Russia Feature: The White-Ribbon Protests Return to Russia

This entry is now re-titled and re-posted above.

Russia Feature: Renewed Protests Against Putin... But Will the "Dear" Leader Hang On? (Rojansky and Soloveitchik/O'Flynn)

A campaign video by Wake up Russia (@WakeUpR) with citizens holding banners stating their names and calling for fair elections.

---

Large protests are anticipated across Russia today, two weeks after tens of thousands took to the streets to demonstrate against alleged election fraud. More than 50,000 activists have signed up to the Facebook page organising the event, The public will behind the protest remains to be seen, however, and Russian media has withheld news of the planned marches and --- in notable contrast to the clamour which met events on 10 December 10 --- so has Western media.

Whilst hopes are strong amongst many protesters and some commentators that these actions may initiate a radical overhaul of the Putin government, Russian analysts remain cautious. Matthew Rojansky explores the realpolitik behind the headlines and Western projections.

At the same time the passion and social media savvy of many young Russians has proven fertile ground for networks of support to emerge and strengthen. Writing for The Moscow Times, Rina Soloveitchik and Kevin O'Flynn highlight the central battleground of Twitter as a medium for key opposition news and opinion, as well as for regime misinformation and mischief:

Click to read more ...

Russia LiveBlog: The White-Ribbon Protests

An aerial camera captures the scale of protest in Moscow today

See also Russia Feature: Putin Accused --- Large Protests on Saturday?

---

EA is working with INN to provide live coverage of today's protests in Russia:

17:35 GMT: Ridus News posts a series of remarkable photographs from today in Moscow taken from a radio-controlled helicopter above the demonstration.

16:58 GMT: Major rally planned in Irkutsk next Saturday.

Click to read more ...

Syria, Libya, (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Feast of the Martyrs

2024 GMT: Activists are reporting protests, and gunfire, in Aleppo. Here is one account:

Aleppo: Security opened fire at the protesters in Izaz, while another two demonstrations were happening in Ikteren and Andan

2018 GMT: Al Jazeera reports on another high-profile defection from the Syrian regime, but this one much closer to the security apparatus:

The attorney general in Hama, Adnan al-Bakkour, has resigned his post in protest over repression exercised by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking in a video footage posted on the Internet by activists, al-Bakkour has accused the Syrian government of killing 72 prisoners who were held in custody at Hama central prison.

1935 GMT: According to multiple Twitter accounts, Said Qaddafi is conducting a phone interview right now. So far, the best quote:

Saif: NTC's head jaleel is a liar, they did not take Bab Azizia, it was bombed many times by NATO and was opened to visitors.

Also, someone quotes Saif and then asks a relevant question:

"we are drinking tea and coffee, am asking everyone to attack the rats." Why not stop drinking and attack them yourself?

1919 GMT: EXTREMELY IMPORTANT VIDEO: Protesters shout anti-regime slogans into the face of soldiers in Angel, Daraa. On a more careful watching, however, the soldiers also appear to be chanting their support for the protesters, though the roadblock is maintained.

Protesters can also be seen waving olive branches at the soldiers.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (17 August): The Fundamentalist Attack on Ahmadinejad

1948 GMT: Oil Watch. An admission of challenges for Iran's energy industries? Minister of Oil Rostam Qassemi has reportedly said that he needs "special authorisations" to circumvent sanctions and that delays in oil and gas projects are a fundamental problem.

1915 GMT: Unity Watch. Digarban makes some provocative claims that the conservative/principlist quest for unity is not going quite as planned.

According to the site, Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, the head of the Expediency Council, has rejected the conditions of the Islamic Constancy Front --- propelled by Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi --- for cooperation with the "7+8" unity front in the next Parliamentary elections.

In particular, Mahdavi Kani has resisted the elimination of representatives of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer-Qalibaf representatives from the 7+8 Committee, named because of its expansion to 15 members to include different conservative and principlist factions.

MP Asadollah Badamchian has backed up Mahdavi Kani, saying that the Constancy Front has taken a strict position and will fail if it does not cooperate with the 7+8. Mohsen Yahyavi of the Islamic Engineers party said the Constancy Front "should estimate its abilities cautiously and make no mistakes" to move with the hardliners' project more easily.

And Habibollah Bourbour of the Community of Islamic Revolution Loyalists went even farther: he declared that the Constancy Front wants to eliminate popular figures from the 7+8 and is fed by a "deviant current".

Click to read more ...

Turkey Election Special: The "Kurdish Problem" and the Problem of Protests

In less than a week, Turkey will have a new government.

Anticipating the Parliamentary elections on Sunday, EA takes a look at the differences between the parties on key issues. Today: Protest and the Future of the Kurds.

Prime Minister Erdogan Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, “There is no Kurdish problem but there are problems of Kurdish people”. After the killing of 12 members of the outlawed PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) on 14 May, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc offered a more confusing formula, “There is a Kurdish problem but it is not productive to say that there is a problem as it is in the solution process."

Click to read more ...

Israel-Gaza Analysis: Why the Talk is Now of a Cease-Fire

So now it is said that the exchange of hostilities between factions in Gaza and the State of Israel will not bring another war. After the concern of recent days that West Jerusalem might repeat the attack of 2008/9, Operation Cast Lead, suddenly the talk  from Hamas and then from Israel was of a cease-fire.

So what happened? 

The surface reading had been that an escalation of tension on the Gaza border was useful for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as this took attention away from any need for concessions in talks on the other Palestinian front --- the West Bank --- ahead of Israeli elections. Indeed, even Washington's statement that it was“deeply concerned” about the construction of another 942 housing units of Israeli settlements in the West Bank could be put aside.

Click to read more ...

Latest from Turkey: The Insurgent PKK, Relations with Russia, the New Middle East, and Israel

Latest developments in Turkey....

What Next with the PKK?

The Kurdish separatist group, PKK, ended its unilateral truce on 28 February. Last week, its life-long-imprisoned leader Abdullah Ocalan said: “I will make the evaluation in the coming days in March. If something positive happens, the current state of inaction will continue until elections. If not, I am out, I will fade from the scene. My health situation is already not good enough to carry on this work.”

On the following day, three PKK guerillas/terrorists were killed by Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in Sirnak. On Friday, TSK clashed with PKK members in Bingol --- four PKK members and two village guards were killed. Was this a reaction to Ocalan by PKK ’s senior officials or an organized response by PKK with Ocalan’s permission before the Turkish New Year (Newroz)?

Click to read more ...

Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Covering Uncertainty

2155 GMT: Claimed footage of a demonstration today in opposition-held Misurata, 210 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli. The second clip is of a sit-in in the city's Tahrir Square in support of the citizens of Zawiyah, who had been holding out (ultimately unsuccessfully) against regime attacks:

Click to read more ...

Israel Analysis: International Pressure is Growing to Break "Deadlock"

With the Quartet (the US, Russia, European Union and United Nations) declaring that the deadlock in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is a threat to region's whole security and condemning Israel for its inaction following the end of 10-month freeze on settlement expansion in the West Bank; the circle around West Jerusalem is tightening.

Click to read more ...