Turkey's government is expected to announce a reform of Article 301, the law against insulting "Turkishness" that has been used to prosecute writers who have addressed such issues as the Armenian genocide. The moves comes as a precondition for Turkey's acceptance to the European Union. (NYT, Jan. 25) Meanwhile, Turkish authorities blocked access to YouTube for six days after a court order in response to video clips allegedly insulting the country's founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. (AP, Jan. 24)

An explosion in the center of Diyarbakır in Turkish Kurdistan—timed to the very second a military vehicle was driving by—killed five and wounded at least 52 Jan. 3. Many of the wounded were soldiers, but the five dead were civilians, and some are said to have been children. The explosion occurred in a parking lot between the five-star Dedeman Hotel and the Galleria Shopping Center at 4:55 PM. Authorities blame the blast on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), with police searching for two PKK suspects. Diyarbakır Mayor Osman Baydemir, of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), said the attack was "unacceptable," adding: "I condemn it no matter who the perpetrator was. I hope this is the last one." The pro-PKK Fırat news agency reported that PKK leaders in Iraq have declared Turkey's cities to be targets in retaliation for Turkish attacks on guerilla bases. (Zaman, Turkish Daily News, Jan. 3)

The Dec. 12 car-bomb assassination of Gen. Francois al-Hajj marks the first targeting of a Lebanese military figure since the current wave of terror began with the 2005 attack on former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Gen. al-Hajj, army chief of operations, was widely expected to become chief of staff if the incumbent, Gen. Michel Suleiman, is chosen as Lebanon's next president. Three others were also killed in the morning rush-hour attack in the Beirut Christian suburb of Baabda. (The Guardian, Dec. 13; London Times, Dec. 12) Suspicion has of course fallen on Damascus, but Syrian statements condemning the attack have also implicated Israel. An unnamed Syrian intelligence source quoted by the official news agency SANA said: "Such an act was targeting the Lebanese military establishment and its hostile ideology to Israel." Added SANA: "The source indicated that the beneficiary from this crime is Israel and its tools in Lebanon, in killing such a Lebanese national figure, who believed in the ideology of the Lebanese army, embraced the resistance, worked for unified Lebanon, and rejected division." (AKI, Dec. 12)

However naive she may be about Western intentions, Ayaan Hirsi Ali deserves creds for asking the tough questions about the Muslim establishment. Why—with rare exception—are no voices on the anti-imperialist left asking these questions? From the New York Times op-ed page, Dec. 7 (links added):

Police in Diyarbakir, Turkey, used water cannons, tear gas and batons against Kurdish protesters Nov. 25. The protesters hurled stones and burned tires after being blocked from marching through the city's center. Protesters chanted slogans in support of the Democratic Society Party, which prosecutors want closed down, and in favor of Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned leader of the PKK guerillas. Police detained dozens during the clashes.

The only good news here is that is that it has sparked an international outcry—which comes just in time to embarrass the barbaric Saudi regime at the Riyadh OPEC summit. (AFP, Nov. 16) From The Telegraph, Nov. 17:

A Saudi woman has been sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in prison after she was the victim of a gang rape.

An ominous Nov. 2 Jerusalem Post article on September's apparent Israeli bombing raid on a Syrian nuclear facility uses ambiguous language (highlighted below): the planes "carried" nuclear weapons, and the site was "totally destroyed" by "one bomb"—but it is not said explicitly that the bomb was nuclear. Is this psy-ops against Iran, showing that the US and Israel can bomb effectively in tandem—and are ready to use their nukes? Or perhaps the Arab sources (none of them named) quoted by AlJazeera were Syrian, making excuses for why nuclear material would be found at the bombed site?

From BBC News via Sufi News & World Report, Oct. 11:

More than 130 Muslim scholars have written to Pope Benedict XVI and other Christian leaders urging greater understanding between the two faiths. The letter says that world peace could depend on improved relations between Muslims and Christians.