Protest in Tunisia, January 2011Nearly six months after Tunisia ousted its former dictator, positive talk of the country's advance towards democracy is accompanied by suspicions that this advance is slow and reluctant. There is fear, for example, that the coming constituent assembly elections will be postponed forever and that the country might miss a truly historic opportunity. Are these suspicions justified?
Gunmen in Tripoli's Green SquareOn Saturday, Libyan authorities ordered Xan Rice, a reporter for The Guardian of London, out of the country. This was the article on Friday that apparently raised their anger:
Locals call them pimps or snitches. They wear plain clothes, drive unmarked cars and are as numerous as scorpions in the Libyan desert, only more dangerous. Loathed and feared in equal measure, they are the eyes and ears of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, and a large part of the reason that Tripoli has not been able to join the revolt sweeping the country.
Boyah's story was typical of many coastal dwellers who had turned to piracy since the onset of the civil war almost 20 years ago. In 1994, he still worked as an artisanal lobster diver in Eyl – "one of the best", he said. Since then, the lobster population off the coast of Eyl has been devastated by foreign fishing fleets --- mostly Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean ships, Boyah said. Using steel-pronged drag fishing nets, these foreign trawlers did not bother with nimble explorations of the reefs: they uprooted them, netting the future livelihood of the nearby coastal people along with the day's catch. Today, according to Boyah, there are no more lobsters to be found in the waters off Eyl. So he began to fish a different species, lashing out at those who could out-compete him on the ocean floor, but who were no match for him on its surface. From 1995 to 1997, Boyah and others captured three foreign fishing vessels, keeping the catch and ransoming the crew. By 1997, the foreign fishing fleets had become more challenging prey, entering into protection contracts with local warlords that made armed guards and anti-aircraft guns regular fixtures on the decks of their ships. So, like all successful hunters, Boyah and his men adapted to their changing environment, and began going after commercial shipping vessels. They soon attracted others to their cause. "Boyah was a pioneer," one local journalist told me. "He showed the others the real potential of piracy."
Saudi Arabian Units in BahrainBritain is training Saudi Arabia's national guard – the elite security force deployed during the recent protests in Bahrain – in public order enforcement measures and the use of sniper rifles. The revelation has outraged human rights groups, which point out that the Foreign Office recognises that the kingdom's human rights record is "a major concern".
In response to questions made under the Freedom of Information Act, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed that British personnel regularly run courses for the national guard in "weapons, fieldcraft and general military skills training, as well as incident handling, bomb disposal, search, public order and sniper training". The courses are organised through the British Military Mission to the Saudi Arabian National Guard, an obscure unit that consists of 11 British army personnel under the command of a brigadier.
It’s one thing for a football fan to call a player a donkey. But it’s another altogether to dress an ass in the footballer’s replica shirt. Especially when the player heads the national football federation and is the son of the country’s dictator, who in fury sentences three of the fans to death and razes the team’s stadium and clubhouse.
“Nowhere in the world could this happen,” said Khalid Agory, who writes for the website of Al-Ahly Benghazi, one of Libya‘s top football teams. “Except in Libya.”
Since the Gulf soldiers came to Bahrain, life in the Shia villages and suburbs of the capital, Manama, has been non-stop intimidation, violence and threats. Even trying to move around in normal ways has become life-threatening. They are trying to beat down the opposition with a long campaign against us.
I live in one of the villages near Manama. One night about 7.30pm, I parked in front of my father-in-law's house and walked towards the door, when at least 50 armed and masked thugs --- they were not in security forces uniform ---appeared from one of the village lanes and told me to stop, pointing their shotguns at me. I ran away and they followed, but I managed to hide in one of the houses and they did not see me.
I heard them talking to each other, saying: "Don't worry, we will find him.
Bahrain, The Guardian The Guardian of London has established an Interactive Guide to "China's Detained and Missing", providing information about 43 dissidents and activists. Examples:
Ni Yulan (Beijing): Rights lawyer disbarred and beaten after defending residents against forced demolitions. Reportedly detained by police on 7 April; police believed to have notified family she is at Xincheng detention centre
China, Dong Jiqin, Ni Yulan, The Guardian, Zhu Yufu 
What both the government and the international community need to do is allocate funds for health and other facilities, allocate it in ways that is transparent to everyone and monitor their use. Many people die because of bombings and insecurity, but this is much more dangerous --- the deaths of women and children damages the whole infrastructure of society.
To achieve this we need to keep going forward with democracy. One of the main achievements of 2001 for the women of the world, for the taxpayers of the world, was women's freedom in Afghanistan. If we lose these values, the country will go back hundreds of years.
Bradley ManningWhen I was asked about the "elephant in the room," I said the treatment of Private Manning, while well-intentioned, was "ridiculous" and "counterproductive" and, yes, "stupid".
I stand by what I said. The United States should set the global standard for treatment of its citizens --- and then exceed it. It is what the world expects of us. It is what we should expect of ourselves.
The bodies surface quietly, like corks bobbing up in the dark. They come in twos and threes, a few times a week, dumped on desolate mountains or empty city roads, bearing the scars of great cruelty. Arms and legs are snapped; faces are bruised and swollen. Flesh is sliced with knives or punctured with drills; genitals are singed with electric prods. In some cases the bodies are unrecognisable, sprinkled with lime or chewed by wild animals. All have a gunshot wound in the head.
This gruesome parade of corpses has been surfacing in Balochistan, Pakistan's largest province, since last July. Several human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have accounted for more than 100 bodies --- lawyers, students, taxi drivers, farm workers. Most have been tortured. The last three were discovered on Sunday.
If you have not heard of this epic killing spree, though, don't worry: neither have most Pakistanis.
