a thread about the civil unrest in egypt (& elsewhere in 'the region' if necessary)

im not saying the story is bs, just that i've not seen it corroborated

iirc the fisk story was published last week, and you'd have thought it would have gained traction?

the para about headsets and phone calls to relatives wouldn't get published in the news section at a lot of other newspapers.

Um wtf: http://twitter.com/#!/alibinkhalifa

alibinkhalifa Ali Bin Khalifa
@sayyidhashim @JohnFurrToronto I didn't kill anyone ever. I swear I was home all day. Just went for a coffee and came back.

Fisk is a bit of dick, don't care if his newspaper sucks (which is immaterial), he is still the best Western journalist when it comes to the Middle East

the depth and breadth of experience he has in the Arab/Muslim world seems largely unparalleled to me. I read his latest book last year and it was pretty incredible in scope and detail.

One problem with his books is he seems to have started just repeating the same bits in them - like that thing about bringing bits of cluster bombs that were taken out of a child back to the American company that sold them to the Israeli air force. It is a great story, but srsly.

xp, yeah he has definitely earned his spurs and has a huge amount of deep background. but i do think the newspaper matters. he's become kind of a professor emeritus these days, i.e. tolerated for the prestige he brings, rather than for his productivity in terms of meritorious journalism.

well I've only read the one. and a bunch of his columns.

xp

Bad scenes in Bahrain right now. Details sketchy.

http://www.undispatch.com/bahrain-massacr

NYT here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/world/middleeast/19bahrain.html

Bad news in Bahrain, Libya, and Yemen

In Iran, a leading opposition figure, Mir Hussein Moussavi, was reported missing, raising fears that he had been detained in connection with this week’s anti-government rallies. The marches, the largest since the 2009 disputed elections, were put down by Iranian security and paramilitary forces. The government called for its supporters to rally Friday; the opposition called for another march on Sunday.

xp for all my mild criticism of Fisk, that Egypt article linked to above is a great piece of writing. He can produce some amazing visual images sometimes.

Now this for sure is a law of unintended consequences outcome: the loosening of an autocratic regime leading to the brutal repositioning of relatively moderate neighbor regimes. Though I wonder, if once a nation resorts to force if that more or less cements is temporarily forestalls the inevitable. Also, what's up with Saudi Arabia during all this?

I hope the US is covertly leaning on Bahrain/Yemen to stop shooting people but man who the fuck knows

I hope the US is covertly leaning on Bahrain/Yemen to stop shooting people but man who the fuck knows

My guess: Bahrain, yes, Yemen, not so much.

guessing Fisk way too tough on Israel for nrq's taste.

we need to talk about libya

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/02/17/live-blog-libya

12:11 am: Libya's ambassador to China, Hussein Sadiq al Musrati, has just resigned on air with Al Jazeera Arabic. He called on the army to intervene, and has called all diplomatic staff to resign.

He made claims about a gunfight between Gaddafi's sons and also claimed that Gaddafi may have left Libya. Al Jazeera has no confirmation of these claims.

saif gadaffi's speech is v interesting

uh saif al-islam gaddafi

'He offered a vague package of reforms, potentially including a new flag, a new national anthem and a new confederate structure.'

Witnesses in Tripoli interviewed by telephone on Sunday night said protesters were converging on the capital’s central Green Square and clashing with heavily armed riot police. Young men armed themselves with chains around their knuckles, steel pipes and machetes. The police had retreated from some neighborhoods, and protesters were seen armed with police batons, helmets and rifles commandeered from riot squads. The protesters set Dumpsters on fire, blocking roads in some neighborhoods. In the early evening the sound and smells of gunfire hung over the central city, and by midnight looting had begun.

“The state has disappeared from the streets,” said Mansour Abu Shenaf, a writer living in Tripoli. “and the people, the youth, have practically taken over.”

In Benghazi, the second-largest city and the starting point of the revolt, three witnesses said that special military forces called in as reinforcements had instead helped the protesters take over the local army barracks. “The gunshots you hear are the gunshots of celebration,” said Abdel Latif al-Hadi, a 54-year-old Benghazi resident whose five sons were out protesting.

I don't really understand what is going on and haven't followed this too closely, but it sounds like these protests went from being somewhat isolated a week ago to very much threatening the regime now.

yeah thats fucking nuts

Man Names His Newborn Girl Facebook

A young man in his twenties wanted to express his gratitude about the victories the youth of 25th of January have achieved and chose to express it in the form of naming his firstborn girl “Facebook” Jamal Ibrahim (his name.) The girl’s family, friends, and neighbors in the Ibrahimya region gathered around the new born to express their continuing support for the revolution that started on Facebook. “Facebook” received many gifts from the youth who were overjoyed by her arrival and the new name.

dear egyptians, your revolution and moves towards democracy and freedom are really exciting and inspiring to me but naming your kids after facebook is still ridiculous. after the french revolution there wasn't a spike in kids named 'newspaper'

lol

Twitter would have made a better name.

facebook is more of a guy's name imo

iirc facebookalina is the feminine form

it's comforting, in a way, to see how universal lousy parenting is.

holy shit @ Libya!!!

To Air Traffic controllers. Be on the lookout for Airbus A340-213 with tail# 5A-ONE (#Gaddafi's plane). #Libya #Tripoli

This is it folks: Calls all across #Libya for a march on #Gaddafi's residence in #Tripoli after 'Asr prayers (around 4:30 PM local time)

If Qaddafi goes, this really will start to look like a 1989 level change.

Apparently ZIMBABWE is also beginning to kick off?

It's also Mugabe's birthday, which may have something to do with it.

But yeah it the Zimbabwe thing is true then it's unlikely to end well :/

It seems like every eighty-something dictator 4 lyfe is having to watch his step at the moment.

This is all potentially great, but you wonder how many people will have to get killed in the process

this really will start to look like a 1989 level change.

so, one type of thuggery for another, mostly

FFS Morbs.

brb, gonna tell the libyans to give up, nothing ever changes.

have some coffee, doctor

Morbs, you have every right to be cynical about your own government, but maybe you should just admit that knowledge-wise, this might be a bit over your head? Much as I like a good zing, statements like yours come off as negative paternalism.

Inexplicably, a big subset of my friends from African and middle eastern families are the children of activists or diplomats and they are ECSTATIC about what is happening.

so, one type of thuggery for another, mostly

― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, February 21, 2011 11:31 AM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

lol. i mean i 'get it' but im curious if you think any kind of improvement is ever possible anywhere.

just got an email from a good friend who is working in Libya, she's in an oasis town and there have been protests there but no police crackdown. her internet & phone have been down for the last week so i'm pretty relieved :/

Just got an update from an ex-LSE prof friend of mine who advised the PhDs in '09 and...I bet you can see where this is going. Friend is very o_0 as a) has noticed Saif al-Islam on an old advisee list and b) that's the name he went by at LSE so link to his dad totally went under the radar.

a dictator's kid at the lse, who'd have thought it

I am sure the development office was well aware of the link, even if the profs may not have been.