10 February 2009 | News | Jason Ditz
Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu party didn’t do nearly as well in the election as previous polls suggested he would, but with a narrow margin between the top parties they may yet hold the key to forming a coalition government. He’s got a condition for any potential partner: regime change in Gaza and “to destroy Hamas.” [...]
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10 February 2009 | News | Jason Ditz
Since his election in November, President Obama’s promised escalation of the war in Afghanistan has been presumed to be one of the first things his administration would do. Yet the president has ordered reviews of the strategy to be completed before moving ahead with the troop surge: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates now says the [...]
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10 February 2009 | News | Jason Ditz
The South Ossetian capital city of Tskhinvali, still recovering from the heavy shelling in last year’s Georgian invasion, was hit again yesterday by two shells fired from the Georgian village of Nikozi, according to the South Ossetian government. Though there were no reported casualties the incident is likely to keep tensions between the Georgian government [...]
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10 February 2009 | News | Jason Ditz
With the election in the books and the ballots being counted, it is no clearer now than 24 hours ago who will be forming the next Israeli government. Exit polls suggest Kadima will complete an amazing comeback by passing Likud in number of seats, but they also suggest that Likud may have a somewhat easier [...]
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10 February 2009 | News | Jason Ditz
Israel’s elections are over, and the counting of ballots has begun. The early exit polls show a very narrow gap between the Likud Party and the Kadima Party, with Kadima surprisingly taking a narrow lead in each of the results. Channel 1 and Channel 10 both give Kadima 30 seats… with Likud at 28. Channel [...]
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09 February 2009 | News | Jason Ditz
Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu says he “will approach all the Zionist parties to join a coalition headed by Likud,” but has indicated that Avigdor Lieberman, head of the surging Yisrael Beiteinu party, will not be the defense minister in his prospective coalition government. Netanyahu had previously promised a “pivotal ministerial position” to Lieberman, though he [...]
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09 February 2009 | News | Jason Ditz
Israel’s Channel 2 sent a reporter to the Haifa rally for the surging Yisrael Beiteinu party of Avigdor Lieberman. The reporter, Forat Nassar, was turned away. The reason: because he’s an Arab, and they’re persona non-grata for a party whose sky-rocketing popularity has come largely on the back of the anti-Arab sentiments of its secular [...]
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09 February 2009 | News | Jason Ditz
At midnight tonight EST, Israelis begin casting their ballots for the next Knesset (parliament). The Likud Party’s wide lead of recent weeks has narrowed considerably (on the back of a major surge in the popularity of Yisrael Beiteinu), but leader Benjamin Netanyahu remains confident of winning. The problem is, rival Tzipi Livni of the Kadima [...]
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09 February 2009 | News | Jason Ditz
Though the trend could hardly be called a surprise given the number of massive protests held in the wake of the assorted civilian killings in the past several months, a poll conducted by the Afghan Center for Socio-Economic and Opinion Research has revealed the extent to which the populace has lost faith in the over [...]
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09 February 2009 | News | Jason Ditz
The Egyptian government’s eagerness to stifle any public displays of discontent with their position on Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip is well documented, but weeks after the war’s ending one would assume the harsh treatment was over. That appears not to be the case however. Popular Egyptian blogger Diaa Eddin Gad a member of [...]
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