News Roundup - Hour 2
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-01-07/news-roundup-hour-2
A new Congress convenes with the GOP putting in new rules for tax and spending bills. President Obama makes changes among his closest advisors. And the Pentagon plans to send an additional 1400 Marines to Afghanistan. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top international news stories.
Guests
James Kitfield
senior correspondent, National Journal magazine.
Susan Glasser
editor-in-chief, Foreign Policy.
Nadia Bilbassy
senior U.S. correspondent, MBC TV -- Middle East Broadcast Centre.
Comments
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The fairness of the election in general, and especially in the Northern part of Ivory Coast doesn't suffer any dispute. In fact, all the local and international observers (including the AU, the EU and the Carter Center, etc...) which were posted in most of the voting stations of the North of Ivory Coast, stronghold of Mr. Ouattara, didn't find any major irregularity in the voting process that could invalidate the results in the North. As a matter of fact, Mr. Ouattara commended the same results in the first and second round of the elections (75% of the votes on average in every precinct of the North). The outgoing President and camp didn't contest the same results by Mr. Ouattara in the first round. The 54.1% win by Mr. Ouattara is so unassailable that the claims of irregularity in the North by Gbagbo's camp have been strongly refuted by the reports on the election in the North provided by the government's administrative representatives (sort of district executive officers) in the North Gbagbo himself appointed. What is going on in Ivory Coast is a matter of a dictator and sore loser of incumbent president (like we have had in Zimbabwe and Kenya) who is using the state institutions (court, army, police, etc..) loyal to him to confiscate power. Democracy and progress in Africa are at stake. Every freedom lover and friend of Africa the world around must petition and pressure their governments to support the ousting of Gbagbo through a UN security council urgent intervention. Gbagbo must go by all means, including military.
Diane asked why people (like those hikers) keep going into, or even near to, Iran. Well, maybe the answer is simple: they're stupid!
Nadia Bilbassy was way off in her facts and understanding of the most recent outbreak of prejudice and violence against non-Muslims in Egypt (and Iraq). She put the most blame on Al-Qaeda. The story has been going on for years, long before Al-Qaeda existed, and, most often, completely domestic in origin. Thirty seconds on the NY Times archive shows attacks in 1992, 2005, 2006--including several on Coptic churches. Jews, of course--but not mentioned on your show--were attacked and hounded out of Egypt, Iraq and many other Muslim countries in similar ways within my lifetime.
My late wife, an Egyptian Jew, tried hard to be a proud citizen of her native country. She and her family shared with me many accounts of imprisonments and deprivation of rights and possessions of the old and once-vibrant Jewish community, most of whom live now in Israel, the Americas or France. The Copts and Iraqi Christians seem threatened by a similar fate. If Muslim intellectuals and leaders would look at this problem squarely and speak up about it, there would be some hope of change. Their failure so far to even acknowledge what's occurring now--or what took place to the Greeks and Armenians in Turkey, or the Jews in the Middles East--makes optimism hard to come by.
Nadia idealization of the past ignores of the history of violence against Christian and Jews in the middle east goes back way before the establishment of Israel or American involvement in the region. The Egyptian media, along with state media in almost every other Arab country are filled with prejudice and incredible fables depicting Christian and jews in a manner consistent with some of Nazi Germany leading hate mongers. Jews and Christinas are routinely demonized in the media, public schools, on university campuses and by the leading religious authorities. Sharia laws are inherently prejudicial to non-moslems. The mention of leaders of PFLP being killed by Israel in Beirut in the 70's being Christian is irrelevant. The PFLP was essentially a radical secular left wing liberation movement with strong commitment to the values promoted by The Baader-Meinhof Gang with generous funding by the East German secret service. To describe them as Christians ignores some basic historical facts. Lastly, Arab nationalism has led to the removal and marginalization of most ethnic minorities in the Middle East. The departure of Jews was a pre-cursor for the departure of Christians in every Arab nation. Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon are prime examples.
Xinhua net dispatch: Russia and United States signed Russia 19 days to join WTO agreement inside Vietnam river ugg boots clearance sale, joined WTO finally to clear away main obstacle for Russia thereby.
Dwight Howard’s new adidas Superbeast is impressive in both its home and away colorups, but what will Superman be wearing when he makes his fifth straight NBA All Star Game appearance this February in LA? Interestingly enough, it’s this new Superbeast that looks like it could just as easily be another away pair. But a closer look reveals ASG markings on the heel and inner tongue,CHI Straightener, while the Three Stripes are made reflective for a bit of that Tinseltown vibe. Check out more shots after the jump and let us know how these compare to the other 2011 NBA All Star Game PEs we’ve seen so far. via US10
Sneaker News first showed you the Orion Blue/Metallic Silver colorway of the Jordan Prime 5 back in July of 2010, and reader response was ‘mixed’ to say the least. Reaction to this hybrid shoe hasn’t changed,Nike Mercurial Vapor, but what’s different from then and now is that the production version doesn’t feature a swoosh on the ‘netting’ like it did in the sample version. The Orion Blue colorway, a February 2011 release, is just one of the many tonal-uppered eye-catching colorways that are set to release. Earlier this month the Varsity Red and Grape Ice colorways dropped, and perhaps the future of the Prime 5 will be determined by the sales numbers of its debut colorways. In any case, we’ve got more images for you to peep after the jump, so take a look at let us know what you think. via mita.
Style: 429489-401
Color: Orion Blue/Metallic Silver
In considering budget cuts, has Congress considered cutting their salaries? If they expect all the rest of us to take cuts, they should be willing to set an example.