So who will be the sharp end of the spear enforcing the U.N. Security Council resolution that demands an end to the Libyan regime’s assault on civilian population centers — a squadron of French Mirage fighters? British Tornadoes? A couple of F-16’s from the United Arab Emirates Air Force, to emphasize Arab participation? None of the …
arab uprisings
Could The UN Resolution On Libya Signal Sarkozy’s Political Rebound?
Though it took painfully long for the international community to mount its 11th hour intervention into what looked like a looming massacre in the Libya, it’s clear Thursday’s vote by the UN Security Council approving military action to halt fighting and protect civilians won’t signal the beginning to a swift end of the conflict …
U.N. Intervention Vote Saves Libya’s Revolution From Defeat
As Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s forces closed in on the rebel capital of Benghazi, Thursday, the Obama Administration not only came around to the idea of imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, but sought — and won — U.N. Security Council authorization for ground attacks on regime forces threatening to storm the rebel “capital” of Benghazi. …
Did Gaddafi Really Finance Sarkozy’s Presidential Victory? (Probably Not.)
Stop the presses–or, better yet, don’t.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi—the no-longer-as-credible-as-once-hoped son of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi—is claiming his family financed the victorious 2007 campaign of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and now wants that money back. And if the Frenchman doesn’t pay up, the younger Gaddafi …
Gaddafi Warns Benghazi Rebels: We Are Coming, And There’ll Be No Mercy
In a recently concluded address broadcast on Libyan state radio, Muammar Gaddafi offered a grim warning to residents of Benghazi, the center of the rebellion seeking to topple the Gaddafi regime: “We are coming tonight, and there will be no mercy.”
The past week has seen troops loyal to Gaddafi march closer to Benghazi, Libya’s second …
A Marriage of Interests: Why Bahrain’s King Should Give Britain’s Royal Wedding a Miss
Westminster Abbey is a “Royal Peculiar.” The term applies to churches that fall under the direct jurisdiction of the British monarch rather than a bishop, but seemed especially apt during a Commonwealth Day celebration held there on March 15. The service blended the pomp and tradition associated with Britain’s state occasions with vivid …
Saudis’ Bahrain Intervention: Who Cares What Washington Thinks?
Because what’s Obama going to do, after all – impose sanctions and stop importing oil? Saudi Arabia’s decision to send troops to Bahrain to help the monarchs next door crush a democratic rebellion is a barely disguised slap in the face to the Obama Administration, and further evidence of Washington’s diminished influence over Middle East …
Stability at What Price? Why Bahrain Needs Reforms Too
It’s the question that always makes me cringe. “Where are you from?” asks the taxi driver/shopkeeper/doorman/interviewee. I don’t lie, but in Pakistan or the Middle East I know that answering “American” can sometimes be met with a fusillade of angry observations about the evils of America’s foreign policy. Until recently, …
Uprisings in the Middle East Could Be Bad News for Al-Qaeda: Cautious Optimism in Britain
Muammar Gaddafi blamed a coalition of drugs, alcohol and Osama bin Laden for inciting Libyan youth to reject his dictatorial rule. Somewhat more credible commentators, including my colleague Bobby Ghosh, warn that the collapse of the Yemeni regime could boost the AQ affiliate Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, yet such concerns have done …
Unable to Defeat Gaddafi, Libyan Rebels Turn to the West
The problem with the West imposing a “no-fly zone” over Libya — and the problem of Libya’s revolution itself — was highlighted in Monday’s bizarre request by the rebel leadership for Western powers to assassinate Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. That demand, which rebel leaders in Benghazi said their representatives had made when meeting on …
TIME Reporter Expelled from Yemen
The following comes from TIME’s News Director Howard Chua-Eoan
TIME’s reporter in Yemen Oliver Holmes phoned in to report that he and the reporters for the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times are being deported by the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The ostensible reason given by the government was that Holmes, Haley …
Why A Saudi Intervention into Bahrain Won’t End the Protests
Saudi troops in Bahrain? A month ago that was the worst case scenario, a threat put out there by the “sky is falling” extremists who were convinced that protesting in Bahrain would not go the way of peaceful demonstrations in Tunisia and Egypt. But the momentum of the movements sweeping the Middle East caught the imagination of young …
What Lies Beneath: Bahrain’s “New Citizens” Fuel Unrest
If you want to know more about one of the fundamental issues at the center of Bahrain’s protest movement, it might be worth taking a look at some of the Pakistani newspapers. Today’s Tribune is running a story about a recruitment drive in Pakistan for Bahrain’s security forces. To be sure, there is nothing new about how the Gulf …