is not the result desired by certain parties? "Questioning our interlocutors.

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=196813873676082 <---This is in French btw

A video from Zimbabwe, compliments of Witness Org: http://ht.ly/1bFDpL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyJF-01LlLI

So much pain. SO. MUCH. PAIN.

You would think that a call for a constitutional monarchy wouldn't be that controversial in today's climate in the Middle East, since it's still a monarchy, but noooo....

quote:

In Riyadh the mood is tense; everyone is on edge wondering what will happen on Friday � the date the Saudi people have chosen for their revolution. The days building up to Friday so far have not been as reassuring as one would like.

On 4 March, there were protests in the eastern region and a smaller protest here in Riyadh. The protests in the eastern region were mainly to call for the release of Sheikh Tawfiq al-Amer, who had been detained after giving a sermon calling for a constitutional monarchy.

The protest in Riyadh was started by a young Sunni man, Mohammed al-Wadani, who had uploaded a YouTube video a few days before, explaining why the monarchy has to fall. After the protests, 26 people were detained in the eastern region and al-Wadani was taken in soon after he held up his sign near a major mosque in Riyadh.

It's not just the people who are on edge; apparently the government is also taking this upcoming Friday seriously. Surprisingly, Sheikh Amer was released on Sunday, while usually political detentions take much longer.

All this week, government agencies have been issuing statements banning protests. First it was the interior ministry that promised to take all measures necessary to prevent protests. Then the highest religious establishment, the Council of Senior Clerics, deemed protests and petitions as un-Islamic. The Shura Council, our government-appointed pretend-parliament, also threw its weight behind the interior ministry's ban and the religious decree of prohibition. But you can't blame the clerics or the Shura for making these statements � the status quo is what's keeping them in power and comfortable.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/08/saudi-arabia-revolution-protests?CMP=twt_gu

This is what the Egyptian protesters were fighting against:

quote:

VIDEO FOOTAGE SHOWS EGYPTIAN PRISON INMATES APPARENTLY TORTURED AND KILLED

The videos of dead prisoners were taken in the Zenhoum morgue in Cairo
� Amnesty International

8 March 2011
Amnesty International has called for an urgent investigation by the Egyptian authorities after receiving video footage from inside a morgue showing the bodies of scores of prisoners, some of whom had apparently been tortured before being killed.

The three videos of dead prisoners from Al-Fayoum Prison were taken in the Zenhoum morgue in Cairo on 8 February 2011 by a man who went to the morgue after the family of another inmate told him that the dead body of his brother was there.

"These are distressing images that show a large number of inmates who appear to have been killed in horrific circumstances," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's director for the Middle East and North Africa.

"The Egyptian authorities have a responsibility of care for all inmates of their prisons and must immediately investigate how these prisoners met their deaths and bring to justice anyone found responsible for carrying out unlawful killings, torture or other ill-treatment."

Malek Tamer found the name of his brother, Tamer Tawfiq Tamer, an inmate at Al-Fayoum, one of Egypt's large prisons, on a list of 68 male prisoners listed in the morgue�s register.

He said a large number of the bodies, which were all numbered with pieces of paper attached to their fronts, had wounds to areas including the head, mouth and eyes, suggesting they were tortured before their deaths.

Injuries included bullet wounds, burn marks, bruises and missing finger and toenails, Malek Tamer said.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/video-footage-shows-egyptian-prison-inmates-apparently-tortured-and-killed-2011-03-

It's not that Tripoli really supports Kaddahfi, it's that they're living in absolute terror:

quote:

In "company town" of Tripoli, loyalty to Qaddafi
Posted by Harry Smith

There is a cruel sameness to the people who came to us as we went from neighborhood to neighborhood in Tripoli. Without exception, everyone we encountered toed the company line: "Allah, Qaddafi, Libya." The camera elicited horn honks and shouts from car windows.
"Qaddafi! Qaddafi!" they'd chant.

Tripoli is a company town. And the company is Qaddafi and sons. You are either with the company plan or -- at enormous risk -- you are against it.

Libya continues bombarding rebel positions

It's hard to find a dissenter as you walk down the street. "Qaddafi is our father" is a common refrain. The rumors of the demise of the cult of personality are greatly exaggerated. Qaddafi looms large here -- big enough that masses of people are more than willing to publicly demonstrate their loyalty to the old revolutionary. They have their reasons.

Compared to the rest of Africa, and even other parts of the Middle East, Libyans have it pretty good. Everyone has a home and a car. Want to get married? The colonel has promised 20-year, interest-free loans. Because the violence has spiked inflation, every family has been promised another 500 dinars a month. That's worth a couple of hundred dollars. Qaddafi may seem crazy but he is no fool. Money still talks.

But people in restive neighborhoods have been disappearing off the streets of Tripoli. The fear factor is very high. After Friday prayers at the big mosque near Green Square, we spoke with worshipers who were doing their best to slip away from an angry pro-Qaddafi mob that had formed to make sure there would not be another protest.

"We're scared," one said. "Tell the truth," said another. The looks on their faces told me everything. Lingering too long with a reporter could mean a visit from the authorities. Qaddafi's mob ran up the steps of the mosque. Just as a large group was emerging from the sanctuary chanting "Hooreyah. Hooreyah. Freedom. Freedom," the mob shoved and kicked them back inside. The doors slammed shut. Mission accomplished.

Libya's ragtag revolutionary army

While in Tripoli we had a number of conversations with ranking regime supporters. It was as if they were stuck in a bad movie. The energy and fervor with which they spoke about Qaddafi was out of sync with the times. Think old Soviet Union or old Cuba. On a government junket to inspect the supposed millions of doses of hallucinogens that according to Qaddafi were "smuggled into the country to corrupt Libya's youth" we found they were nothing more than pain pills manufactured in India.

I saw one of our government contacts later and said, "You know this is BS." He said, "Ok, I grant you the pills are an exaggeration. But, the rest of what I'm telling you is true." Got it.

What is impossible to judge is how deep Qaddafi's support in Tripoli truly is.

On the surface, it is impressive. But should a crack form in the veneer one wonders if it would soon become a crater, swallowing up the regime and all who cling to it.

Harry Smith is a CBS News senior correspondent. He also serves as a substitute anchor and correspondent for the "CBS Evening News," "CBS News Face The Nation" and "CBS News Sunday Morning." He has won numerous awards, including several Emmys and an Edward R. Murrow award.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20040594-503543.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Harry Smith is a great journalist imho.

Add Mauritania to the list:

quote:

8 March 2011: �The young are mobilising in Mauritania too, and the unions are at their side, fighting for change�
Encouraged by the revolutions in Tunisia, then Egypt, young Mauritanians have launched their own movement for change, called 25 February. Three national trade union centres (CGTM, CNTM, CLTM*) that have persistently denounced the serious violations of workers� rights, are encouraging the population to get out onto the streets and are determined to make the government finally face up to its responsibilities. Abdallahi Ould Mohamed, known as Nahah, General Secretary of the General Confederation of Workers of Mauritania (CGTM), explains the causes they are fighting for, and the hope for change that is driving the movement in his country, with one key date in their sights, the 11 March demonstration.

http://www.ituc-csi.org/spotlight-on-abdallahi-ould.html?lang=en&sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4d7676f684a7ebbc,1

Mauritania is kind of hard to track, because there are lots of "they are tear-gassing us now" on-the-streets reports and Che-style blog posts, but very few news links. I've added a few people to the Middle East - Africa news list so I can get updates from Mauritania on the situation there.

I haven't posted much about this since it isn't in the Middle East or Africa, and I've also left out the protests in Wisconsin, since there's a thread for that, but now I'm going to break my rule. The proles are pretty pissed off about budget cuts in the UK:

quote:

Demonstrations ruin Nick Clegg's weekend

Thousands of people have taken to the streets across Britain again in the last week to protest against government and council cuts.

The biggest demonstration took place in Cardiff on Saturday where up to 3,000 trade unionists, students, pensioners and others marched against the Tory and Liberal Democrat conferences taking place in the city.

Class anger ran throughout the march. Support for the revolutions in the Middle East was evident, with many Egyptian flags flying.

Protesters briefly blocked the road outside the Lib Dems conference, with students calling for Nick Clegg to go after lying over tuition fees.

Union leaders including Mark Serwotka of the PCS, Len McCluskey of Unite and Si�n Wiblin of the Wales TUC addressed the rally at the end of the march.

All of them called for the biggest mobilisation possible for the TUC�s anti-cuts demonstration in London on 26 March. Serwotka got the best reception when he said, �Strike action is not only inevitable, it is necessary to show the strength of our side.�

Around 300 protesters helped ruin Clegg�s appearance at the Liberal Democrats Scottish conference in Perth on Saturday.

He had to use a backdoor at the city�s concert hall to enter the building and then spoke to a largely empty auditorium.

Protesters, including a number of disabled people, booed any delegates who appeared outside. They shouted �Barnsley� at them after the party�s humiliating result in the by-election there.

Up to 100 people protested at the Labour local government conference in central London on Saturday. The National Shop Stewards Network anti-cuts campaign called the demonstration.

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=24140&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Can't help but think this is the wave of the future: cut humanitarian aid and education, continue on with military funding and tax breaks for the rich.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2011 20:16

Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

Xandu posted:

http://www.arabist.net/blog/2011/3/8/international-womens-day-in-cairo.html

I doubt it's irrelevant now. Things have changed, but women can hardly be considered equal citizens.

It doesn't help that I didn't post the commentary that linked to the Nov. 2010 article, in which someone said that Mubarak's quotas were going to be scrapped now that he was out of power and that they were considered a great injustice in Egypt. :doh:

It's true that not a whole lot has changed between then and now, Nov. 2010 was only months ago.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2011 06:31

Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

Don't get your fingers cut:

quote:

We will cut foreign fingers: Saudi Arabia
Riyadh: 4 hours and 45 minutes ago

Dialogue is the best way to resolve any problems in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said on Wednesday, adding any foreign interference will not be tolerated.

'The best way to achieve what citizens want is through dialogue whether in the eastern region, or the western, southern and northern regions,' the minister told a news conference.

'The principle of dialogue, I believe, is the best way to address the issues facing society,' he said, warning foreign states not to interfere in Saudi affairs.

'Change will come through the citizens of this kingdom and not through foreign fingers, we don't need them,' he said. 'We will cut any finger that crosses into the kingdom.'

http://www.tradearabia.com/news/LAW_194892.html

I've noticed that Arabs in general seem to have a more flowery style of speech, which often turns into rather overblown rhetoric. Still, it's hard to see the Saudis as more than savages when they start talking about cutting off fingers, especially since part of the Saudi stereotype in the west involves chopping off hands for minor crimes.

It's not unreasonable to suggest that what people in the Middle East and Africa really want is not freedom, but food:

quote:

High Food Prices And Popular Uprisings � Is Ghana At Risk?

Date: 09-Mar-2011

The ongoing popular uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East poses the question if other developing countries, including Ghana, may experience similar or other forms of uprisings in the light of the imminent global food crisis of 2011.

In order to answer this question one needs to look at the underlying drivers for the uprisings in both 2008 and now.

The 2008 Food Crisis

Global riots and unrest

In 2008 riots from Haiti to Bangladesh to Egypt over the soaring costs of basic foods have brought the issue to a boiling point and catapulted it to the forefront of the world's attention.

In April 2008 Jeffrey Sachs, director of Columbia University's Earth Institute said, "This is the world's big story.

In the same month World Bank President Robert Zoellick said that while many are worrying about filling their gas tanks, many others around the world are struggling to fill their stomachs, and it is getting more and more difficult every day.

For days running, parts of Haiti erupted into violence triggered by the soaring cost of food. On April 12, 2008, the Haitian Senate voted to dismiss Prime Minister Jacques-�douard Alexis after violent food riots hit the country.

Food prices, which have risen 40% on average globally since mid-2007, also caused unrest around the world in 2008.

The price rises affected parts of Asia and Africa particularly severely with Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Senegal, Mauritania, C�te d'Ivoire, Egypt and Morocco seeing protests and riots in late 2007 and early 2008 over the unavailability of basic food staples. Other countries that have seen food riots or are facing related unrest are: Mexico, Bolivia, Yemen, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and South Africa.

http://news.peacefmonline.com/features/201103/142411.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

This is a very long and detailed article that lays out the situation for most of the region that is now in turmoil. Nothing has been done to change the situation since the first unrest in 2008. It's very well worth reading.

It's also a halfway decent segue to the Ivory Coast news:

quote:

I.Coast exporters risk cocoa seizure - sector

09 Mar 2011 15:49
Source: Reuters // Reuters

* Exporters given until end-March to ship stocks, pay taxes

* France says Gbagbo decree has no legal bearing

(Adds details, background)

ABIDJAN, March 9 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast cocoa exporters have until the end of March to ship beans they have in stock and pay taxes or risk seizure by Laurent Gbagbo's government, the sector regulator said on Wednesday.

Anoh Gilbert had said earlier there was no plan for now to seize the stocks as part of a decree issued late on Monday under which the state would handle all exports of cocoa from the world's top grower.

Exporters had been concerned that the decree included seizure of about 475,000 tonnes of beans currently in storage, worth some $1.8 billion at current market prices near a 32-year high.

Gilbert said Gbagbo's government expected companies to pay about 60 billion Franc CFA ($127 million) in taxes on about 340,000 tonnes of cocoa by the end of March and taxes on another 100,000 tonnes by the end of June.

"So, if by the end of that date (end-March) we are not paid, we will start a judicial process and we will seize part of the stocks in other to be paid, whether the beans are exported or not," he said.

A power struggle following a disputed election has strangled the cocoa sector of the world's top grower, leaving the cocoa in storage in the country.

France, Britain and the United States have all condemned Gbagbo's move to control the sector as tantamount to theft.

"France condemns this illegal decision by Laurent Gbagbo to expropriate cocoa and coffee companies operating in Ivory Coast," said Bernard Valero, spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry.

"This decision has no legal bearing as it has been made by authorities that have no legitimacy to take decisions on behalf of the Ivory Coast," he said. ($1=473.2 Cfa Franc) (Reporting by Ange Aboa, additional reporting by Vicky Buffery in Paris, writing by Mark John and Jane Baird)

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/icoast-exporters-risk-cocoa-seizure-sector

You see, Europe and the west have encourage Ivorians to grow cocoa and coffee, not food, since it grows so well in their area. Now that there's more cash crops being grown, their food must be imported from grain-growing countries---remember the US' huge corn-farming subsidies, and the way that corn is sneaked into nearly every food product in the US via high fructose corn syrup. Importing food is much less efficient and much more shaky than growing it within your own country. A country that imports a great deal of its food is much less likely to have stockpiles for times of crisis. I could be completely wrong, but I think that we're now seeing worldwide results from the practices of Big Agriculture.

And to highlight my potential wrongness, here's a story from Tunisia in which they're very much celebrating their freedom and not talking about food at all:

(translated from French by Google Chrome)

quote:

Tunisia: the RCD, the former party of Ben Ali, dissolved
Share

09/03/2011 at 10: 44 By Jeune Afrique

The seat of former Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD) in Tunis.
Abid � Ons
Tunisian justice announced the dissolution of the Constitutional Democratic Rally, the former party of Ben Ali. An explosion of joy accompanied the announcement.

In the hall of the Court of First Instance in Tunis, several hundred people have left their joy Wednesday morning. Justice had announced the dissolution of the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD) party of ousted President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

"The court of first instance in Tunis decided to disband the Democratic Constitutional Rally and liquidate its assets and funds," said the ruling.

"RCD releases! "," Tunisia free! "Or" O martyr, we continue the fight "are some of the slogans that have blended, on the bottom of the Tunisian national anthem.

Outside, the crowd, including lawyers in dress and bearing young Tunisian flag, swelled visibly.

Founded by Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 1988, the RCD had claimed up to two million members. But after the leak of former president in Saudi Arabia , he collapsed like a house of cards. Its political leadership had self-dissolved, he was expelled from the Socialist International, then suspended by the transitional government of any activity on February 6.

But much of Tunisians wanted to disappear entirely this symbol of repression, while a fringe of the political landscape would (and will perhaps always) the rebuilding in a different form .

The Ministry of Finance has been instructed to make the assets of the RCD and its funds.

http://www.jeuneafrique.com/Article/ARTJAWEB20110309103429/ <---this is in French btw

However, the flash point for Tunisia was a man who immolated himself because he could not afford a seller's permit from Ben Ali's corrupt and greedy government, and as a result, could not make a living and feed his children, so maybe, in the long run, food is one of the greater issues.

And don't forget the bread hat in Yemen. I don't think the guy made the bread hat to entertain us. I'm sure he was trying to make a statement.

There's more protests in Oman:

quote:

Wednesday March 9, 2011
Oman Air employees stage demonstration outside HQ
by The Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Dozens of employees of Oman's national airline staged a protest in front of the company's headquarters Sunday, dragging one of the sultanate's most prominent companies into the unrest that has shaken the strategically important Gulf state.

The Oman Air demonstration follows days of protests elsewhere in Oman urging political reforms. The sultanate and the island nation of Bahrain have seen the biggest and most sustained outbursts in the Gulf as part of the Arab world's wave of unrest.

Witnesses said about 100 Oman Air employees began gathering by late morning and were calling for improved working conditions. The state-run carrier's corporate offices are located near the country's main international airport in the capital, Muscat.

Philippe Georgiou, the carrier's chief officer for corporate affairs, said flights were not disrupted by the demonstration. He told The Associated Press the airline is willing to talk with protesters, who come from a number of different departments and have a range of demands, including calls for higher wages.

"The general environment is of people expressing their views ... in the region," he said of the protest's timing.

http://www.dailymail.com/ap/ApWorld/201103090318?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

I can't believe I quoted the Daily Mail :blush:

On rare occasions they actually report the news I guess.

It's all turning into a big blur of angry people and corrupt dictatorships and monarchies, but wasn't Oman one of the places in which there was an organized hunger strike by some religious leaders? Maybe I'm wrong. I could have sworn it was in one of the more well-off Arab countries; perhaps the hunger strike was in Bahrain.

I don't know if this counts as a protest or not, since it's not clear why the young man went missing:

quote:

Rafiabad youth goes missing
UMER MAQBOOL DAR

Srinagar, Mar 9: Protests erupted in Rafiabad area of north Kashmir�s Baramulla district Wednesday against the disappearance of a local youth.
Early morning hundreds of people including children and women took to streets to protest against the disappearance of Muhammad Yasin Mir son of Ghulam Nabi Mir of Ladoora Rafiabad.
The protesters blocked Handwara-Baramulla road for more than two hours, demanding Yasin�s whereabouts. Talking to Greater Kashmir, Yasin�s father Ghulam Nabi Mir said that his son has not returned home since the evening of March 3.
�He was using my mobile between 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm on that day. He received or called somebody from my phone and then went outside house,� he said, adding that they grew anxious after he didn�t return.
�We searched for him at all places for first two days. After we failed to locate him we lodged a report in police station Sopore and provided them the phone number which he was using, but police have failed to provide any clue about him till date,� he said.
Following the protests, police and civil officials reached the spot and assured the protesters that they would trace the youth.
When contacted, superintendent of police, Sopore, Altaf Ahmed Khan said that police was investigation the matter.

http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2011/Mar/10/rafiabad-youth-goes-missing-54.asp?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

People on Twitter seem to think he was disappeared by the police.

This is the "black list" from Yemen, distributed by a group called Youth Revolution. All the people pictured stand accused of killing peaceful protesters. It's unclear what you're supposed to do if you see one of these people:

http://www.adenlife.net/user_images/news/1299674534.jpeg

I'm assuming that "kill them" is not the answer that the Youth Revolution has in mind.

gently caress da police:

quote:

Saudi Shi'ites hold new protest in oil province
Wed Mar 9, 2011 6:45pm GMT
RIYADH, March 9 (Reuters) - Saudi Shi'ites staged another small protest in the kingdom's oil producing Eastern province on Wednesday, defying a ban on demonstrations, witnesses said.

More than 100 mostly young men gathered in the main Shi'ite city of Qatif on the Gulf coast to demand the release of prisoners they say are held without trial, witnesses said.

There was a heavy presence of police in Qatif which is close to Bahrain, scene of large protests by majority Shi'ites against their Sunni rulers.

Shi'ites have staged protests for about two weeks in the east of Saudi Arabia, mainly to demand the release of prisoners.

Saudi Arabia's minority Shi'ites complain of discrimination, saying they often struggle to get senior government jobs and benefits available to other citizens.

http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE72826U20110309?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

You go, dawg. Kick the Shi'ite out of them. This one made me laugh because the way the tab is truncated, it says "Saudi Shi'it".

# ¿ Mar 9, 2011 21:37

Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

I'm so sorry, Al Saqr

# ¿ Mar 10, 2011 21:12

Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

I guess we no longer have to pretend that the US is pro-Democracy, so that's one thing I guess.

Why can't the US just abstain from the NATO vote? Why can't the US just say, "Look, we're kind of broke right now, but if y'all want to help go right ahead, we won't stop you?" Oh, yeah, that would make the US look weak :rolleyes:

Honestly I don't see not having a no-fly zone working out any better than having a no-fly zone worked out in Kosovo and Iraq. No matter what anyone does, a poo poo-ton of people are going to die. Any possible edge the world can give the rebels should be given to them without all this dick-waving bullshit.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2011 01:35

Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

Xandu posted:

It's not like the US threatened to veto , my understanding is that France/UK (the only other states I could imagine enforcing one) don't want to go forward without the US involved.

Besides, it makes way more sense to do it under a UN mandate than a NATO mandate.

I was reacting to this:

quote:

Within NATO on Thursday, the United States and Germany were the most resistant to a no-flight zone, while France and Britain, which have been a drafting a United Nations resolution calling for one, were strongly in favor. But there was even disagreement among those who agreed.

When France stepped ahead of the rest of the military alliance on Thursday morning to become the first country to recognize the Libyan rebel leadership in the eastern city of Benghazi, Britain took exception. In comments at the European Union in Brussels, Britain�s foreign secretary, William Hague, said that the Libyan rebels were �legitimate people to talk to, of course, but we recognize groups rather than groups within states.�

Germany in the meantime took a strong position against a no-flight zone. �We do not want to get sucked into a war in north Africa,� the German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, said Thursday at the European Union.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/world/africa/11nato.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Which, you're right, it's not the same as a veto, but it strongly implies that both the US and Germany will vote against a NFZ over Libya in both NATO and the UN. I'd prefer that they abstained. Don't "get sucked into a war in North Africa" if you don't want to, but at the same time, don't impede those that want to help.

A report from Bahrain:

(translated from Arabic by Google Chrome)

quote:

Issue 3108 | Friday, March 11, 2011
Health: 774 injured in the process of "Royal" came out of whom 667

SMC - Ministry of Health
Ministry of Health confirmed that it received Friday evening through health centers and SMC following the break up the march headed to the Royal Court, the number of 774 injured people, mostly different sluices of tears, and bruises in different parts of the body. This has been to provide the necessary treatment for all patients who were to receive them, as it came out of them until the time of this writing the number 667 after confirming the stability of their health and to improve, while still 107 injured SMC to receive the necessary treatment.

http://www.alwasatnews.com/3108/news/read/531854/1.html <---this is in Arabic btw

Some unconfirmed reports out of Mauritania:

quote:

@mauritaniedem1
Mauritanie demain
protesters are expected another protest crossing their street where collected by some trade unions. #Mauritania

@mauritaniedem1
Mauritanie demain
Police Attacked the protesters by teargas. #Mauritania

And in Liberia, their warlord/dictator was tried but it will take months for the verdict to come out:

quote:

The war crimes trial of Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president, has ended with judges expected to take months to reach a verdict on whether he can be linked to murders and amputations during Sierra Leone's civil war.

In their final remarks on Friday, prosecutors cautioned the judges against being taken in by Taylor, who portrayed himself during the three-year trial as a statesman and peacemaker rather than a warlord who used a surrogate army to pillage a nation.

Chief prosecutor Brenda Hollis said the defence had 'misstated the evidence to fit their argument. The evidence proves - incredible evidence in this case - proves the accused is guilty beyond reasonable doubt on all counts of the indictment."

Nicholas Koumjian, another prosecutor, told the court, "Charles Taylor always tried to portray himself as something he wasn't. ... He's an intelligent and charismatic man."

The defence concluded by denying prosecution claims that Taylor was part of a criminal conspiracy with rebel leaders seizing power in neighbouring Sierra Leone, providing them with weapons and support in exchange for diamonds illegally mined by slave labour.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/03/2011311172946791811.html

This is important because refugees from Ivory Coast have been fleeing to Liberia. Things are pretty drat bad if Liberia looks like the place to hide or the safety zone.

It shouldn't be a surprise that they've been abusing journalists in Libya:

quote:

@NicRobertsonCNN
Nic Robertson
Detaind at gunpt this morn by plainclothes thugs to stop us covering Friday prayrs in #Tripoli nghbrhd where police attackd protstrs last wk

@NicRobertsonCNN
Nic Robertson
Police thugs pushed around shooter Khalil Abdallah & me and kicked producer Tommy Evans, shouting at us & berating us the whole time

@NicRobertsonCNN
Nic Robertson
After aggressive questioning and threats, some higher power instructd them to free & return us to hotel. Same thing happnd to othr journlsts

@NicRobertsonCNN
Nic Robertson
Later today, govt took journalists in convoy to Zawiya --city had its soul ripped out, spirit shatterd, hard to imagine it will ever b same.

@NicRobertsonCNN
Nic Robertson
Govt managd to produce abt 100 supporters to stage demo in Zawiya, surrounded by hastily covered-over destruction --fresh paint, empty pots

When we're not using you, we're beating you. Way to get the story you want heard told, Libya. Jeepers.

WSJ Europe only gives you free teasers. It's frustrating to get linked there and have the article end in ellipses, but it's still worth quoting the part that I can get:

quote:

BY AIDA SULTANOVA BY MARC CHAMPION AND ISTANBUL

Baku

Police in the oil rich Caucasus nation Azerbaijan detained more than 40 people on Friday who attempted to repeat Egypt's antigovernment uprising, even as the European Union expressed "concern" over the government's heavy handed tactics.

A call on Facebook to young Azeris to go out into the streets and take part in a "March 11�Great People's Day" protest against country's authoritarian government drew minimal support. Those few who did turn out to protest were quickly rounded up or dispersed.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703327404576194611772513434.html?mod=googlenews_wsj&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

So it looks like Azerbaijan has fizzled. Sorry Azeris, no soup for you.

The negotiating table doesn't have a leg to stand on:

quote:

Mar 10 2011
by Tahiyya Lulu

_{"I've had nothing yet,� Alice replied in an offended tone, �so I can't take more.�

�You mean you can't take less,� said the Hatter, �it's very easy to take more than nothing."}

Recent news reports on the current uprising in Bahrain are all talking about the talk; we hear, or read, that, �Clinton, Saudi minister support Bahrain dialogue,� and that �UAE-Qatar support Dialogue Initiative.� Days later, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey �Feltman praises initiatives by HM King Hamad,� and according to Bahraini authorities, �Bahrain has also received support from the Governments of France, Jordan, Russia and Turkey for the national dialogue.�

So how come the protesters are not at the negotiating table? Clearly, that miserable lot munching on popcorn at the Pearl are just unwilling to talk, defiantly refusing �civilized� methods of reform, right? Well, allow me to suggest that perhaps it is because the table they are being invited to doesn�t have a leg to stand on.

http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/846/distortions-of-dialogue

The article goes into the details of Bahrain history and explains why the protesters are unwilling to negotiate with the very same people who have been loving them for generations.

Srinagar is protesting after all:

quote:

JKLF protests Kashmir 'killings, arrests', Malik detained

2011-03-11 23:00:00
Srinagar, March 11 (IANS) The pro-independence Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Friday evening carried out a torchlight procession in the heart of summer capital Srinagar to protest against 'killings and arrests in Kashmir'.

JKLF chairman Yasin Malik led the procession in the Maisuma locality as scores of JKLF activists shouted pro-independence slogans.

Police intervened to stop the procession in the locality and detained Malik along with other activists of the JKLF who were later shifted to the local police station.

Syed Ali Geelani who heads the hard-line group of the Hurriyat Conference has called for a protest shutdown Saturday against 'the arrest of youth in Kashmir'.

http://www.sify.com/news/jklf-prote..._medium=twitter

"You don't know who I am, but I know where you live...":

quote:

BAHRAINI ACTIVISTS RECEIVE THREATS AFTER ANONYMOUS DEATH CALL

Seven protesters were killed in Bahrain following a Day of Rage last month
� Amnesty International

11 March 2011
Amnesty International has called on the Bahraini authorities to ensure the safety of three human rights activists after text messages were yesterday circulated to many people in Bahrain calling for them to be killed.

The messages contained personal details of the activists and labelled them "advocates of subversion". One of the three then received a series of anonymous threats from callers to his phone.

"The Bahraini authorities must mount an immediate, thorough investigation to identify the source of these threats and bring to justice those responsible for inciting murder and issuing death threats," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's director for the Middle East and North Africa.

"The government must also ensure the safety of the three activists who have been named in these threats and any others who may be targeted in the same way, and afford them all possible protection."

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/bahraini-activists-receive-threats-after-anonymous-death-call-2011-03-11

Come on, Bahrain. Anonymous death threat calls? That's Dale Gribble poo poo right there, I tell you what.

A half million people are displaced in Ivory Coast:

quote:

_{_{Residents of the Abobo district carry their belongings as they flee the neighborhood which has become a hub for street violence in the nation's ongoing political standoff, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, February 28, 2011}}

The United Nations refugee agency reports nearly one-half million people in Ivory Coast have fled their homes because of escalating violence. The UNHCR says little attention is being paid to the tragedy unfolding in this West African country because of the focus on events in North Africa.

The U.N. refugee agency says it is very concerned by the limited response it has had so far to the crisis in Ivory Coast. It says some 370,000 people now are displaced within the country and nearly 80,000 others have fled to neighboring Liberia seeking asylum.

The UNHCR reports it has had an extremely poor response to its latest appeal for $46 million, despite the growing number of homeless people and the growing needs.

Spokeswoman Melissa Fleming says the UNHCR only has received $5 million. She says the agency is considering launching another and bigger appeal. She urges international donors to be more responsive to the humanitarian crisis in Ivory Coast.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/-Nearly-Half-Million-People-Displaced-in-Ivory-Coast-117806334.html

If you've got any money, you might want to donate to the UNHCR.

I've been predicting that if Gbagbo runs out of money, he's doomed, and apparently we're coming to that point:

quote:

No Money, No Friends, But Lots Of Bullets

March 11, 2011: President Gbagbo is broke, with all the foreign banks closed and no access to cash to pay his followers and troops. The AU (African Union) has ratified the election of Alassane Ouattara, while Gbagbo continues to insist Ouattara lost. The northern rebels (calling themselves the New Forces) have begun advancing (without announcing it).

Gbagbo is in a difficult position. The UN. already has 9,000 personnel in the country, most of them armed. Another 2,000 peacekeepers are on the way (from Liberia.) The UN 10,000 UN and French peacekeepers have orders to fight only if attacked. Thus Gbagbos troops stay away from the peacekeepers. But the peacekeepers are also apparently letting New Forces sneak past checkpoints.

The peacekeeper "truce line" across the country is not absolute. The roads are blocked, so large numbers of troops cannot move north or south, nor can armored vehicles or artillery. But small units of men, armed with rifles, rocket launchers and machine-guns, and move back and forth.

The New Forces are apparently doing this. The troops and gunmen loyal to Gbagbo are poorly armed and not much more numerous than the peacekeeping force. Many of Gbagbos best gunmen are mercenaries, and with the longer the banks are closed, the more of these guys desert. The New Forces are armed and equipped in the same fashion as Gbagbos men, but have better morale, and growing support in the south. Several southern villages and towns have apparently fallen to the New Forces.

Gbagbo is pulling his best fighters back to the capital and large towns. Gbagbo is willing to turn the situation into a nasty civil war, that will mostly devastate the south, where most of his supporters live.

http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/ivory/articles/20110311.aspx

Sorry if this article is hard on the eyes; it's a giant wall of text, so I added some paragraph breaks to try and tidy it up a bit. I did my best :shobon:

This is quite unfortunate:

quote:

Navi Pillay Says 'Human Rights Situation in Cote d'Ivoire is Deteriorating'

A top United Nations official warned today that human rights violations, including rapes, abductions and killings, are escalating amid the ongoing post-electoral crisis in C�te d'Ivoire, with at least 27 people killed in just the past week.

According to investigations conducted by UN human rights officers in the country, at least 392 people have been killed in C�te d'Ivoire since mid-December amid the unrest resulting from Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to leave office after his UN-certified defeat by opposition leader Alassane Ouattara in last November's presidential election.

"Overall, the situation appears to be deteriorating alarmingly, with a sharp increase in inter-communal and inter-ethnic confrontations," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

"Human rights abuses, including rapes, abductions and killings, are being committed by people supporting both sides," she added. In addition, families of high-profile individuals known to be politically active have been targeted, media groups seen as pro-Ouattara have been threatened, and the residences of members appointed to the Ouattara Government have been the targets of looting and ransacking.

http://newsblaze.com/story/20110311113634zzzz.nb/topstory.html

It's natural to want to see the protesters as "the good guys" but sometimes they behave abhorrently just like "the bad guys". I'm saddened that the "white hats" in Ivory Coast are really a dusty shade of gray. If only the world were as simple as a cowboy movie.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2011 21:17

Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

davebo posted:

Edit: why even bother bringing someone in that condition into a hospital bed?

If he's still breathing, he deserves a bed until it stops in my opinion.

Here's a video that shows the effects of the nerve gas used in Bahrain:

:nms:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIJIPEdsDCo :nms:

Burn in hell, Bahraini royal family. drat you for making that doctor cry.

And to make it extra classy, Bahraini forces attacked a hospital in Sitra and actually tear-gassed the inside of it:

quote:

(Manama, Bahrain, March 15, 2011) - Faraz Sanei, Bahrain researcher
I have spoken to two people in the Shia village of Sitra, south of Manama, who confirmed that security forces, both civilian and police, attacked the medical center there following clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces that began in Sitra at around 11 a.m. Both were at the hospital during the attack at about 4.45 p.m. As we spoke on the phone during calls earlier today I heard shots being fired. I just spoke to both witnesses for a second time and they said that security forces did not enter the center but fired rubber bullets and tear gas inside the hospital. People who had gathered outside to find out what's happening to their loved ones were forced to go inside.

Both sources have now left the medical center. One is back home in Sitra and he says the security situation there is very bad, and most people are staying in their homes. The other is a doctor who has now gone to Salmaniya hospital in Manama. He said there were several hundred people taken to Sitra (way over capacity) for injuries caused by tear gas, rubber bullets and shotgun pellets. He took five injured people with him to Salmaniya, which has admitted more than 250 cases today. He said the hospital there is overwhelmed by the number of injured. The doctor also said that three ambulances that were on their way to Sitra from Salmaniya were �hijacked� by security forces and the paramedics were beaten.

The doctor confirmed at least two dead: Bahraini Ahmed Farhan and an unidentified Bangladeshi man. There are unconfirmed reports that a third person has died as well. A second doctor said Farhan was likely shot with a shotgun and his skull was completely shattered. He said there are at least four people in critical condition at Salmaniya, including one person who has what seems to be a live ammunition bullet wound that entered and exited his chest. Another critical case is a 14-year-old-boy who was shot in the knee and was bleeding profusely. The doctor said he believes that live ammunition round were used against some villagers in Buri, south-west of Manama.

http://www.hrw.org/live-updates

Attacking a hospital? Beating doctors and paramedics? It seems it's part of the Arab Dictator playbook as well.

From Morocco (and I love that the source is called The Marxist :3:

quote:

Morocco: Constitutional reform will not save regime
Written by our Moroccan correspondent
Tuesday, 15 March 2011

Three weeks after the first Day of Rage in Morocco, King Mohamed VI made a surprise speech on television. He delivered a message promising �constitutional reform�. Fear of protracted revolutionary turbulence and even of the risk of being toppled seems to have gripped the regime.

Morocco was supposed to be an exception in the convulsive Middle East, a haven of stability guaranteed by a wise and enlightened �King of the Poor�. No need here for demonstrations like in Tunisia or Egypt. No need for revolt. No need for regime change. The obsessive repetition in the national and international media of this mantra � of the so-called Moroccan exception � in reality revealed certain nervousness within the ruling circles. Sometimes stubborn denials sound more like indirect confirmations.

Why should Morocco be an exception? The country has within it the same elements which proved lethal to the Tunisian and Egyptian autocrats. Morocco has some of the greatest levels of inequality in the Arab world. A 40% illiteracy rate, humiliating oppression, capitalist exploitation, endemic corruption, permanent and ever increasing unemployment among its finest and best educated youth and limited press freedom represent highly combustible material.

The world crisis of capitalism has also not spared Morocco, especially in the textile and confectionery industries where workers have suffered massive lay-offs. The worldwide speculation on food has also led to increases in the price of basic goods. The absolute monarchy and the pathetic ruling and �opposition� parties are an open insult to the political intelligence of the people.

The uniqueness of Morocco, the specialists explain to us, resides in the supposed popularity of the king and his religious status as the �Commander of the Faithful�, a descendent of the Prophet. Well, the Russian Tsar Nicolas II was also �popular� until� he stopped being popular and was overthrown. He also was at the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. This sacred status did not protect him from the earthly rage of the masses. A hallmark of revolutions is that they do not stop before the sacred and the divine.

http://www.marxist.com/morocco-constitutional-reform-will-not-save-regime.htm?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Morocco had protests on Feb. 20 and most likely will have them again. This article is pretty long and ends with a call for further protest. Who knows if it will happen?

We may be getting news out of Syria all-of-a-sudden-like because Syria has lifted their ban on Facebook and Youtube:

quote:

BEIRUT (AP)
Internet users in Syria say Facebook and YouTube are available for the first time in three years amid signs Damascus may be lifting its ban on the websites.

The Syrian government does not comment on its Internet restrictions. But several web users in Syria told The Associated Press on Tuesday the sites were accessible for the first time in years without having to tunnel through proxy servers.

The head of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedeom of Expression, Mazen Darwish, said he has "semiofficial confirmation" the ban is being lifted.
The gesture could be seen as a concession to stave off unrest following popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia. But it's not a major compromise by President Bashar Assad, as many Syrians accessed the sites anyway using proxies.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/02/08/136844.html

So, things may have been happening all along and we haven't been hearing about it because Facebook and Youtube were supressed in Syria.

Word on the streets is that Gbagbo in Ivory Coast doesn't have the military support everyone assumed he did:

quote:

'Promising signs' in Ivory Coast?
Published: March. 15, 2011 at 1:36 PM

Violence continues in Ivory Coast
Ivorian leader Gbagbo bans U.N. flights
U.S. 'appalled' by Ivorian violence
UNITED NATIONS, March 15 (UPI) -- Suggestions that incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo controls a sizable military force don't correlate with facts on the ground, a U.N. special envoy said.

The political fallout from a November presidential election in Ivory Coast is pushing the country to the brink of civil war. Y.J. Choi, the U.N. special envoy to the Ivory Coast, said the situation on the ground is moving in favor of Alassane Ouattara, the candidate recognized by the international community as the winner of the election.

Choi said in an interview with Radio France International that U.N. peacekeepers were "all over" parts of the country during the weekend despite pressure from Gbagbo's camp.

Choi added that assumptions regarding the size of the force loyal to Gbagbo "do not quite correspond to the facts since that majority of the military are not prepared to fight."

Fighting in the commercial capital Abidjan escalated during the weekend as national and international leaders said the country is on the verge of civil war.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/03/15/Promising-signs-in-Ivory-Coast/UPI-57641300210601/

"On the verge" LOL. Seems to me that they are there, and have been for weeks.

A well-written article that explains the details of the political situation in Ivory Coast. It's fairly long so I'm only giving you a snippet here:

quote:

Gunmen slowly closing net on Ivory Coast strongman
By Rukmini Callimachi
5:30 AM Wednesday Mar 16, 2011

On a road that curves around a swath of vegetation at the far north of this commercial capital, cars leave territory controlled by strongman Laurent Gbagbo at a checkpoint consisting of a pile of logs.

Beyond it is the first barricade manned by gunmen loyal to the country's internationally recognised president Alassane Outtara.

The line of control is slowly creeping south, toward the presidential palace Gbagbo refuses to let go.

It's been over 100 days since Gbagbo was declared the loser of the Ivory Coast's presidential election, and for most of that time the residents of the neighbourhood called PK-18 waited for the international community to remove the defiant leader, who first grabbed power a decade ago. That didn't happen and two weeks ago, the face of the neighbourhood began to change. Families streamed out, pulling suitcases on rollers behind them.

In their place arrived scruffy men. Some wore amulets around their necks and woollen head coverings, the traditional dress of the country's northern rebels allied with Ouattara.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/article.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=10712658&ref=rss

So it looks more like the rebels are going to win in Ivory Coast. However, most of the citizens have left the areas that are under fire, and who knows if they'll ever be able to make their way back. However, I think that we'll still be paying top dollar for our cocoa, since supply has nothing to do with price anyway.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2011 21:56

Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

Apparently the Bahraini government has begun an extremely bloody crackdown:

quote:

Bahrain: Bloody Crackdowns on Villages
Posted 16 March 2011
Written by Yacoub Al-Slaise

On Tuesday, before King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa announced a State of National Security giving powers to the army and other forces to secure the country, police carried out crackdowns across a number of villages in the central area in Bahrain.

�@ahmedalsairafi: Ambulances shot http://t.co/xq1nxJS #feb14 #bahrain� LiveBahrain
15 hours ago

Sign by protester in #lulu, #Bahrain http://yfrog.com/gzspqhsj
emoodz 13 hours ago
the influx of reports, rumors & horrific accounts is mind-numbing. our #Bahrain has been murdered. another black day in our history. sad. alialsaeed
13 hours ago
الإبادة جريمة إنسانية لا لون لها ولا عرق ولا دين، وما تعيشه البحرين اليوم هو إبادة جماعية طائفية على يد جيوش خزي خليجية، #bahrain bqassab
13 hours ago
@bqassab: (Ar) "Genocide is a crime to humanity which has no colour, no race nor religion. what we are experiencing in Bahrain is a sectarian genocide on the hands of shameful Gulf armies"
http://youtu.be/nG0unp8GVvI Eker near Sitra #Bahrain @almanarnews @alalam_news @cnnbrk @bbcarabic @AJEnglish @France24_ar #SOS #twitteroff IbnAlfardan
12 hours ago
powered by Storify

Police have entered villages in civilian clothes and police vests, shooting at villagers for reasons unknown at this moment of time. The following video is from the city of Sitra as police shoot at citizens.

Uploaded by YouTube user Saloooh97

Very graphic images of young man from the city of Sitra being shot at the back of the head have surfaced.

@FawazSaad يا حكومات الخليج وياعقلاء الشيعة نتوسل إليكم فالدماء لن تجلب الحلول http://twitpic.com/49rfmu #Bahrain (Very graphic image)

O, GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) governments, O Shia intellectuals we beg you to stop as blood never leads to a solution.
Due to the bloody events, a number of reports have surfaced on Twitter that several members of the Shura Council have handed in their resignations. These have yet to be officially confirmed.

@abdulemam Confirmed shura council members resigned:mohammed radhi,mohammed alhalwachi,nasir almubarak,nada hafad,abdulhussain a.ghaffar #bahrain #lulu

@nice_n_blue @abdulemam According to official sources and Shura Council's Chairman, no body filed a resignation.

This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011.

Written by Yacoub Al-Slaise
Posted 16 March 2011 � Print version

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2011/03/16/bahrain-bloody-crackdowns-on-villages/

Some unconfirmed tweets from Bahrain:

quote:

@mohdashoor
Mohammed Ashoor
Helicopter hovering & calls from mosques asking people to head to the roundabout. #Bahrain could witness yet another bloody day!

@JustAmira
Amira Al Hussaini
RT @anmarek: Attack with tear gas now on #lulu #Bahrain

@JustAmira
Amira Al Hussaini
Don't know what message #Bahrain is trying to send out. Remember, the CROWN PRINCE said Bahrain was resolving issue unlike other countries

@JustAmira
Amira Al Hussaini
From what I see, govts know one language: #Bahrain like #Tunisia like #Egypt like #Yemen like #Libya are all dealing with dissent the same

@anmarek
Anmar Kamalaldin
Many helicopters flying around #lulu .. Still attack with tear gas

@Nadawish
Nada Darwish
RT "@emoodz: Friends around #lulu confirm large presence of army vehicles, 4 army choppers in the sky.. God help us all.. #bahrain"

@ba7rainiDXB
Mohammed Rasool
Several army trucks stationed next to seef. Bulldozers and rollers seen #Bahrain yfrog.com/h3djreej

@ba7rainiDXB
Mohammed Rasool
I have Been threatened not to take pics. Gun pointed at me #Bahrain

@JustAmira
Amira Al Hussaini
We have foreign troops in #Bahrain and the world and govt insists it isn't foreign occupation. They are only from Saudi

@JustAmira
Amira Al Hussaini
RT @iamwaleed: Phones not working, nationwide. #Bahrain

@byshr
byshr
The army has closed down all roads that lead to the Pearl Roundabout #Bahrain

@ahmedalsairafi
Ahmed AlSairafi
Its a mess, firing, electricity is cut off around the whole area and nearby, ambulances, military choppers #feb14 #Bahrain

Various reports say that the phone service and electricity are up and down in the whole country.

I don't know if Al Jazeera is going to be able to continue with impartial coverage:

quote:

QATAR: Al Jazeera faces tough questions as Doha backs Saudi troops in Bahrain
March 15, 2011 | 8:13 am

The Doha, Qatar-based Al Jazeera news network has been credited with helping to sustain protest movements across the region with its wall-to-wall coverage, but will its editorial line change now that Qatar has voiced support for Saudi intervention in Bahrain?

On Monday, Qatar's prime minister, Sheik Hamad Jassim ibn Jaber al Thani, held a phone interview with Al Jazeera's Khadija Bin Qinna and Mohammad Kurayshan in which he characterized the deployment of security forces from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in Bahrain as "assistance and support" within the framework of existing agreements.

"I think the call of his highness the Bahraini crown prince for dialogue is a sincere one that should be well taken by all parties," he said, after refusing to rule out the possibility of Qatari troops being deployed as well.

"We believe that in order for dialogue to succeed, we have to defuse this tension through the withdrawal of all from the street and through the return of the language of dialogue and compassion among all segments of the Bahraini people," he added.

Bin Qinna and Kurayshan pressed the prime minister concerning statements from the Bahraini opposition warning that it considers the presence of foreign troops to be an "occupation," to which he responded by reiterating his support for dialogue.

Al Jazeera is considered among the most credible Arabic news sources, but it has been accused at certain times of allowing its royal backer's political affiliations to skew its coverage. Al Jazeera Arabic, in particular, has recently been criticized for what some see as its overly careful handling of violent clashes between Bahraini protesters and government forces.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/03/qatar-bahrain-saudi-arabia-protests-troops-security.html

Let's hope that they're not shut down.

Does any country even bother to pretend that they care about human rights watchdogs like HRW or Amnesty International any more? Survey says they do not:

quote:

Bahrain: Martial Law Does Not Trump Basic Rights
All Forces Obliged to Respect International Standards

MARCH 16, 2011

Anti-government protesters shout slogans at riot policemen as they block a road in Manama March 13, 2011.
� 2011 Reuters
RELATED MATERIALS:
Bahrain: Hold Perpetrators of Crackdown Accountable
MORE COVERAGE:
Live Updates from the Middle East
More Human Rights Watch reporting on Bahran
King Hamad's decree does not give the authorities a blank check to commit abuses. The world is watching to see whether Bahrain will respect the basic rights of all its citizens.

Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch
(Manama) - Bahrain's declaration of martial law and deployment of armed forces from Saudi Arabia does not override its obligations to respect fundamental human rights under international law, Human Rights Watch said today.

King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa decreed a three-month state of emergency on March 15, 2011, a day after military convoys from its Gulf Cooperation Council allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates entered Bahrain following that country's request for military assistance amidst continuing anti-government protests. Early on March 15, prior to the king's decree, riot police were involved in violence in several Shia villages, which left at least two people dead and hundreds injured, some seriously.

"King Hamad's decree does not give the authorities a blank check to commit abuses," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "The world is watching to see whether Bahrain will respect the basic rights of all its citizens."

According to the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA), the decision to declare martial law "was taken in light of the latest security escalations that affected national security and posed a serious threat" to the lives of Bahraini citizens. The BNA announcement said that the king had delegated implementation powers to the commander-in-chief of the Bahrain Defense Force, Marshal Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/03/16/bahrain-martial-law-does-not-trump-basic-rights

Of course, the thing threatening national security is the protesters, and the thing posing a serious thread to the lives of Bahraini citizens is its government, but does that really matter? Of course it doesn't.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2011 05:56

Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

I got behind on this thread, and since a lot of it seemed like Call-Of-Duty-Armchair-General speculation and posturing,I skipped some pages. I apologize if some of this stuff has already been posted.

In Bahrain, armed thugs are apprehending people, in particular anyone who has flags and signs and other things used by protesters:

quote:

Between the Saudi army tanks and police barricades that are now canvassing the Bahraini capital of Manama, there is a new and scarier breed of checkpoints: those manned by civilian thugs. Masked and wielding bats, chain batons and even swords, they search cars for anything they construe as antigovernment memorabilia, including Bahraini flags, beating passengers should anything be discovered. Foreigners are not exempt. One Western woman said her car's tires were shot. In Hamad Town, a Sunni enclave near King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa's palace in Riffa, there have been reports of several beatings by thugs who patrol the area, clubs in hand. Opposition leaders insist that the mask-wearing vigilantes have become government proxies, used to intimidate protesters and foreign journalists. At various checkpoints, police cars have idled nearby while the thugs � some of whom look no older than 18 � harass passersby. The capital is a veritable ghost town as residents abide by a curfew from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. to avoid the gangs.

Automatic rifles are often propped next to the thugs lounging on sidewalks. The opposition says that obtaining such weapons is nearly impossible for civilians without the express consent of the regime. Using civilian thugs is "a way for the regime to intimidate and threaten the opposition without getting its fingerprints on it," says Barak Barfi, research fellow and Middle East specialist at the New America Foundation. Barfi adds, "It's clear that there's an intimidation campaign being waged against both foreign and domestic media." On Friday, Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa flatly dismissed allegations that the thugs were part of the government apparatus.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2060463,00.html?xid=tweetshare

Uh oh where dah money go:

quote:

Islamic Republic corruption scandal: $11 billion in oil money missing
Posted by admin on March 20, 2011 in English, Featured | 0 Comment

Source: http://iranchannel.org/archives/962

By Cyrus Maximus

A colossal corruption scandal is brewing in Tehran, with the discovery that $11 billion in oil revenues have vanished over the past nine months.

The mullahs and their minions are fighting among themselves about it. Members of the majlis, the Islamic Republic�s version of a parliament, have formed a commission to investigate what happened to $4.3 billion in missing oil revenues from the state-owned petroleum sector that, under the law, should have been deposited into the regime�s foreign exchange reserves.

Another $6 billion in receivables from foreign oil purchasers, according to commission spokesman Emad Hosseini, have disappeared and have not shown up in the foreign exchange reserves account. Other oil funds are also missing, bringing the total amount of missing oil money to top $11 billion since last summer.

A majlis commission report is being submitted to the Islamic Republic judiciary for investigation. The semi-official Fars propaganda agency, Tabnak, Rahesabz, and VOA Persian carry the report.

Separately, Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani accused President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of extensive fraud. The state-run Mehr propaganda agency quoted Larijani as saying, �The report about the draining of last year�s budget, which has been submitted to parliament by the Supreme Audit Court, is voluminous.�

Majlis Deputy Lahouti added, �The National Oil Company was responsible for many of the violations and the Supreme Audit Court must investigate this issue especially in cases where significant funds are involved.� Freedom Messenger brings us the story.

As another indicator of the regime�s coverup of systematic corruption, a European Union advisor for economic affairs says the Iranian government is not publishing its economic statistics, indicating what he calls an �economic failure.�

This could spell trouble for Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran�s Supreme Leader, and his family who are reported to control much of the country�s oil wealth. Some systematic exposure could undermine the regime.

http://www.freedomessenger.com/?p=25484

Sounds like the poo poo is hitting the Persian fan all right.

Is Fox News on the same level as the Daily Mail yet? It hurts me to quote them

quote:

EXCLUSIVE: Libyans Use Journalists as Human Shields
By Jennifer Griffin & Justin Fishel
Published March 21, 2011 | FoxNews.com
Print Email Share Comments (1553)

EXCLUSIVE: An attack on the compound of Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi on Sunday had to be curtailed because of journalists nearby, Fox News has learned.

British sources confirmed that seven Storm Shadow missiles were ready to be fired from a British aircraft, but the strikes had to be curtailed due to crews from CNN, Reuters and other organizations nearby. Officials from Libya's Ministry of Information brought those journalists to the area to show them damage from the initial attack and to effectively use them as human shields.

The curtailment of this mission led to a great deal of consternation by coalition commanders, sources told Fox News, but they opted to call off the mission to avoid civilian casualties.

During a Pentagon briefing on Monday, coalition commanders said the huge compound was targeted due to its air defense systems on the perimeter and a military command and control center. It was not targeted to kill Qaddafi, commanders said.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/21/exclusive-libyans-use-journalists-human-shields/

Syria doesn't gently caress around. The Syrian protesters are extremely brave, because they know this. They know what to expect from their government.

quote:

Syrian troops have been deployed in the southern city of Daraa a day after an anti-government protester was killed when forces reportedly fired on a demonstration.

News agencies, citing residents, said that thousands of Syrians marched on Monday in the town following the funeral of Raed Akrad.

A resident told the AFP news agency that a "mass of demonstrators started to march from the cemetery towards al-Omari mosque after the burial".

Demonstrators chanted "Just God, Syria and Freedom," and "Revolution, revolution" according to the resident.

Another witness said security forces had been deployed to block protests, but people had gathered regardless.

Later in the day, Rula Amin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Daraa, said the situation was still "very tense but quiet".

"There are a lot of security, the army as well as police, there are a lot of checkpoints. But we didn't see any protests, people told us there was a funeral this morning but it ended with no clashes," she said.

Separately, activists said an 11-year-old boy died on Monday after injuries he suffered when security forces dispersed an earlier demonstrations in the city.

http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2011/03/201132112130110767.html

Even their children are fierce. The good news is that the word "fierce" can also describe loyalty and love as well as anger and violence. One would think that the Syrian government would understand that if you shoot at two protesters, there will be four tomorrow, but...

I fear that things are going to get very ugly in Syria shortly.

Just a tweet that caught my eye:

quote:

@JustAmira
Amira Al Hussaini
Dear truth, I mourn ur death in Arabia

@JustAmira
Amira Al Hussaini
Dear shame, we'll bury u in the same mass grave, along with truth, dignity and decency

It's hard to be profound in 140 characters or less but Amira Al Hussaini somehow manages.

Truly the revolution in Kashmir is the most forgotten revolution:

quote:

Protests likely to hit train services
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, March 21, 2011
Email to Author

First Published: 23:40 IST(21/3/2011)
Last Updated: 23:42 IST(21/3/2011)

Jat agitation is likely to intensify further with Jat leaders threatening to block the Delhi-Ambala railway line if their demand for reservation in jobs under the OBC category is not met by March 25. The agitation is likely to result in disruption of railway services between Delhi and Punjab, Harya na, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, causing shortage of vegetables, fruits and even petroleum products that come from Panipat refinery.
The agitating leaders have also threatened to cut off Delhi from the rest of North India on March 28, if the Central government fail to fulfill their demands.

Although rail traffic resumed on Delhi-Moradabad section after the intervention of the Allahabad high court, the agitation on Delhi-Bathinda section of Northern Railway and Bikaner and Jaipur division of North Western Railway is still disrupting railway services on several routes in Haryana and Rajasthan for almost two weeks now, senior railway officials said.

According to officials, 42 trains remained cancelled and routes of another 41 routes were curtailed due to the ongoing agitation. Senior railway officials said 36 trains remained cancelled and 43 trains ran on shorter routes on the day of Holi.

"To ensure that passengers receive a regular flow of information we are providing updated information on our telephonic enquiry system.

The TV screens on all major stations are also showing updated information and public address system are also announcing regular updates," a railway spokesperson said.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Protests-likely-to-hit-train-services/Article1-676020.aspx?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

The tone this article suggests that the protesters are dastardly, ne'er-do-well agitators, but at the same time the article admits that what they want is jobs. Let's not forget that India had a caste system in recent history, and some will tell you that they still quietly follow it (which they deny). I'm pretty sure that the Kashmiri are the lowest of the low, and last in line for every sort of resource. I have to admit I don't know much about the whole issue.

This next article might be more enlightening, however:

quote:

Amnesty slams India over Kashmir abuse
Mon Mar 21, 2011 6:16PM

Indian government has deployed more than half a million troops across Kashmir.
Rights group, Amnesty International has slammed India's laws on dealing with people suspected as threats to state security in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Nearly 20,000 people have been arrested and held under the Public Safety Act (PSA) since 1989.

"Kashmir authorities are using PSA detentions as a revolving door to keep people they can't or won't convict through proper legal channels locked up and out of the way," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty's Asia-Pacific director, calling on India to scrap PSA.

There have been almost daily demonstrations against Indian rule in the region since June 2010, when security forces killed a teenage protestor.

Government forces have responded by imposing curfews and restrictions on the movement of people.

The Kashmiri people have accused the Indian police of opening fire on peaceful demonstrators and bystanders during the unrest. Most of the victims were young men.

Since early June, violent street protests and crackdowns have left more than 110 people dead.

New Delhi has been repeatedly criticized for resorting to force rather than finding a diplomatic solution to the issue.

India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir in full but have partial control over it.

Despite the risks, it seems the Kashmiris are determined to continue their "people power" movement.

Political analysts say frequent street protests of the past two years are giving new life to the Kashmir liberation struggle.

Over the past two decades, the conflict in Kashmir has left over 47,000 people dead by the official count, although other sources say the death toll could be as high as 90,000.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171089.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

"Mine!" "No, mine!" "Mine!" "No---" *tears the baby in half*

The Bahraini government apparently does not give a gently caress what the rest of the world thinks about their tactics in suppressing the protests:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxOXnm7X5No

"And the protesters are bunched up here because the army is right over there---gently caress, RUN!!!" :derp:

A few pages back, amidst all the armchair-generalling, someone mentioned that these things aren't likely to happen in Morocco:

quote:

Amid escalating unrest in Middle East and North of Africa, Moroccans have also taken to the streets to protest corruption in Morocco and demand better civil rights.

Thousands of pro-democracy protesters gathered in Rabat and Casablanca on Sunday shouting "the Moroccan people demand change!" and holding up placards reading "For the freedom and dignity of the Moroccan people."

Protests in Morocco began earlier this year following revolutions in Egypt and Tunis which led to the overthrow of the governments in both countries.

In February thousands of Moroccans staged peaceful demonstrations across the country, prompting Morocco's King Mohammed VI to emphasize his commitment to �pursuing the realization of structural reforms.�

The king announced on March 9 that he had appointed a committee to draft a reform of the constitution widening the prerogatives of elected officials and ensuring officials are accountable and the judiciary independent.

Mohammed VI added that the new proposals would be announced in June and the draft constitution will be put to a referendum.

On March 14, however, Morocco's riot police armed with truncheons broke up peaceful protest in Casablanca in an unusual show of violence, injuring 13 people and arresting 54 others.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/170929.html

Things are happening in Morocco, if you know where to look for the news (Google). You can do it from your armchair and everything!

quote:

Renewed protests in Morocco despite king's reform pledge
Mar 20, 2011, 13:56 GMT
Rabat - Thousands of protesters on Sunday once again took to the streets in Morocco to call for democracy and social justice, despite extensive reforms promised by King Mohammed VI.
In the capital Rabat, witnesses said some 4,000 people participated in a rally, while authorities put the figures at 1,500. Protests were also reported in the economic hub of Casablanca and other cities.
Islamist and far-left groups had called for the demonstrations. Although they were not approved by authorities, the police did not initially intervene.
A week ago, police had violently broken up unauthorized demonstrations, injuring 13 people and arresting 54, according to the state news agency MAP.
The king had earlier unveiled extensive constitutional reforms, saying that he would renounce some of his vast powers and strengthen those of the government and parliament.
Government opponents say the plans do not go far enough.
Morocco had previously remained largely untouched by the unrest that continues to grip the Arab world, with individual rallies but no mass demonstrations.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/africa/news/article_1627436.php/Renewed-protests-in-Morocco-despite-king-s-reform-pledge

That last line isn't quite true---the demonstrations took a while to get going, but an "individual rally" is the same as a "small demonstration". I think that the Moroccans were slowed by the constitutional reforms and some concessions early on, but once they had time to realize that the changes wouldn't actually improve their daily lives, they got going just like nearly everyone else in the Arab world. This is only my opinion, however.

:lol:

quote:

@JustAmira
Amira Al Hussaini
AGAIN: I am being cyberbullied for doing my job: I am on a "terrormongers" list: http://twitter.com/!/khattak99/terrormongers #Bahrain

"Terrormonger" is obviously a synonym for "good journalist" so I am following everyone on the list but not the list itself.

And finally some Ivory Coast News. My Ivory Coast information source hasn't posted since March 17

so I've had to strike out on my own. I apologize if the news isn't up to snuff:

quote:

In Ivory Coast, journalists pick sides or flee
By Nassirou Diallo with Mohamed Keita/CPJ Africa Staff
Reporting on the power struggle in Ivory Coast is increasingly perilous, with journalists facing a climate of threats, intimidation, and attacks that has forced many to choose between adopting partisan coverage or fleeing to safety. "Here, we are in a situation where if you are not with one camp, then you are against them. You must show you are partisan," reporter St�phane Gou� told CPJ today.

Gou� heads a local press freedom group called the Ivorian Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CIPJ), which has documented and spoken out against abuses committed by supporters of both President Laurent Gbagbo and challenger Alassane Ouattara. Goue said he fears for the safety of all journalists following Sunday's call by Gbagbo youth militia leader Charles Bl� Goud� to arm the president's supporters.

Gou� told CPJ he has gone into hiding himself after being threatened in response to his public statements. In comments made on the UN-sponsored radio station, Gou� criticized Gbagbo's efforts to restrict the press and questioned the antistate charges lodged against jailed journalists Aboubacar Sanogo and Yayoro Charles Lopez Kangb� of the rebel-held TV Notre Patrie.

http://www.cpj.org/blog/2011/03/in-ivory-coast-journalists-pick-sides-or-flee.php

Maybe that's what happened to my original Ivory Coast source. They might have fled.

Or, maybe they got shelled to death while out trying to buy a mango:

quote:

United Nations officials today intensified their condemnation of an attack yesterday by forces allied to C�te d'Ivoire's defeated president on a market that killed 25 to 30 people and wounded dozens more, with the Organization's human rights office warning that it could be a crime against humanity.

Such charges can bring the alleged perpetrator within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose prosecutor is already leading a preliminary examination into the deadly violence sparked by former president Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to step down despite his UN-certified and internationally recognized defeat by opposition leader Alassane Ouattara in last November's run-off elections.

"We utterly condemn yesterday's attack by rockets or other missiles on a civilian area in the Abobo suburb of the [commercial] capital Abidjan," UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) spokesperson Rupert Colville told a news briefing in Geneva, referring to the neighbourhood that is a Ouattara stronghold.

"It is quite difficult to avoid the conclusion that this may be an international crime, possibly a crime against humanity. We are very concerned that the situation in C�te d'Ivoire appears to have deteriorated even further over the past week."

http://allafrica.com/stories/201103180966.html

A little more on the market attack:

quote:

Abidjan � The violence in C�te d'Ivoire has gotten so that women sitting at a vegetable stall mid-afternoon can end up in pools of blood on the ground in an instant.

A mortar attack that killed at least 25 people in the commercial capital Abidjan on 17 March came from military forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo and "could constitute a crime against humanity", says the UN Operation in C�te d'Ivoire (UNOCI).

Nafissa Hagba saw the shells hit the market in Abobo District. "There was no firing, no warning. Just this whistling noise and then explosions everywhere. The market was chaos. It hit stalls where mainly fruit and vegetables are sold; many women were there." Nafissa counted seven bodies.

One of the bodies was that of 30-year-old Ouattara Ousmane. After days of being holed up at home - as is the case for many Abobo residents amid fierce violence - he had gone out to buy food in the market, his brother said. "He was so happy to leave the house, where we've been cooped up for so long," 34-year old teacher Ouattara Kapet told IRIN. "He never came back home. A neighbour told us he was under the wreck of a market stall. There was shrapnel in his neck."

A team of UN experts who visited the site "were able to provide confirmation of the type of shells and their provenance," UNOCI spokesperson Hamadoun Tour� told IRIN.

In a report released on 15 March Human Rights Watch said organized attacks on civilians by Gbagbo's forces likely constitute crimes against humanity and that the killing of civilians by forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara "also risks becoming crimes against humanity should they become widespread or systematic".

UNOCI said in a 19 March statement it would "take appropriate measures to ensure the protection of civilians, in accordance with its mandate".

Many Ivoirians say they are frustrated that international forces in the country are not doing more to stop the carnage.

"Civilians continue to be killed - every day civilians are killed," said Andr� Banhouman Kamat�, president of the executive national office of the Ivoirian Human Rights League.

"It's not that UNOCI has done nothing....They have take action to protect civilians, but we have a situation where peacekeepers themselves cannot go into certain areas because of the insecurity."

Kamat� said the violence is scarcely getting any attention in the world. "C�te d'Ivoire has been completely erased from the world's radar, with all that's going on in Japan, in Libya."

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said the shelling incident "demonstrates a blatant disregard for international humanitarian law".

An Abobo resident said this is one of many mortar attacks on civilians in the area in recent weeks.

"Urban warfare" is what the UN Refugee Agency called the Abidjan violence in an 18 March statement. Some 300,000 people have been forced out of their Abidjan homes since November, according to UNHCR.

One minute you're buying eggplant, cassava, and a little okra, and the next minute you're lying in a pool of blood with a piece of shrapnel in your neck.

I also like how the Gbagbo government can slaughter hundreds of civilians and yet it's still not enough to qualify as crimes against humanity. It's almost as if they're keeping a tally with hashmarks: "88...89...90...oh, burned a baby alive? That counts as two...93...94..."

quote:

Abidjan � Vegetable seller Caroline Tibet recently lost about US$420 in aubergines, cassava and okra when gunfire broke out near the truck just loaded up with her goods near the town of Du�kou� in western C�te d'Ivoire.

"My investment went up in smoke," she told IRIN. That has not, however, stopped Tibet and hundreds of other women in the commercial capital Abidjan from braving gunfire, curfews and ubiquitous and often dangerous roadblocks to keep the city's central food market stocked.

"The risks are enormous," she told IRIN at the March� Gouro in Adjam� District - where people from all over Abidjan come for fruit and vegetables daily. "But if we gave up, there would be nothing in the markets and the people would feel the crisis even more sharply."

The vendors travel regularly to plantations in the west. These days their schedules are largely shaped by curfews. "Once night falls, all of us - sellers, drivers - sleep under the trucks," Tibet said. "At sunrise, once roads are open again, we set off for Abidjan." In normal times, women said, even if people finished loading up a truck at 1am they would drive back.

These constraints take their toll on family life. "It's a huge sacrifice we make," Chantale Abou, a mother of three, said. "We barely see our children."

But the women remain positive. Plantain seller Bernadette Trazi� Lou told IRIN: "The crisis has perhaps diminished economic activity but it hasn't undermined our morale to make food available in the markets and avoid famine."

"The most important thing is a return to peace," said Ta Lou Iri�, president of the March� Gouro administrative council. "It's all up to the politicians; they owe us peace so the economy can bounce back."

http://allafrica.com/stories/201103180578.html

I am filled with admiration.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2011 00:42

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 20, 2024 05:30

Apology: Nov 12, 2005; by Y Kant Ozma Post

Some interesting footage out of Libya today:

The shelling of Misrata by pro-Gaddahfi forces. Turn your volume way down, the dispirited chanting/prayer is not nearly as loud as the shells exploding:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymTOG8otlAY

And video showing that the shelling hit residential housing. You can still hear the chanting over the loudspeaker in the distance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTOH7_Xu2Vg

Edit: :smith:

(translated from Arabic by Google Chrome)

quote:

� LOCAL
Roses gift of choice to celebrate such occasions
Bahraini mothers celebrate Baidhn on the graves of their children in hospitals

The middle - good Midhob
Celebrated the many Bahraini families Mother's Day, which marks a year (21 March), coinciding with the first day of spring, to provide gifts and words of love to mothers, while preoccupied with dozens of mothers, the events experienced by the country and killed nearly 20 people Since the protests started in Bahrain in February 14, 2011.
Even though the gala has become the mother of the holiday social keen Bahraini families and even the celebrated resident, the security crisis - the political has become occupies the forefront of the priorities of the majority of households, especially those that have lost a relative, or one of its members were injured.
However lingered and Ministry of Education to re students to school today (Tuesday), after its decision to suspend classes during the past week and the limiting resolution attendance in its staff of teachers in schools starting from Sunday, March 20 / this March, the prominent position to celebrate Mother's Day tomorrow does not exist, in the scenes were repeated annual concerts held in the school on this occasion and receive gifts from teachers Tlamivhn. With the current security environment, the majority of families prefer to stay as long as possible in homes, thus depriving the majority of parks, restaurants, family of clients �Holiday Mother�, and this atmosphere significantly reduced the case of regular exchanges of visits between relatives, especially those living in areas distant from each other, as reflected by the atmosphere of the celebration of this occasion, as it was the usual scene in the evening to turn the family home to a shrine for each family, and everyone carries gifts for the mother or grandmother, which starts rose, may end are usually the most precious things.
And because of what the country is going through these days of exceptional circumstances, were absent from the majority of shops manifestations of the mother to prepare for gala, which was Taatmzar announcement offers of gifts, and publications, especially for the occasion.
In spite of this atmosphere, it did not prevent some shops, especially in the parks major, which had begun, to broadcast promotions for the gifts offered by the occasion of Eid mother, while focusing the majority of these stores to provide flowers as gifts symbolic experiencing demand for most of the consumers in such social events.
Unusually, each year, has become the manifestations of celebration of this occasion, the family, less vibrant than it was during the past years, both in terms of families that have become more focused on the provision of basic supplies instead of buying gifts, especially with the state of the stampede to buy and store large amounts of food and sodas, in anticipation of the security conditions in the country, or shops appeared to be less enthusiastic to attract consumers and residents of Bahrain for the occasion with the changing priorities of the style of living at the current stage.
Since the outbreak of the events in Bahrain, there are about 20 people, including three security men, and Asewean, in addition to dozens of missing persons to their fate still unknown

http://www.alwasatnews.com/mobile/news-533494.html <---this is in Arabic, btw

So.loving.sad. Go hug your moms if you can y'all.

Apology fucked around with this message at 06:16 on Mar 22, 2011

# ¿ Mar 22, 2011 05:50

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Middle East Thread of Despair: More Broken Than Syria

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