Islamic Societies Review WEEKLY

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Moderate leads presidential poll, Iran's early results show

Saturday, June 15, 2013 No comments

Early results show moderate cleric Hassan Rohani leading Iran’s presidential election, officials said Saturday. With almost 20% of votes counted, Rohani had garnered 51.2% – more than the 50% needed to avoid a June 21 run-off.

Moderate Iranian cleric Hassan Rohani took a strong lead over conservative rivals in initial vote counting on Saturday, suggesting he could win the presidential election outright without a run-off.

The outcome is unlikely to radically alter relations between Iran and the world or lead to a shift in the Islamic Republic’s policy on its disputed nuclear programme - security issues that are decided by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
But the president does have an important voice in decision-making in the Shi’ite Muslim country of 75 million and could bring a change from the confrontational style of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive term.

If he wins, Rohani, a moderate who is a former chief nuclear negotiator known for his conciliatory approach, has indicated he would promote foreign policy based on “constructive interaction with the world” and enact a “civil rights charter” at home.

In an apparent attempt to signal political continuity, Khamenei said on Saturday that whatever the result of Friday’s election, it would be a vote of confidence in the 34-year-old Islamic Republic.

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Friday, June 14, 2013

Barack Obama is leading from behind in Syria - and can't see where he is going

Friday, June 14, 2013 No comments

The man whose electoral rallying cry was that he opposed the war in Iraq; whose aim was to end the war in Afghanistan; who vetoed all of his senior advisers, one by one, as they urged action over President Bashar al-Assad, has been forced to accept that when the Levant calls there is no escape.
He has left himself loopholes. The news that arms would be provided by the US to rebels fighting the Syrian regime was briefed anonymously; only military transport and communications equipment was mentioned on the record. A no-fly zone is possible – but only possible, and that too according to anonymous sources.
Even the crossing of the chemical weapons "red line" was confirmed by a deputy official on conference call. There was no boastful "We'll get him" moment.
However, America cannot get out of it now. It has staked its reputation, the future of its "Imperium", on the rebels' survival, and it must surely be prepared to do whatever that takes.
Can it do enough? It is true, as has been repeated ad nauseam since regime troops and Hizbollah swept aside the rebels in Qusayr that he is no longer losing. He has better motivated men, thanks to training provided by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

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Syrian rebels prepare for showdown in Aleppo

Friday, June 14, 2013 No comments

From where he sits behind a ruined stone wall in Aleppo's old city, Abu Firas, a rebel gunner has had a clear view of his enemy for most of the past 11 months.

In the middle distance, ahead of the fist-sized hole through which he pokes his rifle, there usually isn't much to see. The Syrian army troops on this part of Aleppo's jagged front line dug in long ago. Abu Firas says he can sometimes see his foes scampering between positions, but he has never seen them advance.

"This week things changed," he says. "There was more of them than before and they were up to something. They looked urgent."

Across Aleppo, rebel groups who have held roughly 60% of Syria's biggest city since last July sense that something is about to break. Positions on the other side that had long been only defensive are now much busier. Rebels who could go for weeks with out seeing a regime soldier now say they are sighting them regularly.

Even scenes of battles past that have long been barren rubble-strewn wastelands mow seem to have come to life, rebel fighters in the city's southwest say. In Salahedin – the first district the opposition fighters entered when they stormed the city last July – men stationed nearby say they can hear the distant rumble of tanks and the crunching of boots on masonry and glass.

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Moscow unconvinced by US evidence of Syrian chemical weapons use

Friday, June 14, 2013 No comments

Russia is not convinced by the evidence which the US provided alleging that the government of Syria’s President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons against rebel forces.

“The Americans tried to present us with information on the use of chemical weapons by the regime, but frankly we thought that it was not convincing,” said presidential aide Yury Ushakov on Friday.

“We wouldn’t like to invoke references to the famous lab tube that [former US] Secretary of State [Colin] Powell showed, but the facts don’t look convincing in our eyes,” he added.

Powell brought a model vial, which he said looked like Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s weaponized anthrax, in a bid to convince members of the UN Security Council that they should agree to invade Iraq. The alleged weapons of mass destruction program proved to be non-existent after the US conquered the country in 2003.

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Obama's 'red line' crossed, will arm Syrian rebels

Friday, June 14, 2013 No comments

In a significant shift in strategy, the Obama administration has announced that it will begin sending arms to Syrian insurgents after citing conclusive evidence that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons against the rebels.
US President Barack Obama is going to start arming Syrian rebels after two years of vigorous debate within his administration, in an effort to halt the momentum gathered by the government and its Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah allies.

The decision came as the White House announced it had evidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government had used chemical weapons against opposition fighters in the civil war that has gripped the country since March 2011 – the “red line” set by the president as a prerequisite for action.

“Our intelligence community assesses that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons, including the nerve agent sarin, on a small scale against the opposition multiple times in the last year,” Benjamin Rhodes, a high-level national security advisor, told reporters.

The White House has cited intelligence officials who believe that 100 to 150 people had been killed in the attacks using chemical weapons.

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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Hundreds of lawyers protest in support Gezi Park protests in Istanbul

Wednesday, June 12, 2013 No comments

Lawyers detained for joining Gezi Park protests released

Dozens of lawyers were detained for several hours by police at Istanbul’s Çağlayan Courthouse today for joining the Taksim Gezi protests, which have been raging across the country for 15 days now.

A Special Forces Unit intervened in a protest being held inside the Çağlayan Courthouse, leading to a number of lawyers falling to the ground. This was the third such protest held by the lawyers to support the Gezi protesters in Taksim.

All 49 lawyers were subsequently released, Doğan news agency reported. Around 100 lawyers went to the police station to demand the release of their colleagues.

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Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Libya's Committees and Libya Shield are pursuing agendas that are regional, tribal, Islamist and sometimes criminal

Tuesday, June 11, 2013 No comments

On Saturday, throngs of protesters in Benghazi stormed the headquarters of a government-sponsored militia, Libya Shield, whose members opened fire, killing at least 27 people. Weary of Libya Shield’s overbearing presence, the crowds had demanded that the regular army and police take its place. It was a disheartening reminder of the Faustian bargain that Libya’s anemic and fractured government has made with the militias.

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Dozens of lawyers dragged from peaceful protest at Istanbul's main courthouse as riot police attempt to quash demonstrations

Tuesday, June 11, 2013 No comments

Riot police in Turkey deployed teargas and water cannon in Istanbul's central Taksim Square on Tuesday in a swoop aimed at quashing two-week-old mass street protests against the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

As the police moved in on the nerve centre of the nationwide uprising, dozens of lawyers were dragged away from the city's central courthouse in what appeared to be a flagrant abuse of human rights.

On Tuesday night dozens of police were still engaged in running battles with jeering protesters in Taksim Square, firing volley after volley of teargas canisters in an attempt to drive them into side streets. Tensions remained extremely high as thousands of demonstrators streamed toward the city centre and police reinforcements were sent in.

The confrontation – which came a day after Erdoğan had promised to meet and negotiate with protest leaders on Wednesday – began just after dawn when hundreds of riot police marched toward the square armed with water cannon and armoured crowd control vehicles.

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Rebels trying to extort weapons out of the US as a condition for showing up, US is discussing that option today

Tuesday, June 11, 2013 No comments

Qusair in the hands of Gov. forces

The Obama administration began discussing Monday whether the Assad regime's rapid military advance across the heart of Syria necessitates a drastic U.S. response, with officials saying a decision on arming beleaguered rebels could happen later this week.

Top aides from the State and Defense Departments, the CIA and other agencies were gathering for a "deputies meeting" at the White House on Monday afternoon. There, they'll seek to lay the groundwork for a meeting that President Barack Obama will hold with his senior national security staff, planned for Wednesday, said U.S. officials, who weren't authorized to speak publicly on the closed-doors talks and demanded anonymity.

Moved by the Syrian regime's rapid advance, officials say the administration could approve lethal aid for the rebels in the coming days. The president and his advisers also will weigh the merits of a less likely move to send in U.S. airpower to enforce a no-fly zone over the civil war-wracked nation, officials said.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Well done kids, well done

Monday, June 10, 2013 No comments

They are just about to say, “Secularist minds are on the stage again,” but then, they take a look and see: Those kids who have taken to the streets have no idea about the outdated and stale tension that is named the “secularist/Islamist contradiction.”

They are just about to say, “They are printing invitations for the military.” But they look around and see: Those kids who have taken to the streets are so colorful, so cheerful, so jovial, so fancy free… They have come to notice that let alone the color khaki, the possibility of these kids to wish to wrap themselves up in any one color is zero.

They are about to say “They cannot stomach persons who have strong religious beliefs.” They take a look and see that the kids who have taken to the streets issue communiqués to “Respect the Night of the Ascent;” some among them come out and declare, “I am religious and I am here.”

They are just about to say, “Their roots are outside the country…” They take a look and see that these kids who have taken to the streets are super non-aligned, super inexperienced, super flighty and super naïve… Let alone them having foreign roots, they do not have any roots…

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