Iraq Feature: When A Country's Leaders Refuse to Speak to Each Other.... (Schmidt/Arango)

Nuri al-Maliki & Ayad Allawi (Photo: Reuters)Fifteen months after an election that was supposed to lay the groundwork for Iraq’s future, the government remains virtually paralyzed by a clash between the country’s two most powerful politicians, who refuse to speak to each other.

The paralysis is contributing to a rise in violence, and it is severely complicating negotiations on the most difficult and divisive question hanging over the country: Whether to ask the United States to keep a contingency force here after the scheduled withdrawal of American troops at the end of the year. The longer the deadlock persists, the harder it becomes for the American military to reverse or slow the withdrawal of the roughly 48,000 troops, the pace of which will pick up over the next few months.

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Iran Essay Contest (2nd Place): The Prospect of Change

If the Green Movement will follow the examples of the social movement in the Arab countries, widening its appeal and determining its political, economic and social platform, the situation might turn favorably for the opposition movement. It is also particularly important to not exclude the key role that the international community and its coercive vs. engagement policy towards the Islamic Republic play in the domestic game. The progressive substitution of the dual track policy of sanctions and negotiations with an approach more oriented towards dealing with the violation of human rights in Iran might completely change the cards on the table.

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The Latest from Iran (27 June): Messages for the Hunger Strikers

1750 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. MP Mohammad Dehghan has tried to check the move towards possible impeachment of President, saying that members of the Board of Parliament do not believe questioning Ahmadinejad is favourable for the country.

Dehghan said he will talk with Ali Motahari, one of the leaders of the petition to interrogate the President.

1735 GMT: Elections Watch. Ahmad Salek, the speaker of the principlist Motalefeh Party, has warned that reformists and the "deviant current" want to divide principlists. He said 60 of 80 provincial candidates had fallen prey to the scheme.

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Turkey After the Elections: A Deadlock in the Kurdish Opening?

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) ended up with less than 330 MPs out of 550 in the Parliament, short of the "super-majority" which would enable the AKP to amend the Constitution without resistance.

Meanwhile, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, declared that passive resistance, rather than armed conflict, would continue if two conditions were met: a halt to Turkish military operations and engagement with his leadership, reaching out to the militants and urging them to accept a democratic solution. 

Both these headline developments are now accompanied by other manoeuvres.

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Syria Feature: Will Aleppo Rise? (Macleod/Flamand)

On the surface, all seems calm in Syria's second city.

Traffic and tourists might not be bustling along Aleppo's ancient thoroughfares in the abundance they once did, but to a casual observer there appears little sign that the turmoil of Syria's four-month old uprising has made much of an impact on its largest city.

But talk to shopkeepers, hotel managers and traders in Aleppo's famous covered souk and one soon finds grumblings of dissent. 

For in the Syrian capital of commerce, no one is making money anymore, threatening to undermine the key pillar of a long established pact between Aleppo's Sunni merchant class and the imposed stability of the Alawite-led regime.

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Iran Essay Contest (3rd Place): Integrating Human Rights --- Politics, Sexual Orientation, and Poverty

This is not just a problem for the excluded group in question, be it sexual minorities or the poor. It has implications for how our civil society envisions a new culture that is respectful of difference, and values equality and diversity. We cannot claim to work for creating a human-rights oriented system that would respect the fundamental rights of its citizens to personhood, privacy, freedom and equality, but remain indifferent to --- worse yet, supportive of --- structures that either fail to recognize the right of all humans to human rights or fall short of empowering all humans to meaningfully claim and exercise their rights.

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Yemen Feature: A Splintered Opposition? (Ahmed)

Dissident Military Join Protesters in Sana'a, May 2011Since President Ali Abdullah Saleh's departure immediately after the presidential palace was attacked June 3, tensions within Change Square have become more visible. Many demonstrators in [the capital] Sana'a are now turning their attention towards their leadership, which is comprised of twenty individuals collectively known as the organising committee.

The committee handles the logistics and coordinates demonstrations on behalf of demonstrators. Its critics accuse it of marginalising the voice of the youth while monopolising the decision making. Salah al-Sharafi, founder of the Union of Movements for Independent Youth, says that many of the youth have tried to voice their concerns to the committee, but to no avail.

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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Grind of the Fight

Protesters in the Barzeh section of the Syrian capital Damascus are beaten and put in the trunks of cars (see 0615 GMT)

2040 GMT: A series of developments in Syria tonight after the meeting of opposition activists and intellectuals in Damascus....

About 200 people attended the discussion. Lawyer Louay Hussein, one of the organisers, declared, "The tyrannical regime in power must go. We are here to speak openly and freely. The political system may fall and we must work from now to prevent society from crumbling."

In a joint statement, the participants declared that they would be "part of Syria's peaceful uprising for freedom and democracy and pluralism to establish a democratic state through peaceful means".

However, some Syrians abroad rejected the initiative. "I think the people meeting today are grooming themselves to be a part of that, but they are independents so they don't represent any of the main opposition fronts and coalitions," said Anas al-Abdah, London-based head of the Damascus Declaration's "abroad chapter". The group, one of Syria's best-known opposition groups, boycotted Monday's meeting as it "convenes with the agreement and consent of the Syrian security services".

Syrian authorities have set a date for a "national dialogue" beginning 10 July.

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The Latest from Iran (26 June): When Arrests Are "Normal"

2000 GMT: Reformist Watch. MP Dariush Ghanbari has given an indication that reformists --- or at least those allied with him --- will participate in the 2012 Parliamentary vote, saying they have "serious plans" for the elections.

1910 GMT: The Hunger Strikers. Kalemeh reports that two of the six hunger strikers at Rajai Shahr Prison, Masoud Bastani and Isa Saharkhiz, have been transferred to the infirmary.

Earlier today (see 1650 GMT) Isa Saharkhiz's son Mehdi said his father was in "critical condition" after three days on hunger strike.

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Libya Feature: Insurgent Victory in the Western Mountains? (Kirkpatrick)

Until a few weeks ago, the rebellious towns in the Nafusah Mountains were struggling to survive on dwindling supplies of barley, water and gas during a long siege by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s soldiers.

But after an improbable series of military victories over the past three weeks — with fewer than 100 rebel fighters killed, their military leaders say — residents of a broad area in this mountain region are celebrating virtual secession from Colonel Qaddafi’s Libya. While there have been defeats, and the Grad rockets of Colonel Qaddafi’s forces still menace the outskirts of Nalut near the Tunisian border and Yafran to the east, rebels point hopefully to the growing stability of the towns under their control as evidence of how tenuous Colonel Qaddafi’s grip may be.

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