Okay, every topic that has even remotely to do with the middle east keeps getting more general news put into it which removes focus from the original topic.
As such, I'm creating this thread as a general middle east and north africa topic. That means anything to do with the Arab Spring, Israel or Palestine should be kept to those threads and anything to do with more generic news (for example, new Saudi regulations on the number of foreign workers or the Lebanese elections next year, etc.) should be posted here.
I hope the mods will find this a clear enough statement of intent to open the thread.
Mod edit: The Israel and Palestine thread
has been locked since October 2023. Discussion about Palestine and/or Israel remains off-topic for this thread. This also bans discussion of any military conflict, terrorism or extrajudicial actions involving one of them and a third country (e.g. Israel's air strikes in Yemen).
Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 28th 2024 at 12:26:59 PM
... Ah, you're right. Somehow I confused Nigeria with Niger, which borders Libya and Algiers, and thus whatever unrest that would happen in it would likely affect the other two as well, if only because the Sahara's vast and inhospitable expanses make the borders more of a guideline than a definite boundary with proper security against illegal passage of people and goods.
For my part, I was replying to a post about Nigeria without paying any attention to which thread it was (as I had a bunch of tabs open). I should stop doing that - I'm constantly contributing to derails even though I'm supposed to be some kind of Moderator on these parts.
I'm even derailing right now!
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.Nah, let's have a coup
REMOVE MÄMMI FROM THE PREMISES!
—
Just kidding, we are of love yuo really.
edited 6th Jun '14 4:19:17 PM by Achaemenid
Schild und Schwert der ParteiDeath row Sudanese Christian ‘apostate’ freed
"A Sudanese Christian who gave birth in prison after being sentenced to hang for apostasy was freed Monday, her lawyer said.
The case of Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, 26, sparked an outcry from Western governments and rights groups after a judge sentenced her to death on May 15.
“Meriam was released just about an hour ago,” Mohanad Mustafa told AFP Monday afternoon."
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.What the hell, Sudan?
Oh, right—Sudan.
edited 24th Jun '14 11:29:38 AM by chi_mangetsu
"I'd like to be a tree." - Fluttershy... Wait, she was raised as a Christian by her mother (albeit without anyone else's knowledge)? Well, that's something that I didn't know when I first read about this. I'd guess that this presents an interesting problem to Islamic lawgivers; exactly how do you punish her for renouncing a faith that she had never held to begin with, and was only assumed to be holding due to unjustifiable ignorance on part of the rest of her family?
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Wait a sec: how is her being a Christian and marrying a Christian a stain on her father's side of the family... when he's the one who abandoned her mother and left a Christian woman to raise her little girl in Christianity — while they weren't interested enough in who either of them actually were, so didn't know any of this until they realised who her husband was?
Where be the logic?
edited 24th Jun '14 3:02:22 PM by Euodiachloris
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Yeah, yeah: the stock atheist response that denies that those with faith are even capable of logic. Go flipping jump. Doesn't matter if you believe something or nothing: you can still practice human decency and have some ability to string a logical thought together (and, I, for one, don't deny others the capacity to do so, organised religion or not).
And, even atheists can suck at both common human dignity and logic. So, shove it. Not impressed. <_< (And, rather annoyed, actually.) Never mind that I keep trying to wrap my head around honour and honour killings (which, as you probably know, have many more roots than simply religious ones).
edited 24th Jun '14 3:11:31 PM by Euodiachloris
To those authorities, it doesn't matter what his mother was. Even if his father did abandon her when she was six, it doesn't matter—hell, he could have abandoned her when she was born—because within the purview of Islam, women are "delicate vessels" for a man's seed. She belongs to him, not her mother and certainly not to herself. That's why you won't find any logic here.
(Note: should have added "fundamentalist" to the above retort; amended.)
edited 24th Jun '14 3:31:34 PM by chi_mangetsu
"I'd like to be a tree." - FluttershyStill trying to wrap my head around how actively abandoning somebody to the point where you don't know basic things about them still gives you rights over them. <_< Because, there are two stages of abandonment going on, here.
So they have a genetic link: would have been nice if they'd kept a social link up. -_- And, I would have thought the moral link (whatever your culture and religious background) would demand that you see to looking after the child of your brother/ cousin/ nephew/ whatever even if he's taken for the hills, be they female or male. <_<
How can you cry about your rights over somebody being violated... when you fulfilled no (or minimal, at best) social obligations to them, either?
Read the article, again. The family, themselves, have started to beat the honour drum now all this has come out. In, I strongly suspect, a desperate bid to bury the shame of not having noticed this themselves before it got to be "a problem".
Not that I'm suggesting the typical solution of e.g. taking the young girl from the mother when she was still a child (most likely outcome in parts of Africa I am familiar with) would be any better of an outcome... but, at least that would be practising some form of obligation to the child of your own flesh and blood.
Which then would hand you the right to go chest-beating about her later, perceived malfeasance in public.
edited 24th Jun '14 4:13:07 PM by Euodiachloris
Problem is, these arrests are not the father's fault (though, of course, he's to blame for the abandonment). It's the fundamentlist Islamic authorities who are so patriarchical they would never even consider the most level-headed female opinion.
So, the problem is not only the father, but mostly the ones who share the same religion and are fundamentalist bigots of the worst kind for treating her like this.
edited 24th Jun '14 4:04:26 PM by Quag15
Apparently they have re-arrested her: Released Sudanese Christian woman detained at airport
"A Sudanese Christian woman who was sentenced to die for refusing to renounce her faith — and then released — was detained with her family on Tuesday as they tried to leave the African country.
Her legal team told CNN that Mariam Yehya Ibrahim, her American husband, Daniel Wani, and their two children were stopped at an airport in Khartoum and interrogated at national security headquarters in the Sudanese capital.
The problem involved what the legal team described as an alleged "irregularity with her documentation," according to Ibrahim's lawyers, who said she was in police custody.
Ibrahim has a U.S. visa and was headed to the United States with her family, her legal team said. The U.S. State Department said the family was stopped at the airport."
@Euo: It seems to me that this is pretty clearly a power play by hard line Islamist authorities.
edited 24th Jun '14 4:12:05 PM by demarquis
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.The consequences of an absent father
He is also the parent who has a great deal of influence over his children in terms of their interests, be they academic, religious, social or otherwise. When a father takes an interest in the children’s education, they are more motivated to do well and to be “like father”. Not only sons but daughters also love to impress their fathers and they often want to do well because, “my father will be so happy with me”. They identify more with the father’s qualities and code of life. This in turn helps to improve their self-esteem, confidence and identity of who they are as Muslims. They are better able to stand up to negative peer pressure and are more receptive towards avoiding evil.
Rights of a father who abandoned his family for 22 years
World Cup Victory Celebration Video Gets Three Arrested in Iran
...
This shit is testing my patience.
"I'd like to be a tree." - Fluttershy

It seems that the government can't afford to crush Boko Haram. And I mean "afford" in the sense that the word is usually used: Nigeria doesn't seem to have enough disposable money for this.
Well, that's the impression you get from the reported complaints of the soldiers. I do know that Nigeria actually has quite a lot of wealth, so to some extent it has to be a matter of priorities, as well.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.