When Patricia Marilyn Spottedcrow sold $31 worth of marijuana to a police informant, she never expected to find herself in prison at all—let alone for 10 years. Spottedcrow and her mother, Delita Starr, were caught selling to the same informant from Starr’s house on two separate occasions. Though they…
Continue reading …Harsh new details of Lara Logan’s attack in Cairo: The CBS reporter was stripped and battered with fists and makeshift flagpoles, reports the Times of London, via the Daily Mail . She was pinched so hard by her attackers that the red marks that covered her body were initially thought to…
Continue reading …The number is a hefty one even for the crime-ridden town of Ciudad Juarez: 53 dead in one of the deadliest 72-hour periods the Mexican city has recently seen. Police tell CNN that 14 were killed on Thursday; 20 on Friday; and 19 on Saturday, including a police officer shot…
Continue reading …Turns out that Jason Bourne thing may not be as easy as the movies make it look—the Guardian reports that it can confirm that Raymond Davis, the US embassy staffer charged in Pakistan with the murder of two men , is a CIA agent. “It’s beyond a shadow of a…
Continue reading …KFC chicken isn’t “finger lickin’ good” anymore—after 50 years, the fast food franchise is dropping its famous slogan, reports the Telegraph . The change comes as the chain seeks to emphasize its shift to healthier fare; for instance, it’s adding ovens to its kitchens so it can introduced non-fried options….
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PM’s trip will not only be key event of Middle East tour but also marks a rebalancing of his foreign policy When prime ministers encounter a bumpy period there is always a pithy quote at hand from the late Harold Macmillan to explain the challenge. Two of the sayings of “Supermac” – the last Etonian to have served more than a year as prime minister – are apt as David Cameron becomes the first world leader to fly into Cairo since the recent revolution. “Events, my dear boy, events,” the old showman reportedly said to a journalist in response to a question about what is most likely to blow a government off course. The “events” could might be blowing Cameron’s foreign policy off course are the “wind of change” sweeping across the Arab world. The “wind of change” was one of Macmillan’s other great sayings as he told the South African parliament, during his 1960 tour of Africa, that the apartheid state had to accept the world was changing. Flying into the Middle East at the height of the Arab world’s “1989 moment” to promote British trade – the polite way of referring to the sale of arms – would have made Cameron look grossly out of touch. Over the weekend, Britain was forced to revoke arms export licences to Bahrain and Libya. Cameron, who is nothing if not fleet of foot, has responded to today’s “wind of change” by hastily adding a visit to Egypt at the start of a long-planned trip to the Middle East. Sprinkling a touch of democracy, by visiting some of the heroes of Tahrir Square, should do the trick, Downing Street hopes. The short five-hour hop to Egypt, in which Cameron will also urge the leadership of the country’s military council to live up to their commitments to hold free and fair elections, will easily be the most significant event of this week’s Middle East trip and not just because it will guarantee headlines across the world. It might also mark a rebalancing of Cameron’s foreign policy. When Cameron arrived in Downing Street he said that one of the main priorities of British foreign policy – after stabilising Afghanistan – was to promote trade. The new prime minister told a meeting of every British ambassador, summoned to a special conference in London on 6 July, that they should be “economic ambassadors for Britain”. This is what the prime minister told the Foreign Office Leadership Conference: “I want you to ask yourself every day: ‘What am I doing to promote British business?’ If you want to keep Britain’s great ambassadorial residences then I want you to show me that every day you are using them relentlessly to open new trade links and to generate new business for Britain.” Cameron, who made clear he believed that Gordon Brown and Tony Blair had failed to do enough to promote trade, followed up his speech by taking the largest British trade delegation to India later that month. He then led another trade delegation to China in the autumn. This meant that, within months of taking office, he had visited two “Bric” countries – the world’s most important developing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Today’s visit to Egypt is designed to show that Britain does not have a “one-legged” foreign policy focused solely on trade. The prime minister will insist that promoting political reform – his main mission today and a part of his mission throughout the week as he visits other Middle Eastern countries – is completely consistent with flying the flag abroad for British business. Cameron’s message is that promoting trade links and encouraging political reform creates stability. This, he will say, is in everyone’s interests. Critics will no doubt say that “events” have prompted a recasting of the prime minister’s approach to foreign policy. David Miliband, the former foreign secretary who has been one of his most eloquent critics, recently dubbed the prime minister’s focus on trade as “low-grade mercantilism”. This is what Miliband told the Commons foreign affairs select committee: “We kid ourselves if we think we’re going to do well at trade by retreating to become simply a group of tradesmen and women. In my view, we will diminish our trading possibilities with China, as well as elsewhere, if we think that just going on and on about trade will increase it: it won’t. “The way you have influence is through long-term relationships on big issues that matter to other countries. China cares about its own stability and about regional stability. It also cares about its place in the UN and we have to be players on those scenes. If we are not, we will become not like France, but sort of sub-France. Low-grade mercantilism is not a foreign policy.” At least Cameron is not “sub-France” when it come to Egypt – he has beaten Nicolas Sarkozy to Cairo. Egypt is a sensitive subject for Sarkozy, who recently ordered his ministers to take holidays at home after François Fillon, the prime minister, took a new year break in Egypt paid for in part by Hosni Mubarak. David Cameron Harold Macmillan Egypt Middle East Foreign policy David Miliband Nicolas Sarkozy Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
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Prime minister becomes the first leader to fly into Egypt after Hosni Mubarak ousted as president David Cameron has flown into Cairo amid tight security, becoming the first world leader to visit Egypt since Hosni Mubarak was ousted as president in the revolution 10 days ago. A news blackout was lifted as the prime minister landed in Cairo for a brief five-hour stopover hastily added at the start of a planned tour of the Middle East. Cameron arrives in Egypt at a delicate moment in the second month of protests across the Arab world, as violence intensifies in neighbouring Libya with the loss of hundreds of lives. The protests started in Tunisia, Libya’s neighbour to the west, in January. The prime minister, who made clear soon after arriving in Downing Street last year that promoting British trade should be a top foreign policy priority, will attempt to show he is in tune with the new times. Portraying Britain as a “candid friend” of Egypt, he will urge the country’s interim military rulers to abide by their commitments to hold free and fair elections. The prime minister is due to meet Field Marshal Mohammad Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak’s minister of defence who is head of the supreme council of the armed forces. The council assumed power on 11 February, when the former president finally stood down after 18 days of protests. Cameron is also due to meet Ahmed Shafik, another member of the military council who was appointed by Mubarak as prime minister at the end of January in response to the protests focused around Cairo’s Tahrir Square, and opposition figures. Downing Street arranged the visit to Egypt in great haste amid fears that a long-planned trade trip this week to other Middle East countries with questionable commitments to democracy would look out of step as a tide of protests sweep across the region. Arms sales are expected to be on the agenda throughout the week. Cameron will say today that promoting British commercial interests in the Middle East is consistent with encouraging political reform in the region. As a sign of his new approach, Cameron will depict himself as a “candid friend” of Egypt as he urges the interim military rulers to ensure they abide by their undertakings. These finally prompted most of the demonstrators to leave Tahrir Square. The military council has agreed to hold a referendum on constitutional changes within the next two months. Many pro-democracy campaigners fear that the military, which will govern by martial law for at least six months until elections are held, may present a weak package of reforms in the referendum. Downing Street, which points out that Cameron condemned the violence in Egypt in strong language, believes the military council is making initial moves in the right direction. But Britain believes that Egypt is still politically fragile and there is a long way to go until a broad-based government is in place. Cameron, who will urge Egypt’s interim leaders to waste no time in bringing on board opposition figures, will highlight the importance of what he calls the “building blocks” of democracy. These are: fostering an array of political parties, promoting non-governmental organisations and allowing a free media. The prime minister will say that Britain will help Egypt through the Foreign Office Arab Partnership Fund and other economic assistance. Cameron, who landed in Egypt a few hours before the EU foreign policy chief, Lady Ashton, will say that the EU should redirect its large funds more effectively to Egypt. Downing Street says Cameron’s visit to Egypt, and the rest of his tour of the Middle East, shows that Britain does not have a “one-legged foreign policy” focused solely on trade. Britain faced pressure over the weekend when it was forced to revoke arms export licences to Bahrain and Libya amid fears that British arms may have been used in the violent crackdown on protesters. Cameron outlined the approach he will take this week in a telephone call on Sunday with the King of Bahrain. A Downing Street spokesman said: “The prime minister stressed the importance of responding to peaceful protest through reform, not repression. The violence of previous days had been deeply concerning. “As a friend of Bahrain, the prime minister said that we supported the process of national dialogue which the Bahraini government had initiated. All sides now needed to engage urgently with that process.” These remarks illustrate the three priorities, all interlocked, of this week’s trip: • Encouraging political reforms, though these should happen in different ways in separate countries. Cameron believes it is important not to generalise because no two countries in the Middle East are the same. But he will say that the protests across the Arab world are of immense significance because they are driven by economic and political demands and do not represent a wave of Islamist fundamentalism. Amid this background, officials say that Cameron will be careful not to offer any lectures or to suggest any particular model is appropriate. He will simply speak up for his own values of freedom and tolerance. Cameron will say that Middle Eastern governments must not respond to the protesters’ demands through violence and repression. Governments must also listen to what the protesters are saying and allow their views to be heard. Failure to do so will simply lead to a boiling up of anger and frustration which will make matters worse. • Pushing British commercial interests. The prime minister will say that it is in Britain’s national interests to develop commercial links with one of the fastest-growing areas in the world. • Addressing security issues which are common to the Middle East and to Britain. The most pressing security threat is Iran and its nuclear ambitions. Cameron expects most of the Middle Eastern countries he will be visiting to share Britain’s concerns about Iran. Britain believes that the twin-track approach to dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions – negotiations and sanctions – is failing to make much headway. He expects to receive support for tightening sanctions. The other security issues throughout the week will be the stalled Middle East peace process, the instability of Yemen and piracy. Cameron will say achieving his three broad goals – promoting reform, delivering economic growth and facing up to security threats – are the best way of ensuring long-term stability in the region. David Cameron Egypt Hosni Mubarak Middle East Protest Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …It’s protest pepperoni across the waters. Egyptian sympathizers are treating Wisconsin protesters to pizza, reports Politico . In fact, Ian’s on State Street, a pizza shop haunt of UW-Madison students, has been busy filling orders from 12 countries—and 38 states of the union—to supply slices to protesters at the…
Continue reading …Elif Shafak: ‘No society is stagnant. The Islamic world is not stagnant’ – video
February 21, 2011 No Comment
Comment is free interviews: Bestselling Turkish novelist Elif Shafak on multiculturalism, eastern stereotypes and the fallacy that democracy cannot work in the Middle East David Shariatmadari Elliot Smith Christian Bennett
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The unrest in Libya started out as a series of protests inspired by popular revolts in neighboring Egypt and Tunisia but was met by a fierce security crackdown and the use of militias.
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