Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Protest Friday

Protesters gather in Tahrir Square for "Persistence Friday."

See our separate video entries: Latest Syria Videos: The "No Dialogue" Protests - Set 1 and Set 2

2056 GMT: As we close the day, a brief reflection. Our predictions this morning were pretty accurate. We saw massive demonstrations in Yemen, both for and against President Saleh. We saw a large pro-Gaddafi celebration in Libya because Gaddafi had ordered a single Friday Prayer celebration. We saw massive demonstrations in Suez and Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt.

Perhaps the most important development, however, was in Syria. In Damascus, we saw large protests in the center of the city, and security fired on the crowds, a sure sign that even the capital is starting to turn against the regime, slowly but steadily. In Hama, US Ambassador Robert Ford was described by the Syrian Interior Minister as meeting "with saboteurs in Hama ... who erected checkpoints, cut traffic and prevented citizens from going to work." However, he got a hero's welcome, and nearly 500,000 people peacefully took to the streets with few incidents of security cracking down on the city.

Protests continue tonight in Egypt, and US-Syria relations may have changed permanently. Check in tomorrow (0600 GMT) to find out what happens next.

2051 GMT: Near Tahrir Square, Cairo, 5:30 PM:

Near Tahrir Square, Cairo, 6:00 PM, and the protesters are still there now.

Click to read more ...

Latest Syria Videos: The "No Dialogue" Protests --- Set 2

Hama

Click to read more ...

Latest Syria Videos: The "No Dialogue" Protests

Today's protests across Syria, many of them rejecting the regime's invitation to a "national dialogue:

Lattakia on coast

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (8 July): Manoeuvring for the Elections

2015 GMT: The Battle Within. MP Hamid Rasaei, an ally of President Ahmadinejad, has said that Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani should resign as head of the principlist faction in the Majlis. Rasaei specifically claimed that Larijani was supporting the reformists.

2000 GMT: Your Extra Friday Prayer Update. Did I mention that Ayatollah Jannati (see 1230 GMT) called on Muslims to liberate Bahrain from its monarchy?

Click to read more ...

Pakistan Feature: US Government "Pakistani Intelligence Killed Journalist Saleem Shahzad"

Saleem ShahzadNew classified intelligence obtained before the May 29 disappearance of the journalist, Saleem Shahzad, 40, from the capital, Islamabad, and after the discovery of his mortally wounded body, showed that senior officials of the spy agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, directed the attack on him in an effort to silence criticism, two senior administration officials said.

The intelligence, which several administration officials said they believed was reliable and conclusive, showed that the actions of the ISI, as it is known, were “barbaric and unacceptable,” one of the officials said.

Click to read more ...

Syria Feature: The Military's "Crimes Against Humanity" in Tel Kalakh (Amnesty International)

Protest in Tel Kalakh, 10 June 2011On the basis of this and other research, Amnesty International considers that the Syrian army and security forces committed crimes and other violations during the security operation in Tell Kalakh that, when taken in the context of other crimes and human rights violations elsewhere in Syria, amount to crimes against humanity. This is because they appear to be part of a widespread, as well as systematic, attack against the civilian population involving multiple commission of a range of crimes against a multiplicity of victims in an organized manner and pursuant to a state policy to commit such an attack. These crimes include murder, torture, arbitrary detention and other severe deprivation of liberty, and other inhumane acts committed intentionally to cause great suffering or serious damage to mental or physical health.

Click to read more ...

Open Letter to the Arab Spring: 10 Ways to Avoid US Mistakes (Cole)

The blood of your martyrs for revolution is too recent and too precious, and too often belonged to young people who sacrificed a bright future, for you to squander this once-in-a-century opportunity to put liberty and democracy on a firm foundation in your countries. You are young, and you still weep at the thought of freedom, and of those who died for it. You are having your weddings at Tahrir Square to celebrate a new beginning. Be careful. Be very careful. In my lifetime I have seen the American state spiral down into a brutal tyranny that tortures, spies, union-busts, engages in illegal wars, and plays dirty tricks on dissidents. We used to have something much more like a democracy. Maybe we can learn from you how to safeguard something so precious.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (7 July): A Model for Others?

2010 GMT: Religion and Vote-Buying. Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi clarifies, "Buying votes is not allowed."

Makarem-Shirazi continues with the allegation that some MPs have bought voters w mobile phones, cash, food, and government allowances.

1955 GMT: CyberWatch (Battle Within Edition). For months, we have heard about the Iranian regime training cyber-warriors to wreak havoc on Tehran's enemies. However, it looks like the havoc-wreaking is happening within the establishment....

Three websites close to President Ahmadinejad and Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai have been knocked off-line today. Hafte Sobh --- set up in part to promote Rahim-Mashai as a Presidential candidate in 2013 --- Tamasha News, and 1Shanbeh are each left tonight with nothing but two words in English.

"bye bye".

Click to read more ...

Terrorism Special: Taking Apart the Myth about the 2005 London Bombing and "Multi-Culturalism"

Kenan Malik's mono-causal explanation in The New York Times for the atrocity of six years ago is simplistic, divorced from history, ignorant of the scholarship on violent extremism, and oblivious to the evidence around the 7-7 bombings, including from the British security service MI5.

Official multiculturalist policies may indeed be a problem for western societies (although it is of interest that Malik omits from his analysis a country, Canada, that is more diverse than the UK and which for decades has embraced multiculturalism as an official aspect of its national identity), but it was not the sole cause of 7-7 or other post-9/11 acts of terrorism.

Click to read more ...

Iran Interview: Zahra Rahnavard's Mother on "Kidnapping" of Her Daughter and Mir Hossein Mousavi

Mir Hossein Mousavi & Zahra RahnavardUnfortunately I am not allowed to see them all the time, and as a result of incarceration, the visits we have had are at best limited. Their appearance was during our last visit, however, extremely worrisome. They were both very pale and thin. Both my son and my daughter-in-law suddenly seemed to have lost a significant amount of weight. I am a mother, and this was apparent to me. I have no idea what they have had to endure.

Click to read more ...