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2004-04-20 Africa: North

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Posted by Dan Darling 2004-04-20 12:07:09 AM|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Add this to Libya, and you have a bit of a nice tide of democracy starting across North Africa.

Only problem is that it will break itself on the reefs at the edges of the core Arab world - Egypt.

Posted by OldSpook 2004-04-20 12:14:48 AM|| 2004-04-20 12:14:48 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Old Spook---Pls email me, re: aircraft

Posted by Alaska Paul 2004-04-20 12:39:38 AM|| 2004-04-20 12:39:38 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Another reason we can't back down.

Posted by Lucky 2004-04-20 2:02:50 AM|| 2004-04-20 2:02:50 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Don't believe a word of what this Bouteflika says He is corrupt. He is an a panarabist (like Saddam). He has tried very hard to make Algeria into a kind of light version of Saudi Arabia: he instated a family code who sharply reduced rights of women, he has removed French as co-official language (I know, I know, pmeople don't like French in this blog but in Algeria use of French was a window on western culture and a way for liberals and berbers to fight the arabization enforced by the government), he has cracked on manifestations of Berber culture, he has decreed the official language of Algeria will not be the dialecteal Arabic used in Mahgreb but the classic Arabic used in Arabia. And most significative: he has been supporting the introduction of wahabism between Berbers (Berbers have traditionally favoured Sufism)

Now he is trying to appease the Islamist guerrillas. But at which price? And why? They are no longer the threat they were. But Islamism is another way to enforce arabization of Algeria and to get money from the Saudis.

Posted by JFM 2004-04-20 5:34:30 AM|| 2004-04-20 5:34:30 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 JFM - so are you saying hes not serious about changing thw laws relating to women, or about negotiating with the Berbers?

OS - I think your strategic sense is correct - to broaden it, Id point out the new US attention to the Sahel, where most governments are anti-Islamist, but many are precarious. Also outreach to Sudan, a complex and difficult case. But the core arab world is still the hardest nut to crack, as you say.

Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-04-20 10:39:34 AM|| 2004-04-20 10:39:34 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 The controversial code considers women to be minors throughout their lives and requires them to remain under the tutelage of a family member or husband. It also allows polygamy and makes divorce easy for men but nearly impossible for women, while inheritance laws award twice as much to male heirs as to female offspring.

Sounds like one massive human rights violation to me.

Posted by Zenster 2004-04-20 11:27:06 AM|| 2004-04-20 11:27:06 AM|| Front Page Top

16:16 Glyph
23:48 Alaska Paul
23:17 Frank G
23:11 Frank G
23:09 Not Mike Moore
12:30 AntiPasto
12:27 Antiwar TROLL
09:43 muck4doo
07:04 Shipman
07:02 Shipman
07:01 Shipman
04:22 Jen
04:18 Bulldog
04:07 Jen
04:04 Super Hose
03:36 Jen
03:14 Super Hose
03:11 Super Hose
02:49 Jen
02:46 Jen
02:43 Jen
02:40 Jen
02:19 Not Mike Moore
02:07 Not Mike Moore