Iran Snapshot: Ahmadinejad is Censored...By the State Broadcaster

On Wednesday, we reported that President Ahmadinejad had staged an impromptu press conference to tell journalists that, while he was maintaining silence about the recent arrests of his allies (though he made sure to declare they were "politically motivated"), there was a "red line" against any imposition on the work of the Cabinet. In other words, no detentions of his inner circle....

There is a significant sequel. 

When the State broadcaster IRIB showed Ahmadinejad's remarks, it cut out the passage about the "red line". Not only has the President's staff set the record straight on his official website, they have posted the original, uncut video.

Syria Video Special: Watching the Friday Protests

Hama

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Tunisia Feature: The Rise of a "New Islamist Movement" (Lynch)

Tunisia's post-revolutionary politics are being profoundly shaped by the meteoric rise of the long-banned Islamist movement al-Nahda. Decades of fierce repression during the regime of former President Zine el-Abedine Ben Ali crushed almost every visible manifestation of Tunisia's Islamist movement. The banned movement played a very limited role in the revolution. But since Ben Ali's flight and the triumphant January 30 return of exiled leader Rached Ghannouchi, al-Nahda has grown with astonishing speed.

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Yemen Feature: A View from the Ground of the Youth Movement (Al-Akhali)

The development and organization of Yemen’s youth movement has not been instantaneous but, rather, has taken several months. At the start of the revolution, the youth gathered in hundreds of small groups. These groups then formed alliances with each other, eventually creating cross-country youth coalitions. The youth movement’s diverse membership also contributed to its growth and development. For instance, while some leaders took to the streets, living in open-air squares dubbed ‘Change’ and ‘Freedom’ and rallying grass-root support for the protests, other leaders interfaced with international media, arranged meetings with representatives from the international community, and spread news about the protests via blogs and social media sites.

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US Politics and Economy Analysis: Obama Talks Corporate Jets But Fails to Lead

Obama's demeanour does little to suggest he takes the problem as seriously as the authors of the Congressional Budget Office report. He is flunking his responsibility to take the initiative in explaining to the public the magnitude of the issues at stake. When he talks corporate jets not entitlement spending reform, he only makes it harder for those voices in Congress who are struggling to lead responsibly to be heard. If the president does not appear to be taking them seriously --- to my knowledge, President Obama has not once publicly acknowledged or encouraged the efforts of Sen. Conrad to build some sort of bipartisan consensus on the deficit, why should anyone else?

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The Latest from Iran (30 June): An Ahmadinejad Relative is Arrested

Mohsen Memari (see 0500 GMT)2100 GMT: Foreign Affairs (Syria Front). My colleague James Miller has been busy all day with what might turn to be extraordinary developments in Syria --- a military "lockdown" of parts of the northwest but a withdrawal from other towns and cities, including Hama; reported anti-regime protests tonight of up to 100,000 people; a US "roadmap" for reforms that would leave President Assad in place --- but Press TV has a much different perspective....

The Iranian state outlet pronounces, "Most of the refugees who had fled the Syrian town of Khirbat al-Jawz [in the northwest] to neighboring Turkey have returned to their homes. According to locals, the refugees, who were displaced by fierce clashes between Syrian security forces and armed men blamed for the recent unrest in the country, now say security has been restored in the region, a Press TV correspondent reported on Thursday."

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Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Occupation and Demands

Demonstration last night in Hama in Syria

2141 GMT: Tonight, Aleppo suddenly does not seem so sleepy. Protesters in Al Jamiliah, west of the city's center, chant for the fall of the regime.

2130 GMT: In Aleppo today, protesters chant "We bow down only to God... Where is Aleppo´s people conscience... Oh Aleppo, rise, rise!...With our soul and blood we sacrifice ourselves for Daraa," and "Allah is the Greatest!" (Thanks to Zilal for translation).

2114 GMT: Video from today's clashes and protests in Jidhafs, Bahrain. It matches pictures and descriptions of witness accounts.

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Afghanistan Snapshot: Why the US Presence Will "Surge" As Troops "Withdraw"

US Contractor in IraqThe number of contractors in Afghanistan is likely to increase significantly in the next year as the Obama administration pulls back some of the extra 68,000 troops that it has dispatched there since January 2009.

Typically, the U.S. pays one contractor to support every soldier that has deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. The ratio of contractors to troops increases dramatically during a military surge as well as during a drawdown, and often stays higher than troop levels when military numbers are low, i.e. down to 30,000-50,000.

The reason is simple — the military needs extra workers to build new bases as well as to shut them down. Just like a hotel or restaurant, a military base also needs a minimum number of people to do the basics like janitorial or food service work. And as troops withdraw, U.S. diplomats are likely to hire extra security contractors as they are doing now in Iraq.

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US Campaign 2012: Minnesota Nice, Minnesota Not-So-Nice

Michele Bachmann & Tim PawlentyWhile Pawlenty and Bachmann have some ideas in common, but I ask myself, "What would America look like two years into a Bachmann presidency, as opposed to a Pawlenty administration? Will Bachmann have plunged America into more recession, will she have engaged in more wars, whilst becoming estranged from historic allies, and will the American middle class be propping up the wealthy again?"

All thse queries may pale, however, before the political reality that Pawlenty is unlikely to get the Republican nomination. He is "charisma lite" in a nation where voters seem to care as much for looks as for thoughts. If he could overcome this hurdle, he would make a worthy opponent for Obama.

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Iran Essay Contest (1st Place): The Green Movement --- Why It Has Lost...And How It Can Win

On a breezy morning, we three headed down to a main square at Tehran to join the anti-regime protests on the occasion of the regime’s victory anniversary on February 11, 2010. Seems paradoxical?

There were millions of people gathering there: a bizarre, heterogeneous mixture of two large groups of people, supporters and protestors, walking next to each other, each one having a nervous look at the face of the other. A spark was needed to ignite the whole crowd. Some comrades, whom we saw by accident, had the same feeling: being lost and lonely. Like former protests, we hoped that somewhere, someplace, some people may have sorted out some sort of protests. We wandered for hours to find them. But nothing did really happen that day.

That day, the confused, wandering population of protesters was abused by the government as "their supporters". Was this the glorious achievement vowed by Iranian opposition activists, some even claiming the toppling of the ruling regime?

It was then that a series of vital questions needed to be answered.

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