Covert US strikes against alleged militants in Yemen have risen steeply during the Arab spring, and are currently at the same level as the CIA’s controversial drone campaign in Pakistan, a new study by the Bureau reveals. At least 27 US military and CIA strikes involving cruise missiles, aircraft, drones or naval bombardments have taken [...]
The Syrian uprising began as a largely peaceful protest movement calling for change in the wake of similar uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The unarmed protests continue — and are still met by gunfire from regime forces. On Friday, security forces opened fire on demonstrators at Aleppo University, killing a teenager. The U.N. said [...]
Within the first few months of 2011, the U.S. and its allies lost three loyal “friends”: Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, Zine el-Abbidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and Saad Hariri in Lebanon. While Mubarak and Ali were driven out of power by widespread popular uprisings, Hariri was ousted by the parliament. Inspired by these liberating developments, [...]
Efforts to build on a “very fragile” Syrian ceasefire are accelerating, with detailed plans to deploy UN observers within days being drawn up to keep up pressure on President Bashar al-Assad for a peaceful outcome to the bloodiest chapter of the Arab spring. Kofi Annan, the international envoy, has told the UN security council that [...]
Five weeks into his hunger strike, family members say Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, one of the best-known human rights activists in Bahrain, is now so weak that he can barely stand, according to a report in Al-Jazeera. Al-Khawaja and six others were given life sentences by the Bahraini government in what human rights groups have called an [...]
The White House revealed its plans to help the Arab Spring states on Monday. The grim outlook of the US economy and the continuing mass protests at home do not seem to deter Obama from nursing the countries that the US wants to see as heading to a better, truly “democratic” future. Nor does he [...]
World Report 2012: Strengthen Support for ‘Arab Spring’ Governments Should Support Rights, Not Abusive Allies (Cairo, January 22, 2012) — Many democracies have allowed their ties with repressive allies to temper their support for human rights in the Arab Spring protests, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2012. For reasons of principle [...]
As Egypt celebrates the first anniversary of the Tahrir Square demonstrations, we look to the literature coming out of the Arab world. Ahdaf Soueif explains what it is like to live in Tahrir Square, while the Guardian’s Ian Black – just back from in Syria – finds the books that offer the most nuanced picture [...]
Two very different political trajectories were evident in Egypt and Syria at the start of this week, offering timely comments on the condition of governance and politics in two of the most important Arab countries. Egypt inaugurated its newly elected parliament in which Islamists of various colours took 73% of the vote, while Syria woke [...]
While there are few doubts about the past achievements of Al Jazeera – and the valuable individual contributions of many of its reporters – urgent questions need to be asked regarding its current coverage of the so-called Arab Spring that began in December 2010. For more on this story, visit: Whatever Happened to Al Jazeera? [...]