MENA Unemployment Rate Hit 19% In 2012, Highest In The World » Gulf Business
▻http://gulfbusiness.com/2013/08/mena-unemployment-rate-hit-19-in-2012-highest-in-the-world
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region had the highest unemployment rate across the world in 2012, at 19 per cent, according to the latest annual Payroll to Population (P2P) survey released by Gallup.
الوليد بن طلال يقيل مدير عام قناة الرسالة لإنتمائه للإخوان المسلمين
▻http://www.alquds.co.uk/?p=75247
الوليد بن طلال يقيل مدير عام قناة الرسالة لإنتمائه للإخوان المسلمين
Al-Waleed bin Talal, prince saoudien milliardaire et en principe libéral, vire le directeur général d’al-Risala, une des chaînes religieuses du groupe Rotana, parce qu’il appartient aux Frères musulmans.
A mon avis, il aurait également dû, au minimum,le fouetter !
Dans Elaph, ils inventent le mot d’"ikhwanitude" (ikhwâniyya) : ▻http://www.elaph.com/Web/news/2013/8/830642.html?entry=SaudiArabia.
Le profile de l’homme en question:
TV manager fired over Muslim Brotherhood links | GulfNews.com
▻http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/tv-manager-fired-over-muslim-brotherhood-links-1.1221473
Manama: Saudi businessman and investor Al Waleed Bin Talal has fired the manager of a television station after he admitted he was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
In a letter addressed to Tariq Al Suwaidan, the manager of Al Risala (The Message), Al Waleed reportedly said that there was no room for any Muslim Brotherhood member in his group. Al Waleed heads the TV station’s board.
According to Saudi media, Al Waleed said that Al Suwaidan, 59, had violated the policy of the station against affiliation with any party.
Reacting to the news of his dismissal, Al Suwaidan said he had been honoured to lead the station into moderation and success.
Al Risala has slots on the Arabsat and Nilesat satellites and serves the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.
“I thank HRH Prince Al Waleed on this great opportunity that I was honoured to have to manage Al Risala channel and achieve its current levels of moderation and success that will, God willing, continue,” Al Suwaidan wrote on Twitter. “We have built Al Risala Channel according to high professional standards and clear principles and criteria and through an outstanding and fully integrated team. It does not depend on a single person. I wish everyone success and urge them to support the channel."
“Only those who do not rely on God fear about livelihood and only those who are concerned only about life are ready to give up their principles,” he added.
Al Suwaidan does not fit the stereotypical image of a bearded, grim religious leader.
The prominent 59-year-old Kuwaiti Islamist and leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Kuwait is also an entrepreneur, author, motivational speaker, and TV personality with shows ranking among the highest in Middle East satellite channels ratings.
He is also a management, leadership and strategic planning consultant and is often consulted by prominent regional governmental and private sector organisations.
Al Suwaidan studied in the United States and received a bachelor’s degree in petroleum and natural gas engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master’s degree and PhD in petroleum engineering from the University of Tulsa.
Describing himself as a “moderate Islamist”, he has often called for peace and understanding with Christian leaders, supported women’s rights within the Islamic sharia law and pushed for reforming the traditional understanding of Islam.
His popularity is based on the more than 30 books he authored and on his social media activity. He has posted close to 10,000 tweets and his account on Twitter has over 1.9 million followers. His Facebook page has over 1,208,203 “likes.”
In his lectures, he often defended individual freedom as a major principle in Islam as long as “it is in a polite manner and without hurting others.”❞
Al Jazeera Buys Premier League TV Rights In ME » Gulf Business
▻http://gulfbusiness.com/2013/07/al-jazeera-buys-premier-league-tv-rights-in-me
Al Jazeera Sport has bought exclusive media rights to English Premier League soccer in the Middle East and North Africa for three years starting from next month, it said in a statement on Monday.
Qatar-based Al Jazeera reached agreement with TV sports rights firm MP & Silva for access to all 380 Premier League matches across media platforms and devices in 23 countries from Iran to Morocco, taking in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
Former Sky Sports presenters Richard Keys and Andy Gray will front the English language
“the ‘Arab’ voice, or the North African one, to be more specific, has been present in #france and...”
▻http://levant.tumblr.com/post/55089560123
“the ‘Arab’ voice, or the North African one, to be more specific, has been present in France...
#music #pop #hiphop #chaabi #north_africa #maghreb #arabic #raï #europe #the_narcicyst
UAE’s Algeria outreach means more than just business | GulfNews.com
▻http://m.gulfnews.com/opinion/uae-s-algeria-outreach-means-more-than-just-business-1.1195786
The past few weeks have seen a number of senior-level meetings between Algerian and UAE officials. The UAE foreign minister led a high-level delegation to Algiers at the end of last month to build up on the Joint Committee meetings that were held in Abu Dhabi just two weeks earlier. Already Dubai-based DP World is managing two ports in the North African state, including the port of Algiers. In 2009, Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala started operating a $900 million (Dh3.31 billion) power plant in Tipaza with state energy giant Sonatrach. Last year, Ras Al Khaimah-based Julphar Pharmaceuticals laid the foundation stone for a factory in Algiers to serve the Algerian market and North Africa.
The signs have been positive even before the Arab uprisings began with trade between the UAE and Algeria growing at 60 per cent annually from 2005 when it was $16 million to about $173 million in 2010 — partly thanks to the 10,000 Algerians residing in the UAE. Algeria’s gross domestic product, at almost $200 billion is only about half of UAE’s this year. However, it is growing at an impressive rate and has tripled in the decade to 2011. Bilateral trade between the two countries, at $271 million in the first eight months of last year, is negligible and needs to be encouraged to grow. The size of Algeria’s sovereign wealth fund was believed to be $57 billion in 2011 (compared to Abu Dhabi’s $400-$600 billion ADIA fund), while the country’s foreign reserves are believed to be $200 billion — thanks to high oil prices.
But business is just one component of this increasingly strategic relationship. Algeria today is the last major civil Arab state, following the rise of a Shiite Islamist state in Iraq, a Sunni Islamist state in Egypt and the collapse of the state in Syria.
Algeria, despite the existence of half a dozen Islamic political parties is neither a Salafist nor a Brotherhood state. Its 36 million-strong population makes it the second largest Arab state demographically after Egypt and with an area of 2,381,741 square kilometres is the largest Arab country. Algeria also has a well-trained army and the largest military budget in Africa. In fact, Algeria is said to have “the most powerful and best-equipped military in North Africa and the Sahel”.
Algeria’s special forces are also a force to reckon with. Last January, a hostage crisis ensued at the In Amenas gas plant, lasting several days and resulting in around 40 hostages being killed and 800 survivors leading up to the rescue. One of the survivors remarked that the Algerian military ‘did a bloody good job’. Compare this with the hostage crisis of 2004 in the Beslan school in Russia in which 334 out of the 1,120 hostages were killed during the botched rescue operation.
Qaeda offshoot in North Africa joins Twitter
▻http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/67970.aspx
“We send glad tidings to our Muslim Ummah in general and its sons from among the supporters of the mujahedeen in particular,” SITE quoted the Al-Andalus Media Foundation as saying on the microblogging website.
Hello @gonzo, tu confirmes que c’est leur compte officiel ?
French hostage ’executed’ in Mali - Africa - Al Jazeera English
▻http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/03/201332002442737121.html
A French hostage has been executed in Mali, a man claiming to be a spokesman for al-Qaeda in North Africa has told Mauritania’s ANI news agency.
A French foreign office spokesman said on Tuesday that Paris was trying to verify the report of the killing of Philippe Verdon, who was kidnapped in November 2011, adding that “we don’t know at the moment” whether it was reliable.
The private Mauritanian news agency reported that someone calling himself Al-Qairawani and claiming to be a spokesman for al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group told them that the “spy” Verdon had been executed “on March 10 in response to France’s intervention in Northern Mali”.
“The French President (Francois) Hollande is responsible for the lives of the other French hostages,” he warned.
In all 15 French nationals, including Verdon, are being held captive in Africa, with AQIM claiming responsibility for six of the kidnappings.
Refusal to pay ransom
Verdon was seized on the night of November 24, 2011 along with Serge Lazarevic. According to their families the two men had been on a business trip and were kidnapped from their hotel in Hombori, northeast Mali.
The families denied that the two men were mercenaries or secret service agents.
AQIM swiftly claimed responsibility for the kidnappings and in August last year a video showing Verdon describing the “difficult living conditions” was released on a Mauritanian website.
The hostages’ families have in recent weeks expressed growing fears for their loved ones in the light of France’s military actions in Mali.
Earlier Tuesday, Verdon’s father Jean-Pierre Verdon complained that the families were hearing nothing from the French authorities.
“We are in a total fog and it is impossible to live this way,” he told RTL radio. “We have no information.”
Asked about France’s refusal to pay ransoms to kidnappers, Verdon senior replied that the families had no say in such “decisions of state”.
Paris deployed forces in Mali on January 11 to help stop al-Qaeda linked fighters who had controlled the north of the country since April 2012 from moving southward and threatening the capital Bamako.
Turning Back the Islamist Tide in North Africa and the Sahel. Agence Global-Article
▻http://www.agenceglobal.com/index.php?show=article&Tid=2978
One way or another, the Islamists in North Africa and the Sahel are being defeated, but only substantial international aid and real economic development will keep them permanently at bay. The truth is that the best defence against the Islamists is economic and social development. The real threats to the region come not from Islamists but from unemployment, poverty, banditry, the availability of weapons and the incapacity of governments to ensure their countries’ development and security.
U.S. Drone and Surveillance Flight Bases in Africa Map and Photos | Public Intelligence
▻http://publicintelligence.net/us-drones-in-africa
The following map and photos depict current and future locations used by the U.S. military for launching #drones and surveillance flights throughout Central and North Africa. The map is not complete and reflects available information from open sources.
#afrique #cartographie_radicale
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/wr95p68ehey40ow/basesdronesafrique.jpg
Qatar’s Signal Dropped in North Africa Telecom Deal | Al Akhbar English
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/qatar%E2%80%99s-signal-dropped-north-africa-telecom-deal
Des divergences entre la France et le Qatar ?
Nouakchott – Indicating a rift between the two allies, France stood in the way of Qatar’s purchase of the company Vivendi Africa, a telecom giant active in North and West Africa. The obstruction of the sale occurred after word emerged that Qatar is possibly supporting jihadi groups in Mali.
French President François Hollande asked the French conglomerate Vivendi to delay the sale of its Maroc Telecom share until the end of the war in Mali. Vivendi had placed its 53 percent stake in Maroc Telecom on the market months ago at the price of $7.13 billion.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) - Council on Foreign Relations
Un petit résumé de ce que fait Al-Qaida au maghreb
▻http://www.cfr.org/north-africa/al-qaeda-islamic-maghreb-aqim/p12717?cid=nlc-public-the_world_this_week-link15-20130125
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is a Salafi-jihadist militant group and U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization operating in North Africa’s Sahara and Sahel. The group can trace its provenance back to Algeria’s civil war, and has since become an al-Qaeda affiliate with broader regional and international ambitions. While many experts suggest AQIM is the primary transnational terror threat in North Africa, the risk it poses to Europe and the United States remains unclear.
AQIM’s activities have garnered heightened scrutiny in recent months, particularly after the group, along with other jihadist factions, expanded its foothold in Mali’s vast ungoverned north. In early 2013, a French-led military intervention has, thus far, halted the southward advance of Islamist insurgents, but analysts warn that the operation may fail unless followed up with a robust contingent of African ground forces. Western nations, including the United States, Britain, and Canada have provided some
U.S. Plans Base for Surveillance Drones in Africa - NYTimes.com
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/us/us-plans-base-for-surveillance-drones-in-northwest-africa.html?nl=todayshea
For now, officials say they envision flying only unarmed surveillance drones from the base, though they have not ruled out conducting missile strikes at some point if the threat worsens.
(…)
If the base is approved, the most likely location for it would be in Niger, a largely desert nation on the eastern border of Mali. The American military’s Africa Command, or Africom, is also discussing options for the base with other countries in the region, including Burkina Faso, officials said.
(…)
The plan could face resistance from some in the White House who are wary of committing any additional American forces to a fight against a poorly understood web of extremist groups in North Africa.
If approved, the base could ultimately have as many as 300 United States military and contractor personnel, but it would probably begin with far fewer people than that, military officials said.
Some Africa specialists expressed concern that setting up a drone base in Niger or in a neighboring country, even if only to fly surveillance missions, could alienate local people who may associate the distinctive aircraft with deadly attacks in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.
Évidemment, les incultes locaux vont tout de suite confondre des Predators pas (encore) armés avec les Predators qui effectuent les frappes ciblées sur des « terroristes islamistes » au Pakistan, en Somalie et au Yemen. (Bizarre l’Afghanistan n’est pas mentionné.)
US diplomats in Beirut burning classified material
►http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hzOt1uWNXvjia4sFHqW3HKcrY1OA
Diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut have started to destroy classified material as a security precaution amid anti-American protests in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa.
A State Department status report obtained Monday by The Associated Press said the Beirut embassy had “reviewed its emergency procedures and is beginning to destroy classified holdings.”
Ils ont encore des trucs secrets, à l’ambassade américaine de Beyrouth?
Film That Stoked Mideast Violence Has Murky Parentage - NYTimes.com
►http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/world/middleeast/origins-of-provocative-video-shrouded.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit
Origins of Provocative Video Are Shrouded
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: September 12, 2012
LOS ANGELES — The film that set off violence across North Africa was made in obscurity somewhere in the sprawl of Southern California, and promoted by a network of right-wing Christians with a history of animosity directed toward Muslims. When a 14-minute trailer of it — all that may actually exist — was posted on YouTube in June, it was barely noticed.
Dans la série « relai »
Transmis par Marie Martin sur la liste "Migreurop"
Mardi 25 juin, Cecilia Malström, invitée à l’Institut Universitaire Européen de Florence, a déclaré que la façon dont l’Union européenne avait traité les personnes fuyant les zones de troubles et de combat à la suite des "réveils arabes" constituait une "erreur historique".
La commissaire a dénoncé à plusieurs reprise les Etats membres qui ont mis en place des politiques migratoires restrictives, malgré les efforts que la Commission pour rendre possible l’accueil d’un plus grand nombre de migrants en Europe.
Statewatch revient sur cette question :
►http://www.statewatch.org/news/2012/jun/17-migrants-arab-spring.htm
EU’s rejection of migrants during the Arab Spring: a “historical mistake” according to Commissioner Malström
After the start of the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Commissioner Malström said that “Europe failed to stand up for democracy, freedom and human rights” as it prioritised securing the border over supporting those who had fought for liberty and democracy.
Cecilia Malmström, the EU commissioner for Home Affairs, was invited on 25 June to the Migration Policy Centre of the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy, to give a keynote speech on “Establishing a European Migration Policy and responding to the Arab Spring: The ways the Migration Policy Centre can support Cecilia Malmström”. [1]
A year and half after the start of the Arab Spring in Tunisia, the Commissioner considered that :"Europe failed to stand up for democracy, freedom and human rights" as it prioritised securing the border over supporting those who had fought for liberty and democracy.
“Europe made a historical mistake. It missed the opportunity to show the EU is ready to defend, to stand up, and to help”.
In May 2011, the EU reacted to the “risk” of large numbers of displaced people reaching its shores by rapidly deploying humanitarian support in north Africa and engaging its border security apparatus, including the Frontex operation Hermes in the strait of Sicily, and pursuing the development of the EUROSUR system. [2] As argued by Ben Hayes and Mathias Vermeulen in a recent report: "EUROSUR and “smart borders” represent the EU’s cynical response to the Arab Spring". [3]
Commissioner Malström stressed a number times the difficulty of Member States facilitating “legal” migration, particularly in times of economic crisis, and despite the Commission’s effort to promote a “more equal approach” between the EU and its neighbours.
Commissioner Malström’s position, which seems to shift the responsibility onto Member States, is questionable. The Treaty of Lisbon gives equal responsibility to the Council and the Parliament in migration and asylum policy aspects, the Commission still retains an initiative power in case of “a sudden inflow of nationals of third countries”.[4] No proposal was made to directly address the humanitarian situation faced at sea and on EU’s territory by those who escaped turmoil and war zones. Instead, the Commission initiated the adoption of a community-based mechanism which would enhance the possibility to reintroduce internal border controls [5], despite the fact this is already possible under the 2006 Schengen Borders Code.
The Commission also had the power to initiate the use of the Temporary Protection Directive in case of “mass influx” from displaced persons “from a specific country of geographical area”. Yet, the Commission did not consider this option as:
“At this point we cannot see a mass influx of migrants to Europe even though some of our member states are under severe pressure. The temporary mechanism is one tool that could be used in the future, if necessary, but we have not yet reached that situation”.[6]
By the end of 2011, crossing the Mediterranean had never proved so deadly for irregular migrants escaping post-revolutionary chaos, discrimination, deprivation and persecution: between 1,500 and 2,000 people were estimated to have died at sea in 2011.[7]
Sources
[1] Launching Event of the Migration Policy Centre (MPC), 25/26 June 2012
Cecilia Malmström attends the opening of the Migration Policy Centre in Florence, 25 June 2012
[2] "JO Hermes - Situational Update", Frontex, 21 February 2012
"The EU’s self-interested response to unrest in north Africa : the meaning of treaties and readmission agreements between Italy and north African states"
Yasha Maccanico (2011) Statewatch analysis
[3] Ben Hayes & Mathias Vermeulen (2012) Borderline : EU Border Surveillance Initiatives, an assessment of the costs and its impact on fundamental rights
[4] Steve Peers and Tony Bunyan (2010) Guide to EU decision-making and justice and home affairs after the Treaty of Lisbon, Statewatch publication
[5] "MEPs suspicious about Schengen rules review", press release, May 2011, European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
[6] "Debate on migration flows", Cecilia Malström’s blog, 6 April 2011
[7] "Lives lost in the Mediterranean Sea : who is responsible ?" - PACE draft report, Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, Rapporteur : Ms Tineke STRIK, March 2012
"Migration and revolution", Hein de Haas and Nando Sigona in Forced Migration Review 39 - North Africa and displacement 2011-2012, pp.4-5
Tunisia denies visas for Palestinian bloggers - Al Jazeera English
►http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/10/201110512433882676.html
As influential bloggers from across the Middle East and North Africa gather in the country where the Arab Spring began to share ideas and tactics, the absence of 11 Palestinians has served as a reminder that even if borders have faded in the online world, they remain a reality in the physical one.
Over 100 delegates from at least 15 different countries are meeting in Tunis, the Tunisian capital, for the Third Arab Bloggers meeting.
Unlike the bloggers and journalists from every other country, 11 out of the 12 Palestinians invited to the meeting had their visas rejected by the Tunisian authorities.
IMF projects Lebanon real GDP growth in 2011 at 1.5 percent
►http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Lebanon/2011/Sep-24/149559-imf-projects-lebanon-real-gdp-growth-in-2011-at-15-percent.ashx
The International Monetary Fund projected economic growth in Lebanon at 1.5 percent in 2011, down from an April forecast of 2.5 percent, and compared to growth of 4 percent in the Middle East & North Africa.
Lebanon’s projected growth rate in 2011 would make it the third-slowest growing economy in the MENA region behind Egypt at 1.2 percent and Tunisia at 0 percent, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group. It also would be the 16th slowest growing economy in the world in 2011, as its growth rate is projected to be similar to that of Romania, Jamaica, and the United States.
The IMF also projected Lebanon’s real GDP growth at 3.5 percent in 2012 compared to 3.6 percent in the MENA region and 1.9 percent in the Mashreq countries. Lebanon’s projected growth rate in 2012 would make it the sixth slowest growing economy in the MENA region. Also, it would be the 62nd slowest growing economy globally and would tie with Albania, Montenegro, and Honduras.
The Times | UK News, World News and Opinion
►http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news
British arms exporters cash in on Arab Spring
British arms exports to the Middle East and North Africa have jumped by almost 30 per cent since the height of the Arab Spring, an investigation by The Times has found. Arms worth £30.5 million were exported to countries including Libya, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia between February and June, compared with £22.2 million in the same period in 2010. Weapons exported include those capable of being used for internal repression, such as small-arms ammunition, sniper rifles, shotguns and submachineguns.
article payant
#printemps-arabe
►http://www.fastcompany.com/1771520/survey-7-of-arab-bloggers-have-been-arrested
“Seven percent of Middle Eastern bloggers were arrested and detained in the past year—and nearly 30% were personally threatened, according to a new Harvard University survey of 98 bloggers throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
The survey, which was released this week, was conducted by Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society in collaboration with world news aggregator Global Voices Online (GVO).”
“Seven percent of respondents claimed to have been arrested or detained in the past year, while 30% were personally threatened and 18% had their website or personal accounts either hacked or attacked. These bloggers mainly used Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail for their own online activities. According to the survey, many were also not up to date on personal security online—in their words, “only a small number reported that they understand or implement best practices related to online security.” Only a small number (9% and 8% respectively) of respondents chose their email or social networking services primarily based on the provider’s refusal to share information with their country’s government.”
Panetta on Al Qaeda : Leon Panetta says Al Qaeda defeat is "within reach" - latimes.com
►http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-panetta-qaeda-20110710,0,2299598.story
May showed that 10 years of U.S. operations against Al Qaeda had left it with fewer than two dozen key operatives, most of whom are in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and North Africa.
– Balancer des missiles de croisière sur les lieux pré-cités :
☑ check
“It is certainly true that Al Qaeda’s leadership has been significantly eroded over the past two years,” said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University, but “there is no empirical evidence that either the appeal of its message or the flow of recruits into its ranks has actually diminished.”
– Annoncer que le ralentissement de l’augmentation du nombre de recrutements est au point mort, mais en fait on ne sait pas trop :
☑ check
The Taliban movement has a primarily domestic agenda that differs from the global jihad espoused by Al Qaeda, and links between the two groups have loosened considerably in the nearly 10 years since the Taliban gave sanctuary to Bin Laden in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
– Expliquer, après tout ça, que finalement les Talibans ne sont pas nos ennemis (ils n’ont jamais qu’un « agenda domestique », et pas de jihad mondialisé)
☑ check
The U.S. believes Ayman Zawahiri, the Egyptian who succeeded Bin Laden as Al Qaeda’s top leader, was probably hiding in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas
– Coco, t’oublies pas de balancer des missiles de croisière là-bas, hein ?
☑ check
Panetta said that Yemen — not Pakistan — poses the most potent threat of terrorist attacks on America, from an Al Qaeda offshoot known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
– Ah ben finalement, les missiles de croisière, c’est pour le Yemen.
☑ check
– Pardon, tu parles bien du Yemen d’Ali Abdullah Saleh ?
☑ check
Desertec and Democracy: Arab Spring Boosts Dream of Desert Power
►http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,764877,00.html
Desertec is a multi-billion-dollar energy initiative that hopes to meet Europe’s energy needs with solar power from the Sahara. The recent upheavals in North Africa have put the project in question. But many experts argue that the Arab Spring will actually help Desertec’s grand vision become reality.
#Europe moves to end passport-free travel in #migrant row | World news | The Guardian
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/12/europe-to-end-passport-free-travel
voilà ce qui se passe quand les ministres de l’intérieur font la loi !!
European interior ministers agree to ’radical revision’ of Schengen amid fears of a flood of migrants from north Africa
No Dignity at Ground Zero (Mona Eltahawy)
►http://www.monaeltahawy.com/blog/?p=512
The scene at Ground Zero was like a parody of Team America, the film created by the South Park team to parody Bush’s America gone wild on nationalism. Now that we’ve parodied the parody, can the frat boys go home and can we return to the revolutions of the Middle East and north Africa that symbolically killed Bin Laden months ago?
Is Bahrain Next?
►http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/663/is-bahrain-next
As their counterparts in North Africa did, in these early days Bahrainis are facing a vicious attempt by state security forces to crush them. The violent gambit is a pathetic one, but it is also coldly calculated. And there are several reasons to think it may work. The most important is the nature of police and military power and its role in domestic politics. Where the Tunisian and Egyptian armies proved the ultimate power brokers in the revolutions there, there is no military to save the day in Bahrain. The means of violence are wholly controlled by the state and its security forces. The latter are thoroughly beholden to the royal family and not just willing, but eager to do its bidding. Where the Egyptian army was viewed by many Egyptians as a reflection of Egyptian society, the Bahraini domestic security apparatus is composed almost entirely of foreign mercenaries brought in to serve and destroy precisely because they have no local sympathies. There is no counterpart to the domestic security force, no alternative center of power that can challenge it or its masters. It has no rival. Bahrainis will have to endure the worst the police can mete out in order to carry the day.
Remarque intéressante au début du billet :
They have made clear their desire to set aside an often paralyzing sectarianism that has recently divided the country’s Shiite majority from their Sunni rulers.
Parce qu’évidemment, avec les Séoudiens et les Américains derrière, on va manger des kilomètres d’analyses à base de #fitna dans les jours qui viennent.