Libya (and Beyond) Snapshot: Extra, Extra, It's All About Iran!

David Sanger of The New York Times could be right, despite his lack of evidence: the Obama Administration may be putting every development in North Africa and Middle East into a blender marked "Tehran". He almost certainly is correct --- although he ruins this accomplishment with his one-dimensional approach --- that US officials, like their counterparts in Iran, are always considering a regional competition which includes Iran.

But this portrayal is not an analysis which offers reflection and critique. It is scare journalism, mirroring that coming out of Iranian state media, and it should be set aside as such.

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The Latest from Iran (2 April): Getting Outside

2000 GMT: Arrests on 13 Bedar. Rah-e-Sabz reports that people celebrating the outdoors festival of Sizdeh Bedar and using it to highlight environmental issues have been accosted and arrested by security forces in Tehran, Tabriz, and Urmia in northwest Iran.

1955 GMT: The Battle Within. One of the regime's stalwart clerics, Mashhad Friday Prayer leader Ayatollah Alamolhoda, has launched a furious attack on President Ahmadinejad's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.

Alamolhoda said that Rahim-Mashai is not fitna (seditious), but he is monharef (deviate), playing with God and the notion of being a prophet.

The Ayatollah warned that if Rahim-Mashai claims he was misunderstood, "I have his even worse CD" with his views, notably the insult that "religious society isn't ideal society".

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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Getting Organised?

2110 GMT: Bahrain State TV is reporting that the Bahraini regime has shut down Al-Wasat, the only independent newspaper in the country.

In preparation for the move, State television has been broadcasting all night on the supposed plagiarism and distortions of Al-Wasat.

2005 GMT: In Libya, the opposition National Transitional Council has named a "crisis team" to political and military positions.

On the political side, Mahmoud Jebril will head the group taking its direction from the NTC. Omar Hariri is in charge of the military department, with General Abdel Fattah Younes al Abidi, Muammar Qaddafi's former ally and Minister of Interior, as Chief of Staff.

The economics and finance portfolio is held by Ali Tarhouni, a U.S.-based academic who returned to Libya to help the uprising. Appointments were also announced for a new National Oil company and a Central Bank.

Other positions filled included foreign affairs, infrastructure, information, and justice.

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Libya Snapshot: The Public Interrogation of A Journalist

Amnesty USA posts a video, with interpretation by Amnesty International Libya researcher Kiana Eltahawy, of the appearance of detained journalist and Syrian national Rana El-Aqban on Libyan State TV:

Yemen Feature: Making Money Out of Protest (Kasinof)

The anti-government sit-in here in the capital has endured everything from violent attacks to driving rain over the last two months. It has transformed from a small student demonstration at the university to a vast mass of determination stretching for two miles down an adjacent boulevard. It is shaking the government.

And it has turned into a bustling business opportunity. After all, the tens of thousands of protesters say they intend to stay until President Ali Abdullah Saleh goes. And they have to eat.

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Afghanistan: 12 Killed at UN Headquarters By Protesters of "Qur'an Burning" (Najafizada/Nordland)

UPDATE 0800 GMT: Protests in Kandahar over Qur'an-burning have turned violent this morning, with shooting and vehicles set on fire. There are reports of seven people killed and 45 injured.
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Stirred up by three angry mullahs who urged them to avenge the burning of a Koran at a Florida church, thousands of protesters on Friday overran the compound of the United Nations in this northern Afghan city, killing at least 12 people, Afghan and United Nations officials said.

The dead included at least seven United Nations workers — four Nepalese guards and three Europeans from Romania, Sweden and Norway — according to United Nations officials in New York. One was a woman. Early reports, later denied by Afghan officials, said that at least two of the dead had been beheaded. Five Afghans were also killed.

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Bahrain: A Calculated Campaign of Intimidation? (Chick)

With a wave of midnight arrests, checkpoints, and targeting of wounded protesters, Bahrain's Sunni rulers have launched what appears to be a calculated campaign to intimidate supporters of the pro-democracy protest movement that began here in February.

Security forces have directed much of the abuse – which includes midnight arrests, checkpoints, and targeting of wounded protesters – toward Bahrain’s majority Shiite population, instilling fear and raising sectarian tensions in the tiny kingdom.

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Latest Syria Video: The Friday Protests

Gunfire, clashes, & beatings:

Idlib in northwest:

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Reading Libya Amidst the Defections: Scott Lucas on the BBC

This morning, I chatted with BBC Coventry and Warwickshire about the latest developments in Libya, including the defection of former Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa and the possibility that the Qaddafi regime would soon fall.

The discussion starts at the 1:07.00 mark.

And on Thursday afternoon, I spoke with BBC Radio WM about similar political and military matters.

The interview begins just before the 1:34.00 mark.

The Latest from Iran (1 April): A Burst of Green

2040 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Kalemeh reports that detained activist Fakhrossadat Mohtashamipour is in a coma after a hunger strike and has been transferred to hospital.

Mohtashamipour, the wife of imprisoned reformist leader Mostafa Tajzadeh, had said she would fast if she was not allowed to visit her husband.

2030 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update --- An Update. Well, I guess I owe Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami an apology --- while he was making a grand tour of Egypt-Libya-Yemen-Bahrain to blame the West for distortions, manipulations, and general evil, he did have a chat with the faithful about the situation in Iran today.

Khatami took his lead from the Supreme Leader's 2011 theme of "economic jihad" to declare there would be economic growth, a narrowed gap between those with high and low incomes, and a one-digit unemployment rate.

The Ayatollah assured that Iran would have 8% economic growth rate in the 5th 5-Year Plan (2010-2015), even though that plan has not been passed by Parliament, and said officials of the country have had successful projects for employment.

But he still didn't mention Syria.

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