Environment: EU should support local solutions to Sub-Saharan droughts - by Roland Bunch.

 As the EU continues work and investment in the conflict-stricken Mali, supporting locally-evolved and adapted solutions can help solve one of the sources of violence, food insecurity, writes Roland Bunch.

The road north from Segou, Mali, is a breathtaking experience: few other drives show how fertile farmland gradually turns into forbidding desert. The well-kept highway shoots through the Sahel, offering increasingly dry vistas. Segou’s maize fields are soon replaced by millet, which is more resistant to drought, then by thorny scrub. By the time you cross the Niger River at Timbuktu, you have officially entered the Sahara Desert. Nothing but sand and rock remains.

Today, Mali mostly evokes war. Al Qaeda’s push for southern Mali, stopped by French forces, had at least one effect which its commanders surely did not expect: the outside world has become acutely interested in the western Sahel. Large flows of fresh aid money, including 5 billion from the European Commission, have been pledged.

But as I was driving up that road in late 2011, militant Islamists were the last things on my mind. A drought had hit the country earlier that year – and that wasn’t supposed to happen.

The Sahel used to experience droughts roughly every ten years.  There had been one in the mid 1970s, and then a terrible one in 1984-85 (that one prompted Bob Geldof to organise Live Aid). Other droughts came in 1994 and in 2003 – par for the course. But then things speeded up. Drought came in 2005 and 2009.  Just two years later, we were experiencing yet another.

Over the centuries, the peoples of the Sahel have evolved complex customs to help them survive these occasional catastrophes. Tradition dictates that people must share their food with the least fortunate. Strict rules govern the use of water. Transgressions are harshly punished.


Read: EU should support local solutions to Sub-Saharan droughts | EurActiv

Syria: Meet Chechclearr, the Web-savvy foreign Islamic militant in Syria - by Nabih Bulos and Patrick J. McDonnel

He loves sushi, AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades.

He could be killed at any moment but vows to marry "a beautiful, righteous Muslim girl" as soon as he finds one.

He proclaims a "love for justice" but defends beheadings, battlefield executions and sectarian killing. He scorns democracy and extols a fundamentalist interpretation of sharia, or Islamic law.

Welcome to the virtual world of Chechclearr, the Internet handle of a self-described Islamic militant who says he is fighting as an Islamist rebel in Syria but also has time to post a copious amount of pictures and comments on the Internet. Although his identity cannot be independently verified, the many images he has posted appear authentic.

Militants in Syria have long made extensive use of social media, releasing statements on Twitter and on Facebook pages associated with various groups. Chechclearr is one of a number of Islamist fighters taking the time to document their experiences and impressions in English.

Note EU-Digest: Intelligence is a God gifted commodity to be used freely and to the best of one's intentions and abilities for good or evil. Unfortunately mankind, which includes Mr.  Chechclearr, has never been able to figure out what is good or evil, just as it has always put conditions on the meaning of  forgiveness.

Read more: Meet Chechclearr, the Web-savvy foreign Islamic militant in Syria - latimes.com

Egypt Christians Among Over 500 Killed; Churches Burning

Minority Christians woke up in an Egypt on the verge of civil war with as many as 27 churches being attacked and at least two Coptic Christians killed among the at least 525 people who lost their lives in an army crackdown on protests and related clashes.

The Bible Society headquarters in the capital Cairo, Egypt’s main Bible publisher, was also attacked, in the violence that also inured nearly 3,000 people nationwide, Christians and officials said.

Clashes began Wednesday, August 15, when Egyptian security forces cleared out thousands of people at two sit-ins in Cairo demanding the return of ousted president Mohammed Morsi. Dozens of people were believed to have been killed in the operation at the Nahda Square and the Rabaa al-Adawiya sites, where protesters set up camps following Morsi’s ouster on July 3.

Interim President Adly Mansour declared a nation-wide state of emergency while Vice-President Mohammed El Baradei announced his resignation saying he “cannot bear the responsibility for one drop of blood.”

Christians, seen as supporting the ouster of Morsi, were soon targets of furious Morsi supporters, rights investigators and Christian leaders confirmed. Dozens of churches, schools, monasteries, stores, and homes were ransacked and destroyed, according to witnesses, activists and local Christians.

Read more: Egypt Christians Among Over 500 Killed; Churches Burning

Turkey: Erdogan’s Crisis With Pregnant Women - by Semih Idiz

 It is no wonder that Turkish soap operas — depicting a range of issues from equality between the sexes and the empowerment of women, to liberal lifestyles and contemporary forms of leisure — are so popular in the Middle East, where millions are clamoring for more equality and modernity in their lives.

But true life experiences and debates are much more relevant for the region than mere products of fiction, and Turkey certainly has no shortage of these, as the latest heated debate concerning the “morality of pregnancy” — which has been raging for days — clearly demonstrates.

It all began when Omer Tugrul Inancer, an Islamist lawyer and commentator on religion, asserted on the state-owned television network TRT that it was shameful for pregnant women to go out on the streets. He was speaking during a special Ramadan talk show broadcast just before iftar on July 26.

“Declaring your pregnancy with drums is against our understanding of decency. You cannot walk on the streets with such bellies. To get a bit of fresh air, a woman in the seventh or eighth month of her pregnancy can go around a little in her husband’s car in the late afternoon,” Inancer, who is also known to Islamic circles as an expert on Sufi mysticism, said. He went on to add that despite this, pregnant women of all shades are to be seen everywhere in Turkey nowadays, including on television, and added, “This is shameful, shameful! This is not realism, this is vulgarity.”

The outcry following Inancer’s remarks was instant with women from all walks of life protesting him. Protesters included pregnant women and their husbands as well as women and men feigning pregnancy and prominently displaying distended bellies. Most of the demonstrators saw Inancer’s remarks as more evidence of creeping Islamism in Turkey under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Government circles and AKP supporters insist, of course, that Inancer’s remarks have nothing to do with them. Given the way Turkey has become divided along secularist and Islamist lines under the AKP, however, it seems almost inevitable that the finger of blame should be pointing at the government.

Inancer poured more fuel on the debate later, when he not only stood by his remarks, but added that the ugly sight of pregnant women was putting young girls off the idea of pregnancy. Not surprisingly, the topic went instantly viral on Twitter under #direnhamile (meaning “pregnant women resist”). This was clearly inspired by “#direngezi” (meaning “Gezi resist”), the battle cry for the recent Gezi Park protests. One highly popular Twitter post read “Down with pregnant women, long live storks!”

While the topic became the No. 1 social issue in Turkey overnight, it was clear that women on the Islamist side of the fence were not too pleased over Inancer’s remarks either. Ozlem Zengin Topal, a lawyer and the head of the AKP’s women organization in Istanbul, for example, said she also found Inancer’s remarks disturbing. “Of course pregnant women can go on the streets. It is their natural right,” she said.

But trying to deflect some of the anger away from Inancer — who is highly respected among Islamists — Topal nevertheless felt the need to add that she did not think the debate he had started was about pregnancy itself, but the manner in which some pregnant women dress.

Read more: Erdogan’s Crisis With Pregnant Women - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Turkey - USA: Large Group Of Anti-Government Protesters expected at Saylorsburg Pennsylvania Islamic Center on Saturday - by Jenna Ebersole

Fethullah Gülen

Hundreds of people from across North America are expected to flood Saylorsburg PA on Saturday to protest a controversial Turkish figure, Fethullah Gülen, who has lived in the area for more than a decade.

A Turkish couple in Florida said they began circulating a flier on social media two weeks ago, encouraging people to come to the Poconos to protest a man they say is a danger to the U.S. and their home country. The protest is set for 1 p.m. by Gülen's home and retreat center on Mount Eaton Road.

Gülen is a polarizing figure and Turkish cleric whose vision of Islam embraces science, education and interfaith dialogue. Millions support him, but his critics in Turkey's secular establishment believe he is a dangerous man with a secret religious agenda.

The protest comes on the heels of weeks of conflict on the streets of several Turkish cities against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who the couple claims is Gülen's puppet.

Turkish citizens first poured into the streets of Istanbul in May as protests began over a plan to redevelop a green space in the city. The protest spread to other cities as it grew into a larger movement against Turkish PM Erdogan and what some secular Turks see as his Islamist agenda and limitation of freedoms.

On a Facebook page about the protest, the event had 360 people listed to attend as of Tuesday afternoon.

"The protest will be peaceful and our message is clear, the USA should not shelter or host politically dangerous people like Gülen while it is fighting other extremists all over the world," the Facebook page says.

According to the page, the program for the protest will include the U.S. and Turkish national anthems, a moment of silence for anyone killed fighting extremists or in the war on terror, and information on Gülen.

"There will be buses coming from different states,"said  Eda Yilmaz one of the organizers who lives in Florida and supports the anti-Erdogan movement..

Read more: Protesters expected at Saylorsburg Islamic center | PoconoRecord.com

Turkey protests continue

Protests have continued in Turkey as demonstrators defied a government appeal to end deadly unrest in which two people have died.

On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arnic apologised for "excessive violence" against protesters trying to save a park in Istanbul, a campaign which acted as catatlyst for deeper tensions within the country. He is expected to meet with some of the protestors on Wednesday in Ankara.

Police used tear gas and water cannon overnight and into Wednesday morning on hundreds of protesters, who ignored warnings to disperse in Istanbul, Ankara and the southeastern city of Hatay.

In Istanbul, thousands gathered at Taksim Square yelling defiance at Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had earlier dismissed the protesters as "extremists" and "vandals".

Note EU-Digest:   Ever since the election of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AK Party back in 2003 Turkey has been presented as a modern and mostly democratic state - a political model for the region.

Their economic progress has been spectacular even though the verdict at what price this has been really achieved is not yet in.

Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Ennahda party in Tunisia often say Erdogan and the AKP have proved that parties like theirs, which seek a greater role for Islam in politics, can govern and preserve democratic values.

Instead the contrary is shown to be true: there is suppression of anyone in the press which does not follow the party line. Turkey has jailed more journalists than any other country in the world. The government uses a heavy hand in pushing through legislation which closely follows the line of Sharia law and  enriches those in power to the point were it must be seen as pure corruption. 

Turkey's parliament has backed a controversial bill restricting the consumption and advertising of alcohol in the  predominantly Muslim country.

The measure, passed on Friday, May 31, prohibits alcoholic beverage companies from sponsoring events and restricts the places where such drinks can be consumed. It also bans the sale of alcoholic drinks between 10pm and 6:00am, but only in shops
The fact that the demonstrations have spread far from Istanbul where they started, to the capital Ankara and other cities and even small towns, indicates that the situation is feverish. If Erdogan continues to speak with "macho" contempt, he will surely aggravate the situation. He has enemies, not only in the streets, but in the army which he has deprived of their traditional role in guarding the secular constitution, which was its legacy from Ataturk.

For the first time since he came to power Erdogan’s position looks shaky. He would be well advised to draw back, abandon his plan to change the constitution and have himself elected to a more powerful presidency, and instead to seek to conciliate or appease the growing number of his critics.

Pushing ahead with his ever more Islamist agenda would be dangerously provocative. Secularly-minded Turks have evidently had enough of it.

Read more: Turkey protests continue despite apology - Europe - Al Jazeera English

Turkish anti-government protests escalate -"what started to look like a dictatorship has become one"

Clashes between police and anti-government protestors in Turkey have continued to escalate well into Saturday in some of the fiercest protests for years.

A sit-down protest on Friday over plans to build on Gezi Park, one of Ankara’s green spaces, into a shopping centre was met with tear gas by the police.

That reaction provoked a groundswell of unrest across the country as demonstrators from Ankara to Izmir to Bursa have turned out in support.

But police have clamped down hard on them. One protestor lost the sight of an eye and another suffered a brain haemorrhage, according to reports. The governor of Istanbul also reported that 63 people were detained, with 12 injured, one seriously.

Ceren Ozgur, a protester in Istanbul, said:  “We are confronting a very heavy police presence. Gas bombs are everywhere. I got stuck in the metro. They threw a gas bomb and then closed the doors.”

One demonstrator said: “This isn’t about trees anymore, it’s about all of the pressure we are under from the government. We’re fed up, we don’t like the direction the country is taking.”

A university academic taking part in the protest said “we don’t have a government, we have (prime minister) Tayyip Erdogan”, and predicted a “summer of discontent”.

Amnesty International condemned what it called “excessive force against peaceful protesters” over the original Istanbul demonstrations. It says its own observers were struck by police truncheons and tear gassed.

Washington said it seemed the protesters were exercising freedoms “crucial to any healthy democracy” and warned Turkey to uphold them.

But it’s only the sharp end of a deeper problem. The Islamist-leaning Prime Minister Recep Erdogan, who recently pushed through legislation on alcohol consumption, has also spearheaded Turkey’s economic transformation.

But he stands accused of putting profits before the environment – and according to observers and critics, consolidating power and cracking down on dissent.

Read more: Turkish anti-government protests escalate | euronews, world news

Netherlands divided over Dutch Islamists fighting in Syria - by Peter Cluskey

A survey of attitudes in the Netherlands towards Dutch Islamists who travel to Syria to fight the Assad regime shows that 75 per cent of Muslims regard them as heroes – while almost half the non-Muslim population believe they should be stripped of their citizenship.

The survey shows that while there is broad agreement in both communities – 87 per cent of Muslims and 66 per cent of non-Muslims – that Bashar al-Assad should be removed as Syrian president, on virtually every other question there is significant divergence.

For instance, on the question of arming rebel fighters, 49 per cent of Muslims were in favour, while just 6 per cent of the majority population supported the decision.

The poll was carried out for the TV documentary Alitjd Wat and compared the attitudes of Dutch Muslims of Moroccan and Turkish origin with those of “native” non-Muslim families.

The Counter-terrorism Coordinator in The Hague confirmed recently that about 100 Dutch-born jihadists, including at least two young women, have so far joined armed opposition groups, making the Netherlands the largest European recruiting ground for anti-Assad militants. Three are believed dead.

Read more: Netherlands divided over Dutch Islamists fighting in Syria - European News | Latest News from Across Europe | The Irish Times - Thu, May 30, 2013

Mali: New explosion rocks Gao in wake of street battles

A fresh explosion rocked the largest northern Malian city of Gao early Monday following street battles between Islamists and French and Malian troops. MUJAO Islamists have claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings in the city in recent days.

Sunday's attack by Islamist gunmen on territory reclaimed by French-led forces was the first large-scale urban guerrilla assault of the conflict.

It started early in the afternoon when Malian soldiers clashed with Islamists in the city centre, near an empty police station which the rebels had used as their base until being driven from the city last month.

Residents ran for cover as Kalashnikov bullets and 14.5-millimetre rounds pierced the air.
One witness said that after a fierce gunbattle, French troops had intervened. He reported seeing one body, which he thought was probably a civilian caught in the crossfire.

Rocket-propelled grenade explosions and fire from heavy machine guns and light weapons resounded late into the afternoon before dying down in the evening, when a power cut plunged the city into darkness.

Read more: New explosion rocks Gao in wake of street battles - MALI - FRANCE 24

Analysis: Turkey acts as mentor for emerging Islamists in region

Ankara's evolving response to the upheavals of the Arab Spring is broadly in harmony with its NATO and European Union allies, who had balked at the AKP's previous "zero problems with the neighbors" policy, that indulged Syria and its ally Iran, and which some derided as a neo-Ottoman turn away from Turkey's long-standing Western ties.

Both Turkey and its Western allies now hope the success of the AKP in transiting from Islamist roots to a sort of Muslim version of Christian Democracy, and in running a dynamic economy that has doubled the income of its people, will be an attractive model to Arab Islamist parties now coming to the fore.

"I think the AKP hope is that they will be really an example for the Islamists of the region and they will moderate themselves and become parties like AKP which respects Islamic values but mainly focuses on economic development and doesn't support a radical agenda," said Mustafa Akyol, author of the recent book "Islam without extremes: a Muslim Case For Liberty".

Erdogan and his government are nonetheless intent on influencing the reformists in the Arab Islamist parties.
For more: Analysis: Turkey acts as mentor for emerging Islamists in region | Reuters

Turkey in turmoil: Shoe is thrown at Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan while in Spain by Kurdish nationalist

First it was a shoe which barely missed George Bush in Iraq, this time it was a man who threw his shoe at Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Seville, Spain, on Monday evening.

The 20-year-old protester shouted "Viva Kurdistan" as he made the attack, although he missed his target and his shoe hit Mr Erdogan's bodyguard. The attacker was taken into custody.

Note EU-Digest: In the past several days, Turkey’s long-simmering military/Islamist tension surfaced yet again. On Monday night, dozens of serving and retired officers were arrested, including some of the country's highest-ranking former generals and admirals. Speaking separately about the plot and the arrests, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (on a visit to Spain) and President Abdullah Gül took pains to wave off any claim of the ruling government's involvement in the arrests, putting the responsibility for the investigations and arrests back on criminal prosecutors.

The Turkish military clings to its role as protector of the modern Turkish state, established by the father of modern, secular Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, against domestic and international enemies, intervening to depose three elected governments and executing prime minister Adnan Menderes, the leader of Turkey's first opposition party, in 1961.

In addition, Turkey continues to be split between modern secularists and devout Muslims, who press for a religious texture to their state. The continuing effect of Turkey's long-term repression of its Kurdish population (derisively labeled "Mountain Turks" by the government); a deep, centuries-old suspicion of Greece; and the attendant conflict over Cyprus, and a continuing animosity between Turks and Armenians that reaches back (at least in the modern era) to Turkish pograms against its subject Armenian population during World War I are further problems.

For more: BBC News - Shoe thrown at Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan

The Guardian: US has contingency plans to secure Pakistan's nuclear arsenal in case country falls into radical Islamist hands - by Ewen MacAskill

For the complete report by the Guardian Unlimited click on this link

US has contingency plans to secure Pakistan's nuclear arsenal in case country falls into radical Islamist hands - by Ewen MacAskill

The Pentagon says it is working on a series of contingency plans to prevent Pakistan's nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of Islamist radicals. One of the contingency plans would involve US special forces, working in conjunction with Pakistan's military and intelligence services, to spirit away any weapons at imminent risk. But the US cannot be confident that the Pakistan military would co-operate at such a time. In spite of US aid to help with security, the Pakistan government has remained suspicious of US intentions, fearing that it might plant devices capable of neutralising the weapons.

Pakistan, which carried out its first nuclear test in 1998, claims to have about 80 to 120 warheads.

Al-Ahram Weekly: Turkey - Empty-hearted secularism - by Azmi Bishara

For the complete report from Al-Ahram Weekly click on this link

Turkey - Empty-hearted secularism - by Azmi Bishara

Modern Turkey has never experienced as extended a period of stability and economic growth as it has under the last government. This government was led by the Justice and Development Party, which just scored another major electoral triumph in the Turkish general elections. In its victory speeches, the Islamist party pledged to safeguard the constitution of Turkey's secular republic.

The Justice and Development Party is far from a leftist or liberal democratic party. But it has certainly governed Turkey better than any other Turkish party that I know of, leftist, liberal, republican or otherwise. Even so, it did not have any easy ride. At one point it had to dissolve and change its name. More recently, it was the victim of a massive hate campaign waged by the left and right in concert in the name of secularism.

Democratic secularists must reach out to and speak with Islamists. There is a vast spectrum of them, and it is important to distinguish between those who share democratic values and those who condemn the democratic process. To toss all of them into a single basket on the grounds of a shared religious frame of reference is to be pointlessly rigid and closed-minded. Even if secularists have some grounds for suspicion, to yield to this sentiment is irrational and futile. The fact is, not only is there a rift in the greater Islamist movement; its mainstream segment will constantly evolve the more it is given the opportunity to involve itself in the affairs of society and state, and the more it discovers, through practice, the diversity and limitations of pluralistic interaction. In addition, the desire to attain and keep power necessitates certain compromises with both self and others.