US Elections Audio: Scott Lucas with BBC "Interpreting Gingrich's Win in South Carolina"

See also US Elections Analysis: A 4-Point Guide to Gingrich's South Carolina Victory
US Elections Opinion: Loving the Razzle-Dazzle, Hating the Soft-Money Campaign
US Elections Analysis: How Protests Over Campaign Finance and Ron Paul Could Change The Race

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I spoke with BBC Radio 5 Live this morning about Newt Gingrich's victory in the Republican primary in South Carolina, raising some of the points that I made in an analysis for EA. 

How did Newt triumph in South Carolina, despite the revelations about his three marriages? Can he build on this win and overtake front-runner Mitt Romney? And what does this mean for the Republican challenge to President Obama in November?

The item starts at the 2:06.28 mark, with my comments beginning at 2:07.58.

US Elections Analysis: A 4-Point Guide to Gingrich's South Carolina Victory

See also US Elections Audio: Scott Lucas with BBC "Interpreting Gingrich's Win in South Carolina"
US Elections Opinion: Loving the Razzle-Dazzle, Hating the Soft-Money Campaign
US Elections Analysis: How Protests Over Campaign Finance and Ron Paul Could Change The Race

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Some observers, including the BBC anchorwoman iwith whom I spoke this morning, expressed surprise that Gingrich had triumphed despite the recent revelations about his infidelities, including his request to his second wife (whom he soon left) that they have an "open marriage".

Don't be. All it takes in politics to turn around the damage is a successful diversion blaming someone else. Gingrich found it in the South Carolina debates in his attacks on the "elites" and the "media".

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Syria Interview: Kurdish Leader Abdulhakim Bashar "We Demand the Right to Self-Determination"

Last Friday's protest in Qamishli, in the largely-Kurdish area in northeast Syria

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We demand the right to self-determination in a form that would be decided in a national Kurdish referendum, but also within the integrity and unity of the Syrian land. When Syria was formed, it was formed by the Sykes-Picot agreement, it wasn't our choice. But we want to keep the current borders. With a new social contract between ourselves and all the Syrian components.

Second, if we talk about federalism in the Kurdish areas, from the northeastern part of Syria, up to the border with Iraq until Afrin, near where Aleppo is --- the Kurds form about 75% of the population of that region. That land is the Kurdish land.

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US Elections Opinion: Loving the Razzle-Dazzle, Hating the Soft-Money Campaign

An advertisement supporting Newt Gingrich attacks Mitt Romney...because he speaks French

See also US Elections Audio: Scott Lucas with BBC "Interpreting Gingrich's Win in South Carolina"
US Elections Analysis: A 4-Point Guide to Gingrich's South Carolina Victory
US Elections Analysis: How Protests Over Campaign Finance and Ron Paul Could Change The Race

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This morning the news that Newt Gingrich has won the South Carolina primary has turned the contest for the Republican nomination into a showdown between him and Mitt Romney. Within a week, a campaign which looked to be a march to a Romney coronation --- livened in South Carolina by spirited debates and Gingrich's attacks on "elites" and the media, amidst more revelations about three marriages and infidelities --- offered more drama and spectacle.

EA's John Matlin celebrates and then frets:

I admit it. I love American elections. Often it’s pure razzle-dazzle.

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EA on the Road: A Trip to Southwest England

UPDATED 1900 GMT: We are taking a day to recharge batteries. Many thanks to readers for bringing in the important developments.

We will be back at 0600 GMT with the latest news from Iran and from Syria, Bahrain, and Beyond. 

I will be in Exeter today with the British Association of American Studies.

Josh Shahryar and James Miller will be in later today, but updates on the Live Coverage --- both of Iran and of Syria, Bahrain, and Beyond --- may be limited. Meanwhile, we invite readers to look at today's features from "Creative Resistance" to British arms sales to a possible twist in the US Presidential campaign. And we thank our readers in advance for the ideas and news they bring in via our Comments sections.

Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: An Exclusive in Zabadani, A Rally in the Kingdom

Jeremy Bowen of the BBC reports from "free" Zabadani in Syria

See also Middle East Feature: Britain Accused of Hypocrisy Over Arms Sales
Bahrain Video Feature: Celebrating Creative Resistance
Bahrain Special: The Air Show, the "Black Smoke" Campaign, and the Dark Arts of Regime Propaganda
Friday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: From Defection to Insurrection

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2010 GMT: As anticipated, the final results of Egypt's elections confirm what many believed would be a landslide victory for Islamist parties. Reuters reports that the Muslim Brotherhood coalition has won 38% of the list seats while the salafist Nour Party 29%. This gives the Islamist parties a two-thirds majority in the party list-based vote. New Wafd and the Egyptian Coalition came third and fourth, respectively.

2000 GMT: Bahraini security forces harshly suppressed a protest held in A'ali was harshly suppressed today. The protest was held to demand the release of detainee Fadeela AlMubarak. An image of the procession before it was attacked:

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The Latest from Iran (21 January): See No Evil

See also The Latest from Iran (20 January): Grim Times in Shiraz

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0535 GMT: Sanctions All-Is-Well Alert. With the European Union likely to declare a suspension of Iranian oil imports on Monday, Tehran's State media pound out the beat that China and India will not join the effort.

IRNA claims, from statements from Chinese and Indian diplomats at the United Nations, "Futile effort to boycott Iranian oil: Beijing and New Delhi continue to buy oil from Tehran". Press TV echoes, using the line of Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, "China Stresses Diplomacy on Iran".

0520 GMT: We begin this morning with a cartoon from Maya Neyestani, highlighting the case of actress Golshifteh Farahani, the Iranian actress who posed nude for a short video and a photograph in a French magazine:

Iranian media prefer another photograph, featuring the Supreme Leader with the family of scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, whose position at the Natanz nuclear facility probably led to his assassination last week:

Middle East Feature: Britain Accused of Hypocrisy Over Arms Sales (Dugan)

A "Throne" of Tear Gas CanistersThe British Government was accused of "a brazen return to business as usual"..., after licensing exports of weapons worth millions of pounds to regimes accused of repression, including Egypt and Bahrain. The permits were granted just months after ministers said they would "carefully review" licenses for countries that met protest with violence.

Arms approved for export by the UK last autumn include rifles, sniper sights, combat vehicle parts, artillery technology and gun silencers.

The revelation comes after David Cameron's visit to Saudi Arabia...was marred by questions over Britain's continued export of arms to the kingdom, which has been accused of human rights violations. Despite unrest in Saudi Arabia last year, the UK sold the regime bomb equipment, weapons sights and components for military vehicles and helicopters.

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Bahrain Video Feature: Celebrating Creative Resistance (Owen Jones)

People spell out "We Are With You, Bahrain" in candles --- the display is then run over by police jeeps

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While some may be forgiven in thinking that Bahrain’s protests are limited to attempted peaceful sit-ins, tyre burnings and roadblocks, they would be wrong. Protest comes in many different forms, and Bahrainis have expressed their discontent in a great variety of ways. While some methods attract more criticism than others, little attention has been paid to softer forms of resistance. I’m not talking about boycotts or withdrawing money from banks, but creative forms of protest that show defiance through humour or beauty.

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US Elections Analysis: How Protests Over Campaign Finance and Ron Paul Could Change The Race

Campaign finance reform would need to be the central plank of any third-party run. However, when you have judges in Montana and Occupiers outside the Supreme Court, you may have the issue that can unite Americans who feel that the two political parties are ignoring their concerns.

Will Ron Paul now seize the campaign finance reform issue in a Presidential run as an Independent candidate?

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