Habari Post

Foreign journalists have been largely censored from covering protests in Iran over the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Twitter has emerged as the primary communication tool, both for protesters to organize, and for outside news organizations to gain insight into what's happening in Tehran.

This is an interview with Clay Shirky about the role Twitter has played organizing election protests in Iran.

There is also a video of the professor speaking about trends in social media and mobile technology in the role of elections:
http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_twitter_facebook_can_make_history.html

Kurmanbek Bakiyev, president of the Kyrgyz Republic announced that he plans to close the U.S. air base in his country. The base had been a major site of NATO forces launching assaults into Afghanistan.

A slide show of day-to-day life in Gaza since the ceasefire. The title "Gaza Ebbs Toward Normalcy" seems incredibly overstated.

The four living U.S. presidents (Jimmy Carter, George Bush, Sr., Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush) met with Barack Obama this week at the White House and passed the torch of the ever elusive pursuit for peace in the Middle East.

The New York Times put together a great interactive timeline that begins with the truce between Israel and a number of Arab countries who simultaneously declared war on the newly formed state in 1948. The Gaza strip was ceded to Egypt as part of a pact between the countries in 1949.

Leaders of Muslim organizations and countries in the Middle East agree that the election of Barack Obama as the next president of the United States signifies a new direction of the country's policies in the Middle East.

Fareed Zakaria speaks to Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, the Sudan Ambassador to the United Nations, about his potential complicity in genocide and other war crimes committed by the Sudanese government during a heated interview.

Barack Obama told reporters that he would visit Iraq if he is nominated as the Democratic Party's candidate for president of the U.S.

The Iranian Parliament elected Ari Larijani as their new speaker on Wednesday. Mr. Larijani was a rival to Mr. Ahmadinejad in the presidential election of 2005. Mr. Larijani was elected as speaker in an unusually lopsided vote: 232 to 31.

It seems that Iran's involvement in Iraq has declined since the capture of a few dozen Iranian operatives selling arms in Iraq in December of 2006.

The Government Accountability Office issued a report titled "Combating Terrorism: The United States Lacks Comprehensive Plan to Destroy the Terrorist Threat and Close the Safe Haven in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas".This is a link to the 37 page report.

Last year, Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip of the Palestinian Territories. Following, Israel pulled out its military and civilian presence from the territory. A report from the NY Times describes life in Gaza towards the end of 2007.

As the 60 year anniversary of Israel's founding approaches, many Israeli citizens express concerns over the direction of their country and in particular over the government spending on the celebration.

A Frontline series shows footage taped by U.S. National Guard soldiers serving in Iraq. The site includes blog posts from the soldiers, links to watch the series online and profiles of the soldiers. The firsthand perspective is interesting and emphasizes the soldiers' desire to return home as soon as possible.