Tunisia’s militant youth, whose courage brought down President Ben Ali, has been replaced by politicians talking about both free market capitalism and the Koran.
The Amilcar Notes (Part 4): Tunisia — Profoundly Islamic
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Middle East & North Africa
Review: Zahra’s Paradise
A full year and a half before a popular uprising in Tunisia jolted the Arab world, a dramatic and still unfinished prelude was playing out in Iran’s Green Revolution. The enormous demonstrations against the apparently fraudulent reelection of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – and the vicious crackdown subsequently unleashed by the country’s Supreme Leader – definitively severed, in the eyes of the world, the aspirations of Iran’s people from those of the thugs-cum-theocrats who had, until then, monopolized the country’s representation on the world stage.
Iran Digs in With Its Uranium Enrichment Facilities
Moving its uranium enrichment facilities underground does not mean that Iran is developing nuclear weapons.
Newt Gingrich: Right About EMPs, Wrong About Who’d Use Them
If electromagnetic pulse weapons pose a threat, it’s not from Iran or North Korea, as Newt Gingrich warns, but from the United States.
Obama Ad Condemns Israel Aid Opponents
An ad on my Facebook page from barackobama.com reads, “Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Newt Gingrich say they would start foreign aid to Israel at zero. Reject their extreme plan now!”
This struck me as odd for two reasons.
The Amilcar Notes (Part 3): Tunisia’s Forgotten Socio-Economic Crisis
One year after Mohammed Bouazizi’s immolation — a catalyst for the Arab Spring — economic conditions in Tunisia haven’t improved much.
The New Chicken Littles
I decided to wait a couple weeks just to make sure. So far, so good. Citizens went to the polls in Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt. A plurality of voters threw their support behind Islamist parties. I take a look outside. The sky is still intact.
Still, there is no shortage of Chicken Littles. After Islamist parties won three elections in a row, columnists and pundits in the West threw up their hands in horror.
The Amilcar Notes (Part 2): Tunisia — Emerging Democracy or Just a Facade?
While Ennahdha talks unity, in fact it seems to be engaged in a power grab which it could win the battle but lose the war — the future of Tunisia.
MEK May Be a Terrorist Organization, But It Doesn’t Deserve to Be Butchered
The remnants of Iranian dissident group the MEK confined to an Iraqi refugee camp face a massacre when the United States leaves.
IT Systems Are Just as Important to Flow of Oil as Straits of Hormuz
Hackers may soon cause massive disruptions in the oil industry.