Links March 4th to March 5th

Links from my del.icio.us account for March 4th through March 5th:

• John Kerry @ Brookings - POMED notes on John Kerry's Saban center talks. I find that, basically and despite his recent visit to Gaza, he is advocating West Bank First and continuation of Abbas-Israel talks, which seems completely wrong-headed, as well as the idea of the outline of a final status is well-known -- I don't really see that when the next PM of Israel rejects the creation of a Palestinian state and the Israelis at best want massive concessions from UNSC Resolutuion 242, while the Palestinians at best want 242 with a few changes. [PDF]
• Daily News Egypt - NOUR ANNOUNCES REFORM INITIATIVE ON FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF APRIL 6 MOVEMENT - "CAIRO: Former leader of Al-Ghad party Ayman Nour announced a reform initiative under the title “Cairo’s Announcement for Democracy and Reform,” in a bid to continue efforts that were stalled during his more than four years in prison. Nour called upon parties and political bodies to discuss 10 articles to be included in the announcement ahead of its release on April 6."
• FT.com / UK / Politics & policy - UK to engage with Hizbollah - "Britain announced on Wednesday that it would engage in direct contacts with the political wing of the Hizbollah movement in Lebanon, recognising that the organisation has become part of the country’s national unity government."
• FT.com / Middle East - Saudis get first taste of foreign harvest - "Rice, harvested in famine-hit Ethiopia by a group of Saudi investors, was presented to King Abdullah recently and comes as other countries are still in the early stages of investing in overseas farms."
• Obama Starts 'Urgent Review' of U.S. Policy Toward Sudan - WSJ.com - Could also reconsider US membership of ICC, which would be a much bigger shift than anything on Sudan.
• Kuwaiti emir may dissolve parliament - Upstreamonline - Kuwait's young electoral democracy (if you can call it that) still fragile.
• Thomas Friedman’s Five Worst Predictions: Barrett Brown | Vanity Fair - A reminder of why I haven't read Friedman in months.
• The Arabist Review » Blog Archive » Bitter black coffee - Ursula has a post about Qahwa Sada, the hit Cairo play.

Comments

[Brian Ulrich]

Kuwait's democratic traditions aren't that young - they go back at least to the Majlis movement of the 1930's, and the broader sense that there should be public participation in decision-making is found in the 1920 succession crisis. However, what's happening now is that the majlis is pushing red lines when there is no popular interest, and in fact some opposition, to doing so.