Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Teenager's Death for the New Year

Claimed footage of the moment that Bahraini security forces opened fire today on the funeral procession of 16-year-old Sayed Hashim (see 1530 GMT)

See also Bahrain (and Beyond) Opinion: Does Sayed Hashim's Death Matter?
Happy New Year: 10 Predictions for 2012 --- From US Election to Syria to No War With Iran to EA WorldView
A Resolution for a 2012 WorldView: A Global Community Built On Communication, Not Conflict
Saturday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Protesting, Filming, Dying

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2115 GMT: Video from Bahrain today of security forces chasing a young man and finally shooting at him:

2100 GMT: 1954 GMT: A mass demonstration in the Qosour section of Homs in Syria denounces the "Tyrant who murders his own people":

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A Resolution for a 2012 WorldView: A Global Community Built On Communication, Not Conflict

See also Happy New Year: 10 Predictions for 2012 --- From US Election to Syria to No War With Iran to EA WorldView
Happy New Year: Rap News Presents #Occupy2012

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Without question, 2011 has been a humbling and profound year for us. Humbling, as we relay the accounts of citizens in Syria, Bahrain, Iran, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and countless other countries across the globe. Profound, as in following these stories of struggle --- and often devastation and destruction --- we have witnessed a passion and resilience almost unimaginable to us, especially for those of us sheltered in Western abodes. We have seen a human spirit that burns bright with hope and possibility for our shared future on this planet. What is more, we have repeatedly heard the roar of that spirit in its refusal to be silenced.

This is not to be naive in the face of brutality, oppression and exploitation. Rather, it is to take sustenance and nourishment from the interconnections of ideals that form the core of our individual, local, national, and global struggles.

This underpins our optimism: it is communication that is building community. The recourse of tyrants is to violence because they refuse to hear the voice of critique or to grant an individual the time of day to express his or her wishes. Dialogue demolishes barriers, especially when it takes places amongst equals. Indeed, it creates equals by fostering understanding, empathy, shared experience, and solidarity.

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Happy New Year: 10 Predictions for 2012 --- From US Election to Syria to No War With Iran to EA WorldView

A Reliable Prediction? Right to Left: Tunisia's Ben Ali, Egypt's Mubarak, Libya's Qaddafi, Yemen's Saleh, Syria's Assad, Iran's Khamenei

See also A Resolution for a 2012 WorldView: A Global Community Built On Communication, Not Conflict
Happy New Year: Rap News Presents #Occupy2012

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President Obama will call on the international community to intervene in Syria. He may not be the loudest public voice, but he and his team will be working the diplomatic backchannels in Europe and the Middle East hard. He wants to avoid war in Iran, but not so secretly, he is rooting for the domino theory to hold with the fall of the regime in Tehran. He will sell more arms to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to pacify their unease with his policies, while preparing a backup plan if there is no movement in the Islamic Republic.

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Happy New Year: Rap News Presents #Occupy2012

See also Happy New Year: 10 Predictions for 2012 --- From US Election to Syria to No War With Iran to EA WorldView
A Resolution for a 2012 WorldView: A Global Community Built On Communication, Not Conflict

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As we deliver analysis of the news in a timely fashion, we tip our hats to Rap News for the rhythm and rhyme as they deliver theirs! Having enjoyed Robert Foster's contributions across 2011, we offer his end-of-year look at #Occupy2012 (guest appearance: Noam Chomsky):

Bahrain (and Beyond) Opinion: Does Sayed Hashim's Death Matter?

Ali Shaikh and Sayed HashimIf these circumstances of Sayed Hashim's death are tragic, they are easy to explain. He is just another case of a person being in the wrong place at the wrong time. What he and his friends seek --- justice, democracy, equal rights - could disrupt the oil supply from Bahrain and create disturbances throughout the Persian Gulf. The implications of what a 16-year-old wanted could have been significant for cities from New York to London to Beijing to Tokyo.

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The Latest from Iran (1 January): Let the Campaigning (and In-Fighting) Begin....

See also The Latest from Iran (31 December): Where are the Reformists for the Elections?

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1925 GMT: Currency Watch. The head of the Central Bank, Mahmoud Bahmani, amidst uncertainty over the sinking Iranian currency, told the annual meeting of the Bank that $17 billion of reserves had been distributed among non-Government banks from March 2010 to March 2011.

1915 GMT: Sedition Watch (House Arrests & Rafsanjani Edition). The Supreme Leader's representative to the Revolutionary Guards, Ali Saeedi, has launched a sweeping attack with a telling admission: "We cannot sentence Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi", held under strict house arrest since February, "because they have supporters, especially among clerics".

Saeedi, talking about the "silent supporters" of seditionists, also slapped at former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, referring to him as the "grey man" within the regime. (An EA correspondent notes that this is a reference to "The Red Eminence, The Grey Eminences" by Akbar Ganji, claiming Rafsanjani's involvement in the "Chain Murders" of the 1990s.

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The Quest for #2012Worldview: A Special Request to Readers for A New Year's Project

Image © Art Dulay

Thanks to all readers who helped us with this project. Now see "A Resolution for a 2012 WorldView: A Global Community Built On Communication, Not Conflict".

The Latest from Iran (31 December): Where are the Reformists for the Elections?

Mohammad Ali Kouzegar1330 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch (Elections Edition). Tabnak reports that President Ahmadinejad has begun campaign meetings with his team including senior advisors Ali Akbar Javanfekr, Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi,and Abbas Amirifar; son-in-law Mehdi Khorshidi, and son Alireza Ahmadinejad. A new oraganisation, Supporters of Government Front, has been created.

Speaking to supporters yesterday, Ahmadinejad reportedly said, "Even if the pressures on the Government increase, the Government will not resign and back down. I have many things about the next election that I will say in the next few weeks.”

Meanwhile, others have started mobilising against Ahmadinejad. The Supreme Leader's advisor Ali Akbar Velayati, in his speech to supporters (see 0735 GMT), advised principlists, “Based on the importance of election and the international pressures on Iran, unity among the people in charge and the principlists is necessary." He said those who were silent toward the deviant and seditious currents --- read Ahmadinejad's camp and unrepentant reformists --- "are not part of our list".

Alireza Zakani, another senior figure in the Unity Front, claimed that Ahmadinejad's team was already putting out lots of money: "The deviant current for the victory of each of its candidates has spend 1-3 billion Tomans (about $650,000 to $2 million).”

Seyed Solat Mortazavi, the head of Iran's Election Organisation, asked Zakani to present his evidence to the Ministry of Interior.

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Protesting, Filming, Dying

1934 GMT: Two Syrian opposition parties have signed an agreement in Cairo, promising to unite against Assad. The interesting part of the agreement - the two parties, the Syrian National Co-ordination Committee and the Syrian National Council, are committed to resist international intervention. But as Al Jazeera points out, many in the opposition are in favor of intervention:

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Turkey Feature: Angry Kurds Bury 35 Victims of Airstrikes

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On Friday, there was widespread anger in protests, both across Turkey and internationally, over the death of 35 Kurds, 18 of whom were children, in a Turkish airstrike on Uludere village in the city of Sirnak.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan  defended the military action while promising an investigation of an "operational mistake". His words have done little to appease Kurdish regard of the incident as a further indication of their abuse by the Turkish State.

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