Earthquake off the coast of Yemen: Update I: Clusters Suck

There have been more earthquakes near Yemen.  The first appears to have happened on Sunday, followed by several others.  There have been so many that's I'm having trouble getting them all organized, so if you're interested, go to http://earthquake.usgs.gov/search/ and type in Yemen, in the search field.  There's less than a dozen, so far, and all of them are around 5.0.  I found a list of all the earthquakes for the past week, and there are around 30 of them near the Yemeni coast.  Most of them happened on Sunday.  They were mostly in the 4.5 - 5.0 range.  If you count the ones closer to Djibiouti, then there are even more of them.  No word on any high waves.  No idea on when this will stop either.  I am not an earthquake or tsunami expert, but I would be a bit nervous if I lived on the coast.  At least the worst appears to be over now.


Edit: updated post

Earthquake off the coast of Yemen

There was a 4.7 earthquake off the coast of Yemen not long ago (h/t @yemenwatch).  Here's the map.  No further news yet.


edit:  added link to twitter

Daewoo Electronics Bought by Iranian Company

Entekhab Industrial Group just bought Daewoo Electronics.  Daewoo used to be a giant conglomerate who made everything from cars and electronics to AK-47s and supertankers.  They had some financial problems in the 1990s and several of their subsidiaries were spun off.  Daewoo Electronics was bought for about $518 million.

Top Stories November 15, 2010

Arab News (Saudi Arabia):  Mina reverberates with 'Labbaik' -Officially, about 2.5 million people are in Mina for the Haj. 

Daily Star (Lebanon):  Tribunal, arms aid on Hariri's Russia agenda -  Prime Minister Saad Hariri is visiting Moscow.

Haaretz (Israel):  Contentious Jerusalem construction taken off the agenda - The Prime Minister's bureau asked 2 committees to take the construction of 1,300 homes in Gilo off of their agenda.  Gilo is on the other side of the Green Line.

Turkish Daily News:  Istanbul animal bazaar overrun ahead of Feast of the Sacrifice - Tuesday is Kurban Bayram, when animals are sacrificed.  Istanbul has set up a big animal market, including mobile slaughterhouses, to handle the traffic.

Tripoli Post (Libya):  CAF Confederation Cup: So Near, Yet So Far for Ittihad as they Miss Final on Away Goals Rule - Ittihad won their game (soccer), but did not have enough total goals to progress to the next level.

Women's News November 14, 2010

A lot of stuff happening involving women this week.

Iran has arrested 5 lawyers.  Three of them are women.  They have been involved with human rights issues in Iran.  It is unclear where they are being held.

A female physician from Saudi Arabia, who is a breast cancer survivor, just finished a visit to Yemen, where she promoted breast cancer awareness for Yemeni women.

The UN Refuge Agency will be working with the Yemeni government to help train refugee women in technical and vocational education.

Yemen will also be joining the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.  The protocol started in December 2003.

Facebook Blocked in Saudi Arabia: Update I

Saudi Arabia is denying blocking FaceBook.  Apparently it was just technical problems.  Gosh, I hate it when that happens.

Hajj News

It's that time of year again.  The Hajj has started and people are flooding in to Saudi Arabia.  The Kingdom is trying to control the huge number of pilgrims, but illegal ones are also getting in.  The Saudi's are going more high-tech, by creating a light rail system to aid pilgrims.  It's not yet fully operational, but should be for next year.  The first part is called the Mecca Metro.  Really.  More rail info.

The president of Sudan has said he is going on Hajj this year.  He is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, but some African and Middle Eastern countries have refused to arrest him.  Since this is the Hajj, I expect Saudi Arabia to not arrest him as well.

The Saudis have also been preparing for attacks by al-Qa'eda.  According to Yahoo!:

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula responded with an Internet statement Sunday saying it would never target pilgrims and accusing the Saudis of spreading lies.

Hajj photo gallery on ArabNews.com

YemenWatch: Sunday November 14, 2010

There's a lot happening in Yemen right now, so this post will be rather long.

First of all, SabaNews (Yemen News Agency) has an interesting interview with one of President Saleh's advisers.  It's definitely worth a read.  His mind-set is a bit disturbing.

The Yemeni military is carrying out air strikes in northern Yemen, on areas where AQAP is suspected to be hiding.  This is happening around Sana'a.  I'll have to check, but I thought most of the fighting in this area was tribal, not AQAP.

Last YemenWatch I linked to an article from a Kuwaiti paper saying that many al-Qa'eda leaders from Afghanistan were now in Yemen.  The Yemeni government (a "security source") is unofficially saying that's not true, and calling for the media to be more accurate.

Germany will now allow passenger flights from Yemen.  Last week they had banned all flights, so Yemen invited them to check their new security procedures at Sana'a airport.  A German team did that, so now passenger flights are re-allowed.

On September 13th a liquid-natural gas (LNG) pipeline from Marib to Shabwa was blown up.  AQAP just released a video claiming credit for that.

The American who moved to Yemen and was arrested for terrorism has been tortured.  Which appears to be typical for Yemeni jails.  What is interesting is that according to the Yemen Post:  "He is now being trialed not on terror charges, but for killing a soldier. Yemeni government has said that there is no proof that Mobley is linked to terrorism."   I really don't know what is going on with this situation.  Is he really a terrorist, or is this some person who was easy to accuse, and then tried to escape from his captors and killed one of them?  His wife is really upset, and says the US embassy is not helping much.

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Separatists staged a protest in Shabwa province, demanding that one of their leaders be released from prison.  Four of them were arrested.  The overall leader of the separatist movement seems to be Ali Salem Al-Baidh, who used to be vice-president of Yemen.  He is currently in exile, probably in Germany.

There was a large fire in Aden over the weekend.  The 4th one this year.  Supposedly it was started by an electrical malfunction, but who knows.  Considering the state of affairs in Aden and southern Yemen, it could just as easily be separatists.  Of course, it could just as easily be a short-circuit.  It's really hard to tell what's actually happening in Yemen.

Prisoners in Hudaydah province went on a hunger strike to protest their treatment.

A girl in Dhale province was killed when a clock sent to her father blew up, as she plugged it in.

My Very Own Bookstore

Thanks to Amazon, and some help from a friend, The Ali Gator Blog now has its very own bookstore on Amazon:  http://astore.amazon.com/aligat-20  It's an affiliate store, so if you buy something from there, they'll send me a kickback....er...affiliate bonus or something like that.  (Apparently the world does run on baksheesh!)  You can also click through my store to Amazon.com and I think they'll send me money for those purchases as well.  Enjoy!

edit:  It's still a bit small right now, but I'll be adding to it over time.

Egyptian Elections Upcoming

The Egyptian elections are set to start at the end of the month.  Their electoral commission has until tomorrow to finish vetting all the candidate applications.  There were a lot this year:  5,720.  There were calls for a boycott by Mohamed ElBaradei, but he's mostly been ignored this year.  There have been rumors about Hosni Mubarak's son being his successor, but, at least for the moment, Gamal Mubarak is saying no.  He is part of his father's National Democratic Party, which met a few days ago to discuss the elections.

Where is Israel? Update I

Remember the boycotted performing arts center?  Some politicians want to cut the artists' funding, because of the boycott.  Now there is an online petition supporting the artists doing the boycott.

This goes straight to something we've been talking about on this blog:  freedom of speech.  Some performers are upset about a new arts center, that is built in a town on the other side of the Green Line, in the West Bank.  So these people are boycotting it.  Apparently the right-wing Israeli politicians don't believe you should be allowed to have an opinion that disagrees with them.  So these politicians are trying to get rid of any government funding for said boycotters.  So much for democracy in Israel.

Facebook Blocked in Saudi Arabia

Supposedly this is only temporary.  As you can imagine, the entire concept of Facebook goes against many of the Kingdom's values.  Men and women can easily speak on FB and there are a ton of "morally" bad groups to join and topics to talk about.  Although, hey, in good news, the high court rejected the death sentence for a convicted Lebanese sorcerer.

New Flotilla Scuttled by Greed?

A Greek ship is being held in Greece, after leaving Libya.  The story is a bit confusing, but it seems as though there were activists, who gathered in Libya, to send aid to Gaza.  Then something happened, maybe a payment dispute, and the Greek ship's captain decided not to let any more of them on board, but some went ahead and jumped on board.  The ship left harbor and was then followed by the Libyan navy, until the Greek navy took over.  The British aid workers who made it on board are a bit concerned for their situation.  The remaining group in Libya is currently stranded, as their passports were confiscated.  More updates as information becomes available.

Atheist Blogger Arrested

A West Bank man, Walid Husayin, has been arrested for insulting Islam.  He has spent several years blogging anonymously about atheism, starting up Facebook pages making fun of Islam, and even saying that he was God.  The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank set up a sting and arrested him last month.  He's in trouble for heresy and could be in jail for life.

I don't agree with everything every blogger says, but I do believe in Freedom of Speech.  And that freedom is sorely lacking in the Middle East.  This is a case that could mess up a lot of hard work.  Many Middle Eastern nations have so little free speech, that just opening the door a crack has been hard to do.  Throwing the door open all the way for an atheist may seem absurd.  So I can understand if free speech proponents stand down and distance themselves from the battle.  It's difficult for freedom of speech advocates who are Muslim to actively aid a man accused of heresy.  But if you truly believe in free speech, that is exactly what you should do.  I really wish this case hadn't happened at this point in time, because it's a lose-lose scenario for freedom of speech in the Middle East. 

The problem with Freedom of Speech is that if you believe in free speech, you have to believe in free speech for everyone.  I don't think the Middle East or Islamic countries are ready for that yet.  But I am still adding Walid Husayin to the list of jailed bloggers who need help.  This story is very recent, so I haven't seen anything about Husayin on Reporters Without Borders, but hopefully his story will show up there soon.

YemenWatch: Friday November 12, 2010

According to a newspaper in Kuwait, some Al-Qa'eda members who escaped Afghanistan to Iran have now escaped Iran and moved to Yemen, because of AQAP.  And a Kuwaiti spokesman for Al-Qa'eda has also moved to Yemen.  The newspaper says it got the information from a "confidential report" that was given to Gulf security officials.  

The Hajj starts next week, and Saudi Arabia is stepping up security in case of an AQAP attack.  And you may remember that last week some Yemenis on their way there died in a bus crash.

According to a new report out of Britain, the parcel bomb discovered there may have been disarmed "accidentally."

An American is in jail in Yemen for ties to AQAP and talking with Anwar Al-Awlaki.  He was hospitalized in March, and tried to escape, and killed a guard.

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Four Yemeni soldiers were injured when armed men attacked a checkpoint in Dhale province.  This seems to be part of the separatists attacks, not AQAP.

Four other people were killed in Abyan province on Monday, part of various ongoing tribal clashes.  According to the article "the government had chosen and intended to keep silent about the incident."

An electrical room at a sports stadium in Aden, that is part of the Gulf Cup facilities, caught on fire.  It caused a power outage for about an hour.  There were a lot of smoke and flames at the stadium, which supposedly were part of a drill for firefighters and security staff.

Turkish Head Scarf Ban Harms Women?

New evidence suggests that banning headscarves may actually hurt women's employment chances.  Those who choose to wear a headscarf are discriminated against, intentionally or unintentionally, by not being able to hold government jobs, or taking lower-paying jobs, and sometimes being unable to find a job at all.  Apparently this may be hurting all women's employment, as the employment rate for women in Turkey has decreased over the years, while in other Muslim countries it has increased.

Personally, I believe wearing or not wearing a headscarf is a personal choice.  It should not be mandated or banned by the government of any country.  It it based on your religious beliefs and your upbringing.  I understand why Turkey has banned headscarves, because of its foundation as a secular nation.  But I believe that ban discriminates against women.  Now we have more proof about exactly what happens because of the ban.

Egyptian Blogger Beaten; Bahraini Bloggers Still Jailed

Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer was supposed to be released from prison last week after serving 4 years in jail for insulting Islam and Mubarak.  Instead, as he was transferred to the release area, he was re-arrested and beaten. 

While this is going on in Egypt, Bahraini bloggers Ali Abdulemam and Abduljalil Al-Singace are still in jail and being tortured.  Their trial is set to resume tomorrow (Thursday).

YemenWatch: Wednesday November 10, 2010

The French Ambassador met with the Minister of Transportation, to let everyone know that France-Yemen flights will not be affected by the AQAP parcel bombs.

Egypt and Qatar offered support for Yemen's "unity and stability."

Eighty-nine Yemenis are still at Guantanamo Bay, and since the parcel bombs, who knows when they may ever be released.

The journalist on trial for allegedly supporting AQAP has had his trial adjourned, again, for an unknown period of time.

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The Djibouti Code of Conduct meeting finished today.  I'm really not sure if anything concrete came out of it.

The GCC formed a commission to inspect the sports facilities in Yemen, ahead of the Gulf Cup which should be held there soon.  Security is being inspected, and as of now, the event is still on.

Women's News November 9, 2010

Women in Jordan are running for office.  Unfortunately, they rarely succeed.  Currently, a quota system is in place so that there are at least a few women in the parliament.  Some women are pressured by their family or tribe not to run for office.  And even if they do run, most do not get enough votes to win a seat in parliament.  Women have made some strides, in employment positions, but Jordan is one of those countries where women are still murdered as part of "honor killings," and in many ways, women are still dependent upon their husbands.

As many as 2 million Yemeni children don't go to school - and most of them are girls.  Yemen is a very poor country, so many children face malnutrition, and have to work as well.  Human rights organizations are worried about a possible increase in child-trafficking too.  There is also a very large urban-rural divide in Yemen.  In rural areas, only 13% of girls go to school, compared to 69% for boys.

The First Lady of Turkey wears a headscarf.  You may remember that being a point of contention when her husband was first elected.  Now she has gone on record as saying that girls should not be forced to wear headscarves at a young age; they should decide once they are old enough to understand the situation.  I am very glad to hear her say that, because that is something that has been bothering me for a while.  From what I understand about Islam, girls do not start wearing a headscarf, or covering up, until they reach puberty.  So why do some countries force 3-year-old girls to cover themselves?  If that is a tribal law that has become a national law, surely you could fight that on the basis of Islamic law?

Journalism as Jihad

Journalism can be a scary profession in some parts of the world, especially the Middle East.  Gaddafi just ordered that 19 journalists, who were arrested several days ago, to be released.  According to Reporters Without Borders, there are a great many problems for journalists in the Middle East.  Hundreds left Iraq during the war because of death threats.  But even in peace time, journalists are threatened by governments and high-ranking people in power.  Egypt is issuing new licenses for satellite TV uplinks, in an effort to control the media. 

It takes a lot of courage to print the truth when you know you could be arrested and tortured for it.  I feel very lucky to be blogging from America, because many bloggers in the Middle East have also been jailed for speaking their minds.  I include them as journalists quite simply because some of them are, and even those who aren't "technically" journalists, have proven themselves over the long term by staying true to their principles.  Let us not forget those who are currently imprisoned, often illegally.  Reporters Without Borders has information available in several languages, including Arabic and Farsi.

YemenWatch: Monday November 8, 2010

It looks like things may be settling down a bit in Yemen.  If it continues, I'll slow down YemenWatch to a few times a week.

The Customs Authority in Yemen is instituting new security measures for the international airport in Sana'a.

Anwar Al-Awlaki released a video today calling for Muslims to kill Americans.  He told them not to worry about consulting anyone else, such as religious leaders.  All of which shows how al-Qa'eda does not truly understand real Islam.  I realize I am not a religious expert either, but it doesn't take one to see how al-Qa'eda is warping the Qur'an to its own purposes.

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There are still some parliamentary problems going on in Yemen.

In March, Somali pirates captured a ship with Yemeni crewmen on board.  They have been held captive since then.  The human rights agency HOOD said they were just told that one of the men committed suicide.  They are asking President Saleh to pay the $1 million ransom so the men will be released.  Otherwise the pirates are threatening to kill them.

UN representatives visited a displaced persons camp in Hajjah province.

The Minister of Agriculture met with representatives from USAID, about cooperation to improve Yemeni agriculture.

Where is Israel?

The Israeli government just approved new construction plans for 1,300 apartments in East Jerusalem.  And, of course, this happens just as Netanyahu (the prime minister) is in the US to try and have peace talks with the Palestinians.  I've come to the conclusion that the Israeli government does not want peace.  If it did, it would not go through such blatant attempts at antagonizing the Palestinians.  There's this thing called "diplomacy" which involves some give and take on both sides.  From what I can tell, Israel subscribes to the "give it to us or else we'll just take it" group.  They are constantly asking the Palestinians for concessions, but don't want to make any of their own.  And the few times they do promise concessions, they do not follow through on them.  This entire process is a farce.

That said, at least some of the Israeli people want peace.  A new performing arts center opened in Ariel, in the West Bank.  And many Israeli artists are choosing to boycott it.  The West Bank was captured by Israel in 1967 and both Israel and Palestine lay claim to it.  Lieberman is threatening the artists with losing government funding if they insist on the boycott.

edit:  I just found a link to a great article from the New York Review of Books:  The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment.  It's from this past summer, but definitely worth reading.

Top Stories November 8, 2010

Azzaman (Iraq):  Iraq's Basra reaps more than $800 million from petrodollar project - Some of the money has already been transferred to the province.  According to the article "Under the petrodollar scheme, each Iraqi province is entitled to one dollar from each barrel of oil it produces."  Is that normal?  Because I thought they would get more than that.

Daily Star (Lebanon):  Israel to quit northern Ghajar: Lieberman - In the 2006 war, Israel occupied the northern part of Ghajar.  UN Security Council Resolution 1701 calls for Israel to withdraw.

Haaretz (Israel):  Netanyahu to Biden: Sanctions are not stopping Iran's nuclear program -This could be bad:

Netanyahu said that a credible threat of military action is the only way to ensure that Iran will rethink its nuclear program. According Israeli estimates, the only time that Iran stopped its nuclear program was in 2003, when Iran believed there was a threat of military action.

Turkish Daily News:  EU progress report criticizes pressure on Turkish press - Turkey has had some problems lately with freedom of the press, although there has been more open debate over some issues.

YemenWatch: Sunday November 7, 2010

Anwar Al-Awlaki, his cousin, and another man are on trial in Yemen, although Al-Awlaki is still at large.

AQAP denied bombing the Wahda Sports Club in Aden.  You may remember this bombing from several weeks ago.  A group called al-Harak had already claimed credit (my post).  AQAP has claimed credit for the recent parcel bombs, including the bombing of a UPS flight on September 3rd off this year.  The UAE will investigate, although currently they are saying there was no sign of an explosion.

The UAE has banned air cargo from Yemen on its airlines, following the lead of other countries.

According to the Yemen News Agency, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament said that the US and Yemen have a great relationship, and the US ambassador returned the compliments.

The US says it could train Yemenis to fight AQAP, but this could backfire and feed AQAP or the insurrectionists.  Many Yemenis are already upset about US drones in their country (especially when civilians are killed).

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On Monday a conference starts in Sana'a.  It's the Djibouti Code of Conduct signatories.  The code is about stopping the rampant piracy off the coast of Africa and Yemen.  The following countries are taking part in the conference:  Yemen, Djibouti, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Eritrea, Sudan, Jordan and United Arab Emirates.  Observers include Kenai, Tanzania, South Korea, the Netherlands, France, and the European Commission.  There will also be experts from the EU and the International Maritime Organization.

Out of town

My apologies.  A friend asked me to go out for the weekend, but I did not realize we would be in the middle of nowhere.  I tried to update on my cell phone yesterday, but it doesn't seem to have worked.  I can't even get cell reception at my hotel!!!  I will be home Sunday afternoon, so I will try to recap the last few days then.  But don't count on any posts until then.  Again, my apologies

Iranian Woman Still in Peril

Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani is still in jail in Iran and may die soon.  She was convicted of adultery, and sentenced to death by stoning.  That was suspended, but she was also convicted of her husband's murder, because the man she committed adultery with was convicted of it.  That carries a hanging sentence.  Currently, her son and her lawyer are both in jail too, although it's unclear why. 

YemenWatch: Thursday November 4, 2010

A car bomb exploded in Dhale province.  It looks like it was meant to kill a security officer, but was detonated near a market where it killed 2 people.

Yemeni troops in Abyan are preparing to fight AQAP at the town of Jaar.

The South Korea ambassador to Yemen met with the Interior Minister to discuss security.

The Yemen envoy to Russia pointed to the bomb in Athens as proof of "hands destabilizing world peace and security:"

"All terrorist acts inside Yemen came from outside its own borders. Yemen has given many sacrifices for the elimination of terrorism, with more than 100 troops and security killed during the terror operations." 

edit: added link for Jaar article

Nuclear Iran

Iran is getting closer to nuclear weapons.  According to Israel, it has enough nuclear material for one bomb and should be able to make a second one soon.  Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad still says Iran only wants nuclear material for energy production, and he accused the West of being arrogant.

Ahmadinejad is also upset with Russia for cancelling its military order.  Iran ordered S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia in 2007, but then the Russian president banned sales over the summer.  So Ahmadinejad wants Russia to pay a penalty for breaking the contract.

YemenWatch: Wednesday November 3, 2010: Part 2

The Pentagon has said that the US is not sending special forces to Yemen, to work under the CIA.  There was talk about that earlier in the week.

An AQAP fighter was killed in Abyan province, and a car full of explosives was found.

The military leader of AQAP is thought to be Qassim Al-Raimi.  He wants to get rid of the current Yemeni government and attack the United States.  He may be hiding in Marib province.  This is the man who has supposedly disguised himself as a woman at times.  He led an AQAP escape from a prison in Sana'a in 2006.

The G-20 Summit will be held in Seoul, South Korea next week.  According to the Yemen News Agency, the government of South Korea is getting ready in case of an attack by North Korea or Al-Qa'eda.

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A bus carrying Yemeni pilgrims on their way to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, rolled over.  One woman died and 27 people were injured.

YemenWatch: Wednesday November 3, 2010: Part 1

The British are now saying that the source on the two bombs was Al-Fayfi, the AQAP member who surrendered to Saudi Arabia over a month ago.  It has been pointed out that surely AQAP would have changed their plans after they learned he surrendered.


AQAP is warning Anwar Al-Awlaki's tribe not to cooperate with the Yemeni government who, along with the United States, is trying to capture or kill him.

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According to a Korean or KNOC official, an oil leak may have caught on fire and caused the pipeline to explode, not AQAP.  They are still investigating.  About 5000 barrels have been lost so far.

Yemen is supposed to have its next parliamentary election in April 2011, and the prime minister (Ali Mujawar) today stated that that was correct.  There have been several articles about that this week:

Mujawar made the statement during his meeting with the ambassadors of Arab States to Yemen. The meeting aims to acquaint the diplomats with the latest developments in the national dialog held between the General People Congress (GPC) and his alliances and the Joint Meeting Parties (JMPs) in addition to the circumstances of the suspicious packages sent to the USA and the fabricated media hype about them.

Egyptian Christians Face Danger

Al-Qa'eda Iraq claimed credit for the Church siege in Baghdad.  Now they are saying that some Coptic Christian women in Egypt have converted to Islam, but are being held prisoner by the Copts.  And if they are not released, then they will attack Christians in the Middle East.  Egypt is concerned because a huge Coptic festival that lasts 2 weeks started today, and they're expecting up to 2 million people.

More on Coptic Christianity courtesy of Wikipedia.

YemenWatch: Tuesday November 2, 2010: Part 2

The latest news says that AQAP caused the oil pipeline explosion.  According to the article, the pipeline is owned by the Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC).  Now, if you've been following YemenWatch on this blog, you may remember that some of the tribes were upset with a South Korean oil company (Oct 27 and Oct 29).  And yes, it is the same oil company, KNOC.  I haven't seen any articles about the resolution of that problem.  While it would not surprise me to see that AQAP had bombed the pipeline, it could just as easily be a tribal affair.

The Yemeni military is searching Maarib and Shabwa provinces, looking for Ibrahim Al-Asiri, the possible bomb maker.

President Obama and President Saleh spoke today about recent events.

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I don't know if this is related or not.  According to the Yemen News Agency, a bomb was found at the German Chancellor's office (in Germany), and was sent via UPS.

Also, a Syrian cargo ship caught fire off the coast of Yemen.

Suicide Bomber Hits Istanbul: Update I

The PKK was suspected of the bombing, but they denied it, and extended the ceasefire.  Now officials are saying the suicide bomber was a member of PKK and police are still investigating.  The government is getting flack from the Nationalist Movement Party and the Peace and Democracy Party over how it  handles the PKK.

YemenWatch: Tuesday November 2, 2010: Part 1

Yemen has decided to try Anwar Al-Awlaki in absentia.  He's somewhere in Yemen.  They also convicted 16 AQAP members in Hadramout province.  And journalist and terrorism expert Abdul Elah Haidar is on trial for allegedly working for AQAP and Al-Awlaki.

The Yemeni government is upset that the German government has banned Yemen's cargo flights.  Enjoy the quote:

Germany's ban on cargo flights coming through it was hasty, strange, exaggerating, harming its counterterrorism efforts and only serving Al-Qaeda.

The Prime Minister of Yemen met with EU ambassadors and declared that Yemen will not be a safe haven for Al-Qa'eda and Yemen's airport security is ready.

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An oil pipeline was bombed in Shabwa province.  No word yet on who is responsible.

edit: made this Part 1

YemenWatch: Monday November 1, 2010: Part 2

Ever since the attempted bombing there have been a lot of mainstream articles on Yemen.  Here's one about how AQAP is trying to recruit Westerners for home-grown attacks.  The article lists Americans who have joined or helped al-Qaeda.  Since one of them used language study as an excuse to enter Yemen, a side effect has been that many language schools there are almost out of business now.

The UAE is trying to track the serial numbers of some of the bomb components from the attempted bombing.

The latest hypothesis is that the bombs were never meant to reach Chicago, but were supposed to blow up the airplanes in mid-air.  One of the bombs was set to go off, but the other needed a cell phone to set it off.  According to the Germans, it would have really damaged the planes.  The Germans are now involved because one of the packages went through a UPS hub in Cologne/Koln.

The Yemeni college student finally has her name cleared; the man who processed the package at the shipping agency said it wasn't her.  For those of you unfamiliar with segregation of the sexes in many Middle Eastern countries, you may be amused to know that when the police stormed her house, it was police women who did it.

It really sounds like no one knows what is going on.  First the packages were letter bombs, now they were targeting the planes.  First an al-Qa'eda man who turned himself in to Saudi authorities told them about the bombs, then it was an anonymous tip just before the attempted bombings.  I'm not sure if there is a dearth of information, if everyone is incompetent, or if governments are obfuscating the issue so that AQAP can't figure out what is known.

Iraqi Church Siege Over: Upate II

The Christians in Iraq have had a rough time since the war started.  Now a bunch of them are dead because of the church siege.  According to recent reports, 41 Christians died (2 of them were priests) and 78 may have been wounded.  The monsignor of the church says only 25 were wounded, and another government official says 60.  At this point, I have no idea who is correct.  What we do know is that the Christian population of Iraq is rapidly shrinking.

YemenWatch: Monday November 1, 2010: Part 1

Officials and tribal leaders are saying that the break in the bombing scare came from an al-Qa'eda member who surrendered to Saudis last month. 

Fourteen 14 AQAP members just surrendered in Abyan province in Yemen. 

The Yemeni government is now saying they arrested the wrong woman. (I'm sure that makes her feel so much better about being tortured in custody.)  They are currently looking for a new woman suspect.

Women's News November 1, 2010

Princess Sabeeka, wife of the king of Bahrain, attended the 3rd Arab Women's Organization (AWO) conference in Tunisia.  She "stressed the importance of promoting Arab women as key partners in development amid global changes."

The World Economic Forum issues a Gender Gap Index every year.  For the last 3 years Yemen has been last, out of 134 countries, and this year was worse than 2008.  It's a very depressing issue for the organizations involved.  By contrast, the UAE ranked at 103, the best in the Middle East.  

In August, a cleric in Saudia Arabia issued a fatwa saying that female cashiers violated sex segregation.  The top government clerics are now endorsing his fatwa on banning female cashiers.  Just another step backward for Saudi Arabia.  More information here.

Iraqi Church Siege Over: Upate I

Wow.  It's amazing how things can change over night.  The news this morning says that 52 people died during the siege, and most of the deaths occurred when the security forces stormed the church.  They're not sure right now exactly who shot the hostages, but there are a lot of people dead and injured.  And Iraqi Christians are very concerned about their safety.

Top Stories November 1, 2010

Arab News (Saudi Arabia):  No preconditions for Riyadh talks: Saud - King Abdullah has invited the political parties in Iraq to visit and work out their problems.

Haaretz (Israel):  U.S. Jews on alert after parcel bomb addressed to synagogue - The 2 bombs discovered over the weekend were heading for a synagogue and Jewish organization in Chicago.

Turkish Daily News:  32 injured in bomb attack in Istanbul's Taksim Square - Already covered this in a previous blog post, and obviously still the main topic in Turkey.

Tehran Times (Iran):  Ahmadinejad directs central bank to lower forex rate -  Ahmadinejad wants to normalize the foreign exchange rate.

YemenWatch: Sunday October 31, 2010

The woman accused of sending the package from Yemen has been released by authorities.  She may have been tortured during her imprisonment.  She is an engineering student and the Yemeni Student Union wants a strike on Monday.  Her father insists she is innocent and has asked a human rights organization called HOOD to defend her (more info on HOOD).

Meanwhile, a bomb maker from Saudi Arabia is believed to be responsible for making the bombs and currently working with AQAP.

The Yemeni government has issued stricter security methods for outgoing packages.  And it turns out that one of the bombs was sent on a passenger plane.

Apparently the US is still trying to figure out what is going on in Yemen and how to help fight AQAP.

Juan Cole has a very long post about the attempted bombing by AQAP. 

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Other news from Yemen:
Ten Somali pirates were sentenced to 5 years in jail, for preying on Yemeni fishing boats.

According to HOOD, last week an Al-Jazeera journalist was arrested, and his cameraman beaten, while covering a trial in Aden.

edit: added Juan Cole link

Iraqi Church Siege Over

Last night gunmen attacked the Iraqi stock exchange, then took over a church after running from security forces.  One hundred people were held hostage for about 4 hours.  One or two policemen were killed, and about a dozen people were wounded.  One of the hostages may also have been killed (reports are conflicting).

Iraq has really become a dangerous place.  In general, I was all for the US troops getting out of Iraq.  But at the same time, I am worried that the Iraqi military and police forces may not yet be up to the job of securing Iraq.  It would be horrible if this turned into something like the civil war in Lebanon.  There are already problems between the Sunni and Shi'ites, with Iran right next door, and Syria has even gotten involved.  And the Kurds in the north would be happy to break away.  Throw in some al-Qa'eda militants and opportunistic criminals and mix vigorously.  It could take another decade for everything to settle down into some kind of stability.

Are American Jews Jewish?

Maybe not, according to ultra-Orthodox rabbis in Israel.  The ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel have a disproportionate amount of power there and are changing the face of Israel.  Or, as they see it, guarding the faith and not letting it be diluted.  This is a good article about some of the problems new immigrants to Israel are running into.

Suicide Bomber Hits Istanbul

The attack took place in Taksim Square, and injured 32 people - 15 of them were policemen.  Apparently the bomber was trying to get into a parked police van, and blew himself up right next to it.  This was the last day of a ceasefire by the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), which is outlawed, but it is not known if they are responsible.

YemenWatch: Saturday October 30, 2010

The big story is still the bombs found on the UPS and FedEx cargo flights.  Neither of those two agencies are taking packages in Sana'a at this point.  A government official is claiming that no UPS planes left Yemen, therefore Yemen can't be involved in the bombs.  But the government is also saying that the packages were sent by a woman, who has been arrested, and they are looking at other packages in Sana'a.  President Saleh has been speaking with the US, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan of the UAE, and Prime Minister Cameron of Great Britain.

The police in Dubai are saying it looks like the work of al-Qa'eda.

The UK is currently not allowing any direct flights from Yemen.

Yahoo! has an article on the overall situation for the US in Yemen.  And the Yemen Observer has an editorial about how the US is going about the fight.

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In other news from Yemen, two oil trucks traveling from Aden to Taiz were set on fire by gunmen.

YemenWatch: Friday October 29, 2010: Part 3

According to ABC News, there may be 15 packages containing explosives, and the US government is looking for them.  The terrorism expert for ABC keeps talking about how Yemen has more al-Qa'eda members than Afghanistan, but there are no American troops in Yemen.  I seriously hope that no one is thinking of invading liberating Yemen from AQAP.

As a point of context for these bombs:  Chicago is considered to be President Obama's hometown.  And the US elections are next week on Tuesday.

Great Britain is going to be checking Yemeni freight more now.  And the US is still looking to see if there is more to the plot.

Kudos to Obama for not changing his plans, which include heading to Chicago soon.  That is the biggest point I would like to make.  Since 9-11, Americans have lost a number of civil liberties, all in the name of security.  And many people are scared.  If you are scared, if you stop going on vacation, then the terrorists win.  If you are so paranoid, that everyone must be strip-searched before getting on an airplane, then the terrorists win.  If you think that Ground Zero should be some kind of shrine and no buildings should ever be built there, then the terrorists win.  The point of terror is to make people afraid and to make them change their way of life.  Well, guess what.  It looks like they're succeeding.

YemenWatch: Friday October 29, 2010: Part 2

President Obama just gave a short speech on television about the two bombs found, that were being sent to Jewish organizations in Chicago.  He also announced further efforts between the US and Yemen to eradicate AQAP.

This comes as the Yemeni military, with tribal help, finished its sweep of the al-Kur mountains in Shabwa province and announced that AQAP was no longer there.

A four-member AQAP cell is on trial in Sana'a.  One of them claimed that a military leader sometimes disguised himself as a woman to travel around Yemen.

AQAP Bomb Found in Dubai

A cargo shipment from Yemen, headed to the US was discovered to contain explosives.  The warehouse for that agency also had explosives.  Another package was discovered in England. 

Both were sent from the same address in Yemen to Jewish organizations in Chicago, U.S. officials said.

The Yemen branch known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has since become a leading source of terrorist propaganda and recruiting. Authorities believe about 300 al-Qaida members or cells operate in Yemen.

YemenWatch: Friday October 29, 2010

The Swedish engineer and driver who were kidnapped yesterday have already been released.  Yay!

Transparency International has a Corruption Perceptions Index.  Yemen was just ranked #146 out of 178 nations.  Somalia is the 178th.

In August, AQAP published a list of targets.  One of them is an intelligence officer who was just car-bombed in Abyan.  Luckily, it looks like the bombs were either found, or else no one was hurt when they went off.  The article doesn't specify what happened.

The tribes in Shabwa are still upset about the South Korean oil company.  Apparently they made some kind of truce with the local government, but then the government failed to follow through on its promises.  The entire fight revolves around the tribes wanting some job spots allocated to them, in the company.  Which seems to be how it usually works in Yemen.

There is a separatist movement in southern Yemen called Al-Harak.  They are the ones who attacked the sports club in Aden where the Gulf Cup will be held.  Al-Harak is saying:  "We will use all forms of peaceful struggle to thwart the football championship and Aden will be unsafe for it."

Bahraini Shi'ites Still on Trial

The 25 Shi'ites accused of plotting against the government claim they were tortured in jail.  That seems to be fairly typical of many Middle Eastern governments, and is often used to get confessions.  The article in the Gulf Daily News out of Bahrain is very small and says that media coverage has been banned.  Two other Bahrainis were arrested for anti-government posters showing pictures of men in jail (possibly some of the 25 Shi'ites?).  According to the Free Ali Facebook page, Ali's trial is adjourned until November 11th.

Let's hope the world will take notice of the suppression going on in Bahrain and do something about it.

YemenWatch: Thursday October 28, 2010

An American of Somali descent has been charged with murder.  He was originally arrested because of ties to al-Qa'eda, but while in the hospital he tried to escape and killed a guard.

A Yemeni journalist is on trial for being a "media adviser" to AQAP.  In 2009 he did an interview with Anwar Al-Awlaki for Al-Jazeera, and his specialty as a reporter is terrorism and AQAP.  Reporters Without Borders has ranked Yemen as #170 out of 178 countries, for freedom of the press.

In good news, new judges are being trained in judging cybercrimes:

Of the 150 being trained, the top ten will receive special legal training abroad, according to Al-Wazeer.

The training program is part of the five-year Yemen Justice and Policing Program, funded by UK aid from the Department of International Development (DFID), which is currently in its second year.

There's a temporary cease-fire for a tribal battle southeast of Sana'a.  These two tribes have been fighting for decades, but 6 people have been killed since Friday when the Bani Dhabyan sheikh was killed.

A Swedish engineer and his driver were just kidnapped in southern Yemen.  Luckily, it appears to be tribal and not AQAP.

Yahoo! has a really good article on the overall situation in Yemen, and the problems for President Saleh.  To me, it sounds almost like the American Wild West.

Egyptian Blogger Still in Jail

Blogger Adel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, known as Kareem Amer, has been held for almost 4 years now.  He is most of the way through his jail term.  You can sign a petition for his release at Reporters Without Borders.  This is yet another example of Egypt cracking down on public expression of criticism.

Shi'ites on Trial in Bahrain

The Bahraini government is putting 25 Shi'ites on trial for allegedly conspiring against the Sunni government.  You may remember that blogger Ali Abdulemam is also on trial.  This article finally mentions that he is a Shi'ite.  Also, another blogger, and activist, is on trial too: Abdeljalil Al-Singace.

Seventy percent of the Bahraini population is Shi'ite, but the ruling family and most of the government is Sunni.  Because of that, the rulers are paranoid about the Shi'ites taking over and being too close to Iran.  Most of those arrested are considered human rights activists and have probably been tortured.  This is really a deplorable state of affairs for Bahrain.  Many of the Gulf nations have slowly been expanding voting rights and civil liberties, but this is a huge step backwards for Bahrain.

Israel: US War Crimes

I found this extremely offensive.  First of all, I agree that the US was wrong and that too many Iraqis were hurt, killed, or even tortured in Iraq.  But for ISRAEL to start talking about US war crimes?  After everything they have done to the Palestinian people?  That is offensive! 

YemenWatch: October 27, 2010

Yemeni troops and local tribes are fighting AQAP all over Yemen, such as in Shabwa province.  Shabwa is east and north of Abyan, where the military is also working with the tribes, and Dalie is west of Abyan.  Although some tribes are helping in Shabwa, some are still upset with the South Korean oil company.

Meanwhile, there are parliamentary problems too.  The opposition party is calling for "freezing the dialogue" with the ruling party.  And merchants are upset with the Tax Authority in Sana'a and are calling for a fatwa against tax collectors.  In good news, the tribal problem with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor is over, and an ox was slaughtered in the customary manner.

There are ties between Yemen and Somalia, but now the Somali government is trying to claim an archipelago that currently belongs to Yemen.  I doubt this will affect the terrorist ties between the two nations, but it could cause further destablization if it escalates.

After the sporting venue attacks, Yemen has stepped up security for the Gulf Cup, bringing in 30,000 troops and 10,000 secret service.  If I was in the Yemeni government, I would be seriously concerned about this event.  It's not completely clear if AQAP or tribesmen were responsible for the previously prevented attacks.  But if AQAP is looking for a big event to make its presence known on the Arabian Peninsula, this would be the place. (Or it would make a great distraction.)

YemenWatch: Tuesday October 26, 2010

A Yemeni journalist who has interviewed al-Qa'eda leaders has been arrested and is on trial for helping the terrorist organization.  This is disturbing.  While it is possible that he is an AQAP supporter, it's also just as possible that the Yemeni government is simply cracking down on journalists who interview AQAP.  It isn't unusual for a government to be upset when someone interviews their opposition, especially if they are terrorists.

Approximately 15 militants surrendered in Abyan province yesterday.  They are suspected AQAP members.  Let's hope many more turn themselves in.

A suicide bomber blew himself up in Taiz province yesterday.  The article doesn't mention whether or not the bomber is AQAP, but this province is west of Abyan.

I will be adding a Yemen map to my sidebar, so you can see where everything is happening.

Women's News October 26, 2010

There is a history of sexual harassment in Cairo, and now women are taking things into their own hands.  A website called Harassmap is starting up.  Women will be able to go online or text information on areas of the city where they are being harassed.  This will help other women to avoid certain areas and may even highlight areas of severe harassment.

A Yemeni man tried to rape a woman in her apartment in the Abb province of Yemen.  Neighbors heard her screaming and began breaking down the door, at which point she got control of the rapist's gun and shot him in the head.  Good riddance.

Twitter Too!

I have decided that I will be using Twitter.  Sometimes I come across an article or comment that I like, but may not necessarily be post-worthy.  Or is slightly off-topic or something.  So now I can tweet them: @the_ali_gator

YemenWatch: Monday October 25, 2010

Wow - if this keeps up I may have a Yemen post every day.

A few days ago, American born Anwar al-Awlaki posted an AQAP video.  He's supposedly in the Shabwa province.  Which is where the Yemeni military is fighting AQAP and hiring the local tribes to help them, including the Awalik tribe (Al-Awlaki belongs to one of their branches).

To make things even more complicated, apparently some of the tribes in Shabwa are fighting the government because they want jobs at a South Korean oil company there.  Which is different from the tribes fighting the government in the Saada province.  As I've said before, Yemen is a mess right now, so don't travel there.

Top Stories October 25, 2010

Arab News (Saudi Arabia):  Global unity for peace and justice needed: King - King Abdullah met with ambassadors from several nations and welcomed them to the Kingdom.

Daily Star (Lebanon):  Jumblatt, Assad agree on need for calm dialogue - Jumblatt leads Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party.  He seems to be becoming more pro-Syria lately.

Haaretz (Israel):  Lieberman orders 'day after' plans for tackling nuclear Iran - The Israelis are preparing for a nuclear Iran, because they're becoming doubtful that Iran will be stopped.

Turkish Daily News:  Turkey's top religious authority seeks independent role - The head of Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate thinks that since Turkey is officially secular, there should be a separate, autonomous religious body.

Bahraini Elections

The elections are over in Bahrain, and the Shi'ites have won another seat in parliament.  You may remember from my previous post that a number of Shi'ites were arrested before the election and are awaiting trial for being part of a terrorist plot.  I don't know if there is any overlap between the Shi'ites and the "human rights defenders" that were arrested along with blogger Ali Abdulemam.

Now that the elections are over, I wonder what will happen to those arrested?  Will the Shi'ites quietly be released, or will they actually go on trial for plotting to overthrow the government?  I really don't know what will happen.

Now on Twitter!

I have signed up for a Twitter account:
http://twitter.com/the_ali_gator

I don't know if I'll be tweeting a lot or not, but at least I am now prepared.

You may also find me under Google Profiles:
http://www.google.com/profiles/the.ali.gator.blog

YemenWatch: Sunday Roundup October 24, 2010

There has been so much going on in Yemen that I do not know where to begin.

According to this report by the Yemen Post, the attacks at the sports club were done by a politician - the article doesn't mention AQAP at all.

A Yemeni intelligence officer was assassinated in the Hadramawt region of eastern Yemen this week.  A number of local politicians and officials have been killed.

The Yemeni foreign minister says there's only about 400 AQAP fighters in Yemen.  Which is plenty for guerrilla warfare.  Of course, these guys are trying to create an army and take over the country.

A British report says that the US may be unintentionally helping al-Qa'eda, because people see US funding and support as an attack against their country.  I think they are correct.  For a more blatant reason, when the US uses predator drones to bomb AQAP, it worries the nearby civilians.  Especially if when they miss.  But what else can the US do at this point?  They will continue with the funding.

[edit: added more Yemen info]
An American spokesman for al-Qa'eda has called for attacks in the US and Europe.

And a group of "international terror experts" expects a big attack by al-Qa'eda soon.  Unfortunately, the writer of the article does not mention who these experts are.  Their reasoning seems sound though:  the attacks in Yemen have been easy to carry out, so the next step is a larger attack, which is more impressive, but also more difficult.  If AQAP really wants to take over Yemen, they will have to step up their game.  And it only helps them when you hear stories like the following:

In addition, when we met General Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh (Head of the Counter Terror Unit) this month, he openly said that he does not have a problem with random U.S. attacks in Yemen. Yahya’s comments will be used by Al-Qaeda to show people that the current government is a tool in the hand of those who want to kill innocent citizens under claims that they are fighting Al-Qaeda, like those attacks that take place daily in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

YemenWatch: Yemen vs. Al-Qa'eda

I've decided to keep a closer eye on Yemen, because of the deteriorating situation there.  The Yemeni military is having major problems in Abyan province.  People are evacuating some towns and the government is using airstrikes against AQAP (al-Qa'eda Arabian Peninsula).  This is a really good article (in the Yemen Times) detailing what has been happening Abyan:

“We are engaged in what amounts to a guerrilla war with Al-Qaeda,” the deputy head of security in  the Abyan province town of Mawdia, Colonel Mohamed al-Khodr told AFP on Tuesday.

and

President Saleh blamed third world countries’ media and accused them of “blowing out of proportion” events in Yemen, which he termed as “rare and carried out by limited terrorist cells.” He added, “we know about them and our security is hunting them down as we speak.”

I do not believe that we are all blowing things out of proportion.  Several Yemeni officials have been assassinated, and a British diplomat was attacked too.  Yemen is in trouble, and Saleh is trying to hang on to his control.  If things continue this way, President Saleh is in danger of becoming like President Karzai of Afghanistan (the Mayor of Kabul) - he'll be the Mayor of Sana'a.  Yahoo! also has information about the situation.  So far, I have seen very little about this in the US media, I'm not sure why.  Even the BBC News website had nothing on their main Middle East page.

For all of the people out there who don't care what happens in Yemen, or don't see the danger: one of my friends pointed out that the African pirates operate in the Gulf of Aden, the waters around Yemen.  So imagine al-Qa'eda operatives working with Somali pirates, and then tell me that Yemen doesn't matter.

Saudi Arabia buys arms and imprisons women

Saudi Arabia and the US reached an arms agreement that will supply the kingdom with F-15s and helicopters.  Saudi Arabia is the biggest country in the Gulf, and is situated right next to Iran and Yemen.  With all the trouble Ahmadinejad has been talking up, it makes sense that the US would want it well armed and dependent upon the West.  And Yemen is about ready to implode.  I'll post separately on that.

The court system in Saudi Arabia is also being criticized by Human Rights Watch for being very patriarchal and ruling against women.  Women in the kingdom fall under the authority of their father or husband.  One woman is in jail for disobeying her father, even after she managed to successfully sue him when he tried to prevent her marriage.  The article doesn't say if the marriage went through or not, but this whole situation is ridiculous.  Women are perfectly capable of opening their own bank accounts, using government services, and traveling.  They should not be treated like children or cattle!

New Roundups

I've been a bit remiss in keeping up with the news this week, so here's a quick recap of some of the goings on:

Egypt is cracking down even more on the media and the Muslim Brotherhood.  And again, the US isn't saying anything about it.

A small TV station in Kuwait was attacked by a mob, for making fun of the ruling family.

Rachel Corrie's family finally got their day in court, in Israel.  The driver of the bulldozer that killed Rachel testified behind a screen.

Bahrain is cracking down on Shi'ites, ahead of elections there.  Bahrain has a large Shi'ite population, and is worried about Iran gaining a foothold.

Blogger Ali Abdulemam is still in jail in Bahrain.  I'm not sure if he is Shi'ite or if he was just arrested for daring to speak his own mind.

Women's News October 18, 2010

It's been a while, but I am trying to keep up with women's news in the Middle East too.  Most of it is bad.

The Federal Supreme Court in the UAE says that a man can discipline (beat) his wife and children, as long as he doesn't leave any marks on them.  Yay?  I've seen in movies that beating someone with a sack of oranges doesn't leave any marks.  I wonder what else husbands can come up with so that no marks are left on their wives?

As part of a course in Yemen, women were surveyed about their working rights.  Most of them did not know their rights, and most of them reported discrimination.  But they were usually unable to fight against the discrimination, for fear of losing their jobs.  This really is not surprising.  Yemen is a fairly conservative country, and even in the United States women still run into these problems.  For a long time, in the United States, women who work were seen as being the 2nd income, therefore they did not need to make as much money as men, because they had a husband who worked.

edit: fixed title and tags

Top Stories October 18, 2010

Al-Ahram (Egypt):  Waiting on America - The Peace Process will have to wait until after the US elections on November 2nd.

Haaretz (Israel):  'U.S. believes Chinese companies are helping Iran develop nukes' - Haaretz quotes an article by the Washington Post about some Chinese companies helping Iran.

Turkish Daily News:  AKP to attempt to legalize headscarves once again - The Justice and Development Party discussed headscarves, Kurds, and terrorism at its annual retreat.

Times of Oman:  Little hope for miners in latest China disaster - The miners are probably not alive.

Islamophobia in Germany

Things are just getting worse for Muslims in Europe.  Now the chancellor of Germany has come out and said that multiculturalism there has failed:

"This approach has failed, totally," she said, adding that immigrants should integrate and adopt Germany's culture and values.

"We feel tied to Christian values. Those who don't accept them don't have a place here," said the chancellor.

But then later:

While saying that the government needed to encourage the training of Muslim clerics in Germany, Merkel said "Islam is part of Germany", echoeing the recent comments of Wulff, a liberal voice in the party.

Wow.  I can't believe a European leader actually said something like that.  Now, I do believe in "integration."  But in my mind, that means that if you move to a new country and become a citizen there, you learn the language and the laws.  It doesn't mean you have to change your religion.  I admit that I don't know a lot about what it going on in Germany.  Most of what I have heard is about Muslim Turks moving there and the Germans not really liking it.  The Turkish prime minister did weigh in by asking Turkish immigrants to learn German.  But I'm still concerned, because Islamophobia seems to be taking off in Europe.  Well, at least Germany hasn't yet become the Netherlands.

Yemen fights Al-Qa'eda Update V

If this keeps up, I may have to start some kind of YemenWatch section.

Nice article from Yahoo! about the politics of Yemen and the current problems with AQAP, including information on al-Awlaki.

In News of the Weird:  a Guantanamo inmate from Saudi Arabia went through their anti-jihadi program, then joined AQAP in Yemen, and now has apparently turned himself back in to the authorities.  WTF??? 

Oh, yeah.  And don't travel to Yemen right now.  I'd put it on my travel watch list, but I don't have one.

Very good book, but a little dry.

Fighting Islamophobia

Kudos to talk show hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar, for arguing against Bill O'Reilly and finally walking off the set until he apologized for demeaning Muslims.  I'm sure this won't go any further, but I will take the small victory and celebrate it.

Egyptian Free Speech and Free Elections?

The Egyptian government is cracking down even harder on the media, so that it will be in control when the parliamentary elections are held next month.  If the United States is going to be allies with Egypt and help them monetarily, the least it can do is exert pressure so that fair and unbiased elections and election coverage are held.

Yemen fights Al-Qa'eda Update IV

Al-Qa'eda militants killed the security chief of a town in the province of Abyan.  When the governor of the province went to see the site, his group was attacked too.  And three soldiers were kidnapped in a seperate attack.  Apparently the al-Qa'eda groups in Saudi Arabia and Yemen merged last year to form al-Qa'eda Arabian Peninsula (I may refer to them as al-Qa'eda AP or AQAP).

There have also been attacks in Aden, which is where the Gulf Cup will be held in late November.  Some of the Gulf countries are a bit concerned about sending their soccer clubs there, which is probably exactly what al-Qa'eda AP wants.

This is really bad.  AQAP has been stepping up the number of attacks in Yemen, which is further destabilizing the country.  The government has enough trouble keeping the nation together because of Shi'ite rebellions in the north and successionist rebellions in the south.  It wasn't that long ago that Yemen was two separate countries.  An unstable Yemen would be a huge asset to AQAP, and would allow them to launch attacks all over the Arabian Peninsula.

Edit: Forget to include this article from the Yemen Times.  More troops have been sent to Abyan province, and there is some tribal fighting going on near Aden.  This article also lists some smaller attacks that I haven't seen in the regular world press.  I would definitely not visit Yemen, outside of the capital city, right now.

YouTube Bad for Israel

First there was footage of the flotilla on YouTube, now it's individual soldiers.  There have been several YouTube videos lately, by Israeli soldiers, that have embarrassed Israel.  Several have mocked Arab prisoners, although it is not known if all of them are real.  But it is a problem.

Even if faked, it highlights the extent to which some Israeli soldiers have dehumanized their Palestinian foes, said Dana Zimmerman of Yesh Din. [Israeli rights group]

"Whether it's real or not — once it seems OK or cool or funny to have detained human beings with their eyes blindfolded in degrading positions — it says a really bad thing about our society," Zimmerman said.

Israelis and Palestinians Work Together

This is from last week, but it is worth noting.  Someone set fire to a mosque in the West Bank.  It survived, but many Qur'ans were burned.  So a group of Israeli rabbis visited and brought new Qur'ans with them for the mosque.  And both sides condemned the fire.  See, both sides can get along.  Maybe not all the time, but I believe that most Palestinians and Israelis want peace.  Unfortunately, that is not enough.

What Kind of Fundamentalism?

I somehow missed this in 2009:  Juan Cole's article about how similar Sarah Palin's views are to Muslim extremists.  It is the height of hypocrisy for someone to decry Islam and some of the extremist views that exist, only to insist on similarly extreme Christian views.  But then, most politicians rarely let facts stand in their way.  In a similar vein, Cole's post today on Palin and Sharia is also worth reading.

Advertising

You have probably noticed the advertising on my site now.  I set it up, but I have no control over what type of advertisement actually shows up.  It's a bit amusing to see ads for "become a Federal Agent" or "get a degree in homeland security" but I don't like the ads for the Newt Gingrich DVD.  Oh well.  Hopefully the ads will become a bit more fine-tuned as I continue posting.

Top Stories October 11, 2010

Daily Star (Lebanon):  Saqr: Hariri 'will not accuse Hizbollah' in father's killing - Hearings on the Hariri assassination are still the main focus in Lebanon.

Haaretz (Israel):  U.S. after Netanyahu settlement freeze proposal: Our position on this is well known - The discussion on a new settlement freeze is causing problems.

Syria Today:  Neutral Ground - This article is from the September issue of the magazine.  Apparently Syria has been playing a role in the Iraqi elections, trying to help the political parties come together and form a parliament.  I hadn't heard of this before.  It's weird to think of Syria as the voice of reason between the Sunni and Shi'ite factions in Iraq.

Turkish Daily News:  Campaign for women politicians in Turkey launched to empty hall - There was a press conference for the Association to Support Women Candidates, and almost no journalists showed up.  I'm not sure if that means anything.

More Islamophobia in America

There are some really wacko people in America.  Sharron Angle is running for the office of senator, in the state of Nevada.  Someone asked her about the Shariah law happening in the US, so she had to show her ignorance, by castigating Dearborn, Michigan, for coming under Shariah law.  If I remember correctly, Dearborn has the largest Muslim community in the US.  And since it is an American city, it is under American law!  What the hell is wrong with these people who seem to think that if a few Muslims get together then the rule of law changes!  The only way Shariah law could take over is through a constitutional amendment, which would require at least 35 states to approve of it!  But these right-wing crazies have no intention of letting the facts get in the way of their bizarre beliefs. 

Egyptian Free Speech

Freedom of speech is not guaranteed in most countries.  Including Egypt.  The government seems to be cracking down on journalists, just ahead of the coming elections.  This is fairly typical of Egypt.  Hosni Mubarak is elderly and has some health issues, so the current thinking is that his son Gamal may be the new man in charge.  It reminds me of the Soviet Union.  Of course you have the right to vote in the elections!  But we decide who can run.

Yemen fights Al-Qa'eda Update III

Or maybe this one should be titled "Al-Qa'eda fights Yemen."  A British diplomat's convoy was attacked, and another attack killed a French oil worker.  This is all bad news for Yemen.  According to the Yemen Times, the tourist industry there has lost about $10 billion.  Yemen has some beautiful countryside, and several areas on the United Nations World Heritage list, but it's hard to get tourists to visit them when they could be killed by al-Qa'eda militants.

It's really a shame.  Yemen is the poorest country on the Arabian peninsula, because they don't have huge oil reserves like most of the other nations.  They also get African refugees, and their waters are part of the area where you hear about pirates off the coast of Africa.  It's because of all of this that al-Qa'eda has managed to get a major foothold here.  The US is sending money and training to the Yemeni troops, but more needs to be done.  The country has enough political problems because of the tribes; it can't handle terrorism too.

Top Stories October 4, 2010

Al-Ahram (Egypt):  Construction fever - Their correspondent in Palestine writes about the end of the moratorium on new settlements.

Al-Azzaman (Iraq):  The Iraqi holocaust - Iraq has been forgotten since the US troop withdrawal, but conditions continue to deteriorate.

Haaretz (Israel):  Netanyahu trying to convince top ministers to extend settlement freeze - Netanyahu is meeting with his top ministers to convince them to extend the moratorium for 60 days.  The Palestinians are very upset that the moratorium ended and building can begin again.

Turkish Daily News:  YOK's Rx for Turkey's headscarf quagmire: Don't ask, wear! - Turkey is instituting its own "don''t ask, don't tell" situation.  Headscarves have been banned at public university, but now the education board is saying that instructors cannot kick women out of class for wearing the headscarf.

Headscarf Politics in Turkey: A Postcolonial Reading

Tehran Times (Iran):  Assad meets Supreme Leader in Tehran -Assad, the ruler of Syria, met with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran, over the weekend.  Assad also received Iran's highest medal.  There are strong ties between these two countries, and the Ayatollah wants to strengthen them even more.

Palestinian Beer

Apparently all we need for peace in Palestine-Israel is alcohol.  No, really.  Christian Palestinians were celebrating Oktoberfest, and a bunch of Israelis showed up to help them.  And a great time was had by all!  Maybe we can all get along, after all.

Israeli Textbooks

A principal from a school in Israel has been called to the Education Ministry, for daring to use an unapproved history text book.  This horrible book dares to show the Palestinian version of the events surrounding the creation of Israel in 1948.  In general, the approved books don't mention the Palestinians, or they just say that they voluntarily left "Israel."  These books don't mention the Palestinians forced out or killed by Israeli troops, or the ones who left because they were living in a war zone but thought they could return once the fighting stopped.

I went to an American school with American textbooks.  When I was a child, Native Americans were savages who were saved by the white Christians who took over their land and forced them onto reservations.  When that finally began to change, some people complained that it was all about "political correctness."  It wasn't.  It was about THE TRUTH.  Current textbooks do a much better job of explaining what happened.  Sometimes governments do really heinous things to people.  But it's much better to get it out in the open and to get over it, than to hide it and let it fester for decades.  Because then it becomes so much harder to explain.

Islam on ABC 20/20 Update I

Interesting comments:  Judaism and Christianity went through the Enlightenment, which mitigated the misogyny.  Of course, they overlook the point that it only took 1700 years for Christianity to get there, and Islam has only been around for 1500 years.  And women's rights are still being fought for in the United States.

Islam on ABC 20/20

ABC Network is doing an episode on Islam right now.  So far, they are making some good educational points about Islam.  They are also showing some of the wacko Americans with bizarre beliefs.