US Politics Opinion: Getting Mad at the Supreme Court Over ObamaCare

It has been a distressing three days in the Supreme Court for liberals who, two years ago, initially scoffed at the suggestion of a constitutional challenge to the ACA. They have not reacted in with the consideration that they so often mock conservatives for lacking.

The reality is that there is a credible case for the individual mandate being unconstitutional. Condemning the Court, before it has even made a decision, is an evasion of the legal process --- whatever the eventual decision --- and it is poor politics, especially in an election year. There are alternatives for those seeking wider provision of health care, but they will disappear without an Obama second term.

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Turkey Live Coverage (26 March): Has Assad Solved Erdogan's Kurdish Problem?

;1845 GMT: According to a survey conducted by the Ankara-based MetroPOLL Strategic and Social Research Center, 61.7 percent of respondents said they supported children's receiving education in their mother tongue on the condition that they learn Turkish.

1825 GMT: In order to increase the cooperation against the PKK-Syria camp, the Iraqi Kurdistan regional government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani will make his first diplomatic visit to Ankara. 

1740 GMT: Ahead of the 'Friends of Syria' meeting on April 1, Ankara heeds the two-day meeting of Syrian opposition groups in İstanbul. Out of 200 representatives of the country, the only group left out of the two-day meeting is the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) because of its affiliation with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"This is by far the most significant meeting as far as the Syrian opposition is concerned,” a Turkish official told journalists.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Will the US Aid the Opposition?

2002 GMT: A late-afternoon surprise from the State Department. While we could have guessed that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would be traveling to Turkey for the "Friends of Syria" meeting, we were not aware that she would be traveling to Saudi Arabia to discuss Syria first:

ecretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from March 30-31, 2012. While in Riyadh, she will meet King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal. She will also attend the First Ministerial Meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council-U.S. Strategic Cooperation Forum. In her conversations, she will discuss the full range of bilateral and regional issues, including ongoing security cooperation in the region, as well as the international community’s continuing efforts to stop the bloodshed in Syria.

Secretary Clinton will then travel to Istanbul, Turkey from March 31-April 1 to attend the second meeting of the “Friends of the Syrian People.” This meeting will build upon steps that our friends, allies, and the Syrian opposition continue to take in an attempt to halt the slaughter of the Syrian people and pursue a transition to democracy in Syria. While in Istanbul, Secretary Clinton will also conduct bilateral meetings with Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu and other foreign leaders.

What does this mean? We could read a lot into a short statement, but it certainly means that Clinton is seeking regional unity on Syria. Remember that Saudi Arabia walked out of the last "Friends of Syria" meeting because of a lack of perceived progress in ending the crisis. Whatever the FoS decides, they will look weak and illegitimate without the backing of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, and the other major regional players.

1957 GMT: The Syrian government has banned all male citizens under the age of 42 from traveling internationally:

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US Video Special: Obama "Our Hardest-Hitting Ally is Denmark...and Norway...and the Netherlands...and the Philippines...and..."

Detektor, a programme of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, highlights President Obama's favourite phrase of praise for Presidents and Prime Ministers: his/her country "punches above its weight" in international relations.

But Detektor asks, "Is it possible to feel special when each and every visitor is the 'closest, strongest ally'?":

Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 45 Dead amid Regime Attacks on Homs and Idlib

The Syrian regime's attack on Saraqeb in Idlib Province on Saturday

See also Syria Wired: The Latest from Social Media and EA's Readers
Saturday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Surge of Protest

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2015 GMT: Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has defended its handling of Egypt's political transition against criticsm from a Parliament led by Islamist parties.

The Muslim Brotherhood, whose Freedom and Justice Party has the biggest bloc in Parliament, described Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri's cabinet as a failure and criticized the army for continuing to support it, in a statement on Saturday.

"We understand that the government's performance may not satisfy public aspirations at this critical stage," SCAF said in a statement read on state television. "But we emphasize that the nation's interest is our first concern and we will not spare any effort and will take any measures or decisions needed for the sake of the nation and its citizens."

SCAF and the Ganzouri Government has been criticised for failing to halt the slide in the shattered economy and for heavy-handed tactics in dealing with protests against its rule.

The Brotherhood said the Cabinet of Ganzouri, who also served as Prime Minister in the Mubarak regime in the 1990s, had been worse than its predecessors.

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Iran Opinion: A Counter-Message to Obama's Nowruz Video

Iran Video: President Obama's Nowruz Message

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It's that time of the year, folks, that time when President Barack Obama gets to send out a campy message to Iranians about how awesome the US is and, with the right teleprompter, demonstrate how the American Commander-in-Chief can speak Farsi --- a little. It is the Nowruz message, affectionately known among select Iranian diplomacy wonks as "Four Minutes of 'Lets-Not-Talk-About-How-We-Want-to-Bomb-You'". 

For the sake of levity, I'm responding to the message, paragraph by paragraph. After a solid plate of samanak, I think I'm ready to take on the most powerful man in the world and come out on the other end slightly amused!  

Today, Michelle and I extend our best wishes to all those who are celebrating Nowruz around the world. In communities and homes from America to southwest Asia, families and friends are coming together to celebrate the hope that comes with renewal.

Thank you for taking the time. I understand it's hard to kill US citizens in Yemen Call of Duty-style and govern a nation at the same time. Brownie points for acknowleding that Nowruz isn't just celebrated by citizens of Iran, but millions of others as well. Pat your speech writers on the back.

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Iran Video: President Obama's Nowruz Message

Iran Opinion: A Counter-Message to Obama's Nowruz Video

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President Obama has put out his fourth Nowruz message to the Iranian people. Unlike the 2009 version, this one has no "unclenched fist" extended to the regime or even a reference to the "Islamic Republic". Instead, after Obama notes that "Nowruz is a time when so many Iranian families and loved ones come together in celebration, remind[ing] us of the rich culture of the Iranian people and the extraordinary contributions that they have made to human history", he sharply criticises the leaders:

Yet even as holidays like this underscore the connections that we share as human beings, the Government of Iran is going to great lengths to isolate the Iranian people by cutting them off from the outside world.

For far too long, the Iranian regime has tried to control the flow of information and ideas to and from the Iranian people and the outside world. As people everywhere are making their voices heard through new technologies and social media, the people of Iran often find their voices stifled and their ability to connect denied. Like the Iron Curtain of the 20th century, an Electronic Curtain is descending as the Iranian regime attempts to control what its citizens see and hear.

US Politics Feature: Can Mitt Romney "Seal the Deal" in Illinois for the Nomination?

Today, voters in Illinois get their chance to determine who will win the Republican nomination for the US Presidency.

For the last week, following Rick Santorum's victories in Alabama and Mississippi, a close race has been predicted between him and Mitt Romney, a verdict with which several polls agreed, as the former Pennsylvania Senator began to eat in Romney's large lead in Illinois. That narrative has been called into question, however, by a poll on Monday which gave the front-runner a commanding edge of 45-30 over Santorum. That poll could be wrong, of course, but it does raise the possibility that Romney at last might finally seal the deal for his nomination.

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US Politics Opinion: PACs, SuperPACs, and the Best Elections Money Can Buy

Years ago, an American friend told me that the US had the best police forces that money could buy. He did not appreciate the irony in his statement. I wonder if he would do so, if the statement was applied to politicians and "freedom of speech".

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Yemen Feature: Why is President Obama Insisting on Imprisonment of an Honest Journalist?

Abduelah Haider Shaye (Photo: Iona Craig)On February 2, 2011, President Obama called Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The two discussed counterterrorism cooperation and the battle against Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. At the end of the call, according to a White House read-out, Obama “expressed concern” over the release of a man named Abdulelah Haider Shaye, whom Obama said “had been sentenced to five years in prison for his association with AQAP". It turned out that Shaye had not yet been released at the time of the call, but Saleh did have a pardon for him prepared and was ready to sign it.

It would not have been unusual for the White House to express concern about Yemen’s allowing AQAP suspects to go free. Suspicious prison breaks of Islamist militants in Yemen had been a regular occurrence over the past decade, and Saleh has been known to exploit the threat of terrorism to leverage counterterrorism dollars from the United States.

But this case was different. Abdulelah Haider Shaye is not an Islamist militant or an Al Qaeda operative. He is a journalist.

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