Egypt braced for rival mass demonstrations

Egypt braced for rival mass demonstrations

    Friday, June 28, 2013   No comments

President Mohammed Morsi's supporters are to hold "open-ended" rallies - two days ahead of opposition protests calling for the president to resign.

Meanwhile, one person died and a number of others were injured in clashes in northern Egypt late on Thursday.

Mr Morsi said divisions threatened to "paralyse" Egypt, in a speech on Wednesday to mark a year in office.

Troops have been deployed in the capital Cairo and other cities.

Mr Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, became Egypt's first Islamist president on 30 June 2012, after winning an election considered free and fair.

His first year as president has been marred by constant political unrest and a sinking economy.

The president also used his televised speech late on Wednesday to warn the media not to abuse free speech.

Within hours ripples from the speech could be felt across Egyptian media.

A talk show on the al-Fareen TV channel ended abruptly on Thursday night when the presenter learned he was to be arrested. Host and owner Tawfiq Okasha is accused of spreading false information, and the channel has ceased broadcasting.

Another prominent presenter resigned on air on state-run television in protest at what he called government interference in the editorial content of his programme.

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U.S Retired Marine Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright under investigation for allegedly leaking information about cyber attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities

U.S Retired Marine Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright under investigation for allegedly leaking information about cyber attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities

    Friday, June 28, 2013   No comments

By Michael Isikoff
National Investigative Correspondent, NBC News
Legal sources tell NBC News that the former second ranking officer in the U.S. military is now the target of a Justice Department investigation into a politically sensitive leak of classified information about a covert U.S. cyber attack on Iran’s nuclear program.
According to legal sources, Retired Marine Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has received a target letter informing him that he’s under investigation for allegedly leaking information about a massive attack using a computer virus named Stuxnet on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Gen. Cartwright, 63, becomes the latest individual targeted over alleged leaks by the Obama administration, which has already prosecuted or charged eight individuals under the Espionage Act.

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Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer Banned From Entering UK

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer Banned From Entering UK

    Thursday, June 27, 2013   No comments

Two prominent US bloggers have been banned from entering the UK, the Home Office has said.

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer co-founded anti-Muslim group Stop Islamization of America.

They were due to speak at an English Defence League march in Woolwich, where Drummer Lee Rigby was killed.

A government spokesman said individuals whose presence "is not conducive to the public good" could be excluded by the home secretary.

He added: "We condemn all those whose behaviours and views run counter to our shared values and will not stand for extremism in any form."

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Former al-Qaeda member Sheikh Nabil Naiim: Jabhat al-Nusra is led by a CIA operative

Former al-Qaeda member Sheikh Nabil Naiim: Jabhat al-Nusra is led by a CIA operative

    Thursday, June 27, 2013   No comments

The revelation is shocking, even for the CIA given the recent history of their modus operandi and even after we take into consideration the way the USA and its FUKUS Axis friends have behaved over the last few decades: there is a link between the al-Qaeda terrorists fighting in Syria and the USA's CIA. Worse, the link between al-Qaeda and the CIA.

The allegation is made by the former al-Qaeda member Sheikh Nabil Naiim, who has spoken out on a video, claiming that the principal force fighting against President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, the one with strong links to al-Qaeda, is led by a CIA operative, Mohammed al-Jawlani.

Firstly, Sheikh Nabil Naiim should know. After all, he was the historic leader of the Islamist Jihadist movement in Egypt, he was leader of the Safwa al-Qaeda training camp; he met Osama bin Laden and he fought with al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Sudan. He was involved in the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat and was imprisoned for a failed assassination attempt against President Hosni Mubarak. After the Mubarak government was ousted, Naiim renounced violence and is now setting the record straight, saying which of his former colleagues in violence and terrorism are on the CIA payroll.

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Morsi: I have made mistakes

Morsi: I have made mistakes

    Thursday, June 27, 2013   No comments

The Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, used a televised address on Wednesday to admit to making mistakes in his first year in office. But the president also widened the divide between his Islamist supporters and Egypt's secular opposition during his speech, blaming unspecified "enemies of Egypt" for sabotaging the democratic system and warning that the polarised state of the country's politics threatened to plunge it into chaos.

Morsi pledged to introduce "radical and quick" reforms in state institutions, admitting some of his goals had not been achieved.

"Today, I present an audit of my first year, with full transparency, along with a roadmap. Some things were achieved and others not," he said. "I have made mistakes on a number of issues."

Yet in a meandering speech that lasted more than two and a half hours, Morsi refused to offer serious concessions to the opposition – and pointedly praised the army, whom many opposition members hope will facilitate a transition of power in the coming weeks.

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The U.S. Wants Snowden. Why Won't The World Cooperate?

The U.S. Wants Snowden. Why Won't The World Cooperate?

    Wednesday, June 26, 2013   No comments

China appeared perfectly happy to let Edward Snowden slip away despite a U.S. request for his

Why is it proving so difficult for a superpower to get a bit of international cooperation over Snowden? He has acknowledged leaking details of U.S. government surveillance programs, and has been charged with espionage and other offenses.

President Obama recently met his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in hopes of setting a positive tone for what is widely regarded as the single most important international relationship.

And the Obama administration has often touted its "reset" with Russia and its President Vladimir Putin, though there's been plenty of ongoing friction.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, columnist Bret Stephens sees the Snowden episode as part of a broader decline in American influence.

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arrest. Russia appears to enjoy thumbing its nose at Washington as Snowden cools his heels at a Moscow airport. Ecuador is toying with the notion of granting him asylum.

Two people were killed and dozens injured in street fighting on Wednesday north of Cairo

Two people were killed and dozens injured in street fighting on Wednesday north of Cairo

    Wednesday, June 26, 2013   No comments

Two people were killed and dozens injured in street fighting on Wednesday north of Cairo between supporters and opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president, hours before Mohamed Mursi was to address the nation.

With Egypt gripped by fears of a showdown between Islamists and their opponents, security sources said 90 people wounded in the city of Mansoura after hundreds of men were involved in rock-throwing street skirmishes. Witnesses heard gunfire and state television showed a man in hospital with birdshot wounds.

Similar outbursts of violence, often prompted by one side or the other staging rallies, have hit towns across the country in recent days. At least two men died last weekend. The opposition plans mass protests this weekend, calling for Mursi to resign.

He shows no sign of doing that and is expected to blame the deadlock that has aggravated an economic crisis on resistance from those loyal to his ousted predecessor Hosni Mubarak.

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How did China, Russia, Cuba, and Ecuador become the champions of political freedom?

How did China, Russia, Cuba, and Ecuador become the champions of political freedom?

    Wednesday, June 26, 2013   No comments

It may be years before the full cost of Edward Snowden’s intelligence leaks can be measured. But his disclosures about top-secret surveillance programs have already come at a price for the U.S. government: America’s foes have been handed an immensely powerful tool for portraying Washington as a hypocritical proponent of democratic values that it doesn’t abide by at home.

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When China and Russia become protectors of activists, the West’s double is highlighted

When China and Russia become protectors of activists, the West’s double is highlighted

    Wednesday, June 26, 2013   No comments

How does the case of Edward Snowden stand in comparison to those of Chen Guangcheng, Boris Berezovsky, and Andrei Borodin?

Russia and China are more than resisting pressure from the U.S. for their role in harboring Edward Snowden, Chinese and Russian leaders might use it to limit the West’s support of activists in the two countries. Consider the following official statements and editorials to get a sense of the reversal of roles and the declining U.S. credibility when it comes to foreign policy.

Alexei Pushkov, the head of the State Duma's international affairs committee :

 "By promising asylum to Snowden, Moscow has taken upon itself the protection of those persecuted for political reasons… There will be hysterics in the US. They only recognize this right for themselves.”

As an editorial in the Guardian pointed out, one of the recurring themes in Russian foreign policy is to slam the West for having “double standards,” such as judging pro-Western dictatorships by a totally different yardstick from anti-Western ones, a tactic that works extremely well because it is so often true. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov most recently used that line in a tough statement hammering Western hypocrisy about Syria. Speaking in a recent interview with America's CBS network released on Monday evening, Lavrov said the West had a policy of double standards in approaching foreign regimes, particularly in the current Syrian conflict between the government and rebel forces.

“You either deny terrorists any acceptance in international life, or you make your double standard policy work the way it has been working - 'I don't like that guy in this country, so we will be calling him a dictator and topple him. This guy in another country is also dictatorial, but he's our dictator.”

Here are a couple of news items and editorials that stress the same points. Of particular interest is the case of academic freedom stemming from NYU support of the Chinese activist and buckling under pressure to save an expansion opportunity.

Chinesedissident Chen Guangcheng: NYU is forcing me out

Chen’sdeparture shows US moral dilemma

 

As The Arab Spring Fades And The Turkish Model Collapses, Can Islam Foster Prosperity?

As The Arab Spring Fades And The Turkish Model Collapses, Can Islam Foster Prosperity?

    Tuesday, June 25, 2013   No comments

There’s nothing wrong with hope, but it should always be balanced with a little truth. But the optimism which has been hanging over so much of the discussion about the middle east and central Asia, has been a bit long on hope and short on truth.

The Arab Spring has more than lived down to the predictions of critics (like me: link here), but no one had any long-term reputation invested in that. However, the much vaunted ‘Turkish Model, is another thing altogether. It is has long been the great multicultural hope for mankind, an Islamic modern democracy. Investors were told to get on board before losing a great chance. The rest of the equatorial world was told to behold the new world of Islamic modernity. The recent ordeal of oppression and uprising more impression, must come as a crushing disappointment. That could have been avoided by simply consulting history.

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