“Jasmine Revolution”
Symbol of peace: Flowers placed on the barrel of a tank
in very much calmer protests than in recent days in Tunisia

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011
Mannoubia Bouazizi, the mother of Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi. "Mohammed suffered a lot. He worked hard. but when he set fire to himself, it wasn’t about his scales being confiscated. It was about his dignity." (Peter Hapak for TIME)

1 - TUNISIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


How eyepatches became a symbol of Egypt's revolution - Graffiti depicting a high ranking army officer with an eye patch Photograph: Nasser Nasser/ASSOCIATED PRESS

2 - EGYPT Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


''17 February Revolution"

3 - LIBYA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

5 - SYRIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

"25 January Youth Revolution"
Muslim and Christian shoulder-to-shoulder in Tahrir Square
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -
(Subjects: Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" (without a manager hierarchy) managed Businesses, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)
"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)
(Subjects:Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

"If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening."


“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."



African Union (AU)

African Union (AU)
African Heads of State pose for a group photo ahead of the start of the 28th African Union summit in Addis Ababa on January 30, 2017 (AFP Photo/ Zacharias ABUBEKER)

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela
Few words can describe Nelson Mandela, so we let him speak for himself. Happy birthday, Madiba.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Arab officials say reform only answer to unrest

Reuters, by Amena Bakr (Recasts with Moussa, Annan, IMF official), Jan 26, 2011

  • Arab League's Moussa says Arab world must reform
  • Saudi prince says unsure about Mubarak's future
  • Annan sees reform dilemma for Arab rulers

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Reforms are needed across the Arab world to address angry citizens' demands for a better standard of living after protests in Tunisia and Egypt, Arab officials attending the Davos World Economic Forum said on Wednesday.

A Saudi royal family member said the recent ousting of Tunisia's longtime ruler after weeks of violent protests has turned the spotlight onto neighbouring Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.

"The Arab citizen is angry and we feel broken as citizens. Reform is the name of the game, and reform has to happen now all over the Arab world," Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa a former Egyptian foreign minister, told Reuters.

Thousands of Egyptians defied a ban on protests and returned to the streets on Wednesday to demand that Mubarak leave office, a day after three protesters and a policeman were killed in anti-government demonstrations across the most populous Arab state.

Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal, former intelligence chief who also served as ambassador to Britain and the United States, told Reuters Insider television he was not sure about Mubarak's future.

"In Egypt, I really can't say where this is going to go," he said in an interview.

"Whether they can catch up as leaders to what the population is aiming (for) is still to be seen," he said.

DILEMMA

Police used riot trucks on Wednesday to break up a crowd of as many as 3,000 people who had gathered outside a Cairo court complex, one of the places where demonstrations had started on Tuesday.

The government announced on Wednesday it had banned all demonstrations, but Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif was quoted by the state news agency as saying it was "intent on guaranteeing the freedom of expression by legitimate means".

Egyptian demonstrators angry at poverty and repression have been inspired by this month's downfall of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

"I think developments in Tunis took everybody by surprise," said al-Faisal.

"Each country has its own criteria and its own dynamics. I think we will have to wait a day or two until things clear up to wait and see how these demonstrations (in Egypt) are going to go," he added.

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Arab regimes faced a dilemma in how they reacted to events in Tunisia.

"The solution is reform, but the problem is also reform," he told a Davos panel. Governments might be afraid to rush into reforms for fear of unleashing events that ran out of control.

The Egyptian unrest was a top talking point in Davos. In the coffee area, a group of Gulf Arabs jabbed their fingers excitedly at a stream of news pictures of the unrest on an I-Pad tablet computer and exchanged comments.

Masood Ahmed, director of the International Monetary Fund's Middle East and Central Asia Department, said common pressures driving protests in the Arab world included unemployment, particularly among young people, and low growth.

"To counter this all, Middle East economies have to grow faster and to do that they have to look at their competitiveness," he told Reuters in Davos.

The IMF continued to recommend reducing subsidies and targetting them towards the needy, he said, even as some countries such as Algeria have reversed subsidy cuts in response to protests over rising food prices.

"The money that governments save by doing this can be spent more effectively on the poor and they can use it to develop education," Ahmed said.

(Additional reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Natsuko Waki and Paul Taylor, writing by Paul Taylor; editing by Mike Peacock and Mike Nesbit)


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