Iran Election Guide

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Friday
Feb222013

Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Threatened Journalists, Tehran Claims the South Pole, and the End of Olympic Wrestling (Arseh Sevom)

An embrace between US and Iranian wrestlers in the 2012 Olympics --- but it may not happen again


The Ministry of Intelligence, not letting up on the "enemy" BBC Persian, continues to arrest, hold, and harass journalists and filmmakers.

Meanwhile, Jafar Panahi receives international acclaim despite being under house arrest and banned from filmmaking.

The South Pole could become a vacation spot for New Year revelers if Iran’s claim to some of its vast territory holds up.

The Supreme Leader chastises President Ahmadinejad and the Larijani brothers for their very public dispute.

And Iran and the US finally agree on one thing: removing wrestling from the Olympic games is just tragic.

Click to read more ...

Friday
Feb222013

Syria Live Coverage: At Least 53 Killed by Bombs in Damascus 

See also Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Parliamentary Elections set for April-June
Thursday's Syria Live Coverage: Multiple Bombings in Damascus


1815 GMT:Attacks in Aleppo. Activists now say that at least 12 people have been killed when three missiles or rockets hit house in eastern Aleppo.

1724 GMT:Attacks in Aleppo. Activists are reporting rockets have struck two eastern districts of Aleppo city on Friday, destroying dozens of houses.

One activist who visited the scene said a rocket fell in Ard al-Hamra neighborhood, causing widespread destruction. "There are families buried under the rubble. Nothing can describe it, it's a horrible sight."

Claims are also circulating that the attacks was by missiles --- possibly SCUDs --- rather than rockets.

The wounded after the attack:

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Friday
Feb222013

EA Video Analysis: Iran --- 7-Point Beginner's Guide to the Nuclear Talks


With Iran and the 5+1 Powers (US, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia) meeting next Tuesday in Kazakhstan --- the first high-level discussion of Tehran's nuclear programme since last June --- a 7-Point Beginner's Guide to what is involved and what is likely to happen.

1. THE ISSUES
2. WHERE ARE WE RIGHT NOW?
3. SO WHAT ARE NEXT WEEK'S TALKS? AND WHAT WILL THEY BRING?
4. WILL THEY SUCCEED? (OF COURSE NOT.)
5. SO WHY ARE THEY BEING HELD?
6. WHAT'S NEXT?


7. SO EVERYTHING WILL BE SOLVED IN SEPTEMBER?

And be sure to stick around for the closing line....

Friday
Feb222013

Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Parliamentary Elections set for April-June

See also Syria Live Coverage: At Least 53 Killed by Bombs in Damascus
Thursday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protests Continue in Port Said


1526 GMT:Iraq. Thousands of protesters have continued to demonstrations in Ramadi against the Government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Rallies after Friday Prayers, with the theme "Iraq or Maliki" also took place in the capital city of Baghdad, the northern city of Mosul, and the central city of Fallujah.

Protests, largely made up of Sunnis, have been ongoing for weeks, with demands for the release of prisoners, an end to Government anti-terrorism policies, and a halt to the marginalising of minorities.

The rallies were sparked by the raid on 20 December 20 of the home and offices of Sunni Minister of Finance Rafi al-Issawi.

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Thursday
Feb212013

Syria 1st-Hand: A Month on the Front Line of "Bloody Stalemate" in Damascus (Tomasevic)

One of Goran Tomasevic's photos of the fighting at the Ain Tarma checkpoint, 30 January 2013


Rebel fighters in Damascus are disciplined, skilled and brave.

In a month on the frontline, I saw them defend a swathe of suburbs in the Syrian capital, mount complex mass attacks, manage logistics, treat their wounded --- and die before my eyes.

But as constant, punishingly accurate, mortar, tank and sniper fire attested, President Bashar al-Assad's soldiers on the other side, often just a room or a grenade toss away, are also well-drilled, courageous --- and much better armed.

So while the troops were unable to dislodge brigades of the Free Syrian Army from devastated and depopulated neighborhoods just east of the city centre --- and indeed made little effort to do so --- there seems little immediate prospect of the rebels overrunning Assad's stronghold. The result is bloody stalemate.

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Thursday
Feb212013

Iran Live Coverage: A New --- and Genuine --- Offer in the Nuclear Talks?

See also Iran Analysis: Taking Apart the "Iranian Terror Cell in Nigeria" Story
Wednesday's Iran Live Coverage: Detaining the Journalists


2055 GMT: Nuclear Watch. Amid the inevitable political spin around the IAEA report on Iran's nuclear programme, Al Monitor hands over its summary to David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security.

Unsurprisingly, Albright, with a long-time pattern of hostility towards Tehran, is selective in trying to present an IAEA condemnation of the Islamic Republic. He introduces the new charge that the Tehran Research Reactor, known for its production of medical isotopes, is testing fuel for a heavy water reactor at Arak. Then he puts out the line that new centrifuges at the Natanz enrichment plant --- even though Tehran says they are for 5% uranium only --- are an ominous power play by Iran: “The depressing news is they think they’re strengthening their position by racing ahead with the installation of all these machines."

Al Monitor helps out Albright with the unsupported assessment, "Another possibility is that Iran — despite its frequent protestations to the contrary — is seeking to make nuclear weapons or at least become a “virtual” nuclear weapons state with the capacity to build bombs quickly." Somewhat confusingly, it has the later contradiction --- which is based on information from the IAEA report:

The good news in the report is that Iran in December resumed sending some of its 20%-enriched uranium for conversion into fuel for the TRR. While Iran has added to its stockpile of 20% uranium since the IAEA's last report in November, it is still below what is believed to be an Israeli red line for possible military action.

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Thursday
Feb212013

Syria Live Coverage: Multiple Bombings in Damascus

1930 GMT: Death Toll Nearing 200. According to the Local Coordination Committees, 189 people have been killed so far today:

96 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its suburbs most of them in the bombing that targeted Al-Hayat Bridge in the capital, 32 in Daraa, 32 in Aleppo, 11 in Homs, 9 in Idlib, 4 in Hama, 3 in Deir Ezzor, and 2 in Raqqa.

"Most of them" in Damascus does not mean all of them. So far the death toll would be a high average amount even if it were not from the car bombs, and the day is not over yet.

1621 GMT: Football Player Killed in Rebel Mortar Attack. Yesterday we reported that rebel mortar attacks hit several locations in the Tishreen district of Damascus, including one of the Presidential palaces. However, the Tishreen neighborhood also contains the most important stadium in Damascus, annd mortars also fell in a front of a hotel housing football players, killing one player, 19 year old Youssef Suleiman of the Homs-based al-Wathbah club, and wounding several others.

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Thursday
Feb212013

Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protests Continue in Port Said

One of this week's protests in Port Said in Egypt

See also Syria Live Coverage: Multiple Bombings in Damascus
Wednesday's Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Clashes Continue as Regime Claims Arrest of "Iran-Iraq-Lebanon Terror Cell"


1910 GMT:Egypt. President Morsi will call a Parliamentary election, to be held in three or four stages, starting in April.

"The president will issue a decree soon, it could be tonight, calling for elections to start in April," a source in his office told Reuters.

1900 GMT:Morocco. Reporters Without Borders has condemned the 10-month prison sentence handed down last week to citizen journalist Mohamed Attaoui on the charge of “working as a local official despite being suspended”.

Attaoui was arrested on 21 January in town of Tounfite north-central Morocco while photographing homes that are unfit for habitation for a report he intended to publish.

The president and general secretary of the Tounfite Group, a grass-roots association to which Attaoui belongs, were also arrested and have been sentenced to a year and eight months in prison, respectively.

Following his arrest, Attaoui was placed in solitary confinement and was not allowed a visit from his wife until 18 February.

Click to read more ...

Thursday
Feb212013

EA Video Analysis: Syria --- How and Why the US is Arming the Insurgents


A six-minute guide to how and why the US --- despite public denials --- are involved in the supply of weapons to the Syrian insurgents, and what it means for the future of the conflict:

Washington wants to provide the insurgents with enough weapons to put pressure on the Assad regime, possibly leading to a coup, but not enough to bring about a final bloody conflict and the decimation of Damascus.

Thursday
Feb212013

Iran Analysis: Taking Apart the "Iranian Terror Cell in Nigeria" Story

The State Security Service announced the arrests in a press conference, featuring the three suspects "on parade" before the media. The main suspect, Abdullahi Berende, gave a confession:

[He] told journalists that he was employed by “people who were ready to capitalise on my weakness", though he denied being part of a terrorist network....He regretted “betraying my country”, adding that his [Iranian] handler whom he referred to as Amir, preyed on his weakness.

He denied working for any international or local terror network, adding that his handler only requested him to get information on American and Israeli targets in Lagos.

So who are the Iranians? The report of the press conference gives no further clues: "Attempts to reach the Iranian Embassy for comments on Wednesday were unsuccessful."

Click to read more ...

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