Monthly Archives: October 2013

Qatar affirms its commitment to its Gulf Arab neighbors

October 31, 2024 by Lora Moftah in Middle East.

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Qatari Sheikh Tamim (C) in Doha on June 23, 2013. (AFP PHOTO/BERTRAND LANGLOIS)

The gesture is a significant one considering the tension between Qatar and its Gulf allies since the Arab Spring.

Israel’s settlement gamble

October 30, 2024 by Lara Vergnaud in Middle East.

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Palestinian labourers work on a construction site in Ramat Shlomo, a religious Jewish settlement in an area of the occupied West Bank Israel annexed to Jerusalem October 30, 2013.

Given Israel’s past reluctance to make territorial concessions – despite strong criticism from the international community – it is unlikely to budge now.

Egypt arrests man behind pro-atheist Facebook page

October 30, 2024 by Lora Moftah in Middle East.

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Egyptian Muslims pray in front of the Al Azhar Mosque, October 15 2013. (Ed Giles/Getty Images)

The arrest should challenge the idea that the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood has helped to put Egypt back on the road towards secularism.

Uruguay orders troops out of Haiti

October 29, 2024 by Lora Moftah in Americas.

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Haitians demonstrate in Port-au-Prince against the UN mission in Haiti on September 23, 2011. (AFP PHOTO/Thony BELIZAIRE)

The latest blow against the controversial U.N. mission which has been under fire for its role in sparking a cholera epidemic in Haiti.

What the Sutay release means for the FARC

October 29, 2024 by W. Alex Sanchez in Americas.

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A member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, guards the mountainous region of the department of Cauca, around Montealagre, Colombia, on February 15, 2024 after they released Colombian police officers Victor Alfonso Gonzalez and Cristian Camilo Yate. Leftist Colombian guerrillas on Friday released two police officers they had held for three weeks, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. The men were released in a rural area in Cauca department in southwestern Colombia and were in good health, the ICRC said in a statement.

Given the U.S. involvement in the Colombian conflict for the past decades, it makes some sense why the FARC would have regarded the presence of a U.S. citizen (a former Marine on top of all) deep in a conflict area as a potential threat.

Chinese journalist, newspaper reverse course on libel allegations

October 28, 2024 by Lara Vergnaud in Asia-Pacific.

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Journalist Chen Yongzhou, in handcuffs, is escorted by police officers at the Changsha Public Security Bureau detention centre in Changsha City, Hunan Province, in this still image taken from China Central Television (CCTV) video shot on October 25, 2013.

The reversal shocked many who had joined a media campaign in support of Chen, not least of all his employer, regional newspaper Xinkuai Bo.

Erdogan vows to protect the rights of atheists

October 28, 2024 by Lora Moftah in Europe.

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Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan addresses members of parliament on Cctober 8, 2013 in Ankara. (AFP PHOTO / ADEM ALTAN)

As much criticism as Erdogan has received for his Islamist agenda, it is still worth noting that he is almost certainly the only Islamist leader to ever publicly back the rights of atheists.

Can Bassem Youssef challenge Egypt’s polarized political discourse?

October 25, 2024 by Lora Moftah in Middle East.

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Bassem Youssef waves to is supporters in Cairo, March 31, 2013. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)

It is inadvisable to be optimistic about anything in Egypt right now, but the popular comedian certainly has the platform and the potential to shift the discourse slightly.

Europe stuck on migrant question

October 25, 2024 by Lara Vergnaud in Africa, Europe.

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African migrants watch a memorial service for the deaths of hundreds of migrants in last week's Lampedusa boat disaster, in Tel Aviv October 12, 2013.

Despite the dangers of sea voyages, 7,500 migrants from Eritrea – a country supposedly at peace – made the journey to Italy this year, mirroring the number of refugees from war-torn Syria making the same trip.

U.S. policy on Syria a global corrosive

October 25, 2024 by David A. Andelman in Middle East, U.S..

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US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks about the situation in Syria from the Treaty Room at the State Department in Washington, DC on August 30, 2013. Kerry declared Friday that international failure to take military action against Syria over its chemical weapons attacks would embolden Iran and Hezbollah. "This matter also goes beyond the limits of Syria's borders," he said, in a statement that left little doubt that US military action against Syria was imminent. "It's about whether Iran, which itself has been a victim of chemical weapons attacks, will now feel emboldened in the absence of action to obtain nuclear weapons. It's about Hezbollah and every other terrorist group that might contemplate the use of weapons of mass destruction."

This effect that appears to have been utterly unanticipated by the White House.

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