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pvaldez2

Women's rights and struggles: Five years after Jasmine revolution - 0 views

socialistresistance.org/...years-after-jasmine-revolution

rights jasmine revolution egypt women

shared by pvaldez2 on 02 Mar 16 - No Cached
  • pvaldez2 on 02 Mar 16
     
    This article is about the rights and struggles women have after the Jasmine revolution. One example is when fundamentalists wanted to legalize polygamy.
ralqass

Tiny Lebanon Is Caught In The Crosshairs Of The Saudi-Iran Fight - Vocativ - 0 views

www.vocativ.com/...shairs-of-the-saudi-iran-fight

shared by ralqass on 02 Apr 16 - No Cached
  • ralqass on 02 Apr 16
     
    The war-ridden and economically-struggling country is the latest nation to feel the brunt of Saudi Arabia's anger
  • ralqass on 02 Apr 16
     
    The war-ridden and economically-struggling country is the latest nation to feel the brunt of Saudi Arabia's anger
katelynklug

Government, Brotherhood fail to attract Egyptian youth - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the M... - 0 views

www.al-monitor.com/...therhood-youth-referendum.html

shared by katelynklug on 29 Sep 14 - No Cached
micklethwait liked it
  • youth decided to protest on the anniversary of Jan. 28, 2011, which was called the "Friday of Anger."
  • low participation of youth
  • been the fuel of the two popular revolutions
  • ...21 more annotations...
  • frustration over the return of Mubarak-era figures
  • submit a file that includes the names of the persons arbitrarily arrested
  • the youth must suggest replacements and alternative cadres who are not associated
  • We objected to
  • tarnishing of the image of the January 25 Revolution
  • apology was rejected by various revolutionary movements
  • return of remnants of the Mubarak regime
  • tarnishes our image in the media,
  • frustration, the arrests of activists
  • prevented the youth from demonstrating
  • we can only manage this homeland for all its people
  • through genuine participation of all segments
  • arrest of every person calling for a “no” vote o
  • not be participating in the Brotherhood’s protests
  • en in the referendum, compared to the low youth turnout. In a speech addressed t
  • o women on the day
  • women looking for safety and stability,
  • treating them with injustice
  • prefer peace and tolerance
  • youth’s low participation
  • a silent protest to abstain from taking part
  • katelynklug on 29 Sep 14
     
    Both the current Egyptian authorities and the Muslim Brotherhood have failed to attract the support of the youth, while women participated in the recent referendum to support stability. The youth see the remnants of Mubarak's administration through the government structure. The revolution wouldn't be important without changes to the government. Many political groups are trying to coax the youth to being on "their side," and meanwhile, the Egyptian youth are struggling to find any positives. Gaining the vote of the youth generally means a win or loss for the politicians.
  • katelynklug on 29 Sep 14
     
    Both the current Egyptian authorities and the Muslim Brotherhood have failed to attract the support of the youth, while women participated in the recent referendum to support stability. The youth see the remnants of Mubarak's administration through the government structure. The revolution wouldn't be important without changes to the government. Many political groups are trying to coax the youth to being on "their side," and meanwhile, the Egyptian youth are struggling to find any positives. Gaining the vote of the youth generally means a win or loss for the politicians.
cguybar

The Struggle for the Leadership of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood-Carnegie Middle East Cent... - 0 views

carnegie-mec.org/...idbr

leadership struggle muslim brotherhood politics

shared by cguybar on 01 Feb 16 - No Cached
  • cguybar on 01 Feb 16
     
    The old leadership in the brotherhood no longer have complete control due to the younger generation taking more initiative. After the incarceration of brotherhood leaders, the group adapted a more on the ground approach, which can be attributed to the the youth having a very strong presence in the organization.
pvaldez2

Egypt's women struggle to chart their own paths | The Citizen - 0 views

citizen.co.za/...uggle-to-chart-their-own-paths

egypt women struggle paths

shared by pvaldez2 on 23 Feb 16 - No Cached
  • pvaldez2 on 23 Feb 16
     
    This article shows what women in Egypt go through to try to provide for themselves. In one story, Sisa Abu Daooh dressed like a man for 30 years to work as a shoe-shiner. It also describes what is holding back women back for providing for themselves.
cguybar

Egypt's Struggle for Power - Council on Foreign Relations - 0 views

www.cfr.org/...p29599

muslim brotherhood power struggle egypt

shared by cguybar on 05 Apr 16 - No Cached
  • cguybar on 05 Apr 16
     
    Gives insight on the confrontation between the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties. Describes the Brotherhood as using their influences in the "electoral arena" because they can win elections. Also poses compromise as a question for the future and implies compromise wont happen due to all parties being very confrontational.
cguybar

A New Chapter in Egypt's Power Struggle | Zero Hedge - 0 views

www.zerohedge.com/...-chapter-egypts-power-struggle

muslim brotherhood power struggle egypt

shared by cguybar on 05 Apr 16 - No Cached
  • cguybar on 05 Apr 16
     
    Discusses the stability of Egypt and the dynamic aspect of the confrontation between the government and Brotherhood. Can be tied into a number of controversies of globalization chapters regarding motives for many decisions.
mariebenavides

Women in Graffiti: A Tribute to the Women of Egypt | suzeeinthecity - 1 views

suzeeinthecity.wordpress.com/...-tribute-to-the-women-of-egypt

egypt graffiti revolution art women

shared by mariebenavides on 14 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • We participated as Egyptians first, not as women, in January 25
    • mariebenavides
      mariebenavides on 14 Oct 14
       
      This was an important line for the author because it encapsulates the way all women of the revolution feel: that they are not just women. They are Egyptians that are fighting for change.
benjaming9

US may finally strike in Syria, but no bunker required for Assad | Al Jazeera America - 0 views

america.aljazeera.com/...us-strike-syria.html

shared by benjaming9 on 26 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • benjaming9 on 26 Sep 14
     
    This article talks about the struggles of the US to decided whether it would be wise to coordinate with the Assad regime to take on ISIS.
katelynklug

We Were Born From the Womb of the Revolution - 0 views

www.tahrirdocuments.org/...rom-the-womb-of-the-revolution

shared by katelynklug on 14 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • 25 January 2011
  • energy of a struggle
  • thanks to the youths
  • ...47 more annotations...
  • feelings of social injustice
  • biased toward the rich
  • millions of Egyptians live in slums
  • mansions and resorts
  • collapse of educational and public health services
  • stealing of pension
  • reduction of all social safety nets
  • unemployment
  • risk death
  • fleeing an inhuman life
  • culture and art were turned into commodities
  • transferring power to a temporary, civil government
  • ignite sectarian strife
  • isolate Christians from political action
  • Tahrir Square
  • inspiring example
  • face of Fighting Egypt
  • forces of the Egyptian Left
  • equal
  • socialism
  • will to change
  • met with the powers of the Egyptian Left
  • distortion of consciousness and existence
  • We insist upon the realization of all the demands related to democracy and political reform
  • “Popular Alliance” party is born from the womb of the revolution
  • revoking Emergency Law
  • releasing all prisoners
  • new constitution
  • separation of powers
  • social change
  • human rights
  • plan for growth
  • rights to food, shelter, education, work, fair wages, and health care must be guaranteed
  • Minimum and maximum wage
  • Progressive taxes
  • subordination to Zionism
  • must be opposed
  • resistance to normalization with Israel
  • supporting instead the Arab people
  • Palestinian people’s struggle to achieve their freedom and establish a state
  • civil state
  • oppose all forms of discrimination
  • separation of religion from politics
  • opposed to capitalist exploitation
  • supports the interest of the poor
  • open, democratic party
  • diversity of platforms
  • katelynklug on 14 Sep 14
     
    This article describes the position and demands of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party of Egypt. The relationship of the youth protesters with the Egyptian Left was solidified when the Left provided the youth with the political power to make their revolution successful. The Socialist Popular Alliance demands a new constitution and a new government structure that is based on democracy, human rights, and freedoms. Their political position and ideal social structure are very similar to typical American ideals, especially those of the American left political parties. However, the Public Alliance seems very angered over Mubarak's previous friendly relations with Israel. This population feels as though they were forced to abandon the Arab people and support Israel instead of Palestine. This is interesting because Egypt's relations with Israel has garnered tremendous political and economic support from the United States. Having an Arab ally has been an advantageous point of negotiation for Israel and the US. With the Popular Alliance in severe opposition to this position of Israeli sympathy, it is a surprise that they seem to embrace "Americanized" ideas. In addition, it is worth noting that the youth finds a great identity with the Arab culture, although not so much with a specific religion.
katelynklug

BBC News - Egypt's youth: "What has the revolution done for us?" - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-middle-east-22687407

egypt youth revolution

shared by katelynklug on 15 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • You don't feel safe or secure anymore
  • given up
  • square is virtually empty
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • faces of dead people
  • Most of the faces on the wall are those of young people
  • Women have stopped coming to Tahrir now
  • sexual harassmen
  • "One hundred per cent, I regret it"
  • Nothing has happened. Everything's changed for the worse.
  • I don't regret my decision
  • deteriorating economy
  • increasingly hard to live
  • mass unemployment is the most pressing and it is the young who are hit the hardest
  • Half of Egypt's population is below 24 years old
  • not using this youth and energy to its benefit
  • don't have enough skills
  • has to create between 800,000 and a million jobs a year
  • katelynklug on 15 Sep 14
     
    This article gives a description of the state of Egypt's once thriving Tahrir Square, just two years after the revolution. The mood of Tahrir Square has changed dramatically and is now solemn rather than buzzing with enthusiasm. The young activists interviewed in the article expressed their regret for the revolution or how it turned out. The youth population is still struggling for economic revival after two years of revolution. Mass unemployment is hitting the large youth population the hardest, which is still a source of anger. The majority of this population does not have adequate skills for the available job market.
allieggg

Islamists Aren't the Obstacle | Foreign Affairs - 0 views

www.foreignaffairs.com/...islamists-arent-the-obstacle

middle east democracy Islamists institutions egypt politics tunisia

shared by allieggg on 28 Sep 14 - No Cached
micklethwait liked it
  • A minority of the population -- 26 percent of Tunisians and 28 percent of Egyptians -- believes that Islam should play a large role in government.
  • Both secularists and Islamists associate democracy with economic prosperity
  • Islamist parties received considerable support in both countries' recent elections -- not only because there is a broad ideological affinity for Islamism among the population but also because of Islamist parties' effective campaigning.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • When asked about the most important feature of a democracy, 69 percent of Egyptians and 32 percent of Tunisians put providing people with basic necessities or narrowing the gap between rich and poor at the top of their lists.
  • On a related note, Islamist parties have shown a remarkable ability to maintain their base.
  • Tunisia has fared better than Egypt so far in the post-Arab Spring transition, with less violence, fewer demonstrations, and greater political stability. This is in part because challenges are easier to confront in a country of only 11 million, 98 percent of whom are Sunni Muslim, compared to the more diverse and populous Egypt. But Tunisia's success is primarily a result of its stronger institutions, which provide a conduit for political debate.
  • Many onlookers claim that Egypt's more tumultuous post-revolution trajectory is because of the country's legacy of religiosity and Islamism.
  • Egyptians, in fact, are no more religious than Tunisians.
  • Egypt's institutions are weak and have been routinely undermined by entrenched interests. The countries' different geopolitical situations play a role here. Tunisia's minimal strategic importance means that foreign countries have less reason to intervene. But Egypt's proximity to Israel and the Palestinian territories, its 1979 peace treaty with Israel, and its role as an intermediary between Israel and Hamas make its political developments important to Israel and the United States. Consequently, Egypt is vulnerable to foreign interference, particularly to attempts to prop up its military. Furthermore, beyond serving as a pillar to Egypt's authoritarian regimes, the Egyptian military has significant business interests and accounts for ten to 30 percent of Egypt's gross domestic product.
  • Egypt's judicial branch, which is also more powerful than Tunisia's, has at times undermined democratic processes.
  • Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the Islamist-dominated parliament and the Constituent Assembly it elected were unconstitutional, because Islamist parties contested seats intended for independent candidates. The move polarized the country and pushed the executive branch to take extreme measures.
  • Egyptian democracy is undermined by the inability of institutions to address citizens' demands and the impulse of powerful actors to interfere, not by the divide between Islamists and secularists. Institutions in Egypt fail to provide a meaningful forum for debate. As a result, violent street protesters and extremist sheiks are gaining power.
  • U.S. policy must support institutions rather than actors, and processes rather than outcomes, in order to help Egypt and Tunisia achieve their democratic potential.
  • allieggg on 28 Sep 14
     
    The Council on Foreign Relations published an article about democratization in the middle east and the major obstacles that are present in the process. While most assume Islamists and Islamic embedded institutions are the root of the delayed democratic transition, the problems are much bigger than that. While Islamist regimes do indeed stunt the growth of democratic progress in terms of creating a stable government, Arab countries struggle with economic and social factors as well. The Arab Spring Revolutions have caused economic and social degradation across the region, resulting in a road block of political leadership. Without a reliable and capable government structure, the states are unable to progress economically. However, in order to have a stable government, social and economic institutions must be in place to create this capitalist economy that they strive for. Because most wealth resides in oil, the revenue that the states bring in isn't distributed properly throughout society and is concentrated within few business elites. The article stresses that instead of foreign aid going into the hands of an unstable leader or regime, it should be invested in institutions in order to spur economic growth and eliminate corruption. Rather than focusing on the Islamist-secularist divide, the world should be working towards the strengthening of institutions to create a stable foundation for governance. 
ajonesn

New Report Paints Devastating Picture Of Violence Against Women In Egypt - 0 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...-women-violence_n_6517346.html

shared by ajonesn on 16 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • ajonesn on 16 Feb 15
     
    Video-- Why Egypt is struggling, and failing to protect women from devastating violence nation-wide.
fcastro2

Syrian Christians fleeing ISIS find shelter in Turkey - World - CBC News - 0 views

www.cbc.ca/...nd-shelter-in-turkey-1.3020582

turkey christians ISIS syria politics refugees

shared by fcastro2 on 06 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • At any given time, there are about 70 refugees who have fled the war in Syria. They share the bunk beds inside, six to a room.
  • They are among the two million people Turkey has taken i
  • Many are housed in state-of-the-art refugee camps throughout the country, but those who have connections and more money choose to come to Istanbul in hopes of easier communication with foreign embassies, faster passage to what they hope will be a more comfortable life in Europe
  • ...5 more annotations...
  •  The war has split and scattered all of their families around the world. Bekandy's father is still back in Syria, her fiancé and mother are in London.
  • He hopes his good deeds might somehow help reunite him with his family, which is now split into three parts, spread across Europe.
  • His wife and six-year-old son are on the line from Athens. Their eldest daughter — just 15 — is in Germany.
  • Lezieh says ISIS drew that X on his house in Aleppo, marking it to show his was a Christian home. He says militants tried to recruit him, threatened to kidnap his children and bombed his new business
  • Now Lezieh gets by with donations from parishioners and hopes to see his family all in one place soon. He tries to smile through the tears. He has to. His daughter is calling.
  • fcastro2 on 06 Apr 15
     
    Syrian Christians struggling in Turkey and other European countries. ISIS has not made it easy for them to live in Syria which is why they must flee the country. 
tdford333

Civilians struggle to cope as Yemen conflict escalates - Al Jazeera English - 0 views

www.aljazeera.com/...civilians-150402145713399.html

yemen poverty crisis

shared by tdford333 on 03 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • Civilians struggle to cope as Yemen conflict escalates
  • concern over civilian casualties and fears that country will plunge deeper into poverty.
  • lockdown of the capital Sanaa, with residents fleeing for safety and many businesses shutting down.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Shopkeeper Rassam Ali told Al Jazeera that every day is a battle for survival for residents as the war rages on.
  • tdford333 on 03 Apr 15
     
    The battle in Yemen is causing many civilians to flee, and business to close down. The instability is raising fears that Yemen could be falling deeper into poverty.
kkerby223

Divorce in Saudi Arabia - 0 views

saudiwoman.me/...divorce-in-saudi-arabia

divorce saudi arabia

shared by kkerby223 on 03 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • kkerby223 on 03 Apr 15
     
    Divorce in Saudi Arabia differs for men and women. Men can easily obtain a divorce while women struggle to divorce their husbands. Even in cases of abuse courts tend to side with the man feeling that the wife likely provoked the actions.
wmulnea

Libya's civil war: That it should come to this | The Economist - 3 views

www.economist.com/...factional-chaos-it-should-come

shared by wmulnea on 11 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • It is split between a government in Beida, in the east of the country, which is aligned with the military; and another in Tripoli, in the west, which is dominated by Islamists and militias from western coastal cities
  • Benghazi is again a battlefield.
  • The black plumes of burning oil terminals stretch out over the Mediterranean.
  • ...69 more annotations...
  • Libya looked like the latest fragile blossoming of the Arab spring
  • Army commanders, mostly of Arab Bedouin origin, refused orders to shoot the protesters
  • the revolutionaries cobbled together a National Transitional Council (NTC) claiming to represent all of Libya
  • Volunteers from students to bank managers took up arms, joining popular militias and only sometimes obeying the orders of defecting army commanders trying to take control
  • In August Western bombing of government bases surrounding Tripoli cleared an avenue for the revolutionaries to take the capital.
  • Recognised abroad, popular at home and enjoying the benefits of healthy oil revenues—97% of the government’s income—the NTC was well placed to lay the foundations for a new Libya
  • he judges, academics and lawyers who filled its ranks worried about their own legitimacy and feared confrontation with the militias which, in toppling Qaddafi, had taken his arsenals for their own.
  • militia leaders were already ensconced in the capital’s prime properties
  • The NTC presided over Libya’s first democratic elections in July 2012, and the smooth subsequent handover of power to the General National Congress (GNC) revived popular support for the revolution.
  • Islamist parties won only 19 of 80 seats assigned to parties in the new legislature, and the process left the militias on the outside
  • The Homeland party, founded by Abdel Hakim Belhad
  • tried to advertise its moderation by putting an unveiled woman at the head of its party list in Benghazi
  • The incumbent prime minister, Abdurrahim al-Keib, a university professor who had spent decades in exile, fretted and dithered
  • He bowed to militia demands for their leaders to be appointed to senior ministries, and failed to revive public-works programmes
  • which might have given militiamen jobs
  • Many received handouts without being required to hand in weapons or disband, an incentive which served to swell their ranks
  • the number of revolutionaries registered with the Warriors Affairs Commission set up by the NTC was about 60,000; a year later there were over 200,000. Of some 500 registered militias, almost half came from one city, Misrata.
  • In May 2013 the militias forced parliament to pass a law barring from office anyone who had held a senior position in Qaddafi’s regime after laying siege to government ministries.
  • In the spring of 2014, Khalifa Haftar, a retired general who had earlier returned from two decades of exile in America, forcibly tried to dissolve the GNC and re-establish himself as the armed forces’ commander-in-chief in an operation he called Dignity
  • The elections which followed were a far cry from the happy experience of 2012. In some parts of the country it was too dangerous to go out and vote
  • Such retrenchment has been particularly noticeable among women. In 2011 they created a flurry of new civil associations; now many are back indoors.
  • Turnout in the June 2014 elections was 18%, down from 60% in 2012, and the Islamists fared even worse than before
  • Dismissing the results, an alliance of Islamist, Misratan and Berber militias called Libya Dawn launched a six-week assault on Tripoli. The newly elected parliament decamped to Tobruk, some 1,300km east
  • Grasping for a figleaf of legitimacy, Libya Dawn reconstituted the pre-election GNC and appointed a new government
  • So today Libya is split between two parliaments—both boycotted by their own oppositions and inquorate—two governments, and two central-bank governors.
  • The army—which has two chiefs of staff—is largely split along ethnic lines, with Arab soldiers in Arab tribes rallying around Dignity and the far fewer Misratan and Berber ones around Libya Dawn.
  • Libya Dawn controls the bulk of the territory and probably has more fighters at its disposal.
  • General Haftar’s Dignity, which has based its government in Beida, has air power and, probably, better weaponry
  • the Dignity movement proclaims itself America’s natural ally in the war on terror and the scourge of jihadist Islam
  • Libya Dawn’s commanders present themselves as standard-bearers of the revolution against Qaddafi now continuing the struggle against his former officers
  • Ministers in the east vow to liberate Tripoli from its “occupation” by Islamists, all of whom they denounce as terrorists
  • threatens to take the war to Egypt if Mr Sisi continues to arm the east. Sleeping cells could strike, he warns, drawn from the 2m tribesmen of Libyan origin in Egypt.
  • Yusuf Dawar
  • The struggle over the Gulf of Sirte area, which holds Libya’s main oil terminals and most of its oil reserves, threatens to devastate the country’s primary asset
  • And in the Sahara, where the largest oilfields are, both sides have enlisted ethnic minorities as proxies
  • ibya Dawn has drafted in the brown-skinned Tuareg, southern cousins of the Berbers; Dignity has recruited the black-skinned Toubou. As a result a fresh brawl is brewing in the Saharan oasis of Ubari, which sits at the gates of the al-Sharara oilfield, largest of them all.
  • Oil production has fallen and become much more volatile
  • oil is worth half as much as it was a year ago
  • The Central Bank is now spending at three times the rate that it is taking in oil money
  • The bank is committed to neutrality, but is based in Tripoli
  • Tripoli may have a little more access to cash, but is in bad shape in other ways
  • Fuel supplies and electricity are petering out
  • Crime is rising; carjacking street gangs post their ransom demands on Twitter
  • In Fashloum
  • residents briefly erected barricades to keep out a brigade of Islamists, the Nuwassi
  • “No to Islamists and the al-Qaeda gang” reads the roadside graffiti
  • Libya’s ungoverned spaces are growing,
  • Each month 10,000 migrants set sail for Europe
  • On January 3rd, IS claimed to have extended its reach to Libya’s Sahara too, killing a dozen soldiers at a checkpoint
  • The conflict is as likely to spread as to burn itself out.
  • the Western powers
  • have since been conspicuous by their absence. Chastened by failure in Afghanistan and Iraq, they have watched from the sidelines
  • Obama washed his hands of Libya after Islamists killed his ambassador
  • Italy, the former colonial power, is the last country to have a functioning embassy in Tripoli.
  • Even under Qaddafi the country did not feel so cut off
  • Dignity is supported not just by Mr Sisi but also by the United Arab Emirates, which has sent its own fighter jets into the fray as well as providing arms
  • The UAE’s Gulf rival, Qatar, and Turkey have backed the Islamists and Misratans in the west
  • If oil revenues were to be put into an escrow account, overseas assets frozen and the arms embargo honoured he thinks it might be possible to deprive fighters of the finance that keeps them fighting and force them to the table
  • Until 1963 Libya was governed as three federal provinces—Cyrenaica in the east, Fezzan in the south and Tripolitania in the west
  • The old divisions still matter
  • the marginalised Cyrenaicans harked back to the time when their king split his time between the courts of Tobruk and Beida and when Arabs from the Bedouin tribes of the Green Mountains ran his army
  • Tensions between those tribes and Islamist militias ran high from the start.
  • July 2011 jihadists keen to settle scores with officers who had crushed their revolt in the late 1990s killed the NTC’s commander-in-chief, Abdel Fattah Younis, who came from a powerful Arab tribe in the Green Mountains. In June 2013 the Transitional Council of Barqa (the Arab name for Cyrenaica), a body primarily comprised of Arab tribes, declared the east a separate federal region, and soon after allied tribal militias around the Gulf of Sirte took control of the oilfields.
  • In the west, indigenous Berbers, who make up about a tenth of the population, formed a council of their own and called on larger Berber communities in the Maghreb and Europe for support
  • Port cities started to claim self-government and set up their own border controls.
  • Derna—a small port in the east famed for having sent more jihadists per person to fight in Iraq than anywhere else in the world
  • opposed NATO intervention and insisted that the NTC was a pagan (wadani) not national (watani) council
  • Some in Derna have now declared their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the caliph of the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq.
  • In December the head of America’s Africa command told reporters that IS was training some 200 fighters in the town.
wmulnea

Strife in Libya Could Presage Long Civil War - NYTimes.com - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...libyan-unrest.html

shared by wmulnea on 21 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • Salah Badi, an ultraconservative Islamist and former lawmaker from the coastal city of Misurata.
  • Mr. Badi’s assault on Libya’s main international airport has now drawn the country’s fractious militias, tribes and towns into a single national conflagration that threatens to become a prolonged civil war. Both sides see the fight as part of a larger regional struggle, fraught with the risks of a return to repressive authoritarianism or a slide toward Islamist extremism.
  • the violence threatens to turn Libya into a pocket of chaos destabilizing North Africa for years to come.
  • ...37 more annotations...
  • Ansar al-Shariah, the hard-line Islamist group involved in the assault on the American diplomatic Mission in Benghazi in 2012
  • Their opponents, including the militias stocked with former Qaddafi soldiers
  • The ideological differences are blurry at best: both sides publicly profess a similar conservative but democratic vision.
  • an escalating war among its patchwork of rival cities and tribes.
  • Motorists wait in lines stretching more than three miles at shuttered gas stations, waiting for them to open. Food prices are soaring, uncollected garbage is piling up in the streets and bicycles, once unheard-of, are increasingly common.
  • Tripoli, the capital and the main prize, has become a battleground
  • The fighting has destroyed the airport
  • Constant shelling between rival militias has leveled blocks
  • Storage tanks holding about 25 million gallons of fuel have burned unchecked for a month
  • with daily blackouts sometimes lasting more than 12 hours.
  • many Libyans despaired of any resolution
  • In Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city, the fighting has closed both its airport and seaport, strangling the city.
  • the rush toward war is also lifting the fortunes of the Islamist extremists of Ansar al-Shariah, the Benghazi militant group.
  • The United Nations, the United States and the other Western powers have withdrawn their diplomats and closed their missions
  • “We cannot care more than you do,” the British ambassador, Michael Aron, wrote
  • Until now, a rough balance of power among local brigades had preserved a kind of equilibrium, if not stability
  • the transitional government scarcely existed outside of the luxury hotels where its officials gathered, no other force was strong enough to dominate. No single interest divided the competing cities and factions.
  • But that semblance of unity is now in tatters, and with it the hope that nonviolent negotiations might settle the competition for power and, implicitly, Libya’s oil.
  • In May, a renegade former general, Khalifa Hifter, declared that he would seize power by force to purge Libya of Islamists, beginning in Benghazi. He vowed to eradicate the hard-line Islamists of Ansar al-Shariah, blamed for a long series of bombings and assassinations.
  • General Hifter also pledged to close the Parliament and arrest moderate Islamist members
  • he has mustered a small fleet of helicopters and warplanes that have bombed rival bases around Benghazi, a steep escalation of the violence.
  • moderate Islamists and other brigades who had distanced themselves from Ansar al-Shariah began closing ranks, welcoming the group into a newly formed council of “revolutionary” militias
  • a broad alliance of Benghazi militias that now includes Ansar al-Shariah issued a defiant statement denouncing relative moderates like the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood. “We will not accept the project of democracy, secular parties, nor the parties that falsely claim the Islamic cause,”
  • the general’s blitz has now stalled, it polarized the country, drawing alarms from some cities and tribes but applause from others.
  • the loudest applause came from the western mountain town of Zintan, where local militia leaders had recruited hundreds of former Qaddafi soldiers into special brigades
  • the rival coastal city of Misurata, where militias have allied with the Islamists in political battles and jostled with the Zintanis for influence in the capital
  • the Misurata and Islamist militias developed a reputation for besieging government buildings and kidnapping high officials to try to pressure the Parliament. But in recent months the Zintanis and their anti-Islamist allies have stormed the Parliament and kidnapped senior lawmakers as well.
  • the newly elected Parliament, led at first, on a seniority basis, by a member supportive of Mr. Hifter, announced plans to convene in Tobruk, an eastern city under the general’s control.
  • About 30 members, most of them Islamists or Misuratans, refused to attend,
  • Tripoli’s backup airport, under the control of an Islamist militia, has cut off flights to Tobruk, even blocking a trip by the prime minister.
  • a spokesman for the old disbanded Parliament, favored by the Islamists and Misuratans, declared that it would reconvene in Tripoli
  • In Tobruk, a spokesman for the new Parliament declared that the Islamist- and Misuratan-allied militias were terrorists, suggesting that Libya might soon have two legislatures with competing armies
  • Each side has the support of competing satellite television networks financed and, often, broadcast from abroad, typically from Qatar for the Islamists and from the United Arab Emirates for their foes.
  • Hassan Tatanaki, a Libyan-born business mogul who owns one of the anti-Islamist satellite networks, speaking in an interview from an office in the Emirates. “We are in a state of war and this is no time for compromise.”
  • Fighters and tribes who fought one another during the uprising against Colonel Qaddafi are now coming together on the same side of the new fight, especially with the Zintanis against the Islamists. Some former Qaddafi officers who had fled Libya are even coming back to take up arms again.
  • “It is not pro- or anti-Qaddafi any more — it is about Libya,” said a former Qaddafi officer in a military uniform
  • Beneath the battle against “extremists,” he said, was an even deeper, ethnic struggle: the tribes of Arab descent, like the Zintanis, against those of Berber, Circassian or Turkish ancestry, like the Misuratis. “The victory will be for the Arab tribes,”
  • andrea_hoertz on 21 Sep 14
     
    Article explains the civil war that is erupting in Libya. Islamist extremists are trying to take over the country and towns and tribes of Libya are choosing sides. Tripoli has been the biggest battle ground and its airport was destroyed.
  • wmulnea on 11 Apr 15
     
    This NYT article gives an excellent outline of the prominent factions fighting in Libya, and the purpose and goals of those factions as of Aug, 2014.
  • wmulnea on 11 Apr 15
     
    This NYT article gives an excellent outline of the prominent factions fighting in Libya, and the purpose and goals of those factions as of Aug, 2014.
blantonjack

Libya's struggle in the Middle East - 0 views

www.jpost.com/...-struggle-for-stability-415841

shared by blantonjack on 21 Jan 16 - No Cached
  • blantonjack on 21 Jan 16
     
    With Libya considered a failed democratic state, what is next for the Isis occupied country?
amarsha5

Jordan is at 'boiling point' as it struggles with Syrian refugees, King Abdullah warns ... - 0 views

www.telegraph.co.uk/...ugees-King-Abdullah-warns.html

jordan refugees support UN fundraising ISIS syria Politics

shared by amarsha5 on 04 Feb 16 - No Cached
  • amarsha5 on 04 Feb 16
     
    Jordan is asking for more help with the millions of refugees flowing into the country. The UN is fundrasing for more than $7 billion in funds to support Jordan in the relocation of Syrian refugees.
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