InfoAnda - Dynasts’ Club: Arab Spring Spares Region’s Royals

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Afghan victims say only one U.S. soldier attacked | | 10 November 2012
Syria encouraged anti-cartoon protest: U.S. cables | | 29 December 2010
Google Maps makes its way back to the iPhone | | 13 December 2012

U.S. telecom shift on Cuba to spur info flow: White House | 14 April 2009

Advertisement Dynasts’ Club: Arab Spring Spares Region’s Royals Source: (TML) Reporter: TML Staff Location: Jordan Published: November 27, 2011 08:44 am EST Topics: Unrest, Conflicts And War, Politics, Social Issue The contrasts couldn’t be any more stark. In a space of five days, voters in the Gulf emirate of Oman quietly went to the polls to elect members to the country’s Shoura Council, a quasi-legislature that the country’s absolute ruler has promised will be granted more power, while in Libya another autocrat, Muamar Al-Qadaffi was dragged out of a drainpipe where he had sought refugee to be pummeled and killed by rebels, the denouement to a bloody six-month civil war. Al-Qadaffi is the third Arab leader to lose his job in the 11 months since the Arab Spring erupted while a fourth, Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh, announced Wednesday that he was ready to step down. The fate of another, Syria’s Bashar Al-Assad, hangs in the balance. But other leaders faced unrest in the early days of the Arab Spring only to turn back the popular tide. Besides Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al-Said, King Muhammed VI of Morocco has also succeeded in containing unrest as has King Abdullah of Jordan. At the outset of the Arab Spring, all looked ripe for revolution and experienced varying levels of unrest, but 11 months later all four leaders are still standing. It pays to be a dynast rather than a dictator, or the son of a dictator. None of the region’s many royals has been toppled and only one – Bahrain’s Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa – has faced a serious challenge to his rule. All four autocrats to fall, as well as a fifth most likely to succumb, were dictators who made pretentions to democratic rule with rigged elections. Among non-royals, only Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has succeeded in restoring quiet. The staying power of kings could be due to noblesse oblige, early-childhood training in statecraft or a traditional deference on the part of people to royalty, but Ibrahim Saif, a resident scholar at the Carnegie International Endowment for Peace suggests it is because royals rely more on their paternal image than on fear to maintain their rule. “They are more responsive to the demands of the street. Historically they have been more tolerant,” Saif told The Media Line in a telephone interview from Beirut. “If you compare the monarchy in Jordan, for instance, to the regimes in Syria or Egypt, they try to respond to peoples demands, like quality of education, social conditions.” The kingdom of Jordan scores 0.698 on the United Nations Human Development Index (the highest score is a 1.0), compared with 0.632 for the neighboring dictatorship of Syria. Oman scores a higher 0.705. Morocco is a much lower 0.582, but over the last decades its score has jumped by 14.8%. Politically, the monarchies are also relatively liberal. Morocco is one of the few Arab countries to enjoy a “partly free” designation by Freedom House. In 2010, the human rights organization categorized Jordan and Oman as “not free,” but they scored higher on political rights and civil liberties than Tunisia, Syria or Libya. Like much of the Middle East, Oman was by hit unrest, which left five people dead in he early weeks of the Arab Spring. But the opposition never gained traction as Qaboos responded with promises of limited reforms and financial handouts. The sultan fired ministers with the worst reputations for corruption and is promising the Shoura Council will get more powers. Qaboos, 70 and in power for more than four decades, has used Oman's limited oil revenue on social and economic infrastructure, but he has offered little in the way of political reform. Months ago, he promised a $2.6 billion spending package and 50,000 public sector jobs. He also reshuffled his cabinet three times, removing some unpopular figures. The Shoura Council, for which voting took place October 15, is being given some legislative and regulatory powers for the first time, but only as part of the Oman Council, which includes an appointed upper house. But other autocrats have promised reforms only to be laughed at or ignored. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, who only weeks before rebellion exploded across his country boasted that his anti-Israel credentials made him popular, has repeatedly promised change to no avail. All the region’s autocrats have increased subsidies, raised public sector wages and created jobs where they can. Marc Valeri, a Middle East politics lecturer at Britain’s Exeter University, told The Media Line that Qaboos built up a lot of credit with Omanis for his early steps, but he has failed to undertake deep reforms and time may be running out for him. “He’s considered by the majority of population to be the one who can cope with corruption and implement reform. He still has a lot of legitimacy among the majority of the population,” said Valeri, who was in Oman for the elections. The sacking of corruption-tainted ministers was probably his most popular move, but he needs an Act II. “The problem is he doesn’t have anyone more to sacrifice.” “Many people are saying the sultan has all elements in his hands to decide but that he hasn’t implemented the reforms we want. So now he will become the target of complaints and demands which was not the case before,” Valeri said. A largely Shiite rebellion in Sunni-ruled Bahrain – the only monarchy to face serious unrest – was quashed when Saudi Arabia dispatched troops. Despite amnesties and promises of reform, the island emirate remains gripped by sectarian tensions. Valeri said sectarian tensions were an important factor, but perhaps just as importantly Bahrain’s king, Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa, couldn’t count on the undivided support of his family and retainers. “In Oman, the sultan is still regarded as very legitimate in contrast to Bahrain where the king has had to cope with a lot of opposition and division within the royal family,” he said. “That’s not the case in Oman, where ruling family is very small in number and the sultan hasn’t given much power to other members of the royal family.” Jordan has been shaken over the months by street protests led by a disparate group of Islamists, tribal figures and leftist opposition figures demanding more political freedoms and an end to corruption. But a reform-minded man was sworn in last month and has the backing of the Muslim Brotherhood, buying King Abdullah more time. Saif of the Carnegie Endowment says that despite the turmoil in Jordan, no major group, including the country’s powerful Islamists, is calling for the king to step down. But, he adds, that King Abdullah has to keep on a pathway to reform to continue enjoying broad support. “The monarchy in many cases is acting a moderator between various groups – Islamists, East Bankers and Jordanians of Palestinian origin,” Saif says. “It has reduced tensions by focusing on the future of the country rather than taking the side of one faction or the other. People admire it as a guarantor for stability, an insurance policy for everyone.” In Morocco, the youth-based February 20th movement organized weeks of pro-reform demonstrations through websites such as Facebook and YouTube which brought thousands on to the streets. In response, King Mohammad, scion of a 400-year-old dynasty, quickly undertook a program of reforms to gently push Morocco into constitutional monarchy. He also almost tripled subsidies used to keep down the cost of food. In June, voters overwhelmingly approved a package of constitutional amendments designed to rein in the king’s powers and expand civil rights, ignoring critics who said the reforms were granted by the king in an opaque rather than democratic process. Parliamentary elections last week, in which the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) emerged as the leader, went smoothly. PJD is loyal to the monarchy. Nevertheless, Moroccan politics remain tumultuous. Last month, the February 20th movement brought thousands of supporters into the streets of Casablanca for a demonstration to demand deep political reform. But protests and sparse and analysts say Mohammad remains personally popular and trusted. Moroccan kings have a tradition of initiating reform from the top. Anouar Boukhars, an expert on political extremism in the Middle East who teaches at Maryland’s McDaniel College, says that the February 20th movement lacks enough focus to mobilize great masses of people. But, he adds, Moroccans are not ready to push for fundamental and radical change. They have seen the violence and anarchy in places like Egypt, Syria and Libya and have gotten a small taste of it themselves. Morocco has experienced continual small-scale strikes and protests as well as growing public disorder in the form of illegal construction and street vendors taking over public spaces, he says. “Most Moroccans desperately want change, but insist on a peaceful transition that averts taking the country down the road of destabilizing protests that meet with violent state repression,” Boukhars wrote in the on-line journal Jadaliyya, following a field trip to Morocco. But, he warned, if democratic reforms don’t advance, Moroccans may change their minds. “Such cycles of demonstrations and repression might eventually be the only means to advance the democratic process forward.” Republish Email Facebook Digg Twitter Share Copyright © 2011 TML - All rights reserved.Content including text, photos, videos, audio, graphics and logos may not be used for commercial purposes, reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium without permission and license from CNS. [ Close ] When publishing articles from AHN we require that you follow several simple rules and that you abide by our Terms and Conditions. You may: Use and display the provided article text on a website or blog. Under the following conditions: You may not republish the article(s) wholesale, automatically or systematically; articles must be republished individually. You may not sell license or redistribute the content without specific permission. Email us if you’d like to. You must display and attribute the article in the manner specified by AHN (but not in any way that suggests that we endorse you or your use of the work). You may not remove ads, logos or tracking information from the article. You may display the article on a website, but you may not use the article for any other commercial purposes. You may not alter, rewrite, transform, or build upon the article. You may only use provided the javascript code to request the article from our systems. Copy and paste the following into your blog entry or the HTML on your page. It will automatically deliver the article as the page loads. <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.allheadlinenews.com//syndicator?storyid=7020884860"></script> << Return to script page License THE WORK (AS DEFINED BELOW) IS PROVIDED UNDER THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE ("LICENSE"). THE WORK IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT AND/OR OTHER APPLICABLE LAW. ANY USE OF THE WORK OTHER THAN AS AUTHORIZED UNDER THIS LICENSE OR COPYRIGHT LAW IS PROHIBITED. BY EXERCISING ANY RIGHTS TO THE WORK PROVIDED HERE, YOU ACCEPT AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE. TO THE EXTENT THIS LICENSE MAY BE CONSIDERED TO BE A CONTRACT, THE LICENSOR GRANTS YOU THE RIGHTS CONTAINED HERE IN CONSIDERATION OF YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF SUCH TERMS AND CONDITIONS. 1. Definitions "Collective Work" means a work, such as a periodical issue, anthology or encyclopedia, in which the Work in its entirety in unmodified form, along with one or more other contributions, constituting separate and independent works in themselves, are assembled into a collective whole. A work that constitutes a Collective Work will not be considered a Derivative Work (as defined below) for the purposes of this License. "Derivative Work" means a work based upon the Work or upon the Work and other pre-existing works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which the Work may be recast, transformed, or adapted, except that a work that constitutes a Collective Work will not be considered a Derivative Work for the purpose of this License. For the avoidance of doubt, where the Work is a musical composition or sound recording, the synchronization of the Work in timed-relation with a moving image ("synching") will be considered a Derivative Work for the purpose of this License. "Licensor" means the individual, individuals, entity or entities that offers the Work under the terms of this License. "Original Author" means the individual, individuals, entity or entities who created the Work. "Work" means the copyrightable work of authorship offered under the terms of this License. "You" means an individual or entity exercising rights under this License who has not previously violated the terms of this License with respect to the Work, or who has received express permission from the Licensor to exercise rights under this License despite a previous violation. 2. Fair Use Rights. Nothing in this license is intended to reduce, limit, or restrict any rights arising from fair use, first sale or other limitations on the exclusive rights of the copyright owner under copyright law or other applicable laws. 3. License Grant. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, Licensor hereby grants You a worldwide, non-exclusive, revocable (for the duration of the applicable copyright) license to exercise the rights in the Work as stated below: to reproduce the Work, to incorporate the Work into one or more Collective Works; The above rights may be exercised on freely and openly accessible web media formats . The above rights include the right to make such modifications as are technically necessary to exercise the rights in other media and formats, but otherwise you have no rights to make any alterations or Derivative Works. All rights not expressly granted by Licensor are hereby reserved, including but not limited to the rights set forth in Sections 4(d) and 4(e). 4. Restrictions.The license granted in Section 3 above is expressly made subject to and limited by the following restrictions: You may publicly display the Work only under the terms of this License, and You must include a copy of, or the Uniform Resource Identifier for, this License with every copy of the Work You publicly display. You may not offer or impose any terms on the Work that restrict the terms of this License or the ability of a recipient of the Work to exercise the rights granted to that recipient under the terms of the License. You may not sublicense the Work. You must keep intact all notices that refer to this License and to the disclaimer of warranties. When You publicly display the Work, You may not impose any technological measures on the Work that restrict the ability of a recipient of the Work from You to exercise the rights granted to that recipient under the terms of the License. This Section 4(a) applies to the Work as incorporated in a Collective Work, but this does not require the Collective Work apart from the Work itself to be made subject to the terms of this License. If You create a Collective Work, upon notice from any Licensor You must, to the extent practicable, remove from the Collective Work any credit as required by Section 4(c), as demanded. You may not exercise any of the rights granted to You in Section 3 above in any manner that is primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation. The exchange of the Work for other copyrighted works by means of digital file-sharing or otherwise shall not be considered to be intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation, provided there is no payment of any monetary compensation in connection with the exchange of copyrighted works. If You publicly display the Work (as defined in Section 1 above) or Collective Works (as defined in Section 1 above), You must, unless a request has been made pursuant to Section 4(a), keep intact all copyright notices for the Work and provide, reasonable to the medium or means You are utilizing: (i) the name of the Original Author (or pseudonym, if applicable) if supplied, and/or (ii) if the Original Author and/or Licensor designate another party or parties (e.g. a sponsor institute, publishing entity, journal) for attribution ("Attribution Parties") in Licensor's copyright notice, terms of service or by other reasonable means, the name of such party or parties; the title of the Work if supplied; to the extent reasonably practicable, the Uniform Resource Identifier, if any, that Licensor specifies to be associated with the Work, unless such URI does not refer to the copyright notice or licensing information for the Work. The credit required by this Section 4(c) may be implemented in any reasonable manner; provided, however, that in the case of a Collective Work, at a minimum such credit will appear, if a credit for all contributing authors of the Collective Work appears, then as part of these credits and in a manner at least as prominent as the credits for the other contributing authors. For the avoidance of doubt, You may only use the credit required by this clause for the purpose of attribution in the manner set out above and, by exercising Your rights under this License, You may not implicitly or explicitly assert or imply any connection with, sponsorship or endorsement by the Original Author, Licensor and/or Attribution Parties, as appropriate, of You or Your use of the Work, without the separate, express prior written permission of the Original Author, Licensor and/or Attribution Parties. 5. Representations, Warranties and Disclaimer UNLESS OTHERWISE MUTUALLY AGREED TO BY THE PARTIES IN WRITING, LICENSOR OFFERS THE WORK AS-IS AND ONLY TO THE EXTENT OF ANY RIGHTS HELD IN THE LICENSED WORK BY THE LICENSOR. THE LICENSOR MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND CONCERNING THE WORK, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF TITLE, MARKETABILITY, MERCHANTIBILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NONINFRINGEMENT, OR THE ABSENCE OF LATENT OR OTHER DEFECTS, ACCURACY, OR THE PRESENCE OF ABSENCE OF ERRORS, WHETHER OR NOT DISCOVERABLE. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO SUCH EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. 6. Limitation on Liability. EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL LICENSOR BE LIABLE TO YOU ON ANY LEGAL THEORY FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THIS LICENSE OR THE USE OF THE WORK, EVEN IF LICENSOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. 7. Termination This License and the rights granted hereunder will terminate automatically upon any breach by You of the terms of this License. Individuals or entities who have received Collective Works (as defined in Section 1 above) from You under this License, however, will not have their licenses terminated provided such individuals or entities remain in full compliance with those licenses. Sections 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 will survive any termination of this License. Subject to the above terms and conditions, the license granted here is perpetual (for the duration of the applicable copyright in the Work). Notwithstanding the above, Licensor reserves the right to release the Work under different license terms or to stop distributing the Work at any time; provided, however that any such election will not serve to withdraw this License (or any other license that has been, or is required to be, granted under the terms of this License), and this License will continue in full force and effect unless terminated as stated above. 8. Miscellaneous Each time You distribute or publicly digitally perform the Work (as defined in Section 1 above) or a Collective Work (as defined in Section 1 above), the Licensor offers to the recipient a license to the Work on the same terms and conditions as the license granted to You under this License. If any provision of this License is invalid or unenforceable under applicable law, it shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the remainder of the terms of this License, and without further action by the parties to this agreement, such provision shall be reformed to the minimum extent necessary to make such provision valid and enforceable. No term or provision of this License shall be deemed waived and no breach consented to unless such waiver or consent shall be in writing and signed by the party to be charged with such waiver or consent. This License constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the Work licensed here. There are no understandings, agreements or representations with respect to the Work not specified here. Licensor shall not be bound by any additional provisions that may appear in any communication from You. This License may not be modified without the mutual written agreement of the Licensor and You. There are no third-party beneficiaries to this Licesnse. You waive any right to jury trial in connection with any action or litigation in any way arising out of or related to this License. You agree to pay all reasonable attorney fees and other costs incurred by Your breach of this license. This agreement will be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Florida without regard to its conflicts of law provisions. You agree to submit to the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Palm Beach County in the State of Florida, and any cause of action which arise from use of this web site or from interpretation of these terms and conditions must be filed in the state and federal courts located in Palm Beach County, State of Florida. If any provision of this agreement shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this agreement and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. Any remaining provisions shall be given effect to the fullest extent possible. Need more news? visit FeedSyndicate for all of your content needs This is a BETA service and subject to change or cancellation. Recent Posts Most Popular Comments Recent Comments Popular Threads Advertisement Advertisement [ CLOSE ] --> [ CLOSE ] [ CLOSE ] [ CLOSE ] Submit News | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Contact Us | News and Content Feeds | Journalism Jobs Follow AHN on Twitter AHN Social News connects you with friends and the news © 2011 AHN All Rights Reserved | Hosted on the NewsBahn™

Other News on Sunday, 27 November 2011
UN, Somali factions meet on 'roadmap' for country's development
Braxton Miller's scoring strikes power Ohio State to 24-23 lead vs. Michigan
U.S. regrets loss of life in NATO attack on Pakistani forces
Hennie Otto bolts into three-shot lead at South African Open
Irish up at World Cup: McIlroy-McDowell increase lead to two shots
Allen Crabbe, Justin Cobbs rain treys as Cal blasts Denver in hoop tilt
Online sales surge 24 percent on Black Friday
Coming Sunday, first change to Catholic mass in nearly half century
Four killed in plane crash in Chicago suburb
Quarterback Kellen Moore directs Boise State to victory vs. Wyoming
Alabama makes case for BCS title game spot with rout of Auburn
Christmas baskets: Kyrie Irving, fellow NBA players excited about impending season
Premier League: Adebayor nets pair in Tottenham's win vs. West Brom
Lundqvist sharp in goal, Richards adds another tally as Rangers blank Flyers
Urban sprawl: Ohio State falls to Michigan; rumors spread about Meyer taking over
With help of Luck, Stanford downs Notre Dame; Cardinal boost BCS bid
Dynasts’ Club: Arab Spring Spares Region’s Royals
Semyon Varlamov stops 31 shots in Avalanche win over Oilers
Top-ranked North Carolina falls to UNLV in Las Vegas tourney finale
Ocean Spray Voluntarily Recalls Limited Quantity of Original Flavor Craisins® Dried Cranberries and Bulk Dried Cranberries Sales
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01