Discussion of All Things Political

Resolution

A new post on the Gay Girl in Damascus blog includes a confession from Tom MacMaster. Andy Carvin offers independent confirmation of the confession with statements from Tom MacMaster and Britta Froelicher.

MacMaster has also separately confirmed he is behind the hoax in response to an email from The Electronic Intifada asking for confirmation. MacMaster wrote:

Yes. We will be doing a first interview with a journalist of our choice in 12-24 hours. After that, we may consider other media.
Tom

Original post

Ali Abunimah and Benjamin Doherty write:
We have gathered compelling new evidence regarding the “Gay Girl in Damascus” blogger hoax.

Those responsible for this hoax have caused a great deal of concern and anguish by posting information alleging that “Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari” the supposed “Gay Girl” blogger had been kidnapped from the streets of Damascus, possibly by Syrian authorities, and was likely in grave danger.

A measure of the concern that this story has caused is the formation of a Facebook group calling to “Free Amina Arraf” with more than 15,000 members, as well as numerous action alerts and stories in international media.

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SULAIMANIYA, Iraq / BRUSSELS, March 15, 2011 (IPS) - On a dusty street in the north-eastern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniya one recent day, an elderly man sold heaps of tomatoes, fruits and other fresh produce from a makeshift trolley.

But the vendor lamented that the fruits and vegetables no longer come from the once-prolific valleys of Iraq's self-governing Kurdish region, nor fertile regions further south.

Most of his goods are trucked in from Turkey and Iran, Massoud explains, handing over a bag of oranges to a visitor. "We had wars, we had Saddam, and now we have no rain," said Massoud, who did not want to share his real name with the customer.

Although the brief wet season is just beginning, much of northern Iraq has endured several years of drought, compounding water problems that stem from climate change, migration, a growing population and declining water flows in the country's most important rivers -- the Tigris and Euphrates.

Faced with a potentially catastrophic shortage of fresh water, Iraq and the other nations that share the Tigris and Euphrates, emanating in eastern Turkey, must strengthen efforts to protect the waterways, according to a new report. Such cooperation, like the rains, has been in short supply.MORE

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More than a million protesters flooded into central Cairo, turning Tahrir Square in the Egyptian capital, into a sea of humanity as massive protests against President Hosni Mubarak swept across Middle East's most populous nation.

Packed shoulder to shoulder in and around the famed Tahrir Square, the mass of people on Tuesday held aloft posters denouncing the president, and chanted slogans "Go Mubarak Go" and "Leave! Leave! Leave!"


Similar demonstrations calling on Mubarak to step down were also witnessed across other cities, including Sinai, Alexandria, Suez, Mansoura, Damnhour, Arish, Tanta and El-Mahalla el-Kubra.

Tens of thousands marched in Alexandria while the number of those protesting in Sinai was estimated to be around 250,000.

Tuesday's protests were by far the biggest since street demonstrations broke out against Mubarak's rule last week.

"The crowd is very diverse - young, old, religious, men, women - and growing by the minute," Al Jazeera's online producer said from Tahrir Square.

"They're chanting the same slogans they've been chanting all week. Someone actually hung an effigy of Mubarak from a streetlight."MORE

In response to the regime's persistent attempts at censorship, at least seven Arabic-language television stations throughout the region are now carrying Al-Jazeera content on the air. They are: Al-Hiwar, Al-Jadeed, Al-Karama, Suheil, NBN, Adan, Al-Aqsa, OTV, Falastin Al-Youm, and Al-Haqiqa, Al-Jazeera reportedMORE

King Abdullah II of Jordan has sacked his government in the wake of street protests and has asked an ex-army general to form a new cabinet, Jordan's Royal Palace has announced.

King Abdullah's move on Tuesday comes after thousands of Jordanians took to the streets, inspired by anti-government protests in Tunisia and Egypt. Jordanians had been calling for the resignation of prime minister Samir Rifai who is blamed for a rise in fuel and food prices and slowed political reforms.

A Jordanian official said the monarch officially accepted the resignation of Rifai, a wealthy politician and former court adviser, and asked Marouf Bakhit to form a new cabinet.

"[Bakhit] is a former general and briefly ambassador to Israel who has been prime minister before. He's someone who would be seen as a safe pair of hands," Rosemary Hollis, professor of Middle East policy studies at London's City University, said.

"I wouldn't see it as a sign of liberalisation. With his previous premiership, he talked the talk of reform but little actually happened," she said.


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