Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: What Will This Friday Bring?

2030 GMT: The LCCS reports that 40 people have died today in Syria:

7 children 3 women, 4 defected soldiers. The deaths are distributed as follows: 18 in Homs,7 in Idlib,9 in Damascus Suburbs (3 in each of kafarbatna and Domaair 2 in Douma, , 1 in Saqba,) 4 in Hama, and 2 in Daraa (Sanamain and Inkhil

1940 GMT: According to Nick Kristof, his videographer's camera was hit by tear gas or rubber bullets, and the attack only stopped when his cameraman, Adam Ellick,started to yell that he was an American journalist.

For his part, Adam has been pretty quiet since the incident, though his last tweet is pretty telling:

"This photo of graffiti pretty much sums up my night in #Bahrain with @NickKristof"

1931 GMT: Turning back to Syria, the LCCS is now reporting that 37 people have been killed by security forces loyal to President Bashar al Assad:

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Meta-Occupation: What Happened When Occupy Wall Street Took Over...A Replica of Occupy Wall Street?

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A few hours after a replica of Occupy Wall Street was set up in New York's Foley Square for the filming of a new episode of Law and Order Special Victims Unit, the real Occupy Wall Street announced plans to take over the model one, sending the message via Twitter on Wednesday night with the hashtag #Mockupy.

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Pakistan Analysis: Will There Be a Coup? (And Why It Doesn't Really Matter)

Asif Ali ZardariBeyond the headline talk of a "coup", the truth is that it may only be symbolic. "There won't be a take-over of power by Kayani because well, he already rules," said one Pakistani analyst. The military has only ceded power to the elected government in name: all national security initiatives have to be run past the generals before they can be implemented by the government. Frequent meetings are held between the civilian officials and the military to decide matters such as the fate of Osama bin Laden, the flood disaster relief efforts, relations with Afghanistan and the US, foreign aid, terrorism within Pakistan, law and order, eand ven some aspects of the economy.

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Iran Analysis: The Drone Appears --- Now for the Politics....

Only hours before the Tehran display, the Administration had tried to recover with a tough-guy defiance: "yeah, we sent the drone over Iran; we've been doing it for years; it's all part of our successful progamme to disrupt Iran's nuclear efforts; a drone crashed; so what?" That pose was soon overtaken, even if President Obama issued a holding statement about "the toughest sanctions that Iran has ever experienced", while refraining from even a word about the drone.

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The Latest from Iran (8 December): Waiting for the Return of the Hidden Drone

Iran TV's presentation of the claimed US drone

See also The Latest from Iran (7 December): Rallying the Students

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1820 GMT: Drone Watch. More of the regime's presentation of the supposed US RQ-170 drone --- a Revolutionary Guards commander proclaims, "The drone was caught in an electronic ambush and it was brought down with minimum damage. With God's assistance, we caught one of the most advanced American planes, in a trap set by Iran."

The left wing of the aircraft appeared to be broken and mended on the beige-coloured drone. The belly of the plane was covered with posters, “We’ll trample America underfoot.”

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Western Journalists Inside Syria: A Video Record of Everyday Crimes

Did Assad order his loyalists to shoot? Is he guilty of crimes against humanity? These questions will not be answered here. But we can venture from this footage if these forces --- not under his control, according to the President --- responsible for human rights abuses, atrocities, and civilian casualties on a wide scale.

Assad --- "Indiviual Mistakes" Led to Deaths

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Assad "It Wasn't Me"

See also Western Journalists Inside Syria: A Video Record of Everyday Crimes

Bahrain, Uzbekistan (and Beyond) Special: Bell Pottinger, PR Agency for the Regimes, is Busted
Bahrain Feature: Today's Revival of Mass Protests
Wednesday's Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Uncertainty and Deaths in Homs

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2131 GMT: We close the LiveBlog with this report, just 22 minutes old:

"very huge EXPLOSION just hit the southern part of #Syria n central city of #Homs . . my windows were horribly shaking"

Looks like it will be another violent Friday in Syria...

2005 GMT: The new Egyptian interior minister has pledged not to use teargas or live ammo against protesters:

Major General Mohamed Ibrahim Yusuf, the former director of security in the Giza governorate, told the local Arabic newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm that he will not use the gas or any firearms on protesters.

Yusuf was selected by new Prime Minister Kamel al-Ganzouri, who was chosen by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to form a new government after the previous one resigned as a result of the Tahrir Square violence.

We don't have the heart to tell Yusuf that the interior ministry has already made that pledge, and SCAF has denied attacking protesters.

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Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond) Feature: "Occupy Our Homes" Takes Over Foreclosed Properties (Harkinson)

Last Thursday in New York City, a soft-spoken man with a thick beard, whom I'll call Paul, casually approached a brick apartment building and broke off a padlock with a bolt cutter. A spotter called to say a squad car was on its way, but Paul didn't feel his phone vibrate; he was too busy jamming a crowbar in the door. "Fortunately, the cop car just drove up the street and turned," he recalls a few days later as he and his wife wait at a subway stop to meet up with members of his cleanup crew. He'd installed his own lock on the door, which led to a vacant unit where the crew hoped to install a family of squatters.

Paul has asked me not to publish the names of his crew, the location of the building, or too much detail about the single mother who wants to squat there with her two children. The family was evicted from its apartment two weeks ago after a city-subsidized housing program ran out of money. "The reason I am doing this," Paul told me, "is that there are people who are really hurting."

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Bahrain, Uzbekistan (and Beyond) Special: Bell Pottinger, PR Agency for the Regimes, is Busted

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Since this summer, we have been closely following the story of the high-profile US and British public-relations agencies hired by the Bahraini regime to turn its line into "news" and "analysis". Others have caught onto the story: today Salon profiles Tom Squitieri, one of the most prominent --- in persistence, if not quality --- consultants posing as a journalist.

Now a combination of The Independent of London, the Bureau for Investigative Journalism, and blogger Tim Ireland have exposed the activities of one of Bahrain's choice agencies, Bell Pottinger, as it cleans up the images of regimes around the world. Among the revelations are Bell Pottinger's re-writing of Wikipedia entries for Bahrain in the service of the "right" narrative about the kingdom.

A personal note: I had the chance to chat with one of Bell Pottinger's top executives in October. With a straight face and determined line, he explained to me that the agency was pursuing "reform" through its work with the leaders of Yemen and Bahrain. If that effort stumbled, it was not for lack of effort and goodwill by Bell Pottinger; instead it was the failure of those like Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to follow through on the agency's advice. In Bahrain, the executive continued, Crown Prince Salman was the spearhead for political change, and Bell Pottinger would be failing --- in its service to him and to the greater good --- if it did not help him.

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US Politics Analysis: Obama Invokes the Spirit of Teddy Roosevelt --- But How Far Will He Go?

Theodore Roosevelt, 1910Obama may not go as far as Theodore Roosevelt did in his Confession of Faith when he stated, “We wish to control big business so as to secure among other things good wages for the wage-workers and reasonable prices for the consumers.” But, if he does continue with this Rooseveltian-like journey to the Left through 2012, this populist turn may be of significance not November.

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