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In China’s “Jasmine” Crackdown, Image Matters

After the paranoid and sometimes violent response to yesterday’s thwarted “jasmine rallies,” a question hangs in the air: why would a government that seems so strong react with such fear? After all, few think that China will experience its own Middle Eastern-style “jasmine revolution.” The story from yesterday’s protest sites, at least …

In Yemen, the Arab Revolution Finally Threatens World Security

Arab authoritarians always claim that change is destabilizing and dangerous: Tunisia’s Ben Ali, Egypt’s Mubarak, Bahrain’s Khalifa and Libya’s Gaddafi have all used that argument to try and ward off the youth revolution that’s shaking up the region. If you topple us, they have argued, our countries will descend into chaos and fall in the …

Algeria Rescinds Emergency Powers–But Isn’t Bending To Popular Unrest

Was the lifting Thursday of Algeria’s 19-year state of emergency a sign the country’s corrupt, authoritarian regime is responding to the growing public unrest that brought down the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt—and now looks set to topple Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi? Without any doubt. Yet it would be naïve to interpret the repealing …

Iraq’s Original Shoe Protester Is Back In A Familiar Place: Jail

Remember Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi man who launched a new fashion of protest when he threw his shoes at then US President George Bush in Iraq? Nick Blanford met him in Lebanon last week for a time.com profile, on the eve of his return to Iraq. Zaidi was going with a mission to take the Arab world’s popular revolts home. He didn’t get …

Is Iran Really the Winner in the Arab Revolt?

“Arab Unrest Propels Iran as Saudi Influence Declines,” warned a New York Times headline Thursday, above an article noting that the democratic uprisings across the Arab world have put paid to the idea of a pro-U.S. “alliance of moderates” — Arab autocracies and Israel — joining hands to curb Iran’s rise as a regional power.

In …

‘Peace Process’ – What Peace Process?

It ought to have come as no surprise that the Western-backed Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad this week offered to bring the Islamist Hamas movement into a unity government: Sure, Hamas participation in a Palestinian government has long been a red line for both Israel and the United States, but in case nobody noticed, the …

No News Isn’t Good News

Travel broadens the mind—unless your destination is a news-free bubble.

In London I supplement a daily fix of print, online and broadcast news by talking to primary sources including politicians and their back-room teams, in person, on the phone, by email and via Twitter and Facebook. During the past week I’ve been in California, a …

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