Six In The Morning

A people defies its dictator, and a nation’s future is in the balance  

A brutal regime is fighting, bloodily, for its life. Robert Fisk reports from the streets of Cairo



It might be the end. It is certainly the beginning of the end. Across Egypt, tens of thousands of Arabs braved tear gas, water cannons, stun grenades and live fire yesterday to demand the removal of Hosni Mubarak after more than 30 years of dictatorship.

And as Cairo lay drenched under clouds of tear gas from thousands of canisters fired into dense crowds by riot police, it looked as if his rule was nearing its finish. None of us on the streets of Cairo yesterday even knew where Mubarak – who would later appear on television to dismiss his cabinet – was. And I didn’t find anyone who cared.

France upholds ban on marriage for gay couples

The Irish Times – Saturday, January 29, 2011

RUADHÁN Mac CORMAIC in Paris

FRANCE’S CONSTITUTIONAL court has upheld a ban on gay marriage, reviving a political row and prompting opposition calls for the government to change the law.

In rejecting a challenge taken by a lesbian couple with four children, the court said it found no conflict between current law on same-sex marriage and the principle of equality. It noted that it was for parliament rather than the constitutional authorities to decide any change to the statute books.

Opposition figures seized on that observation yesterday and urged President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government to make France the ninth European country to allow same-sex marriage.

An Inside Look at Difficult Negotiations with Julian Assange

Lifting the Lid on WikiLeaks

By Marcel Rosenbach and Holger Stark  

The joint publication of classified United States embassy cables in November 2010 in a number of major newspapers and magazines rocked the diplomatic world. In newly published books, editors at SPIEGEL and the New York Times have documented relationships between the founder of WikiLeaks and the publications that were at time tumultuous during preparations for the documents’ release.

For some time now, Julian Assange has been sparring with New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller. Assange claims the paper didn’t publish the material in its entirety and made too many concessions to the White House before going to print.

Now, Keller is fighting back. On Monday, the New York Times will publish a book with its full account of the publication of the WikiLeaks documents. In his preface, Keller describes the stormy relationship with WikiLeaks founder Assange, comparing the Australian to a character straight out of a Stieg Larsson thriller, “a man who could figure either as a hero or villain.”

The tearful origins of China’s stealth

 

By Peter Lee  

The recent test flight of China’s J-20 stealth fighter has occasioned certain uproar in international security circles, as well as paroxysms of joy among China’s more nationalistic netizens.

Despite no hard information on its stealthiness or its capabilities beyond the fact that it was able to take off, fly for 15 minutes, and land, the J-20 is already serving as justification for heightened concern and its inevitable adjunct, higher military spending, in the United States, South Korea and Japan.

From a psychological standpoint, an interesting sidebar to the J-20 furor has been the reporting on allegations that China used industrial and military espionage to develop its stealth capabilities, perhaps with the implication that China’s reactive and decadent communist system would be incapable of such innovations on its own.

For Governors, Medicaid Looks Ripe to Slash

 

By KEVIN SACK

Published: January 28, 2011  

Hamstrung by federal prohibitions against lowering Medicaid eligibility, governors from both parties are exercising their remaining options in proposing bone-deep cuts to the program during the fourth consecutive year of brutal economic conditions.

Because states confront budget gaps estimated at $125 billion, few essential services – schools, roads, parks – are likely to escape the ax. But the election of tough-minded governors, the evaporation of federal aid, the relentless growth of Medicaid rolls and the exhaustion of alternatives have made the program, which primarily covers low-income children and disabled adults, an outsize target.

Guerrero election kicks off weighty Mexico political year

The balloting Sunday in Guerrero, which except for Acapulco is an impoverished rural state, kicks off elections in six states across Mexico that will set the tone for the 2012 presidential campaign.

By Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Acapulco, Mexico – A bouncy Madonna tune thumps from loudspeakers on a campaign truck, an incongruous anthem for a political race draped in tension.

Rattled by drug-related killings, voters in the coastal state of Guerrero will pick a new governor Sunday after a campaign marked by accusations of attempted vote buying and partisan-based violence.

The balloting in Guerrero, which except for the Acapulco resort is an impoverished rural state, kicks off elections in six states across Mexico this year that will set the tone for the 2012 presidential campaign.