Skip to main content

Home/ CULF 3331: "Middle Eastern Revolutions"/ Group items tagged center

Rss Feed Group items tagged

hwilson3

Transparency in Tunisia: The ISIE's Media Center | IFES - 0 views

  •  
    This article and video by Adam Gallagher discusses the election in Tunisia, and the importance of the media during a period of democratization like the one they were experiencing. I thought that this article was particularly valuable because it not only focused on the issues and problems that the media was perpetuation, but also positive actions that the media was taking.
  •  
    This article and video by Adam Gallagher discusses the election in Tunisia, and the importance of the media during a period of democratization like the one they were experiencing. I thought that this article was particularly valuable because it not only focused on the issues and problems that the media was perpetuation, but also positive actions that the media was taking.
eyadalhasan

California Pistachios Recalled After Salmonella Infects 11 - 0 views

  •  
    A California pistachio producer has recalled some of its pistachios after the nuts were linked to a strain of Salmonella that made 11 people ill in nine U.S. states between December and February, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The producer, Wonderful Pistachios, said the recall is voluntary.
joepouttu

Russian aid convoys come under militant fire in Syria - truce center - RT News - 0 views

  •  
    Russian convoys en route to Damascus and Hama in Syria was attacked by militants before reaching their destination. No one was injured, and replacement convoys are being assembled. 
jherna2a

Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com - 1 views

  •  
    Before the conflict and poverty that has been affecting the nation for years, Yemen was once a center of civilization and wealth. This article outlines the history of this tumultuous country from its beginnings as "Happy Arabia" (as the Romans used to call it) to a country divided.
mcooka

17 years after war - Yugoslavia again protesting NATO - Workers World - 0 views

  • Home » Global » 17 years after war — Yugoslavia again protesting NATO 17 years after war — Yugoslavia again protesting NATO By Heather Cottin posted on March 22, 2016 Share On March 24, 1999, the U.S. led its European NATO allies in a 78-day bombing campaign targeting
  • Serbia in order to destroy Yugoslavia, the last socialist country holding out in Europe. NATO planes bombed hospitals, factories, schools, trains, television stations, bridges and homes, killing thousands of Yugoslavs.
  • n 2000, the same NATO forces destabilized what remained of Yugoslavia — the republics of Serbia and Montenegr
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • ugoslavia was an independent and relatively prosperous country. With no Soviet Union after 1991, Yugoslavia was vulnerable to the powerful imperialist countries in Western Europe and the United States, which provoked and exacerbated disputes among the various Yugoslav peoples
  • cialism in Yugoslavia produced artists and intellectuals, free health care, zero unemployment, free education, excellent public transportation and advanced industrial and agricultural developmen
  • NATO’s pattern for the destruction of Libya and Syria — and also of Iraq and Afghanistan, with variations
  • After the destruction of Milosevic and his party, neoliberal forces in Serbia and the other republics privatized the health care system, sold off the mines, and closed automobile, petroleum and other industries. Now Bosnia has an unemployment rate of 43 percent, Croatia’s is 19 percent, and tiny Kosovo’s is 45 percent. Kosovo hosts the largest U.S. military base in the Balkans, Camp Bondsteel, which protects Kosovo’s criminal government and oversees NATO control in the Balkans.
  • n the U.S. in 1999-2001, the International Action Center and Workers World Party played a leading role among those who stood firm against expanding NATO’s mayhem and slaughter in Yugoslavia.
  •  
    This is an article about Yugoslavia which doesn't want the interference of NATO in their lives any more. NATO and Yugoslavia gets into details about foreign policy 
mcooka

Gender equality? It doesn't exist anywhere in the world - LA Times - 1 views

  • t's been more than 100 years since the world began observing International Women's Day, and yet no country has achieved full gender equality.
  • But in Yemen, the country that ranks lowest according to the same data,
  • About two-thirds of countries in the developing world have achieved gender equality in primary education according to U.N. data, but the progress is less substantial at the secondary school level.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • In Africa and South Asia for example, boys remain 1.55 times more likely to complete secondary education than girls, according to World Bank data.
  • Even when girls make it into the classroom they still “continue to face particular risk in chaotic conflict settings,”
  • n Pakistan, for example, the Taliban has declared war on girls' education, and frequently attacks educational institutions
  • “They don’t translate into greater equality in the labor market,” said Sarah Gammage, director of gender, economic empowerment and livelihoods at the International Center for Research on Women. “Around the world women have disproportionately been part of the informal economy.”
  • hey are typically responsible for providing care services for family members, Gammage said. Other duties include child rearing, cooking, and other household chores. It is work for which they are not paid. Women perform three times more unpaid work than men, according to the U.N.’s 2015 Human Development Report.
  • eing able to make decisions, such as voting, owning land, and deciding whom to marry “is where we see the most significant difference between the least developed and developed countries,” said Varia.
  • In Saudi Arabia, women are not permitted to drive and cannot open bank accounts without their husbands' permissio
  • Uganda forbids women to gain permanent custody of children after a divorce,
  • Honor killings, the traditional practice that allows the slaying of a family member who is believed to have brought dishonor on a family, claims thousands of women’s lives every year in South and Central Asia.
  •  
    This article is a response to International Women's Day, saying that gender equality doesn't exist in the world. In the middle of the article, they show a chart of the gender gap between men and women. Egypt is last in the chart.
  •  
    This article goes into depth about the inequality in the Middle East which extends to today. This looks at the ideas of democratization which would promote higher education. Greater rights for women. and improve infant morality rates 
sgriffi2

For women in Egypt, freedom is not free - 1 views

On January 24, 2015, the Egyptian government suddenly decided to prosecute one of the world's most active and effective human rights defenders, Azza Soliman, for denouncing police brutality. Azz...

#women #womensrights #feminism #egypt #equality

started by sgriffi2 on 09 Apr 15 no follow-up yet
sgriffi2

Women's Day in Egypt - 1 views

This depressing article from "Daily News Egypt" talks about how women's day in Egypt is generally marked by protests and demonstrations that center around the injustices the women of Egypt have fac...

#women #womensrights #feminism #egypt

started by sgriffi2 on 24 Mar 15 no follow-up yet
nicolet1189

ICSR Insight - Offering Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq a Way Out / ICSR - 0 views

  • Boris Johnson proposed that all the British fighters in Syria should be presumed guilty unless proven innocent
  • dangerous and counterproductive proposal
  • increase — rather than diminish — the terrorist threat to [Britain] .
  • ...24 more annotations...
  • a database of more than 450 fighters currently in Syria and Iraq.
  • motivations for travelling to Syria are diverse
  • tougher laws and blanket punishment shouldn’t be the only approach.
  • one in nine former fighters subsequently became involved in terrorist activity
  • In many cases they are disillusioned, psychologically disturbed, or just tired.
  • ideological, vicious and bloodthirsty fighters who attract the headlines,
  • many have found the reality to be far different from what they were led to believe.
  • When he first travelled out there, he said “it was all focused on Assad,” he said. “But now it’s just Muslims fighting Muslims. We didn’t come here for this.”
  • The blanket approach taken by the government — to threaten all returnees with draconian prison sentences — Abu Mohammed says, makes him feel trapped. “We’re forced to stay and fight, what choice do we have? It’s sad,” he told us.
  • Following the defeat of the Soviet Union in the 1980s, Arab-Afghan fighters could not return to their home countries. They were stripped of their citizenship
  • regrouped in Sudan and formed a Jihadist Internationale, from which al-Qaeda emerged.
  • men were offered no opportunity to disengage from the path they had chosen.
  • Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other countries
  • deradicalisation programmes to convince jihadists to disengage
  • deradicalisation along with monitoring and surveillance.
  • would be willing to submit to such a scheme, were it available, in order to return to the UK.
  • the Channel Project.
  • More than 1000 people
  • successfully engaged through this programme.
  • Treating all foreign fighters as terrorists, however, risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
  • This is not about being soft: it’s about being smart.
  • In prison, by contrast, they are likely to be further radicalised while potentially exposing others to a hardened ideology and worldview.
  • another friend who recently quit the fight after he couldn’t accept what he saw out there.
  • experience — they need to be heard, not locked away.
  •  
    This was an article (originally published by the Independent, however, I found it on their website via my first article from the BBC) by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence of London. The article suggests, allowing fighters to return home safely and enroll in a De-radicalization program would be more beneficial than current policies of severe punishment (prison, stripping of citizenship, etc.). The authors contend current repercussions for fighters returning to their home countries leave them trapped and isolated and prison sentences often lead to further radicalization. Overall this article really captured my attention in its non-conventional proposal for governments to handle these situations.
benjaming9

Intervening in Syria and the humanitarian case: What does the research say? Journalist'... - 1 views

    • benjaming9
       
      Chemical weapons just shed light to already alarming crisis
  • But even prior to the use of chemical weapons, Syria was a humanitarian disaster: The U.N. estimates the death toll at more than 100,000, with some 2 million refugees displaced.
  •  
    Syrian Crisis 
tdford333

Everything you need to know about the drone debate, in one FAQ - The Washington Post - 0 views

  • "drone" has come to refer to unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs), which are UAVs equipped with combat capabilities, most commonly the ability to launch missiles.
  • Predators were deployed to Afghanistan almost immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and on Oct. 7, 2001 they conducted their first armed mission there.
  • The current program is jointly administered by the CIA and the Joint Special Operation Command (JSOC).
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • Predator drones can carry up to two Hellfire missiles. Those have warheads of about 20 pounds, which are designed to pierce tank armor;
  • Reapers are another story. They feature a maximum payload of 3,000 pounds, or 1.5 tons. That means they can carry a combination of Hellfires and larger 500 pound bombs like the GBU-12 Paveway II and GBD-38 JDAM. Those have an "effective casualty radius" of about 200 feet.
  • From 2008 through October 2012, there were 1,015 strikes in Afghanistan, 48 in Iraq, and at least 105 in Libya
  • Primarily al-Qaeda and its affiliates. That includes al-Shaabab in Somalia, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (which works in Yemen), and the Haqqani Network in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
  • Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born al-Qaeda operative in Yemen, was killed in a drone strike in 2011, as was his American-born 17-year-old son
  • Ahmed Hijazi, also an American citizen based in Yemen, was killed in 2002. 
  • The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) will prepare lists of potential targets, which will be reviewed every three months by a panel of intelligence analysts and military officials. They are then passed along to a panel at the National Security Council, currently helmed by CIA director nominee Brennan, and then to Obama for final approval.
  • There is, however, substantial evidence that the percentage of casualties borne by civilians is much lower with drone strikes than with just about any other kind of military intervention
  • It derives the authority for the strikes from the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed in the wake of 9/11, which grants the government broad powers against al-Qaeda.
  • allows states to make war in the interest of self-defense
  • Critics, like UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, summary or arbitrary executions Christof Heyns, say that this defense is a stretch, and the killings plainly run afoul of the laws of war and international human rights treaties.
  • Only the United States and the United Kingdom (which assists in the Pakistan drone effort) currently use drones in combat
  • All told, the GAO estimates that 76 countries, at least, have drone technology.
  • The Yemeni government quietly agreed to the strikes
  • Citizens in both countries deplore the campaigns.
  • there are deeper doubts as to whether the strategy is recruiting more militants than it kills, by turning local populations against the United States.
cramos8

The rise and rise of Libya's rogue general - 0 views

  •  
    Hafed al-Ghwell is a senior non-resident Fellow with the Rafik Hariri Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC. On Monday, Libya's House of Representatives, whose legitimacy has been questioned since the day it was elected by a mere 15 percent of the country's eligible voters, decided to add more gasoline to the already raging fire that is the four-year civil war in the country.
allieggg

The New Arab Cold War - 0 views

  • It stretches from Iraq to Lebanon and reaches into North Africa, taking lives in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt's Western Desert, and now Libya
  • this violence is the result of a nasty fight between regional powers over who will lead the Middle East
  • The recent Egyptian and Emirati airstrikes on Libyan Islamist militias is just one manifestation of this fight for leadership among Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). All these countries have waded into conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Bahrain, and now Libya in order to establish themselves as regional leaders.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Yet these regional contenders for power have rarely achieved their goals. Instead, they have fueled violence, political conflict, and polarization, deepening the endemic problems in the countries they have sought to influence. 
  • Barack Obama's attempt to disentangle the United States from the Middle East's many conflicts has only intensified these rivalries. From a particular perspective, Iraq's chaos, Syria's civil war, Libya's accelerating disintegration, and Hosni Mubarak's fall all represent failures of American leadership.
  • Turkish government has become a leading advocate of regime change in Syria. Unwilling to intervene in the Syrian civil war and unable to coax the United States to do so, Ankara turned a blind eye to extremist groups that used Turkish territory to take up the fight against Assad.
  • Yet the war of words between Ankara and Cairo since then and the support that the Turkish government has extended to the Muslim Brotherhood
  • has only contributed to the political polarization and instability in Egypt
  • Qatar has been less circumspect than others in its support for groups fighting in Syria and Iraq, both offering official funding to Islamist groups in Syria and allowing private contributions to groups including al-Nusra Front, al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate.
  • These conflicts have less to do with Iran and the Sunni-Shiite divide than widely believed. Rather, they represent a fracturing of Washington's Sunni allies in the Middle East. Left to their own devices, the proxy wars the Saudis, Emiratis, Qataris, and Turks are waging among themselves will continue to cause mayhem
  •  
    This article basically states that since the US's withdrawal from Middle Eastern affairs, regional actors were left to fight over who will lead the region's future. The fight is baiscally a run off between Turkey, Qatar, Saudi, and the UAE, each country doing their part intervening in conflicts aiding their supported side. Rather than achieving goals, these proxy wars have fueled the violence, chaos, and polarization deepening the problems they originally sought to mend. While the US has succeeded in abstaining from Mid East affairs, the question now is whether or not they should continue this resignation or step in to urge for order and peace. 
zackellogg

Egypt targets last bastion of Muslim Brotherhood dissent - News - Aswat Masriya - 1 views

  •  
    This article discuses Egypt's attempt to combat the Muslim Brotherhood by shutting down the violent protests at Al Azhar University. Azhar University is one of the world's last remaining centers for Islamic learning. Ever since the freely elected president Mursi was elected, Al Azhar has become an emerging hotspot for the battle against him.
‹ Previous 21 - 40 of 51 Next ›
Showing 20 items per page