Politics

People’s expectation raised for change will dash against the reality that it will take decades to create systems of governance, accountability, economic justice, etc to allow for unleashing the great potential in the Arab world – natural resources, water, educated hard-working middle class etc. It is critical that people begin to chart this future honestly and pragmatically.

The end of the government of President Mubarak is the main demand of demonstrators in Cairo and other Egyptian cities, currently under curfew and suffering a partial cut in communications.
Thousands of people, mainly youngsters, have taken to the streets, chanting “Mubarak, Go” and using stones and sticks in clashes with riot police.

KLM Royal Dutch airlines is adapting its timetable to the expanded evening curfew imposed by the Egyptian authorities in response to the protests against President Hosni Mubarak. Radio Netherlands Worldwide is increasing also its broadcasts to Egypt after the authorities shut down all internet servers and mobile services.

Tens of thousands of people are gathering in Egypt today in what is expected to be the biggest display of opposition to President Mubarak so far. The protests come amid a vast security clampdown. Police are firing tear gas into the crowds and have begun to round people up on the streets. A number of journalists have also been arrested including some who have been badly beaten.

We are about to witness a new and a rather unconventional contribution of the immigrant community in New York. This time it will not be with work and cheap labor, or with cultural art and entertainment, or even with food. It will be by resuscitating our old and paralyzed democracy. The state of affairs of our democracy is in general pathetic, and even worse at the local level.

The wave of protests sweeping the Middle East in the aftermath of the Tunisian uprising continues today in the two key U.S. allies of Egypt and Yemen. Thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets in defiance of the government’s efforts to clamp down on the biggest demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak in three decades.

The protests that took place today in Yemen and Egypt have drawn inspiration from the uprising in Tunisia that forced the ouster of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The interim Tunisian government is expected to announce the dismissal today of all leftover cabinet members with ties to former President Ben Ali.

Russia wants an unambiguous answer from NATO over Moscow’s role in a European missile defense shield and will deploy nuclear weapons if no agreement is reached, President Dmitry Medvedev warned.
“Our partners have to understand that we do not want this to have some common toys that NATO and us can play with, but because we want adequate protection for Russia,” Medvedev said.

Thousands of people have rallied in the northwestern Pakistan zone in order to protest for the ongoing United States drone attacks that killed scores of civilians. On last Sunday, thousands of demonstrators at the Pakistani city of Peshawar, blocked a main road and several small ones helding a vigil to mourn drone attack victims.

Nose-flute player and human rights activist Dom-an hails from Sagada, Mountain Province, in the Cordillera Central mountain range of north central Luzon, Philippines. November 28, 2005, her husband Pepe was killed by rogue elements among the military. Transcending her plight she has opened her search for justice to similarly distressed people.