News Nuggets 550

An interesting view of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.  From National Geographic.

'Day of Rage' Kicks Off in Libya from Al Jazeera
"Protesters have reportedly taken to the streets in four cities despite a crackdown, heeding to calls for mass protests.

Tunisia. Egypt. Bahrain? (Nicholas Kristof) from the New York Times
"The gleaming banking center of Bahrain, one of those family-run autocratic Arab states that count as American allies, has become the latest reminder that authoritarian regimes are slow learners."

The Ripple Effect from Foreign Policy Magazine
"From Algeria to Iran and the countries in between, a look at how revolution fever is spreading across the Middle East."

Now Iran Feels the Heat (Kaveh L Afrasiabi) from Asia Times [of Hong Kong in English]
"On Monday, as Tehran once again became the scene of clashes between the security forces and demonstrators defying the government's ban on street rallies, the paradoxical impact of the Arab world's democratic awakening on Iran became glaringly obvious. "

U.S. Spies: Iran Split on Nuclear Program from the Wall Street Journal
"A new classified U.S. intelligence assessment concludes that Iran's leaders are locked in an increasingly heated debate over whether to move further toward developing nuclear weapons, saying the bite of international sanctions may be sowing discord."

Protests Spread to More Iraqi Cities from the New York Times
"Unrest continued to spread in Iraq on Thursday, with new protests erupting in several cities and reports from law enforcement officials that private security guards in Kurdistan killed five people who tried to storm the political offices of the region’s leader."

Military Moves Quickly to Bring Elections to Egypt from the Washington Post
"Egypt geared up Tuesday for a breakneck rush to democracy as its military rulers vowed to hand authority to an elected civilian government in six months and ordered legal experts to draft a revised constitution in 10 days."

Why There's No Turning Back in the Middle East (Fareed Zakaria) from Time Magazine
"Will history fail to turn in the Middle East? Will these protests in Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan and beyond peter out, and in a few years, will we look back at 2011 and realize that very little actually changed? It's certainly possible, but there are two fundamental reasons the tensions that have been let loose in the Middle East over the past few weeks are unlikely to disappear, and they encompass two of the most powerful forces changing the world today: youth and technology."

Revolution U: What Egypt Learned from the Students Who Overthrew Milosovic (Tina Rosenberg) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Facebook could bring together tens of thousands of sympathizers online, but it couldn't organize them once they logged off. It was a useful communication tool to call people to -- well, to what? The April 6 leaders did not know the answer to this question. So they decided to learn from others who did. In the summer of 2009, Mohamed Adel, a 20-year-old blogger and April 6 activist, went to Belgrade, Serbia."

Spinning the Revolution (Christina Larson) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"From Glenn Beck to the Taliban, everyone's got something to say about the Egyptian uprising."

How Russia and China See the Egyptian Revolution from Foreign Policy Magazine
"In Moscow and Beijing, the powers that be are understandably unsettled by events in Cairo -- and Washington can't afford to ignore their reaction."

In sharp reversal, U.S. agrees to rebuke Israel in Security Council (Colum Lynch) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"the U.S. offer signaled a renewed willingness to seek a way out of the current impasse, even if it requires breaking with Israel and joining others in the council in sending a strong message to its key ally to stop its construction of new settlements. U.S. officials were not available for comment, but two Security Council diplomats confirmed the proposal."

At a Loss for Words: Why is al Qaeda keeping quiet about the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions? (Brian Fishman) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"In the wake of peaceful revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, al Qaeda's argument that violent activism is necessary to achieve political change stands dramatically repudiated. It was peaceful protesters, not armed struggle, that ousted Hosni Mubarak and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. But that doesn't mean the militant group won't try to capitalize on instability in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world. In fact, jihadi communications since the crisis in Tunisia began in early January suggest that extremists hope to take advantage of the current instability."

The Irish Affliction (Russell Shorto) from the Sunday New York Times Magazine
"The phenomenal economic boom over the past two decades, and the secularization that came along with it, allowed Ireland to think it was no longer what it once was: a backward land dominated and shaped by the Roman Catholic Church. But as the economy has crashed, the Irish have come face to face with their earlier selves, and with a church-state relationship that was and in many ways still is, as quite a few people in the country see it, perversely antimodern."

Poll: Most Oppose Cutting Funding for Health Care Reforms from CBS News
“A majority of the public disapproves of the Republican idea to cut off funding for health care reform, a new CBS News poll shows - although most also disapprove of the health care law, and many aren't sure of its impact on the health care system.”