Middle East

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US Played Secret Role in Mideast Uprisings

Trained movement leaders in political organizing, prompting Arab governments' suspicions

(Newser) - While the US was spending billions to support Middle Eastern governments, it was also funding groups pushing democracy in the region—organizations that helped train some of the leaders of the recent uprisings, the New York Times reports. Groups funded by the National Endowment for Democracy, which promotes democracy in...

Secret Hand in Syria Crackdown: Iran

And it may soon help protesters in Bahrain, Yemen

(Newser) - Iran has a hand in the revolutions currently sweeping the rest of the Arab world. In Syria, Iran is secretly assisting President Bashar al-Assad to quell the pro-democracy demonstrations, US officials say. But in Bahrain and Yemen, Iran is looking to aid Shiite protesters, thus destabilizing the countries—both US...

Syria's Cabinet Resigns Amid Unrest

President Bashar Assad expected to lift emergency law

(Newser) - Syria's Cabinet has stepped down, and President Bashar Assad accepted the resignation following a meeting today, according to state-run television. It's the latest concession by the government aimed at appeasing more than a week of mass protests. Assad is expected to address the nation in the next 24 hours to...

Blast at Yemen Weapons Factory Kills 78

Devastating explosion signals deepening chaos

(Newser) - The seizure of a munitions factory yesterday by Yemen militants turned tragic today when looters set off an accidental explosion, killing at least 78. With President Ali Abdullah Saleh clinging to power and battling protesters, Islamist militants are getting increasingly aggressive, reports the AP, and today's explosion only served...

Mideast Regimes Use US Software to Censor Web

Firms cite lack of control over how products are used

(Newser) - Behind Middle Eastern governments' censorship of the Web, an uncomfortable reality—US products help do the dirty work. Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia use filtering programs by McAfee; other US and Canadian firms have sold Web-filtering technology to Yemen and Qatar, among other countries, the Wall Street Journal reports. The...

Yemeni Militants Seize Weapons Factory

Security degenerates as president battles protesters in capital

(Newser) - Islamic militants seized control of a weapons factory, a strategic mountain, and a nearby town in the southern Yemen province of Abyan today, as a political stalemate over the fate of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the capital causes security to unravel around the country. Saleh's fate is of deep...

Yemen President Again Vows to Leave After Election

Meaning in 2012; Leaves US with no good options in al-Qaeda stronghold

(Newser) - Pressured by the defection of some of his top military commanders, Ali Abdullah Saleh has once again promised to step down—eventually. The longtime Yemeni president said today he would leave office “constitutionally” following an election at the end of this year or the beginning of 2012, the Christian ...

Israeli Aircraft Strike Gaza
 Israeli Aircraft Strike Gaza 
Mar 22, 2011 8:19 AM CDT

Israeli Aircraft Strike Gaza

Six sites damaged in response to rocket fire

(Newser) - The Israeli military struck a series of Palestinian militant targets in the Gaza Strip today, damaging two smuggling tunnels, two weapons manufacturing and storage facilities, and two other militant sites. Palestinian officials said 19 people were wounded. The attacks were in response to a barrage of 56 mortar shells and...

Iraq Protests Draw Thousands

Security extraordinarily tight

(Newser) - Thousands of people took to the streets across Iraq today, despite a distinctly intensified security effort. About 2,000 gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square for example, even though the route there was blocked with razorwire and dozens of checkpoints, the LA Times reports. Protesters waved images of Baghdad’...

Arab Uprising Vindicates Bush

 Arab Uprising 
 Vindicates Bush 
Charles Krauthammer
Mar 4, 2011 3:08 PM CST

Arab Uprising Vindicates Bush

Rather than denounce us, protesters want America's help: Krauthammer

(Newser) - A lot of people are calling for a US military intervention in Libya, which strikes Charles Krauthammer as odd, since the world so condemned the US for taking out Saddam Hussein. “Hussein’s evil was an order of magnitude beyond Gadhafi’s,” Krauthammer writes in the Washington Post...

Yemeni President Agrees to Resign

Strikes deal with protesters to stay until end of year

(Newser) - Yemen’s president has agreed to a deal with opposition leaders that will usher him out of office by the end of the year—instead of by his previous 2013 deadline. A government official said, without elaborating, that the sides had reached “common ground” on a deal. Opposition leaders...

Omani Protesters Burn Buildings, Block Port

Unofficial death toll rises to 6

(Newser) - The unofficial death toll in Oman rose to six over the weekend, as hundreds of demonstrators in Sohar blocked roads leading to a port and a refinery, reports Reuters . A supermarket was looted and burned, two government buildings were also set on fire, and protesters raided a police station to...

In Revolution, Dignity Returns to Arab World

After decades of repression, Arabs feel liberated, as one

(Newser) - There's blood and chaos in the revolutions wracking the Arab world, but there's also a new dignity and hope rising from the smoldering ashes of years of repression, reports Jeffrey Fleischman in the LA Times. Such feelings were an important part of the pan-Arabism of the 1950s, but decades of...

Arab Awakening Embarrasses Al-Qaeda
 Arab Awakening 
 Embarrasses 
 Al-Qaeda 
OPINION
Feb 25, 2011 1:31 PM CST

Arab Awakening Embarrasses Al-Qaeda

Jihadis had nothing to do with any of this

(Newser) - Change is sweeping across the Middle East, and you can bet al-Qaeda is grinding its teeth over it. Why? “Because Jihadists have played no role whatsoever in the great revolution,” writes Yassin Musharbash for Der Spiegel . The uprisings have exposed the fact that, “contrary to the propaganda...

As Mideast Seethes, Saudis Stand Alone

Kingdom feels encircled by enemies around the region

(Newser) - Popular unrest roiling the Middle East is is rocking the ultra-rich, ultra-conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia, leaving its rulers feeling isolated both from regional allies and the United States alike, reports the New York Times . King Abdullah has called President Obama at least twice to voice his concerns about Egypt,...

Bahrain Getting Its Tear Gas From...

...Britain, and some politicians aren't happy about that

(Newser) - Some politicians in the UK aren't happy about the "Made in Britain" labels on the tear gas, smoke canisters, and stun grenades being used to crush protests in Bahrain and elsewhere in the Arab world, the Independent reports. The British government approved the export of large amounts of crowd-control...

To Stop Iran's Nukes, Back the Protesters

US should back democracy in a changing Middle East: Ray Takeyh

(Newser) - If the US wants to change Iran’s behavior, there’s only one way: back the Green Movement protesters. “The Middle East is undergoing one of its most momentous transformations since achieving independence from imperial rule,” writes Ray Takeyh in the Washington Post . Ideologues are on the way...

Mideast Scrambles as Protests Spread

Some use carrots, other sticks to respond to growing unrest

(Newser) - Mubarak has stepped down in Egypt, but other states around the Middle East and North Africa are scrambling to keep the lid on their simmering populations, trying combinations of reforms and crackdowns, reports the Los Angeles Times . Algeria responded to protests Saturday with thousands of police officers, and Iran has...

Al-Jazeera Seizes Its Moment
 Al-Jazeera Seizes Its Moment 
Jan 28, 2011 7:48 AM CST

Al-Jazeera Seizes Its Moment

The Qatar-based channel is tapping Arab anger around the Middle East

(Newser) - Protests are spreading across the Middle East, from Tunisia to Egypt to Yemen, and the common thread in all of them is al-Jazeera, reports the New York Times . The Qatar-based news outlet has been aggressively reporting on all the unrest around the region, helping to shape a story of populist...

The New Mideast: Less Ideology, More Practical

Corruption, law, services are the issues driving debate

(Newser) - Spurred on by the successful revolution in Tunisia, activists across the Middle East are moving away from ideology and theology, in favor of more practical and secular demands, such as ending government corruption, instituting the rule of law, and easing economic suffering, reports the New York Times . “Ideology now...

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