Iran Interview: Mousavi's Response to The Regime's Propaganda --- "Promoting Awareness Peacefully"

For us being Green does not mean that we want to turn everyone into our colour and into a single colour, the same way the totalitarians and authoritarians prescribe their own colour and view for everyone. Green is living side by side each other while understanding the differences, varieties in views, opinions and tastes. If the totalitarians and their propaganda try to highlight the gaps created in families and society, by accepting these differences, we must try to propose a prescription for peaceful living side by side with each other. Promoting awareness peacefully is the most effective weapon against violence and the spread of division and ignorance.

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Israel Interview: Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon's Messages for Palestine, the US, and His Own Side

Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, appeared on Rusty Mike Radio on Tuesday. Excerpts from the chat:

Settlements and Deadlock: Ayalon said that Palestinians were doing everything except sitting with Israelis for negotiations. He said that Palestinians were doing three things: making excuses and pre-conditions, threatening to use unilateral action, and exerting political power on the international level. 

As for the issue of settlements, Ayalon had a message for the US: they have never been an obstacle to peace and it was a mistake to single out this issue.

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Tunisia Video: Tearing Down the President's Picture

(A graphic video of doctors trying to treat the injured in a hospital in Kasserine, where more than 20 people were killed this weekend, is racing around the Interent, even though YouTube has refused to allow it to be posted because of the bloody images. We are linking to it, but readers are warned that it is, in the words of the site that posted it, "horrendous and atrocious".)

Claimed footage of police use of ammunition and tear gas:

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After the Arizona Shootings: Can the Approach of "No Labels" Succeed? (Haddigan)

Unfortunately, No Labels does not seem to have stirred the imagination or won the backing of Americans. It is still early days, and recent events may catapult them to prominence among citizens tired with the controversy over "violent rhetoric" and/or the motives of the alleged Arizona gunman, Jared Lee Loughner; however, their prospects for the 2012 elections do not look good. Currently, only 13,000 visitors to their site have signed the declaration to “join your neighbours who are asking their leaders to put the labels aside and do what's best for America", and there is no sign of acceleration.

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Iran Analysis: Former President Khatami's Manoeuvre on Elections (Sahimi)

"Our demands in the past as well as the present are clear, and have been emphasized even in the aftermath of the recent [2009 presidential] election. [Favourable] conditions for broad participation of people [in the elections] and guaranteeing their rights must be provided. In addition, the elections must be held in such a way that there will be minimum hindrance of free voting by the people and maximum conditions for materializing their demands and ideals.

"The minimum conditions for the Reformists' participation in the elections are the release of all the political prisoners, freedom for all political parties and groups and removal of all limitations [on their activity], commitment of all, particularly the officials, to the Constitution and the execution of all of its articles, especially its true spirit and holding free and fair elections."

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Tunisia Latest: Universities Closed as President Says Protests Are "Terrorist Act"

2255 GMT: Police have dispersed protesters in Ettadamen, 15 kilometres (9 miles) from the centre of Tunis.

Youths, chanting "We are not afraid, we are not afraid, we are afraid only of God," threw stones at police and vandalised shops, cars, and a government office. Security forces responded by firing tear gas canisters and shots into the air.

2120 GMT: Minister of Information Samir Abidi has said this evening that 19 demonstrators were killed (other reports say 21) on Saturday and Sunday in Thala and Kasserine. Abidi claimed more than 30 police were injured.

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Egypt Feature: Grumbles About Mubarak, But What to Do?

After 30 years of President Hosni Mubarak's ultra-cautious rule, some of Egypt's 79 million people feel change is overdue --- even his claim to be the guarantor of stability has looked shaky since a January 1 attack on Christians.

But restive Egyptians may have to wait a bit longer for an alternative to Mubarak.

Egypt may be ready for change. Just don't hold your breath.

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Israel-Palestine Analysis: To Get Peace, Replace the "Peace Game" (Narwani)

The Palestine-Israel conflict is no pesky regional skirmish. This century-long battle over territory threatens to draw the entire global community into its bowels if it is not dealt with soon, and the only way out of the current paralysis is to kill the "peace process" once and for all.

There is no other way to end our dependence on what is probably the least successful attempt at conflict resolution in modern history -- like wasted addicts, hoping that another tweak here or there might be the one to produce a breakthrough. No it won't, and we need to wean ourselves from this addiction in order to find a solution.

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Belarus Opinion: President Lukashenko's "Gulag" (New York Times)

Mr. Lukashenko clearly thinks that his improving relations with Russia means he can thumb his nose at the West. The Kremlin, of course, said nothing about the stolen election and has enabled him with recent oil and gas agreements. Europe and the United States must now push back hard. There is little hope for democratic change in Belarus unless Mr. Lukashenko is forced to pay a stiff price for his abuses.

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The Latest from Iran (11 January): Remembering Hundreds of Political Prisoners

2100 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The son-in-law of detained journalist Emaduddin Baghi, Ali Maghami, has been released on bail.

Maghami was arrested last month. Baghi, detained in December 2009, was sentenced last autumn to seven years in prison.

Eight students of the Islamic Society of Arak University have reportedly been arrested.

2040 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. On Sunday we noted a speech by former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, marking the anniversary of a January 1978 protest that helped spur the Islamic Republic. A correspondent commented Rafsanjani made his historical parallel to jab directly at Ahmadinejad aide Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai and indirectly at the Supreme Leader: "those who build their power on cobwebs". He pointedly referred to the situation then of "fire under the ashes", a possible reference to the state of protest today, and blamed those who practiced "lies and hypocrisy".

Well, the newspaper Kayhan is not impressed.

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