Archives for 2009

Borzou Daragahi in Beirut and Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran have just filed a summary of Friday afternoon’s events in Tehran. They let slip about two-thirds down the article that opposition sources are claiming that a million protesters filled the capital’s streets and that even their political foes admitted that the crowds were enormous. It is […]

The USG Open Source Center translates an item from the opposition press alleging that the regime turned off cell phone service before Friday prayers in downtown Tehran. FYI — Website Reports Mobile Phones in Center of Tehran BlockedTabnak OnlineFriday, July 17, 2009Document Type: OSC Summary Tehran Tabnak in Persian at 1045 GMT on 17 July […]

Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s sermon at Friday prayers in Tehran on Friday will be closely watched for the signals he sends about the future of Iran. Although he is a strong backer of opposition figure Mir Hosain Mousavi, Rafsanjani has tended to work behind the scenes and to say conciliatory things. As a multi-billionaire, […]

ITN reports on the bombings at hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia on Friday morning: Aljazeera English has a detailed interview with an eyewitness survivor: The difference between Friday morning’s strikes and previous bombings in Indonesia some years ago is that there was initially a question of how stable Indonesia was after emerging from dictatorship. The bombers […]

AP provides video of a memorable moment in President Barack Obama’s address to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People: What a difference a few years make. George W. Bush repeatedly refused to address the NAACP. It isn’t that Bush is a racist, though his campaign was perfectly willing to deploy race to […]

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged in a major foreign policy speech on Wednesday that: ‘ “Today we and our Afghan allies stand ready to welcome anyone supporting the Taliban, who renounces Al Qaeda, lays down their arms, and is willing to participate in the free and open society that is enshrined in the Afghan […]

The USG Open Source Center transcribes the call by the number two man in al-Qaeda for the Pakistani public to support the Pakistani Taliban. (They mostly don’t.) It was in English because educated Pakistanis know that language.: Al-Zawahiri Calls for Supporting Jihad in PakistanJihadist Websites — OSC SummaryWednesday, July 15, 2009 Document Type: OSC Summary […]

The tactic of congressional conservatives, of portraying Sonia Sotomayor as a reverse racist for her ‘wise Latina’ comment, has so many holes in it that you could make a Swiss cheese sandwich with it. First of all, her statement about the wisdom gained by members of oppressed and discriminated-against groups didn’t have anything to do […]

Signs are appearing in Europe that the Israeli hawks are finding it more difficult to operate with impunity. Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli military attack on virtually defenseless Gaza last winter appears to have wrought significant damage on Israel’s image and standing, and opened it to punitive measures and even boycotts in Europe, unlike previous […]