At least 12 Iraqis were killed and 31 more were wounded in the latest reported attacks. Scattered demonstrations continued, but protests in Suleimaniya drew about 6,000 protesters. On Friday, however, they could grow during a planned “day of rage.”
read moreMubarak’s Name Easier to Erase Than His Legacy
RAFAH - It was easy enough to rename Mubarak Children’s Hospital the Al Tahrir Hospital in Gaza. Not so easy is the task of managing patients who need to cross over to the Egyptian side for treatment, or come back in. Crossing the border, even for medical treatment,...
Eight Years of Abuses and Impunity in Iraq
A leading human rights group released a report Monday documenting the proliferation of human rights abuses in Iraq since the United States invasion in 2003. Among the most egregious cases, the 102-page report by Human Rights Watch identifies women, journalists,...
Israeli Media ‘Fears’ the New Egypt
Over the past three weeks the Israeli media has been extremely interested in Egypt. During the climatic days of the unprecedented demonstrations, television news programs spent most of their airtime covering the protests, while the daily papers dedicated half the news...
Monday: 17 Iraqis Killed, 33 Wounded
At least 17 Iraqis and an Egyptian resident were killed in the latest attacks, while 33 more were wounded. Although no new demonstrations reported today, last night Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani gave his support to protesters in a strongly worded statement castigating the government for negligence. Also, Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi reports that two investigative committees are being formed to track down almost $40 billion that has disappeared from the Development Fund for Iraq.
read moreThe Five Eyes’ Daisy Chain
So the Five Eyes' daisy chain is alive and well. I encountered this at first hand with my own application under Canada's Access to Information Act (ATIA), submitted in December 2006 and documented elsewhere. In summary, after a hideous delay not countenanced by the...
Nationalism, Democracy, and the Arab Awakening
The revolutionary wave sweeping through the Middle East promises to topple sclerotic Arab regimes throughout the region, but there is a marked difference between, say, Egypt and Iran – and the difference is the nationalist factor. In Egypt, the people rose up...
The Genie Is Out of the Bottle
This is a story right out of 1,001 Nights. The genie escaped from the bottle, and no power on earth can put it back. When it happened in Tunisia, it could have been said: OK, an Arab country, but a minor one. It was always a bit more progressive than the others. Just...
Bahrain: Days of Rage, Decades of Oppression
"Bahrain has one of the most advanced medical systems in the Middle East, the best ICT sector in the region, and the fastest growing economy in the Arab world. "But despite all these accomplishments, the country seems to be missing just one little thing: a doctor who...
Sunday: 9 Iraqis Killed, 56 Wounded
At least nine Iraqis were killed and 56 more were wounded in new and old violence. Some of the dead were wounded in Thursday’s deadly protests in Suleimanya, while the lion’s share of today’s wounded were injured in protests re-ignited by an attack on an independent television station in the same city last night.
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