[Peace-discuss] Will Obama attack another country?

Sat Jan 22 22:35:50 CST 2011

     Protesters urge government to resign
     Thousands rally in Jordan demanding 'bread, freedom'
     Friday, 21 January 2011

AMMAN (Agencies)
More than 5,000 people rallied in Amman and other cities after weekly prayers on 
Friday against Jordan's economic policies, demanding 'bread and freedom' and 
that the government resign.

"(Prime Minister Samir) Rifai, out, out! People of Jordan will not bow," 
protesters chanted as they marched from al-Hussein mosque in central Amman to 
the nearby municipality building, according to AFP.

"Our demands are legitimate. We want bread and freedom."

Police handed out bottles of water and juice to the demonstrators, who carried 
banners reading, "We demand social justice and freedom", "No to oppression, yes 
to change" and, "We need a national salvation government."

About 1,400 people demonstrated in other parts of Jordan, mainly the northern 
cities of Zarqa and Irbid.

Police spokesman Mohammad Khatib said about 4,000 people took part in the 
capital's peaceful protest, organized by the powerful Muslim Brotherhood and its 
political arm the Islamic Action Front.

"What we urgently need is real political and socio-economic reforms," IAF 
secretary general Hamzeh Mansur told the crowds.

Rifai on Thursday announced a $283 million (211 million euro) plan to raise 
salaries of government staff as well as the pensions of retired government 
employees and servicemen in the face of popular discontent.

The $28 a month raise came nine days after a $169 million plan to improve living 
conditions.

The current minimum wage is $211 a month.

"Measures designed to drug people"

But the Islamist opposition and others say the new measures are not enough as 
poverty levels are running at 25% in the desert kingdom, whose capital is the 
most expensive city in the Arab world, according to several independent studies.

"These measures are designed to drug people, nothing more. We need comprehensive 
reforms," said prominent unionist Maisarah Malas.

Retired serviceman Farouq Abbadi, 54, agreed.

"The government should change its economic policies and mentality. We are 
protesting today because we want to protect ourselves and our nation. We have 
gone 50 years backwards," he said.

Official unemployment is about 14% in the country of six million people, 70% of 
them under the age of 30. But other estimates put the jobless figure at 30%.

"The new government measures are not enough. Prices and taxes are still high, 
while our income is still low," Marwan Malihi, a 52-year-old engineer, told AFP.

A $1.5 billion deficit, equivalent to 5% of gross domestic product, is expected 
on this year's $8.8 billion budget.

Thousands of Jordanians took to the streets of the kingdom in a similar protest 
on Friday last week.

Tunisia's popular revolt, which has ousted the country's strongman Zine El 
Abidine Ben Ali, has inspired dissidents across the Arab world and sparked 
protests in countries including Algeria, Jordan and Egypt.

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/01/21/134467.html

On 1/22/11 8:18 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> [Lights are burning late in Foggy Bottom (the Washington DC site of the State 
> Department) tonight - and across the river, in Virginia, in Arlington (the 
> Pentagon) and Langley (the CIA). The criminals in charge of USG policy are 
> trying to decide what to do if Hezbollah becomes - quite legally - the 
> effective governess of Lebanon. The US support for democracy is a sham, as the 
> world knows from examples like Palestine, where a surprisingly democratic 
> election led the to wrong people's winning - and so the US launched a campaign 
> of murder to prevent the democratic wishes of a people to take effect. That's 
> probably what they'll do in Lebanon, but - particularity after Tunisia - it's 
> not so easy as it was for Eisenhower (who invaded Lebanon in 1958). --CGE]
>
> Druze Leader’s Endorsement Likely to Put Hezbollah Bloc in Power in Lebanon
> Formal Backing of the PSP Would Give March 8 a Narrow Majority
> by Jason Ditz, January 21, 2011
>
> Reports coming out of Lebanon today suggest that Walid Jumblatt, the leader of 
> the Druze-dominated Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), is going to back the 
> March 8 political bloc led by Hezbollah, effectively giving them enough seats 
> to form a majority government.
>
> The PSP was originally part of outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s March 14 
> bloc, but after the unity government became basically an independent faction 
> and, as without them the split between the two blocs was 60 seats to 57, the 
> de facto kingmaker with their 11 seat party.
>
> While the original fall of the Lebanese government last week suggested that 
> there might be a long-standing deadlock between the two factions, the 
> surprising shift by PSP now points to Hezbollah going from the minority 
> partner in a grand coalition government to the dominant player in a smaller 
> majority government.
>
> An interesting aspect of Lebanese politics however is that no member of the 
> Shi’ite Hezbollah could ever be Prime Minister, as the National Pact obliges 
> any government to give that position to a Sunni. This might actually set the 
> stage for the installation of a member of Lebanon’s tiny Ba’ath Party to the 
> position, given the paucity of Sunnis in the March 8 bloc at present.
>
> http://news.antiwar.com/2011/01/21/druze-leaders-endorsement-would-put-hezbollah-bloc-in-power-in-lebanon/ 
>
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