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ralqass

How Saudi Arabia plans to shake up its economy | Reuters - 0 views

www.reuters.com/...omy-plan-insight-idUSKCN0XB0S8

shared by ralqass on 16 Apr 16 - No Cached
  • ralqass on 16 Apr 16
     
    In late February, several hundred Saudi officials, company executives and foreign consultants gathered in a luxury Riyadh hotel to discuss how Saudi Arabia's economy could survive an era of cheap oil.
jreyesc

Nimmi Gowrinathan | Understanding and Combating Female Extremism | Foreign Affairs - 1 views

www.foreignaffairs.com/...the-women-of-isis

ISIS Women Militants Conflict Gender Extremism

shared by jreyesc on 22 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • Those who ask it assume, first, that women are more peaceful than men by nature; and second, that women who participate in armed rebellion are little more than cannon fodder in a man’s game, fighting foolishly for a movement that will not benefit them.
  • rooted in identity
  • between Sunni and Shiite Muslims
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • with several smaller minorities caught in between
  • To be sure, for women, gender and politics can overlap in ways that they do not for men.
  • female Tigers cited rape, or the fear of rape, by government forces as a central reason for joining the movement.
  • Women fight for personal as well as political power, often sacrificing one for the other.
  • jreyesc on 22 Sep 14
     
    This article talks about the women of ISIS and what are some factors that lead to them joining ISIS or other rebellion armies around the world. The article also speaks about how for women, gender and politics overlap in a way that is doesn't for men. Sometimes in times of conflict women have to join these group in order to survive. 
fcastro2

Syria allies: Why Russia, Iran and China are standing by the regime - CNN.com - 1 views

www.cnn.com/...a-iran-china-russia-supporters

syria allies russia iran china middle east politics

shared by fcastro2 on 28 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • One has to do with economics; the other with ideology.
  • Russia is one of Syria's biggest arms suppliers
  • Syrian contracts with the Russian defense industry have likely exceeded $4 billion
  • ...29 more annotations...
  • Russia also leases a naval facility at the Syrian port of Tartu
  • Moscow also signed a $550 million deal with Syria for combat training jets
  • value of Russian arms sales to Syria at $162 million per year in both 2009 and 2010
  • Russia's key policy goal is blocking American efforts to shape the regio
  • Russia doesn't believe revolutions, wars and regime change bring stability and democracy
  • It believes humanitarian concerns are often used an excuse for pursuing America's own political and economic interests.
  • not only driven by the need to preserve its naval presence in the Mediterranean, secure its energy contracts, or counter the West on 'regime change
  • Putin's existential fear for his own survival and the survival of the repressive system that he and al-Assad represent
    • fcastro2
      fcastro2 on 28 Jan 15
       
      Putin is scared that the "west" will defeat Russia if Syria is defeated
  • al-Assad cannot lose because it means that one day he, Putin, might as well
  • The West handles the Islamic world the way a monkey handles a grenade," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin tweeted
  • Russia is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. It has the power to veto Security Council resolutions against the Syrian regime and has done so repeatedly over the past two years
  • religion and strategy.
  • Islamic Republic has provided technical help such as intelligence, communications and advice on crowd control and weapons as protests in Syria morphed into resistance
  • Iran counted on Syria as its only Arab ally during its eight-year war with Iraq. Iraq was Sunni-dominate
  • proxy through which Iran can threaten Israel with an arsenal of short-range missiles
  • The last thing Iran wants now is a Sunni-dominated Syria -- especially as the rebels' main supporters are Iran's Persian Gulf rivals: Qatar and Saudi Arabi
  • war between the front of hegemony and the front of resistance
  • Syrian government is a victim of international plots
  • Iran says the main objective of this plot is to make the region safer for Israe
  • Many believe Iran is Washington's greatest threat in the region, especially with its nuclear potential
  • the Americans will sustain damage like when they interfered in Iraq and Afghanistan
  • Syria's third-largest importer in 2010, according to data from the European Commission
  • maintain its financial tie
  • indicates that China sees Syria as an important trading hub
  • China has said foreign countries shouldn't meddle in Syria's internal affairs
  • Rather than siding with either Assad or the opposition and standing aside to 'wait and see,' Beijing is actively betting on both
  • China said it is firmly opposed to the use of chemical weapons and supports the U.N.'s chemical weapons inspectors.
  • It also said it wants a political solution for Syri
  • China is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. And like Russia, China has repeatedly blocked sanctions attempts against the Syrian regime
  • fcastro2 on 28 Jan 15
     
    Syria's allies, Russia, Iran, and China, all stand by them despite western powers opposing the Syrian government. There are different reasons to why these powers seem to stay with Syria such as Russia's ideologies, Iran's strategy, or China's trading. Either way, these government will stand by them until there is nothing left to lose. 
sheldonmer

Can the Arab revolutions survive Syria and Egypt? - Opinion - Al Jazeera English - 0 views

www.aljazeera.com/...egypt-2013122971234447135.html

egypt syrian revolutions arab revolutions arab spring

shared by sheldonmer on 16 Nov 14 - No Cached
    • sheldonmer
      sheldonmer on 16 Nov 14
       
      This article provides a great overview of the "Arab Revolutions". This article covers the uprisings in Oman, Yemen, Egypt, Syria and Morocco. This article compares all of this in light, but mainly focuses on the carnage inside Syria. This articles questions whether or not the Middle East will crumble under the Egyptian and Syrian Revolutions.
hkerby2

I Was Gassed by Bashar al-Assad | Foreign Policy - 0 views

foreignpolicy.com/...-was-gassed-by-bashar-al-assad

foreign policy Damascus survivor starvation

shared by hkerby2 on 15 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • hkerby2 on 15 Feb 15
     
    This article is a view of the chemical warfare in Syria from someone who survived the attacks in Damascus. The survivor writes of how joining the OPCW will do nothing in saving and protecting the Syrian people and how by taking away chemical warfare it will jut lead to Assad regimes finding new ways, such as starvation, to kill the innocent people of Syria.
kbrisba

Tunisia: New Cabinet Excludes Islamists - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...abinet-excludes-islamists.html

shared by kbrisba on 09 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • kbrisba on 09 Feb 15
     
    Prime Minister Habib Essid announced a new minority government that excludes most of the major figures on the political scene, including Islamist and leftist parties. The 24 ministers presented appear to come from two parties that may not have enough seats to survive a no-confidence vote. This means lacking seats in Parliament they may have difficulty carrying out the necessary reforms to fix Tunisia's economic problems.
ralqass

Saudi oil minister to face rival U.S. producers as price rout bites| Reuters - 0 views

www.reuters.com/...s-ceraweek-saudi-idUSKCN0VU06I

shared by ralqass on 23 Feb 16 - No Cached
  • ralqass on 23 Feb 16
     
    This week, Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi will for the first time face the victims of his decision to keep oil pumps flowing despite a global glut: U.S. shale oil producers struggling to survive the worst price crash in years.
allieggg

Can Libya Rebuild Itself After 40 Years of Gaddafi? - 0 views

www.newsweek.com/f-after-40-years-gaddafi-68601

Gaddafi libya Arab Nationalism recontruction political tabula rasa Revolution politics middle east

shared by allieggg on 12 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • the man has hollowed out the Libyan state, eviscerated all opposition in Libyan society, and, in effect, created a political tabula rasa on which a newly free people will now have to scratch out a future.
  • Jamahiriya, a political system that is run directly by tribesmen without the intermediation of state institutions
  • the problem is, of course, that much like in the former Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe, virtually everyone at one point or another had to deal with the regime to survive.
  • ...25 more annotations...
  • Libya is truly a case apart.
  • the disastrous Italian legacy in Libya, has been a constant element in Gaddafi’s speeches since he took power
  • inspired by Gamal Abdel Nasser, neighboring Egypt’s president, whose ideas of Arab nationalism and of the possibility of restoring glory to the Arab world, would fuel the first decade of Gaddafi’s revolution.
  • he was unimpressed with the niceties of international diplomacy,
  • In a brilliant move that co-opted tribal elders, many of whom were also military commanders, he created the Social Leadership People’s Committee, through which he could simultaneously control the tribes and segments of the country’s military.
  • When it turned out that Libya, which was still a decentralized society in 1969, had little appetite for his centralizing political vision and remained largely indifferent to his proposals, the young idealist quickly turned activist.
  • Green Book, a set of slim volumes published in the mid-1970s that contain Gaddafi’s political philosophy, a blueprint is offered for a dramatic restructuring of Libya’s economy, politics, and society. In principle, Libya would become an experiment in democracy. In reality, it became a police state where every move of its citizens was carefully watched by a growing number of security apparatuses and revolutionary committees that owed loyalty directly to Gaddafi.
  • Having crushed all opposition by the mid-1970s, the regime systematically snuffed out any group that could potentially oppose it—any activity that could be construed as political opposition was punishable by death, which is one reason why a post-Gaddafi Libya, unlike a post-Mubarak Egypt, can have no ready-made opposition in a position to fill the vacuum.
  • The tribes—the Warfalla, the Awlad Busayf, the Magharha, the Zuwaya, the Barasa, and the smallest of them all, the Gadafa, to which he belonged—offered a natural form of political affiliation, a tribal ethos that could be tapped into for support. And perhaps, in the aftermath of Gaddafi, they could serve as a nucleus around which to build a new political system.
  • Gaddafi feared they might coalesce into groups opposing his rule. So, during the first two decades after the 1969 coup, he tried to erase their influence, arguing that they were an archaic element in a modern society.
  • comprehensive reconstruction of everything civic, political, legal, and moral that makes up a society and its government.
  • After systematically destroying local society, after using the tribes to cancel each other out, after aborting methodically the emergence of a younger generation that could take over Libya’s political life—all compounded by the general incoherence of the country’s administrative and bureaucratic institutions—Gaddafi will have left a new Libya with severe and longstanding challenges.
  • the growing isolation of Libya as international sanctions were imposed.
  • Lockerbie was the logical endpoint for a regime that had lost all international legitimacy.
  • while the regime still had the coercive power to put down any uprisings that took place in the 1990s, it became clear to Gaddafi’s closest advisers that the potential for unrest had reached unprecedented levels.
  • way out was to come to an agreement with the West that would end the sanctions, allow Libya to refurbish an aging oil infrastructure, and provide a safety valve by permitting Libyans to travel abroad once more.
  • intent to renounce weapons of mass destruction in December 2003—after a long process of behind-the-scenes diplomacy initially spearheaded by Britain
  • “The Revolution Everlasting” was one of the enduring slogans of his Libya, inscribed everywhere from bridges to water bottles.
  • regime that had, for four decades, mismanaged the country’s economy and humiliated its citizens
  • country was split in half, with eastern Cyrenaica and its main city Benghazi effectively independent—a demonstration of the kind of people’s power Gaddafi had always advocated. Reality, in effect, outgrew the caricature.
  • used a set of divide-and-rule policies that not only kept his opponents sundered from each other, but had also completely enfeebled any social or political institution in the country.
  • Beyond Gaddafi, there exists only a great political emptiness, a void that Libya somehow will need to fill.
  • the creation of a modern state where Libyans become true citizens, with all the rights and duties this entails.
  • the terrorist incidents
  • Regimes can use oil revenues strategically to provide patronage that effectively keeps them in power.
  • allieggg on 12 Nov 14
     
    This article from News Week basically paints a picture of Libyan history and how Gaddafi's reign devastated the state economically, socially, and politically. Author Dirk Vandewalle uses the phrase "a political tabula rasa" which in Latin means a blank slate, to describe the fate of Libya after Gaddafi's rule and convey the extent to which the country has to literally reconstruct every component that makes up a society and its government. He highlights major events that led to the downfall of both the Gaddafi regime and the Libyan state as a whole such as Arab nationalism, Jamahiriya, the Green Book, security apparatuses snuffing all opposition, terrorist incidents, isolation and international sanctions, the Lockerbie bombing, weapons of mass destruction, human right violations, divide and rule policies, and his use of oil revenue to fuel his insurgency. Vandewalle concludes the article with uncertain ideas thoughts towards Libya's future and the way the state is going to literally rebuild themselves from this "blank slate" that Gaddafi left behind. 
diamond03

BBC News - Egypt: Deadly risks, but female genital mutilation persists - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-middle-east-27322088

news egypt risks female genital revolution

shared by diamond03 on 27 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • youngster was frighten
  • female genital mutilation (FGM). She did not survive it
  • small farming communit
  • ...46 more annotations...
  • r lived and died
  • bedrock of faith and tradition
  • Both play a role in perpetuating FGM
  • It has been outlawed since 2008
  • religious duty
  • highest prevalence rates in the world.
  • Over 90%
  • under 50 have experienced it, according to government figures.
  • removal of all or part of the external genitalia
  • promoting chastity.
  • still widely practised in Egyp
  • girls aged between nine and 13
  • young as six,
  • unconfirmed reports of newborns being subjected to it.
  • "It is God's will
  • asked if it was right to subject Suhair to FGM
  • "Yes of course,
  • People here are used to i
  • circumcision, girls are full of lust
  • Hidden death toll
  • "We were four sisters, and we were circumcised in one day
  • Afterwards they gave us food and drinks."
  • Gypsies used to carry out the circumcisions, she told us, placing dust and salt on the wounds
  • 70% of FGM procedures in Egypt.
  • "It's perceived as being safer, but no-one learns how to do this at medical school. We should definitely assume more girls are dying as Suhair did,
  • his is a form of violence against children”
  • private clinic in his home.
  • dozen procedures carried out there every day.
  • enied performing FGM on Suhair and said he had only treated her for genital warts.
  • Dr Halawa on trial, together with Suhair's father, who brought her to his clinic
  • FGM is hard to quash
  • "The case has started a debate among the liberal-minded," said Mohamed Ismail, who works for a local women's rights organisation.
  • A thousand or so girls were circumcised after she died."
  • plans to have the curly-haired infant circumcised, by a doctor, when she reaches her teens
  • "In the past there was ignorance,
  • brought barbers to their homes to circumcise girls.
  • we are more modern
  • Campaigners warn that it will take more than one prosecution to spare other girls. More on This Story
  • they just turn up at the doctor's office with their daughters.
  • This is a form of violence against children,"
  • "It's an irreversible act. There are mental and physical scars that stay with the girl for a lifetime."
  • only one opponent of FGM in Suhair's village
  • "It's a very bad thing for girls," said Amira. "There's no need for it. It's wrong because it's dangerous."
  • he problem is the mentality of the farmers."
  • still easy to arrange.
  • Egypt: Deadly risks, but female genital mutilation persists
  • diamond03 on 27 Oct 14
     
    The article mentions an ogling trial about FGM. A young girl Suhair died during the procedure. Outlawed in 2008, FGM continues to happen.
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.
fcastro2

UN plan to relocate Syrian refugees in northern Europe | World news | The Guardian - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...approach-syrian-refugee-europe

refugees europe syria politics

shared by fcastro2 on 25 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • “orderly relocation” of thousands of Syrian refugees from southern Europe to richer countries in the north, and is pressing the EU to agree to a year-long pilot programme
  • the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, has approached senior EU figures to get backing for its pilot programme
  • new approaches, which could be achieved within the existing Dublin framework, were urgently needed:
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • is a radical departure from current EU policy, which forces asylum seekers to apply for asylum in their first country of entry, under legislation known as the Dublin law.
  • We need to convince them that it is better to go legally, that there is an alternative to months of suffering
  • More than 3 million people are estimated to have fled the country in the past four years, and although the vast majority have remained in neighbouring countries – Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan – thousands have tried to make the perilous journey to Europe.
  • Most of those who survive the Mediterranean crossing – and more than 3,000 died last year – end up in Italy and Greece
  • 42,000 Syrians ended up in Italy in 2014 alone
  • apply for asylum in their country of arrival. But only a tiny minority do. In practice, many migrants simply slip through the net and move, vulnerably, around Europe.
  • Syrians who chose to move irregularly across Europe could be reduced if people were allowed to legally travel onwards to join family or move to countries where they have language skills or work opportunities
  • Syrian conflict has exacerbated a refugee crisis in north Africa and the Middle East
  • The proposed relocation, which would start as a one-year pilot programme, would focus only on Syrians who have been recognised as refugees in Italy and Greece and would depend on an initial voluntary commitment from member states
  • previous attempts to reform the Dublin law have been met with fierce resistance during internal EU discussions
  • UK and other northern European countries have fought in both domestic and European courts to defend the right to return asylum seekers to their first country of entry
  • arguing that protection and accommodation conditions in Italy and Greece are inadequate
  • stressed the importance of states upholding the Dublin regulation
  • the commission is discussing with the member states on how to ensure a more balanced distribution of resettled refugees among all member states. We wil
  • Cochetel acknowledged that only a significant interest in building a new system would create a change in behaviour among desperate migrants
  • Last month Turkey become the largest country of asylum in the world
  • massive irregular secondary movements feeding trafficking, leading to human suffering and exploitation
  • fcastro2 on 25 Mar 15
     
    The European Union is having some issues with Syrian refugees not staying in the country to where they first applied for asylum. This, and the ever growing number of Syrian refugees in Europe, has lead to a call to reform the Dublin Law. 
petergrossmanseu

Syrian Army BMP Hit By TOW ATGM - Crew Survives Close Call | Syria War 2015 - YouTube - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

TOW missiles US arms anti-tank weapons

shared by petergrossmanseu on 03 Feb 16 - No Cached
  • petergrossmanseu on 03 Feb 16
     
    This video shows a Syrian army armored vehicle being hit and disabled by a TOW missile. I think this is worth linking because it is a visual representation of what the US armed rebels actually means.
  • petergrossmanseu on 03 Feb 16
     
    This video shows a Syrian Army armored vehicle being hit and disabled by a TOW missile. I think this is worth linking because it is a visual representation of what the US armed rebels actually means.
cguybar

Egypt Is Trying to Crush the Muslim Brotherhood. Can It Survive? - 0 views

www.newsweek.com/...m-brotherhood-fate-361663.html

muslim brotherhood crush egypt

shared by cguybar on 30 Jan 16 - No Cached
  • cguybar on 30 Jan 16
     
    Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is under attack due to their leader being sentenced to death. The new regime seems to try and attack the organization from the top down by taking out the groups leaders. With the constant threat, Brotherhood supporters remain stedfast in their beliefs.
mcooka

The conviction of Radovan Karadzic has lessons for Syria's war | Middle East Eye - 0 views

www.middleeasteye.net/...karadzic-trial-1309000654

Bosnia Yugoslavia Middle East War Prisoner

shared by mcooka on 28 Mar 16 - No Cached
  • Thursday saw the closure of a long and drawn out story for the victims of Bosnia’s bloody civil war as the guilty verdict was finally delivered in the trial of Radovan Karadzic.
  • of a 40-year jail sentence for Karadzic for genocide and war crimes.
  • Memory and justice are two themes
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • So much of the strife afflicting Europe and the Middle East today has its roots in the Bosnian conflict, yet scant attention has been paid to the country in the years following the war.
  • Up to 100,000 people were killed in the Bosnia conflict between 1992 and 1995 when, following a referendum to secede from Yugoslavia, the country was plunged into an inter-ethnic war between Serbs, Croats and Muslims (or Bosniaks).
  • Karadzic and his Serb forces have long been considered the worst perpetrators of the violence - which nevertheless saw atrocities on all sides - and culminated in the brutal Srebrenica massacre in which over 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered in 1995 in full view of the UN peacekeeping forces. 
  • n forging notions of global Muslim solidarity and identity which has played such a major role in the conflicts of the Middle East.
  • Much as in Syria today, hundreds - potentially thousands - of foreigners travelled to Bosnia to join the mujahideen and protect Bosnian Muslims from the Bosnian Serb forces
  • It's hard not to draw parallels between such language and the language of anti-Muslim demagogues in Europe, India, Myanmar and America today.
  • When the dust settles in Syria, and should the war criminals survive long enough to be put on trial, the long-term work of reconstruction and reconciliation will begin
  • mcooka on 28 Mar 16
     
    This article looks at the trial of the Bosnia war criminal. He was persecuted and given 40 years in prison after 20 years of being chased and waiting for trial. The Bosnia war has roots of strife which still exist in the Middle East today. 
blantonjack

ISIS Is Losing Ground, but Not the War - 0 views

www.thedailybeast.com/...ng-ground-but-not-the-war.html

ISIS Syria war politics Iraq

shared by blantonjack on 05 Apr 16 - No Cached
  • blantonjack on 05 Apr 16
     
    Strategic Retreat The self-proclaimed Islamic State has lost at least three Syrian cities and towns in the past six weeks, including one over the weekend, each time by walking away from the fight. And yet the Pentagon is not sure whether to celebrate ISIS's losses or brace for even bigger fights against the group than it already anticipated for key ISIS cities like Mosul and Raqqa. Isis has learned over the course of their history in Syria that they must choose their battles, and defend key properties that they must have to survive.
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