Yemen Feature: An Arab Spring? No, Just More US Drone Strikes (Woods/Slater)

---

Covert US strikes against alleged militants in Yemen have risen steeply during the Arab spring, and are currently at the same level as the CIA’s controversial drone campaign in Pakistan, a new study by the Bureau reveals.

At least 27 US military and CIA strikes involving cruise missiles, aircraft, drones or naval bombardments have taken place in the volatile Gulf nation to date, killing hundreds of alleged militants linked to the regional al Qaeda franchise. But at least 55 civilians have died too, the study found.

Click to read more ...

Saudi Arabia Feature: Assessing The Regime's Counter-Revolution (Bsheer)

King Abdullah of Saudi ArabiaThe contemporary Saudi-led counterrevolution, fierce as it has been throughout the Arab world, is perhaps most relentless inside the Kingdom’s own borders. US-trained and armed security forces have been dispatched more thoroughly throughout the country to thwart any potential signs of public gatherings or protests. In the last year alone, at least eight Saudi nationals have been killed for partaking in public protests. This is in addition to the unrelenting police brutality against unarmed civilians that has injured numerous men and women.

Further, hundreds have been illegally detained across the country for supporting calls for reform and protest. Such violence and intimidation is not only reserved for those who have attempted to take to the streets. Dozens have also been forbidden from travel, placed under house arrest, or banned from writing in the Saudi press simply for criticizing the status quo. Others have been forced to sign formal pledges not to engage in acts that “challenge state laws and norms.” Several blogs have been shut down, and two twitterers have been arrested and today face the possibility of a death sentence. In short, scores of citizens have been intimidated into silence.

Click to read more ...

Syria Wired: The Latest from Social Media and EA's Readers

Our regular feature where EA's readers use the Comments section to post latest news and stories from Syria....

Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: What Happens After the "Friends of Syria" Meeting?

See also War on Terror Feature: Don't Tell the US Border Police You Do Islamic Studies
Palestine Feature: What Happens When A Journalist Criticises the Palestinian Authority?
Syria 1st-Hand: Life in Damascus --- "Tell Me, How Do I Survive?"
Turkey Live Coverage (2 April): After the "Friends of Syria" Left....
Sunday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Gathering of the "Friends of Syria"

---

2040 GMT: A mass demonstration in the Douma suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus:

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (2 April): Talking About Oil

2025 GMT: Tough Talk of the Day. It looks like the regime is getting seriously worried about the Syrian situation, and in particular the prospect of significant intervention by Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.

Masoud Jazayeri, the deputy head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has declared, "It is time to punish imperial, Arab, and foreign countries who interfere in Syria." Gholam-Reza Karami, a member of Parliament's Defence Subcommittee, warns Riyadh that its defeat in Syria "is certain".

2020 GMT: Loyalty Watch. Kayhan reports that a literary congress, "Narrative of the Flower", is to be held in Isfahan, praising the Supreme Leader.

Click to read more ...

War on Terror Feature: Don't Tell the US Border Police You Do Islamic Studies (Stewart)

Pascal AbidorOn May 1, 2010, Pascal Abidor was riding an Amtrak train from Montreal to New York. His parents live in Brooklyn, and he was on his way to visit them. The school year at McGill had just ended, and he felt relieved and calm as the train rolled south towards America.

At about 11 a.m., the train arrived at the U.S. border and made a routine stop. A team of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers boarded the train and advanced through each car, questioning passengers. Pascal had made this trip countless times before, so when a customs officer approached him, he didn’t give it a second thought.

But Pascal had never met Officer Tulip.

After looking over Pascal’s U.S. passport and customs declaration, Officer Tulip asked two simple questions: Where do you live, and why?

Pascal answered that he lived in Canada. He lived in Canada because that’s where he was pursuing a PhD in Islamic Studies.

Click to read more ...

Palestine Feature: What Happens When A Journalist Criticises the Palestinian Authority? (Haas)

Protest for Yusuf Al-ShayebJournalists who stood outside the court building exchanged jokes about the "six million dollars." No problem, we'll obtain them, someone said. That's small change, another said. But these light remarks did not hide concerns about their colleague, Yusuf Al-Shayeb, who was at the time on his way to the Magistrate's Court in Ramallah, to have his remand extended.

The Palestinian Authority's foreign ministry, headed by Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki, and the Palestinian diplomatic mission in France have submitted libel claims against Al-Shayeb --- who works for the Palestinian Al-Ayyam newspaper (which is associated with the PA ) and AlGhad, a Jordanian newspaper --- demanding compensation of six million dollars.

Of the two papers that he writes for, it was the Jordanian one that on January 29 published his report on claims of corruption at the Palestinian diplomatic mission in France. The report alleged that the mission's deputy ambassador, Safwat Ibraghit, compels Palestinian students to spy on Muslim groups in France and relay information to Palestinian and foreign intelligence services. Al-Shayeb also claimed that Maliki, Palestinian National Fund director Dr. Ramzi Khouri, and Abu Nabil, who handles funds for Fatah, were responsible for Ibraghit's promotion, despite complaints that have been leveled against him.

Click to read more ...

Syria 1st-Hand: Life in Damascus --- "Tell Me, How Do I Survive?" (The Guardian)

Yasser sits in the dark in his clothes shop in Damascus's Old City, listening to the whirr of generators outside – a sound that was alien to Syria until recently. Usually his shop is packed with friends and customers, but Yasser, wrapped in a fleece and scarf, sits alone. "Trade is down and the price of everything is going up," he says dejectedly.

The middle-aged father of five has teabags but no sugar, and last week he could not afford gas to refill the small canister that heats his kettle. "Sugar has become five times more expensive and I've had to change to smoking terrible cigarettes," he says with a wry smile. On the way home from work the day before, he gave in to an ache to treat his family and bought a roast chicken – something that he used to do weekly – so now all his money is gone. "Tell me, how do I survive?" he says.

Click to read more ...

Turkey Live Coverage (2 April): After the "Friends of Syria" Left....

1545 GMT: The President of the Constitutional Court, Hasim Kilic, speaking at the International Judicial Reform Symposium, has said that politics cannot compromise the judiciary. He said that major problems in the Turkish legal system are due to problems in practice, including a lack of objectivity among judges, shortcomings in vocational education, and a distancing from universal values. Hasin continued:

Judicial practices that know no bounds and that cannot be accounted for engendered the outcome of paying heavy prices and formed the justification of amendments in the laws and the Constitution itself. Just as we objected to the aims of the judiciary in surrounding politics, we will not give permission to politics to surround the judiciary today.

The state of law is formed and developed in line with the way you use the language [of laws and rules]. Making judges free from worries, fears, ideological pressures and emotions of "friend & enem"' in his/her inner world is the sine qua non of his/her objectivity. As long as the invasions of consciences are not overcome, it is impossible to provide an independent and objective judiciary.

Click to read more ...

Burma Feature: Aung San Suu Kyi & NLD Win --- Is This Beginning of "Democracy"? (Golluoglu)

Celebrations at National League for Democracy headquarters in Rangoon

---

If Burma ever needed a moment to rejoice, this was it. In a nation ruled by an often brutal military junta for nearly half a century, Aung San Suu Kyi's apparent victory in Sunday's parliamentary by-election could not be exaggerated.

Swarms of chanting Burmese flocked to National League for Democracy's (NLD) Rangoon headquarters as the sun set over the crumbling city, calling for the fall of "a sham democracy" and the return of "our fair leader, our beloved leader, Mother Suu".

"We did it! We won!" shouted the thousands of supporters as they filled the streets clapping, dancing and waving red party flags.

While unofficial party results indicate that Suu Kyi may have won 65% of the vote in 82 of her constituencies' 129 polling stations, local observers said that the number may have been as high as 90%, with the NLD reported to have won a minimum of 40 of the 44 seats it contested in the 664 parliamentary seats up for grabs.

Click to read more ...