CULF 3331: "Middle Eastern Revolutions"

"The chief of Libya's new UN-backed government has reached Tripoli, defying threats from city militias, to proclaim a new order for the conflict-ravaged country in a move that could eventually pave the way for international forces to provide troops and air support."

In Cairo, taxi drivers are fighting the encroachment of ride-booking services like Uber. But many Egyptians, especially women, say they prefer Uber since they feel safer with the company's drivers.

An Israeli soldier shot and killed a Palestinian who was wounded on the ground, which has stirred some commotion among the public. Many people have been expressing their outrage to this happening. Not too long ago another Israeli soldier killed two other Palestinians that were carrying knifes. The violence in this are is never ending.

More than half of Israelis support a soldier accused of shooting dead a severely wounded and incapacitated Palestinian assailant in Hebron last week, according to a poll by an Israeli TV station. The soldier is being investigated by the Israeli military police on suspicion of murder.

This incident has brought attention to the amount of force used against Palestinians. There are different thoughts on the subject, many Israelis do not want to call it a murder, while international actors have been comdemning it.

Four Palestinians arrested this week for Facebook posts have spoken of physical assaults they endured during their detention and interrogation. The testimonies were collected by the Palestinian Committee for Prisoners' Affairs and relate to four Palestinian youths, including at least two teenagers detained.

This piece is talking about the efforts of Lebanon to support the education of Syrian children. The refugee students have been out of school for years which hinders their future quality of life. Only about half of the refugee children are attending some sort of school program. 

In Egypt there is a university which has been promoted as the ebst school in the Middle East. Except, it is very limited. It does not offer a reason to develop analytical skills, so often their students do poorly in the job world. in Egypt students are assigned a major and classes based off of their grades, they do not get to pursue what they want. 

In the Middle East there is a lack of focus on culture in education. it focuses on the history of the "winners" and is promoting hate and ignorance in the education system. These issues have popped up before the Minister of Education since 1997. 

I spent part of last week in Qatar with a brilliant group of scholars, discussing digital media in the Middle East. The article discusses primary work in Egypt focused on the ways children grew up constructing identities in which they could be at once Egyptian and Arab and at the same time modern and global

No one knows how Giulio Regeni was murdered, or by whom. But from the moment the body of the 28-year-old Italian graduate student was found on the side of the road in a Cairo suburb, suspicion has fallen on Egypt's security services. The Middle East Studies Association has now issued a security alert for study and research in Egypt.

In a recent breakdown of the different people who are often victims of human trafficking it was determined that 12% are men, 22% are children, and women make up 66%. Majority of the people who are part of trafficking belong to Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asian nationalities.

A 26-year-old Briton on an EgyptAir plane Tuesday did what Millennials do all the time: He took a selfie. This wasn't just any selfie, however. The photo included the man authorities say hijacked Ben Innes' plane. Innes was one of the remaining hostages during a six-hour standoff at Cyprus' Larnaca airport, the Guardian reported.

Today, countries across the world are being terrorised and ravaged by extremism; both territory and minds conquered by a militant and ideological crusade. Right or wrong, the mere mention of the word "terrorism" conjures up images of bearded Muslim men - kalashnikovs in hand - intent on eradicating any thought, person or object which runs contrary to their narrow fundamentalist ideology.

A more recent article posted by BBC News on Feb. 19th of Turkey's recent renewment of bombardment against the Kurds (People's Protection Units) inside Syria. The US and UN have both pressed Turkey to cease shelling the YPG and EU urged Turkey to stop shelling Syria.

In Feb. the United Nations demanded Turkey to open its borders to thousands of Syrian refugees. Erdogan responded "are you mocking us?" and accused the UN for overstepping its powers and to basically back off from the Syrian conflict.

Another issue Turkey is constantly dealing with, is the problem with the thousands of Syrian refugees at their border, in addition to the mini-civil war w/the Kurds, and its questionable oil business with ISIS. This article points out Erdogan's requests for the EU to deliver more funds to control the border situation. Different point of view from the other two articles I bookmarked this week.

Algeria is a transit and source country for human trafficking. Many people susceptible to the Algerian human trafficking are sub-saharan men, women and children.

From left, clockwise: Manal al-Sharif, Taffan Ako Taha, Raquel Saraswati, Malala Yousazai, Dr. Elham Manea There is a burgeoning women's rights movement in Muslim-majority societies today. From Pakistan to North Africa, each country has a network of activists, writers and academics struggling to bring women's rights to their countries and overthrow centuries of patriarchal oppression.

One of Saudi Arabia's most prominent female human rights campaigners has been arrested and jailed for allegedly running a Twitter account. Samar Badawi is the ex-wife of influential human rights lawyer Waleed Abulkhair, and according to activists has been accused of running his Twitter account after he was jailed in 2014. One of the most well-known campaigners for women's rights in Saudi Arabia, Ms Badawi received the 2012 International Women of Courage award, presented by Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.