Some responses to the CIA rapes

The comments posted on the articles about the CIA chief turned rapist are more interesting than the articles in the Algerian press themselves, especially given that most of them rely primarily on AFP articles for sources. The coverage ranges from bland to slightly inflammatory. The comments are universally grumpy, with attitudes differing from paper to paper and from Arabic comments to French comments, though patriarchal attitudes are found throughout. Unlike American reports, which emphasize that the victims were Muslims, the Algerian reports emphasize that the victims had dual European nationalities. There is consensus that the women hold Spanish and German nationality and at least one of them also holds Algerian nationality. Their religion is not mentioned. Warren’s is, as is the fact that he spoke Arabic, as well as “Afghani” (Pashto?), and converted to Islam.

Violence: It returns to Berriane

[See these posts, this article and their comments for some background.]

[See below for more updates.]

More violence broke out after prayers in Berriane this Friday afternoon. A verbal altercation between youths leaving their mosques became a physical scuffle which turned into a melee, with stones in the air and houses being lit on fire. Five homes and three businesses were set ablaze, with fourteen people being injured. The security forces dispersed the crowds of angry young men with tear gas. What caused the rumble is not mentioned in the news reports. More to come when more details come out. (Ennahar has a short English piece. AFP also has a short one.)

Dilem reacts

Public works

En sko stor som en soffa har blivit staty i Tikrit, den forne irakiske diktatorn Saddam Husseins hemstad. Statyn, gjord i glasfiber och koppar, föreställer den sko som en irakisk journalist kastade mot USA:s dåvarande president George W Bush den 14 december förra året.

Skokastningen utfördes under en presskonferens då den irakiske journalisten kastade båda sina skor mot presidenten. Båda missade. Journalisten ropade samtidigt: “Det här är en avskedskyss din hund!”

“Kastad sko blev jättestaty,” Clas Svahn, Dagens Nyheter, 29 January, 2009.

Erdogan’s activism

The walk out at Davos sent him back home to an Ottoman welcome. 

More about Erdogan’s edgy Ottomanism.

CIA in Algiers: Serial Rape

That the CIA Station Chief in Algiers is a serial rapist will do serious damage to  American prestige in that country. When this story hits the Algerian press, one can expect fire and anger. There are already enough conspiracy theories and rumors of ill will surrounding the American embassy and other American apendages in the country (one cannot talk to Algerians about the “War on Terror” without being asked (rhetorically) “Who started al-Qaeda? The CIA! Who created the [Arab] Afghans? The Americans!”). That this fellow went around drugging and touching Algerian women will have absolutely pernicous effects on the way Algerians look at the United States. Notice that the Algerian ambassador says that Algeria’s government wasn’t informed about the multiple rape accusations against its citizens as well. This will be the basis for conspiracy theories going forward and it shows that the Americans wanted to hide it, maybe to keep this man from being held responsible in the Algerian legal system where he would probably not face fair trial (a foreigner raping Algerian women has no chance to present “his side” of things) and if the identies of the women came out in Algeria their lives would be quite difficult, though not as much as had they been so coldly and perversely abused by other Algerians, which would bring nothing but social alienation if not indifference. Because this “man” is a foreigner, anger and spite will be directed at him and his country, less so at the women as might otherwise be the case in the country’s less enlightened quarters. If this “man” were an approximate Algerian official and these poor women came out with such stories against him, they would dissappear or be killed in a random accident. There would be no justice, just as there has been little justice for the countless victims of rape at the hands of various sets of armed personnel in Algeria: The station chief has joined the ranks of many men of arms in Algeria, exploiting his position to tear dignity away from the people of a demoralized nation.

He speaks!

The Obama interview with al-Arabiyya is well summed up by the Angry Arab’s response. But I will add my own views, because his views are his, and though I agree with some I do not agree wholly with others.

Views of Obama from Algeria, post-Gaza

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.  To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West – know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.  To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist. 

President Barack Hussien Obama, Inaugural Address, 20 January, 2009.

The Gaza crisis has done some damage to President Obama’s image in the Arabic-speaking world. His silence has been taken as complicity, and among Algerians there is a great deal of disappointment, despite initial good will and interest in Obama (mostly as a phenomena).

Who’s running and what might come

Will be sure to comment on this and this this afternoon.

ALGIERS (AFP) — The head of the Algerian National Front, Moussa Touati, became Sunday the first candidate to announce he had met the conditions to run for president in April elections.

Touati announced in Algiers that his FNA party had collected 1,500 signatures from elected officials and 96,000 others from voters, comfortably surpassing the minimum requirements to run for president.

The party “is now ready to run in the next presidential contest,” he was quoted as saying by APS news agency.

Grounds for a beating

Regarding the stoning of Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi’s home last week. Taqadoumy reported that Allal Ould Hadj was involved in organizing the protests that surrounded Sidioca’s abode. This, according to relatives of Ould Hadj, is false: He was in Nouadhibou when the stoning occurred, not in Nouakchott. Ould Hadj’s relatives and the man himself have reportedly received menacing phone calls threatening them with beatings, though not death. Organizers of the Sidioca stoning received beatings in Nouakchott.

Up and running

Check out the first post at Maghreb Politics Review. I’ve added some people as contributors, if you want to be added as an editor or as an admin, let me know. You’ll need to make a WordPress account to participate. Let me know if you have any trouble. 

maghrebinenglish@gmail.com

More on the multi-author Maghreb blog

So the idea of an English-language group blog focused on the Maghreb and Sahel is one that has shown to be not unpopular among readers and commenters. This is pleasing and I surprised by the volume of responses. There are still issues to be considered from a logistical angle: What blogging platform is most conducive to group activity, most accessible to those interested and most aesthetically pleasing at the same time? The subject matter I have imagined would be from a domestic and international relations perspective in a somewhat formal manner. The template I imagine is along the lines of the Middle East Strategy at Harvard blog, with open forums and less pretentiousness. I think the main areas of discussion would be domestic politics, economics/development, human rights, religion/religious politics and geopolitics. I think it would be a good idea to have brief book and article reviews and on a monthly basis (or in some other semi-regular interval). A core of regular contributors with many other contributors would be most desirable, I would imagine.

For discussion: There are readers from `Aqoul, Western Sahara Info. and other great blogs who have greater experience in this area than I do. What are the most common troubles that can be associated with this kind of project? (I am especially interested in the administrative and personal end.) Editing is also important: Does it make sense for there to be a grammar and spelling gendarme, or should posters be left to these duties themselves? (I favor the latter.) From the editorial end, I am curious as to how posts are managed in a multi-author setting. I have looked over several platform options, most of which are over my head in the technical sense. What the most user friendly platforms? Commenters involved with `Aqoul mentioned issues with design; In what sense is this a major challenge and how can it be avoided in a future project?

Those interested in participating should contact me (see the “Comments policy” page for contact info) and please post your thoughts publically.

More: I’ve set up a Word Press account and put a page, no content as of yet. Take a look and let me know if you’d like to be added as a contributor, editor, admin, or whatever and it can be done. I’ve also set up an email address for it.

Maghreb Politics Review

maghrebinenglish@gmail.com

Please contribute your thoughts!

Friday bulletin

Some especially relevant news: Stoning Beit Sidioca, Mauritania at the Arab Summit and the world system, Erdogan as a human being and a Muslim, who won’t be in Algeria’s election and questioning Egypt’s “leadership.”

Algeria and Russia’s Bad Mood

Leaving room for Europe

Word that Algeria is willing to  increase its gas supplies to its European customers (and that it would “never” cut supply to Spain, one of its largest partners), as long term contracts allow, is significant in many ways. It is surely an expression of Algerians’ desire to distance themselves from Russia’s aggressive attempts to cut supply, maintaining their autonomy in the gas game and shifting their place on the board.

Rap in Berber

Listen to the three verses of this song, the second in particular. It sounds somewhat like Chaouia. (This may be difficult for some readers!)

Fun, hih?

On Power, Faith and Fantasy

One of the reasons I have put off reviewing Michael Oren’s 800-page Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present (W. W. Norton, 2008 ) is that I was unable to take it seriously somewhere in the four or five hundreds, where he referred to Algeria as a “former pirate state” while discussing that country’s role in negotiating the release of American hostages from Iran in the early 1980′s. That passage alone reflected one of the book’s most serious defects: It’s tendency to attribute the behavior of modern states to previous phenomena, some times more than a hundred years prior, without factoring in what had occurred in the interval in between.

For some reason, Oren’s view of North Africa is  tied to the corsairs, the Barbary Wars and other 19th century, pre-colonial encounters. Trends in the post-colonial relationship between the North African states and the US are for the most part unexplored. Also absent from Oren’s account is that Algeria framed its diplomacy in half-way pro-Soviet half-way Non-Allied context, but wholly “radical,” and its neighbors (save Libya) allied themselves squarely with the NATO powers earning the strong skepticism of the US. That because of the Sahara War Algeria made a very concerted effort to court American favor during the early 1980′s, as a means of fortifying the Polisario’s position relative to Morocco. Thus, he is surprised — as he expects his would be — when Algeria for some reason appears out of the blue, negotiating with Iran on America’s behalf. Most of the “peripheral” regions or countries Oren discusses (all of North Africa, Sudan, the southern Arabian Peninsula) are given an extremely superficial treatment, if any at all. Thus, the motives driving the behavior of most North African countries would appear to elude Oren, compelling him to either cultivate some language of historical “linkage” back to the Barbary Wars or some obscure moment in history that has nothing at all to do with the events at hand.

His account of Carter and Clinton is weak, undermined by the use of popular myths regarding the negotiations or misunderstandings (or what seem like deliberate misrepresentations, made to make the events fit into his trisected schematic analysis — power, faith and fantasy) of the motives of American leaders and policy. William Qudant’s review of the book (“Uses and Abuses of History,” in Middle East Journal, Vol. 62, No. 4, Autumn 2008 ) handles the finer points in detail, especially surrounding more recent events between Israel and Egypt. The book has redeeming qualities, especially in its early details, the fluidity of its prose and so on. However, its structure leads to confused conclusions and misleading discussions.

An idea

I have an idea: Why not create a multi-author English-language Maghreb/Sahel blog? There are enough general MENA/Arab Middle East blogs in this vain, but stupendously few blogs that bring together English-speaking bloggers, academics and political scientists specifically about North [west] Africa. I want to start one: Multiple perspectives, more easily facilitated debates,  and the consolidation of North Africa info into one place for those seeking it. I’d envision it dealing with area geopolitics, culture, comparative politics, and human rights. Anybody in?

Readers’ thoughts on this idea are welcome. Readers interested in participating are even more welcome.

2nd Front

The pitfalls in having a Maghreb-centered blog are many. I spoke with a Levantine friend who has relatives in “the Cause” and who is pretty knowledgable about that situation. He told me with great confidence early this week that Hezb Allah would have opened the “second front” by next week. Being more interested in other things, I made no effort on that topic: Readers know I have posted very little on the Gaza business. I will wait to until it is over to make major observations. In any event, had I post on this on Monday or Tuesday, I could pretend to have “predicted” the northern front in the most recent Levatine squabble. So I will do so now. If I turn out to be right or wrong, so be it. These rockets are not Hezb Allah rockets, though.

TMND now on Twitter

To the readership:

Because of my schedule this spring, I have decided to expand this blog beyond its usual platform. Aside from TNMD operating from Worderpress alone, readers can now follow from Twitter as well. Posts here will continue in their usual form and frequency, but when I have long spells during which I cannot make full posts, I will post on Twitter. Don’t be expecting juicy personal soap opera- like details and the like. It’s just TMND in 150 words or less (shocking, I know).

In other words, keep checking here as you normally would. But for more, check Twitter.

http://twitter.com/themoornextdoor

Mauritania recalls Ambassador to Israel

So the junta has recalled the Mauritanian ambassador to Israel for what it calls consultations, but is really a rather shrewd political move. For reasons that have been mentioned previously, it remains doubtful that the junta will sever ties with Israel, as many Mauritanians are demanding, quite emphatically (see this parliamentary statement). Still, the call back is interesting and relevant.