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Too lazy to set a custom title
Industry Role:
Join Date: May 2001
Location: My network is hosted at TECHIEMEDIA.net ...Wait, you meant where am *I* located at? Oh... okay, I'm in Winnipeg, Canada. Oops. :)
Posts: 51,460
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Fresh headlines in the NY Times today;
- Bahrain?s Sunnis Defend Monarchy
MANAMA, Bahrain ? Not everyone wants democracy, or sympathizes with the popular protests crashing across the Middle East.
Not here, anyway, where the ruling elite protect a way of life for a minority Sunni population that fears and resents the political demands of the Shiite-dominated opposition.
Changing a political system, by necessity, means there will be winners and losers, a reality that has sent a chill through parts of the Sunni community here after days of protest by those seeking to alter the status quo in this small country. Their resistance to change may help explain why the government seems confident that it can retain enough public support to carry out the ruthless suppression of the protests that it began on Thursday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/wo...ines&emc=tha22
- Egyptians Say Military Discourages an Open Economy
CAIRO ? The Egyptian military defends the country, but it also runs day care centers and beach resorts. Its divisions make television sets, jeeps, washing machines, wooden furniture and olive oil, as well as bottled water under a brand reportedly named after a general?s daughter, Safi.
From this vast web of businesses, the military pays no taxes, employs conscripted labor, buys public land on favorable terms and discloses nothing to Parliament or the public.
Since the ouster last week of President Hosni Mubarak, of course, the military also runs the government. And some scholars, economists and business groups say it has already begun taking steps to protect the privileges of its gated economy, discouraging changes that some argue are crucial if Egypt is to emerge as a more stable, prosperous country.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/wo...lines&emc=tha2
- Popular Rage Is Met With Violence in Mideast
Thousands of Libyan protesters defied threats of violence and arrest in several cities on Thursday, mounting one of the sharpest challenges to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi?s 40-year rule in a ?day of rage? modeled on the uprisings coursing through neighboring countries.
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But across the Middle East, where brutal social contracts have left millions uneducated, impoverished and alienated, existing battle lines between people and their governments appeared to harden, foreshadowing more confrontations in the days ahead.
In Bahrain, five people were killed and hundreds wounded in a harsh crackdown.
Yemen was shaken by a seventh day of demonstrations demanding the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Protesters chanted ?There is no state!? and lobbed rocks back and forth with pro-government marchers.
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.
In Algeria, where a major protest has been called for Saturday, state television denounced ?foreign interference,? while a prominent political leader, Abdelhamid Mehri, accused the government of not ?responding to the hunger for integrity, liberty, democracy and social justice.?
Even in Tunisia, where protests successfully ousted President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali last month, small groups of protesters continued to gather outside various government ministries in the capital, Tunis, demanding the resignation of the country?s caretaker government and the release of family members from prisons.
In Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak stepped down last week, Suez Canal workers in three major cities joined strikes, deepening the economic strains of the widespread labor unrest.
And in Iraq, protest leaders said they would go ahead with plans for a Saturday march in Baghdad, despite a second day of violence marring demonstrations elsewhere in the country.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/wo...ines&emc=tha22
- How to Have Fair Elections in Egypt
The Egyptian military said on Tuesday that it intends to hand over power within six months to a freely elected government. In preparation for that transition, it convened a diverse panel of jurists to revise the country?s Constitution and urged it to complete its work in 10 days. While that seems unlikely, the members of the panel said they were working quickly toward a plan that would facilitate fair elections.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate...ines&emc=thab1
Is the word spreading like wildfire across the ME? Meaningful changes coming?
...or is this just a case of the media attempting to make it out to be more than what it is by grouping a lot of smaller incidents into the story to make it seem a larger deal than what it is?
You tell me. |