Tunisia (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Sitting In for Change

1930 GMT: Picture of the Day? Army Chief of Staff Rachid Ammar addressing protesters in Tunis today (see 1720 and 1755 GMT):

1920 GMT: In Egypt, a man tried to commit suicide by cutting his wrists as about 20 people gathered in front of the Supreme Court to commend the police’s work and criticize protests planned for Tuesday.

Civil servants have received a written warning not to participate in the demonstrations for a "day of revolution against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment". Those who defy the instruction could lose their jobs.

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The Latest from Iran (24 January): Two More Political Executions

Jafar Kazemi2040 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Prominent reformist Ali Shakouri Rad has been released from detention.

Shakouri Rad was arrested last month after he said in a public debate that the head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, had congratulated Mir Hossein Mousavi on his "victory" on Election Day in June 2009.

1945 GMT: Claim of Day. President Ahmadinejad speaking in Gilan Province in northwest Iran: targeted subsidy cuts are the work of the 12th (Hidden) Imam.

1940 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist and blogger Siamak Ghaderi has been sentenced to four years in prison for “propaganda against the regime”, “disturbing public opinion”, and “spreading lies”.

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WikiLeaks and Algeria 2009: "Sitting on a Volcano" After Bouteflika Wins "Choreographed and Heavily Controlled Election"

In April 2009, the US Embassy in Algiers reviews the political and social situation after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika won a third term with more than 90% of the vote in "a carefully choreographed and heavily controlled election".

The conclusion? "With Bouteflika's hold on power secure, Algeria now faces an urgent need for dialogue between the population and the state."

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Iran and the Real Net Effect: A First-Hand Response to the Pessimists (Siavashi)

While Evgeny Morozov uses the medium of Twitter to get out his essential  information --- "During our interview today David Frost discovered that in Russian 'Morozov' means 'son of frost'. He denies the rumor!" --- others are using the technology from different motives.

They are doing so, often in defiance of the control and repression that occupies Morozov, to change the world.

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Israel-Palestine: Ramallah Rejects Foreign Minister Lieberman's Map

An Israeli official has said that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has submitted a map, envisioning an interim agreement with the Palestinian Authority, to the Prime Minister's Office. Israel would turn over between 45 to 50% of the West Bank to the provisional state, though additional land could be transferred to Palestinian control in future negotiations. 

On Sunday, chief negotiator Saeb Erekat rejected the plan for a Palestinian state with provisional borders.

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Israel Latest: Turkel Committee on Gaza Flotilla Raid "Self-Defense for a Legal Blockade"

In the first part of its findings,  the Turkel Commission, an Israeli panel of enquiry into last May's Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla, declared that commandos acted in self-defense when they boarded the lead ship, killing nine Turkish citizens. The committee said that Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip does not break international law, adding that Israel had also complied with the humanitarian conditions for such a blockade.

The official report did express some criticism of West Jerusalem, calling on officials to "examine the medical needs of the people of Gaza in order to find ways to improve the current situation" and to find ways to "focus its sanctions on Hamas while avoiding harm against the civilian population".

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Al Jazeera Unveils Explosive Revelations in "Palestine Papers"

Tonight, in one of the most extensive and potentially most significant leaks in recent history, Al Jazeera is releasing more than 1600 internal documents on the Israel-Palestine conflict from 1999 to 2010>.

The Guardian of London is also publishing the documents, summarising some of the revelations:

• The scale of confidential concessions offered by Palestinian negotiators, including on the highly sensitive issue of the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

• How Israeli leaders privately asked for some Arab citizens to be transferred to a new Palestinian state.

• The intimate level of covert co-operation between Israeli security forces and the Palestinian Authority.

• The central role of British intelligence in drawing up a secret plan to crush Hamas in the Palestinian territories.

• How Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders were privately tipped off about Israel's 2008-9 war in Gaza.

Iran Nuclear Snapshot: How the US Media Missed the Important Story About the Talks

US newspapers, recapping the failure of the discussions on uranium enrichment in Istanbul, seem to be oblivious to the core issue.

We reported yesterday, drawing from information from Reuters, that the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China) appear to have put a much tougher proposal to Iran than the offer in October 2009, which led to weeks of negotiations before stalling.

In the talks 15 months ago, the 5+1 asked that Tehran send 60% of its low-enriched uranium, which is about 3.5% quality, to Russia and France --- later Russia and Turkey --- for processing. In this weekend's discussions, the 5+1 proposed that Iran send about 90% of its low-enriched uranium abroad. In addition, Iran would have to send all or almost all of its 20% quality uranium, which it began producing last year, to other countries.

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Iran Eyewitness: Farhad on Life in Tehran, the Economy, and the Revolutionary Guards

Many IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps] forces have turned their back on the government as well for the above-mentioned reasons. Contrary to general belief, the IRGC is not a monolithic bloc but is composed of supporters of several political camps, i.e. pro-hardliners, pro-[the late Grand Ayatollah] Montazeri, pro-Rafsanjani etc.

People always said this regime will last, but this time they said it cannot go on like this in the long-term. The general situation is near explosion, which could happen at any point. A major deterioration is to be expected in two or three months, when the impact of subsidy cuts gets real, i.e. when the people are confronted with the new power or water bills. The same goes for the start of subsidy cuts for gasoil and other energy sources, which has begun today. The impact for businesses is not predictable yet, but it will be grave as well.

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Iran Journalism Special: Protecting the Nuclear Talks from Lady Ashton's Cleavage

Forget all the chatter about weapons, uranium stocks, and "break-out" capability at the nuclear discussions in Istanbul between Iran and the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Germany, China, Russia).

The clear-and-present danger was the chest of Lady Catherine Ashton, the head of the 5+1 delegation.

It was the newspaper Iran, confronted with a picture of Ashton and her Iranian counterpart, Saeed Jalili, that saw the threat of cleavage. However, thanks to their quick-working editors and PhotoShop, the mutually assured moral destruction of the original photograph (right) was averted: