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agomez117

Egypt's powerful street art packs a punch - 2 views

  • best examples
  • street art movement that has flourished since the protests against Mubarak began.
  • artists were forged in the fire
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  • 8-day demonstrations against Mubarak in early 2011
  • mural
  • talk about the walls of Egypt being under an ‘art attack’.”
  • mural of a large tank aiming its cannon at a boy on a bicycle
  • painting slogans and murals
  • struggle for freedom.
  • panda bear
  • ongoing mayhem
  • pacifist rebuke to the violence
  • engulfed Egypt since 2011.
  • integrated part
  • esponse to events
  • . I must make people remember this culture, this history – because we can lose it. And we can’t know our future if we forget our past.”
    • mariebenavides
       
      This is a crucial line to this article and to the artists main objective. By saying this, Awad is stating that he thinks the people of Egypt have begun to forget who they are in light of revolution and in change and wants to help them recall who they are.
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    This article from BBC showcases how Egyptian street art is a new voice among Egyptian protestors. In response to events, artists have filled the walls with murals and slogans in response to events such as the Maspero Massacre in 2011. Some of the reoccurring images are of a tank aiming its cannon at a boy on a bicycle carrying bread on his head as well as a melancholy panda. Other artists have integrated some of Egypt's history in their murals showcasing Egyptian pride amongst the rebellion.
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    More than two years after protesters toppled Hosni Mubarak, Cairo is still ablaze with fiery visual reminders of Egypt's revolution. On the edge of Tahrir Square - the nerve centre of dissent - the burned-out tower block that once housed the headquarters of Mubarak's National Democratic Party stands blackened and empty.
tdford333

Why Yemen has come undone - CNN.com - 0 views

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    As the United States has closed its embassy and withdrawn its last troops, Yemen has slid into total chaos, with rebels and jihadists on both sides capturing military bases and seizing tanks and heavy weapons.
petergrossmanseu

Syria receives Russian weapons to battle ISIL - YouTube - 0 views

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    A news report talking about the Syrian army receiving jets from Russia while also showing some of their armor specifically the Russian-made T-72. While not the most sophisticated main battle tank anymore, it still poses a major threat to anyone without access to anti-armor weaponry.
petergrossmanseu

TOW Missile vs T-72 Tank In Slow Motion - YouTube - 0 views

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    A weapons test video on a closed range, while on its own is not that important, the video ties in very well with my other three links this week. I think too often there is a disconnect between this idea okay we are arming these people (rebels) and what does that mean, hopefully this video in conjunction with the others helps bridge that disconnect.
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).
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  • 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.
agomez117

Walls of Freedom: New German-Egyptian Book Looks at Graffiti in Cairo & the Egyptian Re... - 1 views

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    04 August 2013 Egyptian street art is everywhere; from the dark underside of 6 th October Bridge to the face of Giza Zoo - and even on the sides of tanks. Since the January 25th Revolution, artists in Cairo have been in inspired form and as a city, Cairo has become a forerunner in Middle-Eastern revolutionary art.
agomez117

anthropologies - 1 views

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    In the upscale neighborhood of Zamalek in Cairo, Egypt, a military tank faces off with a man, on a bicycle, carrying bread. This scene is a five-minute taxi ride from Tahrir Square, the primary spot within the city and the country where thousands of protesters are currently fighting against the rule of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF).
allieggg

Mapping Libya's armed groups - Middle East - Al Jazeera English - 0 views

  • Haftar accuses Congress of allowing "terrorists" to flourish in Libya and has vowed to "wipe them out", gaining support from much of the regular armed forces and nationalist militias. Other militias have lined up to oppose him, insisting his attacks amount to a "coup".
  • 1. National Army
  • 2. Regular forces
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  • re-formed to help fight in the uprising against Gaddafi in 2011.
  • composed of non-Islamist fighters and former soldiers
  • Haftar used it to launch Operation Libyan Dignity on May 16, saying his mission was to dissolve the General National Congress, which he labelled Islamist, and to destroy "terrorists" he said Congress had allowed to establish bases in Libya.
  • National Army is a nationalist armed group controlled by Khalifa Haftar, rather than Libya’s national army.
  • small army and air force have mostly defected to Haftar. Libya’s armed forces fought on both Gaddafi and the rebel side in the 2011 uprising. Since then, the army has been rebuilding, with most of its units in training.
  • fighting a tit-for-tat battle against Islamist militias for more than a year.
  • 3. Zintan
  • Zintan's militias are the second most powerful armed force in Libya, after Misrata, and based in the Nafusa mountains 144km southwest of Tripoli.
  • regard themselves as opponents of both Congress and Islamists.
  • Zintan formed one of the three fronts in the uprising and by the end of that uprising, Zintan brigades surged into Tripoli, with several maintaining bases in the city and holding the international airport.
  • 2. Ansar al-Sharia
  • 1. LROR 
  • Libyan Revolutionary Operations Room was formed in 2013 as the headquarters of the Libya Shield, an alliance of pro-Congress militias.
  • accused by opponents of being Islamist,
  • LROR led a powerful Shield force to Tripoli last year to defend Congress.
  • 3. Misrata
  • With strong affiliations with the Muslim Brotherhood’s Justice and Construction Party, LROR will have much to lose if Haftar takes power.
  • dedicated to establishing a caliphate in Libya
  • The US blamed Ansar al-Sharia for the assault on the US consulate in Benghazi that saw the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens in 2012.
  • On May 18, two days after Hiftar’s forces attacked Benghazi, two Zintan militias stormed the national congress building in Tripoli.
  • Misrata’s 235 militia brigades are collectively the most powerful single force in Libya, fighting through a six-month siege during the uprising.
  • They are equipped with heavy weapons, tanks and truck-launched rockets and have the power to be a decisive force in any struggle between Haftar and Islamist forces.
  • Many Misratan leaders back the Islamists in Congress, and Misratan brigades once formed a key part of the Libya Shield force in Tripoli.
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    After the ousting of the Gaddafi regime the country pivoted into civil chaos. Because of the deficiency of structure and state autonomy, armed militias have become the dominant force in determining Libya's future governmental system. While the UN has internationally recognized the NTC as the interim government to ultimately turn the country into a democratic one, militias have taken things into their own hands tipping the country towards the brink of civil war. General Khalifa Haftar launched his Operation Dignity campaign accusing congress of allowing terrorists flourish in Libya and vowed to wipe them out, gaining much support from the regular armed forces and nationalist militias. The opposition to Haftar insist that his attacks are aiming for a military coup. This article was helpful in highlighting the armed groups and dividing them by Pro-Haftar and Pro-Congress sections. 
fcastro2

Turkish Military Evacuates Soldiers Guarding Tomb in Syria - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • The Turkish Army sent armored troops deep into Syria late Saturday on a rescue mission, to recover the remains of a major historical figure and to evacuate the guards at his besieged tomb
  • The tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, is 20 miles south of the Turkish border, but it has been considered Turkish territory under a 1921 treaty with France
  • there were no clashes during the mission and only one casualty, a soldier who was killed in an accident
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  • He said Turkey notified the Syrian government, rebel leaders and the coalition forces fighting the Islamic State about the operation.
  • 572 troops, 39 tanks, 57 armored vehicles and 100 other vehicles were involved
  • Turkish flag was lowered, and the tomb and security station were destroyed to prevent any possible use by extremists.
  • operation was prompted by the chaos and instability in Syria
  • clashes were likely to erupt nearby between forces of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and Kurdish troops known as pesh merga, and that the tomb could become a target.
  • “The Suleyman Shah tomb has been a point of vulnerability for Turkey for a long time, and with this operation, such weakness has been eliminated
  • “The Islamic State could have used the presence of the tomb as leverage in case of any confrontation with Turkey
  • in accordance with the 1921 treaty, a new tomb for Suleyman Shah was being established in a part of Syria that is under Kurdish control
  • when conditions in Syria permitted, the tomb would be moved back again to the site that was evacuated, near the village of Karakozak
  • Tensions have mounted around the tomb since March, when the Islamic State took control of the surrounding area and began threatening to destroy the tomb unless guards there lowered the Turkish flag.
  • The militant group raided Turkey’s consulate in Mosul, Iraq, last June and seized 46 Turks and 3 Iraqis as hostages; they were released three months later on terms that were not disclosed
  • crisis discouraged Turkey from joining the United States-led military coalition conducting strikes against the Islamic State, though Turkey has cooperated with the United States in other ways,
  • Turkey has lobbied intensively for international military action in Syria, including no-fly zones and a presence on the ground to strengthen the more moderate Syrian rebel groups who are fighting both the extremists and the Syrian government.
  • Syrian government issued a statement on Sunday calling the military operation a “flagrant aggression” because Turkey did not wait for permission from Damascus to mount i
  • The Kurds were aided by airstrikes and other support from the American-led coalition
  • Mr. Ulgen, the analyst, said the choice of route was a sign of some improvement in relations between the Turkish government in Ankara and the Syrian Kurds, whom the Turks have regarded with deep suspicion.
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    The Turkish government recently went into an extremist-controlled territory in order to evacuate a tomb of a major historical figure, and the soldiers who guarded it. The safe passage of this mission has shown that the relations between Turkey and Syria have gotten a bit better. 
wmulnea

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

  • 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.
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  • 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,”
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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
mkulach

Five years on, why do Egyptian authorities still fear January 25? - Al-Monitor: the Pul... - 0 views

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    Rates of poverty, unemployment, administrative corruption and the violation of freedoms continue to soar in Egypt, and many people including activists are still frustrated. Five years after the revolutions a "tense calm" still remains in Egypt. Tanks have been in Tahrir Square this January incase of uprisings and constant searches in people's flats keep occurring of suspected activists promoting uprisings.
petergrossmanseu

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

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    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.
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    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

Homemade killing machines built from junk - 0 views

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    An Australian news article about the FSA fighters and the homemade mortar which they refer to as the Hell Cannon. I bookmarked of this because it's a more in-depth look at the cannon, which was shown although briefly in some of my earlier bookmarks.
cthomase

Building a New Foundation for Stability in Libya - 0 views

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    The Center for American Progress, a liberal think-tank in Washington DC, proposed various ideas to help build a stable government in Libya. They give several proposals that take on different ideas from the perspectives on globalization.
eyadalhasan

The US is restoring military aid to Egypt that its withheld since 2013 - 0 views

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    President Barack Obama asked the US Congress for $1.3 billion per year in military aid for Egypt and said he would lift holds on aircraft, missiles and tanks for Cairo in place since October 2013, the White House said in a statement.
cguybar

What is the Muslim Brotherhood? - CNN.com - 1 views

  • is a religious and political group founded on the belief that Islam is not simply a religion, but a way of life
  • advocates a move away from secularism, and a return to the rules of the Quran as a basis for healthy families, communities, and states.
  • slamic Sharia (way of life or principles) as the basis controlling the affairs of state and society and working "to achieve unification
    • kristaf
       
      statement of what the Brotherhood initially sought to achieve
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  • Morsy
  • is government failed to keep order as the economy tanked and crime soared, including open sexual assaults on women in Egypt's streets. The chaos drove away many tourists and investors.
    • kristaf
       
      Issues that were attributed to Morsi being in power included:  -increase in crime -issues with the economy  -assaults on women 
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    The issues surrounding the brotherhood and the fear surrounding the idea that all of Egypt would be expected to become part of the brotherhood are discussed on this page. The original foundation of the brotherhood was based on the idea of "liberating them from foreign imperialism" as well as forming "unification" as a nation. Issues presented with the brotherhood include: a "poor economic stability or growth, increased crime, and assaults on women."
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    The issues surrounding the brotherhood and the fear surrounding the idea that all of Egypt would be expected to become part of the brotherhood are discussed on this page. The original foundation of the brotherhood was based on the idea of "liberating them from foreign imperialism" as well as forming "unification" as a nation. Issues presented with the brotherhood include: a "poor economic stability or growth, increased crime, and assaults on women."
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    The Muslim Brotherhood is the oldest and largest opposition group group in Egypt. It's members control many of the country's professional organizations.
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    This article gives background information regarding who and what the Muslim Brotherhood is. It provides historical significance of the group as well as give suggestions as to why there is interest in learning about the group and their ideals.
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