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Anthony died as he lived — determined to bear witness to the transformation sweeping the Middle East and to testify to the suffering of people caught between government oppression and opposition forces. He has spent much of his storied career chronicling the Mideast; his empathy for its citizens’ struggles and his deep understanding of their culture and history set his writing apart. He was their poet and their champion. His work will stand as a testament.
Jill Abramson, New York Times executive editor, in her memo to the New York Times newsroom announcing the death of their colleague, Anthony Shadid -
New York Times Middle East Correspondent Anthony Shadid dies while on assignment in Syria
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Syria’s First Family
An illustrated guide to the Assad clan.
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While I appreciate the cognitive dissonance Walters must have felt in trying to reconcile Assad’s gentle lisp and glamorous wife with the unavoidable fact that he was an authoritarian presiding over a country that was in thrall to his family, his subsequent actions reflect rather poorly on her judgment (just like they rendered the Vogue profile Assad’s wife shockingly tasteless and sycophantic). The prisons that disfigured and broke al-Khateeb were there when Walters was spending her free time with the Assads. They just weren’t as busy as they have been lately.
Walters is 82 years old. The fact that she can’t get it up to communicate indignation, or outrage, at as loathsome a creature as Assad—and the fact that she once befriended him, in some sort of bid for international cachet and glamor—is more than enough evidence that it’s time for her to step aside and hand the microphone to someone capable of recognizing evil when it invites them to dinner.
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Need To Know : Afternoon Edition
World
Afghanistan : Nine dead in Taliban assault on British Council in Kabul
Syria : Syrian forces kill six despite Assad pledge
Somalia : Turkey to set up embassy in Somalia
Pakistan : Suspected suicide attack kills at least 34 in Pakistan
Money and Markets
Insight: The madness of Wall Street
How do you predict the movement of the Dow with 87.6% accuracy? Apparently, you use Twitter. (via @rossneumann)
Super rich still making money in crisis, thanks to good advice, access to sophisticated investments (via @bernadettebaum)
Why the SEC shouldn’t push index funds by @FelixSalmon
Reason to be chipper according to Lex: double dip seems inevitable, but great depression unlikely (via @jimpoco)
Entertainment
Greg @Clayman of The Daily (via Reddit) : In 4 years, the Back to the Future movie will be as old to us as 1955 was to us when Back to the Future came out.
Tech
Ashton Kutcher could face questions from SEC about disclosure
AT&T charges you 10,000,000% more for sending data when it’s in a text message (via @Counterparties)
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Need To Know : Afternoon Edition
The first in a perhaps continuing series
World
Israel: Israeli air strike kills chief of Gaza’s PRC group
Israel/Egypt: Gunmen kill six in Israel in attack near Egypt border
Syria: via @Reuters: “The United States is certain that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is “on his way out,” - senior U.S. official”
Syria: Obama’s statement calling on Syria’s Assad to step down
Libya: Rebels seize key oil refinery
Japan: Kim Kyung-hoon travels to Japan’s tsunami-hit zone in “Clearing the rubble but not the sorrow”
Tech
Google debuts a weather layer for Google Maps
Illustration of patent market warfare
Money and Markets
Markets taking again, down over 500 at one point today
WSJ has rolling video coverage
Philadelphia Fed index slumps, home sales fall
Sports
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Syrian army kills 140 in crackdown: activists.
AFP - Syrian forces have killed nearly 140 people including at least 100 when the army stormed the flashpoint protest city of Hama to crush dissent on the eve of Ramadan, activists have said.
Activists said it was one of deadliest days in Syria since demonstrators first took to the streets on March 15 demanding democratic reforms before turning their wrath on the regime and calling for its ouster.
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Syria. The Arab Spring rages on in Syria, with Assad’s forces clashing with the pro-democracy movement yesterday, leaving at least 27 people killed. The crackdown was concentrated in Damascus and its suburbs, where peaceful protests were quickly met with tear gas and live fire.
The US Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, gave a blunt interview with Foreign Policy, in which he spoke direly and caustically about the prospects of Bashar al-Assad.
I have seen no evidence yet in terms of hard changes on the ground that the Syrian government is willing to reform at anything like the speed demanded by the street protestors. If it doesn’t start moving with far greater alacrity, the street will wash them away.
He also had praise for the pro-democracy forces, saying:
I’ve met enough of them, and believe me, they are a lot tougher than anyone in the Washington Post or the U.S. Senate. They know exactly what they are doing. I have talked to people who have lost immediate family, who have been killed or jailed. Nothing focuses the mind like that.
The sign pictured above, from Hama, reads “Thank You Al Jazeera and SNN” in both English and Arabic. SNN is Shaam News Network, a fabulous citizen journalism group that has been responsible for getting a lot of information out of Syria to a global audience, including this image. Chances are, if you’ve watched a YouTube video of protests in Syria, it was probably from them.
(via pantslessprogressive)
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![pantslessprogressive:
Syrian President Bashar Assad addressed the nation Monday, promising a “national dialogue” and urging Syrian refugees to return home.
During the speech at Damascus University, Assad promised a variety of reform measures and said he would consider drafting a new constitution.
He also warned anti-government protesters and blamed foreigners for the ongoing unrest:
He said that his country had been the target of “foreign conspiracies” for “geopolitical and […] other reasons”, and that those who were taking part in the current unrest were divided into three broad categories, in his opinion: those who were peaceful and had legitimate concerns; those who were “vandals” and “outlaws” [he said there were 64,000 of these]; and finally “radical and blasphemous intellectuals”.
He also said that there could be no reform at a time of “sabotage and chaos”. He said that no political solution was possible as long as protesters were “violent” or carried arms.
Read more on the speech at Al Jazeera English, Reuters, The Guardian and Voice of America.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ln368bUI2S1qzr73ro1_500.jpg "http://soupsoup.tumblr.com/post/6722929201/pantslessprogressive-syrian-president-bashar")
Syrian President Bashar Assad addressed the nation Monday, promising a “national dialogue” and urging Syrian refugees to return home.
During the speech at Damascus University, Assad promised a variety of reform measures and said he would consider drafting a new constitution.
He also warned anti-government protesters and blamed foreigners for the ongoing unrest:
He said that his country had been the target of “foreign conspiracies” for “geopolitical and […] other reasons”, and that those who were taking part in the current unrest were divided into three broad categories, in his opinion: those who were peaceful and had legitimate concerns; those who were “vandals” and “outlaws” [he said there were 64,000 of these]; and finally “radical and blasphemous intellectuals”.
He also said that there could be no reform at a time of “sabotage and chaos”. He said that no political solution was possible as long as protesters were “violent” or carried arms.
Read more on the speech at Al Jazeera English, Reuters, The Guardian and Voice of America.
(Source: pantslessprogressive)
