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ecfruchtman

6 Israelis charged with hate crimes; Palestinian held in stabbings - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

shared by ecfruchtman on 29 Apr 17 - No Cached
  • ecfruchtman on 29 Apr 17
     
    Six Israelis were charged Sunday in a monthslong hate crime investigation and a Palestinian was arrested in the stabbing of four Israelis on Sunday afternoon, a reminder that tensions are always bubbling under the surface, even in relatively quiet times.
ecfruchtman

British woman fatally stabbed by Palestinian in Jerusalem, police say - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

shared by ecfruchtman on 20 Apr 17 - No Cached
  • ecfruchtman on 20 Apr 17
     
    Paramedics rushed Hannah Bladon, 20, to the hospital, police said, but she died shortly after she arrived there. In a statement Saturday by the UK Foreign Office, her relatives said they were "devastated by this senseless and tragic attack." "Hannah was the most caring, sensitive and compassionate daughter you could ever wish for," her family said.
knudsenlu

Misunderstanding the Victims of the Sinai Massacre - The Atlantic - 0 views

www.theatlantic.com/...546752

sufi misunderstanding massacre Islam

shared by knudsenlu on 26 Nov 17 - No Cached
  • What are Sufis? This was a question many were asking after at least 305 Egyptians were massacred on Friday in the Sinai. They were killed in an assault by Islamist militants (likely from the local Islamic State affiliate, although the group has not yet made a claim of responsibility) on Al Rawdah mosque, which is commonly described as a “Sufi mosque.” The implication is that its congregants observed a more “mystical” version of Islam, one that, for example, venerates saints. While such a description is not necessarily inaccurate—it is common to refer to mosques by their apparent ideological or spiritual orientation—like most things related to Islam, it’s a bit more complicated. Many Sufis do not self-define as Sufis, since for them, this is just how Muslims practice—and have always practiced—Islam.
  • For most of Islamic history, Sufism wasn’t considered as something apart. That it is today has much to do with the rise of Islamism, which is generally perceived as anti-Sufi.
  • To describe Sufis as “tolerant” and “pluralistic” may also be true, but doing so presupposes that non-Sufi Muslims aren’t tolerant or pluralistic. On the other hand, describing Sufis as heterodox, permissive, or otherwise less interested in ritual or Islamic law is misleading.
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  • The idea that Sufis are inherently non-violent or pacifist is similarly ahistorical. Some of the most famous Islamic rebellions were led by Sufis like Sudan’s Mohamed Ahmed, who declared himself Mahdi, or “the redeemer,” and Abdelkader in Algeria.
  • These are far from mere semantic discussions. They inevitably shape the subtext of so many conversations around Islam and politics. Western governments are susceptible to exoticizing Sufis and elevating them as the better, peaceful Muslims. But to see one group of Muslims as better means seeing other Muslims as problems to be solved. Westerners, most of whom have heard of Rumi’s poetry, but have little idea who the Mahdi is, will, naturally, prefer this idea of pacifist, apparently apolitical Muslims, only to find out that most Muslims are just, well, Muslims.
  • In this respect, the mosque that Islamist militants so brutally attacked in Egypt was something more than a Sufi mosque; it was, simply, a mosque.
cdavistinnell

Bashar al-Assad needs to leave before there's peace, Syrian opposition says - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

Syria UN peace

shared by cdavistinnell on 28 Nov 17 - No Cached
  • Key Syrian opposition groups insist that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should play no role in any transitional period under any peace deal supervised by the United Nations.
  • Saudi Arabia hosted a two-day "expanded" conference for the Syrian opposition forces in Riyadh on Wednesday and Thursday ahead of the UN-backed peace talks set for Geneva, Switzerland, to find a solution for the war-torn country.
  • The Syrian opposition factions also called on the United Nations through its representative "to take immediate necessary measures to activate the political process and to correct the Geneva negotiations by holding direct and unconditional negotiations between representatives from the Syrian opposition members and Syrian regime members," the draft said.
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  • Opposition leaders, the United States and their allies hold the Assad regime responsible for the mass slaughter of civilians and rebel fighters seeking an end to his family's decadeslong rule. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has also repeatedly said there is no place for Assad in Syria's future.
  • Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to hold a "congress" in Russia that would bring together Syria's warring factions for the peace talks.
  • Putin and his government have been among the chief supporters of the Assad regime, both militarily and in helping to negotiate ceasefires in the country's long-running civil war.
Javier E

Long Divided, Iran Unites Against Trump and Saudis in a Nationalist Fervor - The New Yo... - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...saudi-arabia-donald-trump.html

iran foreign policy history Crisis culture obama Trump

shared by Javier E on 28 Nov 17 - No Cached
  • Arvand Dashtaray, a liberal-minded theater director, who has frequently injected veiled criticism of Iranian society and its leaders into his plays, now says that he and like-minded reformists and moderates were wrong to bet on the United States.
  • as for Mr. Trump, “he is the true face of the U.S., an unfair, weapons-exporting nation that doesn’t care about anybody and especially not about us.” 83 Comments He added: “We need to understand that the U.S. has been playing with us all along. Trump is proving that our hard-liners were right all these years, to say that America cannot be trusted.”
cdavistinnell

Former Yemeni President to Saudis: Let's 'turn the page' - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

Yemen vs. Saudi Arabia peace warfare

shared by cdavistinnell on 04 Dec 17 - No Cached
  • Former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh -- whose supporters are now in a shaky alliance with the Houthi rebels in the fight against the Saudi-led coalition -- tossed an olive branch on Saturday to Riyadh, saying he is open to talks with the coalition and ready to "turn the page."
  • Saleh's message did not sit well with the Houthis, whose spokesman called his remarks "a coup against our alliance and partnership." The reaction is another sign of a developing rift among rebel groups in the Yemen civil war
  • The Houthis, a Shiite tribal militia from northwest Yemen, have been at war with the central government for the better part of a decade. Saudi Arabia and its allies claim that Iran backs and funds the rebels, something the rebels deny.
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  • "The coalition calls all honorable Yemeni people to get rid of the Iranian allied militants and end the era of oppression and threats from the militants allied with Iran." The Saudi Press Agency published the reaction.
ecfruchtman

Trump's actions are beginning to have global consequences - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

shared by ecfruchtman on 24 Oct 17 - No Cached
  • Although Baghdad's offensive in Kirkuk this week is tame by comparison, it is nevertheless an object lesson not just for the Kurds, but for the US -- and President Trump in particular.
  • when Trump refused to recertify Iran's compliance of the Iran nuclear deal last week and threatened to designate Iran's top military force, the revolutionary guard -- the IRGC -- a terrorist organization, he wasn't just slapping down the theocracy -- he was also upping the stakes in Iraq.
  • Both the President and the Iranians have put their cards on the table: Trump can't abide them; they want American influence in the region gone. The days of cooperating over ISIS are likely not long for this world.
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  • Trump's sabre rattling on Iran and North Korea isn't just ensuring that citizens of those countries get in line behind their regimes, but it also exposes the paucity of his policies to a global audience.
    • ecfruchtman
      ecfruchtman on 24 Oct 17
       
      It is not a good reflection of the US.
ecfruchtman

Residents flee Deir Ezzor as Russian, SDF forces pound ISIS holdout - CNN - 0 views

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shared by ecfruchtman on 24 Oct 17 - No Cached
  • A new frontline in the war in Syria and a standoff between forces backed by Washington and Moscow with competing agendas, mere meters apart.
  • Twenty-four hours earlier the SDF had moved south to the Euphrates River, kicking ISIS out of a pocket of Deir Ezzor's surrounding countryside and bringing their forces within shouting distance of the Syrian regime and the Russian military assisting them. 
  • Bashir Elmelham says: "We heard the call of war from the minaret and the shells and artillery came pounding down on us like heavy rain. We fled to abandoned lands." 
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  • "When I would hear the shelling, I would hide in the ground," he says. "The hardest part about living here is that I am not at home."
maxwellokolo

Saudi crown prince promises 'a more moderate Islam' - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

shared by maxwellokolo on 24 Oct 17 - No Cached
  • As his country experiences the early pangs of a cultural and economic transformation, Saudi Arabia's crown prince vowed Tuesday to destroy "extremist ideologies" in a bid to return to "a more moderate Islam."
  • "We want to lead normal lives, lives where our religion and our traditions translate into tolerance, so that we coexist with the world and become part of the development of the world," he said.
  • The tentacles of Wahhabism reached deeply into Saudi life, influencing its courts, politics and foreign policy, as elder kings with tight relations to the religious establishment ruled for the next few decades.
anonymous

Opinion | Can Libya Put Itself Back Together Again? - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...libya-elections-peace.html

Politics

shared by anonymous on 09 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Few countries exemplify the tragedy of the Arab Spring like Libya. The fall of the 42-year dictatorship of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi brought a decade of anarchy as competing governments, militias and foreign powers struggled to seize control of the oil-rich country. The United States and NATO allies that had backed the anti-Qaddafi uprising with a bombing campaign largely turned their backs after he fell, and past United Nations efforts to forge a government foundered in the chaos.
  • Libyans have a chance to clamber out of the mess. A cease-fire of sorts has been holding since October, and a broad-based political forum convened by the United Nations in November managed to appoint a prime minister and a three-member presidential council charged with leading the country to elections this coming December.
  • But if there’s to be any chance for peace, the foreign powers that have flooded Libya with weapons, drones and mercenaries — primarily Russia, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates
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  • The United States has not been directly involved in the illicit arms race. But it bears responsibility for the mess by bailing out of the conflict soon after Colonel el-Qaddafi was overthrown and killed
  • In any event, a major infusion of military support for the Government of National Accord by Turkey blunted Mr. Hifter’s offensive, leading to a cease-fire in October, the convening of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in November and the appointment of an interim administration.
  • The interests of the foreign powers range from avarice to influence, and given the vast resources they have invested in Libya, they no doubt stand ready to resume their meddling if the peace process collapses. But they also appear to appreciate that they and their clients have fought to a stalemate, and that reverting to their zero-sum game might be futile.
  • Peace in Libya matters for reasons beyond its own sake. The country has huge reserves of oil, and the anarchy of the past decade has made it a prime jumping-off point for refugees seeking to flee to Europe across the Mediterranean. Shortly after leaving the White House, former President Barack Obama declared in an interview that the failure to plan for the aftermath of Colonel el-Qaddafi’s exit was the “worst mistake” of his presidency.
  • here’s a glimmer of hope.
  • id Dbeibah, a billionaire who was a close associate of Colonel el-Qaddafi, stands accused of buying the votes that gave him the job. The interim team and the cabinet it proposes need to survive a vote of confidence in a House of Representatives that is also split in two, one side based in Tobruk and the other in
  • This peace process is the best chance to date to put Libya together again. Libyans are thoroughly sick of the fighting, banditry and destruction that have plagued their country for a decade, and tired of the foreign powers and mercenaries who have spread death across the land, much of it through armed drones. The U.N. estimates there are now at least 20,000 mercenaries in Libya.
  • statement from Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month praised Ms. Williams for her “creativity and tenacity” in facilitating the process, and declared that the United States “supports the Libyan vision of a peaceful, prosperous and unified Libya with an inclusive government that can both secure the country and meet the economic and humanitarian needs of it
aidenborst

To punish Saudi Arabia with the "Khashoggi Ban," Biden mirrored a plan developed under ... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

Politics US crisis Culture Policy Saudi-Arabia Trump Biden Biden-Administration Trump-Administration

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • When the Biden administration announced a ban on dozens of Saudis from traveling to the US in response to intelligence that the kingdom's powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had approved the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, it was rolling out a plan that had been spiked by the Trump administration and brought back to life once President Joe Biden took office.
  • While it's not unusual for an administration, especially early on, to use an idea that had been considered by past White Houses, it is notable that the Biden team would implement a policy that had been discussed at such high levels under Trump
  • The plan had initially been drafted by the Trump administration, which shelved it over fears of alienating the key Middle Eastern ally.
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  • "The work was done," a senior Trump administration official confirmed, noting that the plan was rejected by "consensus recommendation" after it had been sent up and discussed by the most senior officials in the Trump administration.
  • Once Biden was sworn in, new officials appointed to the State Department arrived with "a very similar concept already in mind," a Biden administration official said.
  • Ultimately, the list of 76 Saudis on the "Khashoggi Ban," whose names the State Department has said it will not publish, had been sent to Congress in February 2020 as part of a classified report of actions the department was considering under then Secretary Mike Pompeo, an official who has seen the lists told CNN.
  • Dubbed the "Khashoggi Ban" by the State Department, the measure issued visa restrictions on 76 Saudis and their families.
  • "It is fairly normal for departments and agencies to float previously considered policies up for review when new administrations come in," said Javed Ali, a longtime national security official who served under both Trump and President Barack Obama
  • "Any country that would dare engage in these abhorrent acts should know that their officials -- and their immediate family members -- could be subject to this new policy," a senior State Department official said in a statement. "We expect it will have a deterrent effect the world over."
  • When the intelligence report came out on Feb. 26, the Biden administration announced the "Khashoggi Ban," and the new sanctions aimed at the crown prince's protective team and one former senior Saudi intelligence official, Ahmad al-Asiri. But sanctions were never considered for MBS himself, according to administration officials. It was never a "viable option" and would be "too complicated," multiple administration officials said, with the potential to jeopardize US military interests.
  • Still unexplained is why on the day the long-awaited report was published, the Office of Director of National Intelligence quietly took it down and replaced it with a second version in which three names were removed.
  • "It was not some accident the three names were on one version of the report," the official said.
  • One of the three men whose names were removed, Abdulla Mohammed Alhoeriny, is a senior counterterrorism official whose brother is the head of Saudi Arabia's Presidency of State Security. It's not known whether he or the others are among the 76 who've been banned from traveling to the US.
yehbru

Biden and his top officials slammed Trump's lack of action against Saudi Arabia, MBS in... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

US Politics Saudi Arabia Trump Biden Mohammed Bin Salman Jamal Khashoggi

shared by yehbru on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • In the years prior to taking office, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and many of their administration's top officials harshly criticized President Donald Trump's lack of action against Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
  • Biden is now facing criticism for not following through on campaign promises to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for the killing.
  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday announced visa restrictions that affected 76 Saudis believed to be involved in harassing activists and journalists, but he did not announce any measures against the crown prince.
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  • Psaki outlined the Biden administration's actions, including sanctioning the former deputy head of general intelligence and imposing visa restrictions on 76 Saudis believed to be involved with the Khashoggi operation, and said the White House "made clear that we expect additional reforms to be put in place" in their conversations with Saudi Arabia.
  • "There's very little social redeeming value in the present government in Saudi Arabia," Biden said in a 2019 Democratic debate. "They have to be held accountable."
  • "I think the administration has missed a tremendous opportunity to use a horrific, terrible event, the murder of this journalist Khashoggi to use that as a way to influence Saudi behavior and Saudi policies in a way that better reflect our interests and our values,"
  • "Obviously, we're going to continue to have a relationship with Saudi Arabia. They're an important relationship for the United States but his survival is interesting here, and I'm not sure survival would be as certain without the US support which he has at this point."
  • "Prince Mohammed is not and can no longer be viewed as a reliable or rational partner of the United States and our allies,
  • Jake Sullivan, who is now Biden's national security adviser, harshly criticized the Trump administration's response to Khashoggi's assassination, saying in June 2020 the administration gave Saudi leadership a "blank check" to wrongly continue "jailing dissidents, curbing speech, punishing women, and murdering a US resident and prominent journalist in a grotesque and almost sort of ostentatious way."
  • "We don't have to destroy our relationship with Saudi Arabia. We've all done business with Saudi Arabia. We've all been impressed with some ways in which they've helped us in intelligence and strategic thinking about the Middle East, but this is a crime of untold proportion to take a resident, US citizen and murder them in the Saudi consulate. And there have to be consequences,
  • The Biden administration ended offensive military aid for the Saudi-led war in Yemen last month.
  • Deputy UN Ambassador Jeffrey Prescott in 2019 said Trump refused to hold Saudi leadership to account for Khashoggi's murder.
martinelligi

Iran vows revenge for 'Israeli' attack on Natanz nuclear site - BBC News - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-middle-east-56715520

Politics international

shared by martinelligi on 12 Apr 21 - No Cached
  • The Iranian foreign minister has said his country will "take revenge" for an attack on an underground nuclear site, for which it has blamed Israel.
  • US intelligence officials told the New York Times that a large explosion had completely destroyed the independent internal power system that supplied the centrifuges inside the underground facility.
  • Israel has recently stepped up its warnings about its arch-foe's nuclear programme amid efforts to revive a 2015 nuclear deal that was abandoned by former US President Donald Trump.
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  • "This incident, fortunately, did not cause any damage to human lives or the environment. However, it could have been a catastrophe. This is a crime against humanity and carrying out such actions is in line with the essence of the Zionist regime," he said
mattrenz16

Opinion: The Trump-Netanyahu bromance deepened American Jews' divide on Israel - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

shared by mattrenz16 on 02 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • Two of the Jewish people serving in the US Senate -- Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Jon Ossoff of Georgia -- have taken leading roles in calling for evenhanded American policy on the Israeli-Palestinian issue and for an immediate cease fire, respectively. And the liberal Jewish lobbying group, J Street, has provided important political support for politicians, whether Jewish or not, to criticize Israel's relentless bombing of Gaza in response to Hamas' rocket attacks on Israel without the risk of being smeared as being anti-Israel or even anti-Semitic.
aidenborst

Talk of overturning the 2020 election on new social media platforms used by QAnon follo... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

US politics Trump history crisis Culture policy Pandemic election election-overview

shared by aidenborst on 02 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • Online conversation among Trump supporters and QAnon followers on new and emerging social media platforms is creating concern on Capitol Hill that President Donald Trump's continued perpetuation of the falsehood that the 2020 election was stolen could soon incite further violence, three congressional sources tell CNN.
  • "It's a great day when we start seeing evidence of the plan coming together! He just told us it won't be long now," wrote another.
  • Trump's comments to right-wing media outlets in recent weeks have played directly into the false belief among some of his supporters that he will be reinstated as president in the coming months.
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  • Officials are careful to stress that much of it falls under First Amendment free speech protections.
  • Major social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter suspended the accounts of influential peddlers of election conspiracy theories after the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, including Trump himself.
  • "He doesn't have to wait until 2024 people, he's coming back this year, everything is going to be reversed," one Telegram user commented on the clip.
  • The social messaging platform Telegram has emerged as a particular source of concern among law enforcement officials, the congressional sources say.
  • "It's going to be a very interesting time in our country," he said. "How do you govern when you lost?"
  • "We The People will take action," one Telegram user commented in reaction to a clip of the interview.
  • "Trump knows what happens. Biden administration will be removed," commented another, while one warned, "He just told us things are about to get very ugly all over America. These thugs aren't going to take this news very well! Be prepared!"
  • Telegram was founded in Russia in 2013 and quickly became popular as a propaganda and organizing tool for members of ISIS. The company did take some steps to tackle ISIS content.
  • In the days before the insurrection, Watkins was retweeted multiple times by Trump. He was suspended by Twitter after January 6. Now, Watkins posts daily to his 200,000 followers on Telegram in Arizona -- continually casting doubt on the election result.
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