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Ed Webb

U.S. quietly allows military aid to Egypt despite rights concerns - Politics - Egypt - ... - 0 views

english.ahram.org.eg/...y-aid-to-Egypt-despite-ri.aspx

Egypt US USA aid military rights democratization diplomacy

shared by Ed Webb on 07 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • Secretary of State John Kerry quietly acted last month to give Egypt $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid, deciding that this was in the national interest despite Egypt's failure to meet democracy standards.
  • "By issuing a waiver without any public discussion, it has at the very least missed a significant opportunity to ... raise its concerns about the political trajectory in Egypt," she said. Wittes said that last year's waiver occurred at a time when Egypt had made some progress toward greater democratic reforms, while this year "the waiver was issued in the context of a negative trajectory in Egypt's transition to democracy."
Ed Webb

BBC News - Zahra's paradise: the Iranian woman running for president - 0 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...magazine-22803971

Iran politics fiction video graphic_novels

shared by Ed Webb on 11 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • Ed Webb on 11 Jun 13
     
    Idoru?
Ed Webb

Survey reveals growing public apprehension over democratic process - 0 views

www.todayszaman.com/n-over-democratic-process.html

Turkey politics opinion media Syria AKP erdogan direngezi

shared by Ed Webb on 19 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • almost half of respondents (49.9 percent) said the government is moving toward an authoritarian and repressive style of governance, while 36 percent said the government is progressing on further democratization; 14.2 percent did not respond or said they do not have any opinion on that issue
  • 49.7 percent of respondents said they have no concerns about revealing their political views, while 46.7 percent said they are worried about expressing their views
  • the public's support for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has come down some 11 percent in June 2013 compared to the same month a year ago, while the popularity of Erdoğan took a blow with a 7 percent drop in his popularity in just a month. Most people see Erdoğan's tone as harsh and confrontational. The government's Syrian policy remains unpopular as well
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • AK Party is still the most popular party among the electorate, and if elections were held tomorrow, it would still lead the polls
  • Government claims that external forces, terror groups, provocateurs and social media actually instigated protests were not found to be credible by most respondents. Only 3.2 percent of respondents said unidentified external or internal powers were behind the protests, while 1.8 percent said provocateurs and instigators provoked the protests. Those who believe media or social media were behind the incidents ranked lowest in the survey with 0.6 percent.
  • a majority of those who said they voted for the ruling AK Party were against the building plans; 41.6 percent of people who voted for the AK Party in the June 2011 elections said they opposed the government plans, while 38.3 of AK Party supporters said they favor the plans
  • 62.1 percent of respondents said the media did not cover events fairly
  • The majority of those surveyed also said they believe the press is not free in Turkey, with 53.3 percent versus 41.1 percent.
  • 54.2 percent saying that they oppose the Syrian policy, while only 27.4 percent favor the government position
  • Half of surveyed individuals (49.9 percent) were against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's staying in power, however, while only 6.2 percent said they favored him staying; 43.9 percent said they did not care about Assad's prospects one way or another
  • Almost 43 percent said Turkey should not switch to a presidential system, with 30.9 percent declaring their support for a presidential system. In April polling data by MetroPOLL, support for a presidential system was 35.2 percent
  • 41.7 percent said Turkey needs a new political party
  • 72.5 percent of the respondents said they like President Abdullah Gül most among existing political figures. Gül was followed by Erdoğan with 53.5 percent, Kılıçdaroğlu 26.7 percent and Devlet Bahçeli 29.3 percent. Erdoğan lost almost 7 percentage points from the April poll conducted by MetroPOLL
  • The margin of error for the overall poll is 2 percentage points, and the confidence level is 95 percent
Ed Webb

Majoritarianism: Zombie democracy | The Economist - 0 views

www.economist.com/...ns-not-enough-zombie-democracy

Turkey opinion democracy authoritarianism

shared by Ed Webb on 24 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • Ed Webb on 24 Jun 13
     
    Economist in smug and patronizing mode.
Ed Webb

Mysteries of the Emir - By Marc Lynch | Foreign Policy - 0 views

www.foreignpolicy.com/..._the_emir_power_transfer_qatar

Qatar opinion analysis succession foreignpolicy IR

shared by Ed Webb on 27 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • Vanishingly few modern Arab leaders have ever voluntarily stepped down, even when terminally ill, incapacitated, or deeply unpopular (none of which apply to the outgoing emir)
  • the emir's decision is as shocking in its own way as were the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings
  • Those crafting the official version of the handover have therefore been exceedingly keen to present it as a historic but normal move, one that might even be emulated by other Arab monarchs -- were they as bold and farsighted as the departing Sheikh Hamad.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Arab monarchs are more likely to quietly cheer the departure of a leader they have viewed as an unpredictable irritant and an undependable member of the GCC club. "What happened … in Qatar will most likely stay in Qatar," remarked the Emirati political scientist Abdulkhaleq Abdulla.
  • Great wealth, international backing, well-honed internal divide-and-rule strategies, and effective cross-national cooperation have helped the regimes resist those pressures. But the intense crackdowns across the Gulf over the last few years on human rights activists, political protests, Shiite citizens, the Muslim Brotherhood, and even online "insults" to the leadership show just how insecure and paranoid these regimes have become
  • Sheikh Hamad's decision to transfer power to an untested young successor -- and during such testing times -- may be a sign of how relatively secure that regime is relative to its Arab counterparts
  • What most non-Qataris really want to know is what this change means for Qatari foreign policy. Allow me to summarize in two words the thousand articles already written on the subject: Nobody knows
  • the departure of the director-general of Al Jazeera, who stepped down to join the new cabinet after less than two undistinguished years. Will his replacement take steps to restore the reputation of the flagship Arabic station, which has lost a great deal of credibility over the last two years due to its coverage of Syria and Egypt? Will the new leadership continue Al Jazeera's dizzying global expansion strategy, including the launch of Al Jazeera America, scheduled for this fall?
  • what happened in Doha most certainly will not stay in Doha. Given Qatar's active role in virtually every one of the region's interlocking problems, from Egypt to Syria to Libya to Yemen to Palestine, the new emir's choices will matter in ways far less predictable then many seem to believe
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