I was close to the field hospital, so I started spending time there. It wasn't a real hospital, of course -- just a bombed-out house. They converted a couple of bedrooms. When they fill up, the bodies go into the courtyard.
It's run by Dr. Qasim, a gastroenterologist. He used to run a hospital in one of the other towns in Homs Province. When the war started the army took over his hospital, so he went to Al Qusayr, and has been working there ever since, running the field hospital for the past 18 months. He's the only game in town. Whenever the Syrian army finds out where it is, they shell it. I don't know how many times it's been moved. They shelled it twice while I was there, killing two patients and wounding two or three of the medical personnel.
Narges Mohammadi with Her ChildrenSince entering this prison ward, I have encountered horrible situations that I am not even able to describe and write about.
Putting me under such a stressful situation is equivalent to feeding me cups of poison that help to destroy me moment by moment.
I persistently and emphatically proclaim that such treatment and actions towards me are in fact causing my slow death and the responsibility lies with the authorities.
How did the US Ambassador allow himself to be manipulated by the Gulf Daily News?
The answer probably lies in last week's regime upset that Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner had expressed Washington's "deep disappointment" at the renewed, if reduced, sentences on 11 medics last week. Some regime figures, including the Minister of Defense, have accused the US of trying to undermine the monarchy, and Posner's statemet led to headlines like "US Double Standards in Human Rights Criteria Are Rejected by the Bahraini Community".
To throw the election to [Ahmad] Shafiq, who clearly lost by almost a million votes, would have produced an outpouring of anger and possible violence that the military must have concluded it could not control. It did not matter, though. Declaring Shafiq the winner despite the results was wholly unnecessary due to what the military clearly believes is its ace: the June 17 constitutional declaration.
The timing of the decree, just as polls closed on the second day of the second round of elections, suggests that the military’s action was improvised. As if sometime on Sunday afternoon, one of the officers turned to another and asked with alarm, “What if Morsi wins?” It was anything but ad hoc, however.
Shortly after the fall of Mubarak, Field Marshal Tantawi asked for a translation of Turkey’s 1982 constitution, which both endows Turkish officers with wide-ranging powers to police the political arena and curtails the power of civilian leaders. In the June 17 decree, the military hedged against a Morsi victory by approximating the tutelary role the Turkish military enjoyed until recently. As a result, President Morsi does not control the budget; has no foreign policy, defense, or national security function; and has been stripped of the president’s duty as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, meaning he has no control over military personnel. In addition, having dissolved parliament in a move that has no legal basis, the SCAF now also functions as Egypt’s legislature. Finally, the military will be able to veto articles of a new constitution.
2015 GMT:Egypt. President-elect Mohamed Morsi has given a televised speech in which he has thanked the "martyrs" of the uprising against the Mubarak regime, saluted the people, and thanked the army, police, and judiciary for their service to Egypt.
Meanwhile, an officer "close to the ruling military council" has put out a message to Morsi, "The onus now is on the new President to unite the nation and create a true coalition of political and revolutionary forces to rebuild the country economically and politically...."The challenge for Egypt now is rebuilding its institutions and ensuring that these institutions are independent and work for the people, not a single party or movement."
The officer also upheld the legitimacy of the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces, "The military council has done its duty in keeping the election process free and fair, a true example of democracy, to the world."
While there have been protests before, most notably during the earlier stages of the Arab spring, something about the current wave feels different. This is not to suggest that it will necessarily translate into a popular revolt that will overthrow the government --- the "stability as a virtue" sentiment still holds strong among the Sudanese populace --- but it is putting pressure on a state that is bankrupt and struggling to fulfil its most basic functions.
The government appears to have run out of ideas, and the willpower to come up with new ones.
1515 GMT: Foreign Affairs (Syrian Front). Fars reports that State broadcaster IRIB will air an hour-long interview with Syrian President Assad on Thursday.
0945 GMT: Currency Watch. Why the nerves in the Iranian media over the economy (see 0750 GMT)? Here's one reason....
The Iranian Rial has fallen 5% this week, dropping to 19060:1 against the US dollar. That is its weakest level since the Central Bank and Government intervened this winter to halt a slide of almost 80%.
The official rate for the Rial is 12260:1 vs. the dollar.
Live: From Bethlehem, a documentary about an independent Palestinian news agency, starts with a feeling every journalist knows well, as a small staff rushes to get breaking news on the air. Reporters, trying to get into the field, contend with bad traffic and police checkpoints. Ma'an News Agency, the only official independent news agency in Palestine, is clearly feeling the stress.
Pro-Military Rally, 23 June 2012 (Photo: AFP)The steps of the military's elite are not necessarily a long-term safeguard. More than a year after the fall of the Mubarak regime, few of the economic, political, and social issues that drove millions into the streets have been addressed, let alone resolved. Egyptians may wait patiently for a better future, but they will not wait forever. If social discontent merges again with a renewed political consciousness among soldiers and junior officers, then Egypt may face a far more dangerous revolutionary situation than it did in 2011.
Monday, June 25, 2012 at 9:08
