On Saturday Al Jazeera reported on the violent clashes between ousted President Morsi's supporters and Egyptian security forces. Scores have been killed with the exact toll not immediately clear: If the death toll of 120 is confirmed it would be the deadliest incident since Morsi was deposed by the army more than three weeks ago. On July 8, 53 people, mostly Morsi supporters, died when armed men opened fire close to a Republican Guard compound in the area. Each side accuses the other of firing weapons. Al Jazeera also reported that the Interior Minister has warned that security forces will soon be dispersing the protesters: Egypt's interior minister has pledged that protests calling for the reinstatement of ousted president Mohamed Morsi would be dispersed "soon". Speaking at a news conference on Saturday, Mohamed Ibrahim said security forces would act "in a legal fashion" to disperse the demonstrations "as soon as possible". Let's hope that this violence soon ends before more have died. [Photo: Al Jazeera]In a Mother Jones blog on Friday, Kevin Drum reported on the "GOP feeding frenzy" occasioned by the gutting of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court several weeks ago. The first out of the box is North Carolina whose legislature recently enacted perhaps the worst voter suppression law in the country. Not only will they require voter ID, they have, among other things, reduced early voting days, outlawed paid voting registration drives, and prohibited provisional balloting. (For the complete list, follow the link to the article.) Drum comments: In the past, all of this would have required preclearance from the Justice Department, and it almost certainly would have been dead on arrival. Given the control of the House by Republicans, there is no hope of Congress remedying SCOTUS' striking down of Section 5. Drum concludes: What's happening in North Carolina, after all, is part of a broad push by the Republican Party itself throughout the country. So now it's up to the Justice Department to go in after the fact and take these laws to court one by one. The Supreme Court seemed to think this was a perfectly adequate substitute for preclearance. We'll soon find out if they were serious when one of these challenges eventually wends its way onto their docket.
On Friday, The Guardian reported on some small signs of change in Iran after the June election of moderate Hassan Rouhani as preparations get underway for his inauguration. Some political prisoners have been released, local media have pushed the boundaries of their reporting, street celebrations for Iran's World Cup qualification went unmolested, and "25 independent Iranian documentary film-makers accused of working clandestinely inside the country for the BBC's Persian service were all acquitted." Iranians realize the fragility of the gains. Their hopes were crushed once before by conservatives after the last moderate President was elected. In the West, there is some debate over how to respond. The UK Ambassador will not be attending but that "decision was quickly condemned by the shadow foreign secretary, Douglas Alexander, as 'a misjudgment and a missed opportunity'." The Guardian article reports on the situation in the US: Washington has tweaked its draconian sanctions to allow the transfer of more medical equipment. At the same time, however, the Republican-run House of Representatives is preparing to vote on the imposition of even more stringent sanctions before going on its August recess. A joint letter by two retired senior US officers...and the head of the National Iranian American Council, published on The Hill's congressional blog said: "Rouhani's election represents what could be the last best hope for serious negotiations with Iran to produce a diplomatic resolution to the nuclear dispute. The House must not snuff out hopes for Iranian moderation before Rouhani even gets a chance."
On Friday, antiwar.com and Haaretz both reported on the barring of European humanitarian workers from the Occupied Territory in apparent retaliation against EU sanctions against the illegal Israeli settlements. Antiwar.com reports: In a move Israeli officials described as “retaliation” for the European Union’s policy statement barring aid to illegal settlements in occupied territory, Israel has unilaterally blocked the EU from a large number of humanitarian endeavors in those territories. Haaretz expands on Israel's reported actions: "On Thursday, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon ordered defense officials to halt cooperation on the ground with EU representatives. This includes any assistance to EU infrastructure projects in Area C, which is under full Israeli civilian and military control. Ya'alon also reportedly planned to make it more difficult for EU officials to pass through the Erez Crossing, to the Gaza Strip or back to Israel. In Brussels, Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said on Friday: "The EU is concerned by reports in the Israeli media that the Israeli Minister of Defense has announced a number of restrictions affecting EU activities supporting the Palestinian people." Let's see if I got this straight. Because of their stand that Israel comply with international law, the EU will be hindered in its efforts to provide humanitarian relief to the Palestinian people. Unbelievable.[Photos are of Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza. Half of the total population of Gaza are children. Credits: UN Relief and Works Agency website]
In its continuing effort to capture, extradite and punish NSA whistleblower Eric Snowden, the Obama Administration recently assured the Russians that they would not torture Snowden or seek the death penalty against him. Russia so far is having no part of it and Snowden remains in Russia awaiting temporary asylum. The Guardian reported on Wednesday: Anatoly Kucherena, [a lawyer for Russia's Public Council of the Federal Security Service] who was visiting Snowden at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Wednesday, said he was staying in the transit zone "for now". According to the lawyer, migration officials had said that they are looking at his asylum request, but had not issued the expected confirmation certificate that would allow Snowden to leave the airport. On Friday antiwar.com reported on Snowden's father's comments on the situation: Snowden’s father Lon Snowden says that the administration has vilified his son to such a point that he is “better off” staying in Russia or some other safe haven “until an administration that respects the Constitution comes into office.” Also on Friday, Reuters reported on the comments of Germany's President Joachim Gauck: Germany's president, who helped expose the workings of East Germany's dreaded Stasi secret police, said whistleblowers like U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden deserved respect for defending freedom....Gauck, who has little power but great moral authority, said people who work for the state were entitled to act according to their conscience, as institutions sometimes depart from the law. "This will normally only be put right if information is made public. Whoever draws the public's attention to it and acts out of conscience deserves respect," he told Friday's Passauer Neue Presse newspaper. Gauck certainly knows what he is talking about. As the Reuters article notes: After the fall of communism, Gauck, a dissident Lutheran pastor, headed a commission in charge of the Stasi's vast archive of files on people it had spied on, using them to root out former Stasi members and collaborators.
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