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Barack Obama's calls for the protection of freedoms in Egypt failed to mention one of the Egyptian authorities' most striking violations — their switching off internet access for five days. It's likely he was treading warily due to the US Government's own plans for an internet 'kill switch'.
Sudan's fate may appear sealed, and with tensions erupting in neighbouring Egypt it is easy to turn our gaze away. But with poverty and prosperity hanging precariously in the balance, there could not be a worse time to forget Sudan.
The long-time political repression of the Egyptian people is now being avenged on the streets. Any step toward democracy that arises from the protests must involve the popular Muslim Brotherhood, or else it will be a wasted opportunity.
When the media focus on expressions of anger and try to identify people to blame, they encourage people to remain paralysed by grief and to break connections precisely at the time when they need to be strengthened.
Outside of Christmas, Scrooge is back in favour. If a government has big ideas and plans to spend money, all the talk will be about the burden on taxpayers and on the deficit. But to spend money for the benefit of people is a good thing to do.
May I tell you about one refugee whom I met during the 20 years I lived and worked JRS? The story has no happy outcome, indeed far from it. But it may help to communicate some of the feelings that inspire many who accompany the refugees.
Irrigated agriculture systems, like electric grids and city roads, trigger a government's duty of care to the human communities that they sustain. Particularly when they were built with the blood, sweat and tears that went into building our Murray-Darling Basin irrigation communities.
International concern with Middle East refugees focuses on the approximately 700,000 Palestinian Arabs who left Israel during the 1947–48 war. Far less attention has been paid to the nearly one million Jews who left Arab countries in the decade or so following that war.
We assume aid is 'helping people'. But the 2006 White Paper on Australian Aid specified its purpose to help countries 'reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development, in line with Australia’s national interest'. We'd be mortified if a church agency came out with such a self-serving clause.
The negotiation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone is the only non-proliferation initiative to have been accepted by all Middle East states, including Israel. Why has it taken 30 years? Because Egypt, Israel and Iran have competing reasons for promoting the idea.
Boosted by technologies that facilitate mass distribution without government control, the heavy metal and hip-hop music scene in the Middle East recalls the role music played in the velvet revolution that toppled regimes in Eastern Europe and Indonesia.