- published: 04 May 2012
- views: 19385
- author: Ahmad Amin
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- Africa
- African Union
- Al-Bab.com
- Alexandria
- Alexandria Protocol
- Algeria
- Algerian dinar
- Algiers
- Ali Al-Duqbasi
- Amman
- Amr Moussa
- Ancient Egypt
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1958 Lebanon crisis
The 1958 Lebanon crisis was a Lebanese political crisis caused by political and religious tensions in the country. It included a U.S. military intervention.
In July 1958, Lebanon was threatened by a civil war between Maronite Christians and Muslims. Tensions with Egypt had escalated earlier in 1956 when pro-western President Camille Chamoun, a Christian, did not break diplomatic relations with the Western powers that attacked Egypt during the Suez Crisis, angering Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. These tensions were further increased when Chamoun showed closeness to the Baghdad Pact. Nasser felt that the pro-western Baghdad Pact posed a threat to Arab nationalism. As a response, Egypt and Syria united into the United Arab Republic (UAR). Lebanese Sunni Prime Minister Rashid Karami supported Nasser in 1956 and 1958. Karami formed a national reconciliation government after the 1958 crisis ended.
Lebanese Muslims pushed the government to join the newly created United Arab Republic, while the Christians wanted to keep Lebanon aligned with Western powers. A Muslim rebellion that was allegedly supplied with arms by the UAR through Syria caused President Chamoun to complain to the United Nations Security Council. The United Nations sent a group of inspectors that reported that it didn't find any evidence of significant intervention from the UAR.
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African Union
The African Union (abbreviated AU in English, and UA in its other official languages) is a union consisting of 54 African states. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established on 9 July 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). The most important decisions of the AU are made by the Assembly of the African Union, a semi-annual meeting of the heads of state and government of its member states. The AU's secretariat, the African Union Commission, is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Among the objectives of the AU's leading institutions are:
The African Union is made up of both political and administrative bodies. The highest decision-making organ is the Assembly of the African Union, made up of all the heads of state or government of member states of the AU. The Assembly is chaired by Yayi Boni, president of Benin, elected at the 18thordinary meeting of the Assembly in January 2012. The AU also has a representative body, the Pan African Parliament, which consists of 265 members elected by the national parliaments of the AU member states. Its president is Idriss Ndele Moussa.
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Alexandria
Alexandria (Arabic: الإسكندرية Al Iskandariyya, Coptic: Ⲣⲁⲕⲟⲧⲉ Rakotə, Greek: Αλεξάνδρεια Alexándria, Koine Greek: Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ κατ' Αἴγυπτον IPA: [ɑlɛˈksɑndɾiɑ e kɑt ˈɛʝypton] "Alexandria in Egypt", Egyptian Arabic: اسكندريه [eskendeˈrejːæ]) is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about 32 km (20 mi) along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving approximately 80% of Egypt's imports and exports. Alexandria is also an important tourist resort. It is home to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (the new Library of Alexandria). It is an important industrial centre because of its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez.
Alexandria was founded around a small pharaonic town c. 331 BC by Alexander the Great. It remained Egypt's capital for nearly a thousand years, until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD 641, when a new capital was founded at Fustat (Fustat was later absorbed into Cairo). Alexandria was known because of its Lighthouse of Alexandria (Pharos), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; its library (the largest library in the ancient world); and the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages. Ongoing maritime archaeology in the harbor of Alexandria, which began in 1994, is revealing details of Alexandria both before the arrival of Alexander, when a city named Rhacotis existed there, and during the Ptolemaic dynasty.
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Algeria
Coordinates: 28°N 2°E / 28°N 2°E / 28; 2
Algeria
i/ælˈdʒɪəriə/ (Arabic: الجزائر, al-Jazā'ir; Berber: ⴷⵣⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية, al-Jumhūriyyah al-Jazāʾiriyyah ad-Dīmuqrāṭiyyah ash-Shaʿbiyyah), also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a large country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.
When referring to its land area, Algeria is the largest country in Africa, Maghreb and the Arab World. It is also the largest of the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea; it is also the tenth-largest country in the world. The country is bordered in the northeast by Tunisia, in the east by Libya, in the west by Morocco, in the southwest by Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Mali, in the southeast by Niger, and in the north by the Mediterranean Sea. Its size is almost 2,400,000 square kilometres (926,645 sq mi) with an estimated population of 37.1 million as of 2012. Algeria is a member of the African Union, the Arab League, OPEC and the United Nations. The country is also a founding member of the Arab Maghreb Union.
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Algiers
Algiers (Arabic: الجزائر, al-Jazā’ir; Algerian Arabic: دزاير, Berber: Dzayer / ⴷⵣⴰⵢⴻⵔ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000. An estimate puts the population at about 3,574,000 as of 2010.
Called El-Behdja (البهجة) or alternatively Alger la Blanche ("Algiers the White") for the glistening white of its buildings as seen rising up from the sea, Algiers is situated on the west side of a bay of the Mediterranean Sea. The modern part of the city is built on the level ground by the seashore; the old part, the ancient city of the deys, climbs the steep hill behind the modern town and is crowned by the casbah or citadel, 122 metres (400 ft) above the sea. The casbah and the two quays form a triangle.
The city name is derived (via French Alger and Catalan Alger) from the Arabic name الجزائر al-Jazā’ir, which translates as "The Islands", referring to the four islands which lay off the city's coast until becoming part of the mainland in 1525. Al-Jazā’ir is itself a truncated form of the city's older name جزائر بني مازغان Jazā’ir Banī Mazghannā, "The Islands of the Sons of Mazghanna", used by early medieval geographers such as al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi.
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Amman
Amman (Arabic: عمان
/ɑːˈmɑːn/; ʿAmmān; Rabat Ammon) is the capital and largest city of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost 6.5 million by 2025 due to constant and rapid immigration. The recent economic growth experienced in Amman is unmatched by any other Arab city except those located in the Gulf. Amman is also the administrative seat of the homonymous governorate. Amman is also ranked a Gamma global city on the World city index.
Amman was named one of the MENA's best cities according to economic, labour, environmental, and socio-cultural factors. Amman is among the most popular locations for multinational corporations to set up their regional offices, alongside Doha and only behind Dubai. Furthermore, it is expected that in the next 10 years these three cities will capture the largest share of multinational corporation activity in the region. It is a major tourist destination in the region and the capital is especially popular among Gulf tourists. Amman is considered one of the richest and most Western-oriented cities in the Middle East.
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Anshas
Anshas is a city East of Cairo located in the Sharkiya Governorate in the Nile Delta of Egypt.
It holds the first experimental nuclear reactor to be operated in Egypt, the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority Experimental Farm, unauthorized IAEA. The City also holds the First Arab League Summit in 1949, which declared the creation of the League.
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Arab League
The Arab League (Arabic: الجامعة العربية al-Jāmiʻa al-ʻArabiyya), officially called the League of Arab States (Arabic: جامعة الدول العربية Jāmiʻat ad-Duwal al-ʻArabiyya), is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and Southwest Asia (Middle East). It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan (renamed Jordan in 1949), Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a member on 5 May 1945. The Arab League currently has 22 members (including Syria, whose participation was suspended in November 2011). The main goal of the league is to "draw closer the relations between member States and co-ordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries."
Through institutions such as the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) and the Economic and Social Council of the Arab League's Council of Arab Economic Unity (CAEU), the Arab League facilitates political, economic, cultural, scientific and social programs designed to promote the interests of the Arab world. It has served as a forum for the member states to coordinate their policy positions, to deliberate on matters of common concern, to settle some Arab disputes, and to limit conflicts such as the 1958 Lebanon crisis. The League has served as a platform for the drafting and conclusion of many landmark documents promoting economic integration. One example is the Joint Arab Economic Action Charter which sets out the principles for economic activities in the region.
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Arab Monetary Fund
The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) is a regional Arab organization, founded 1976, and operational from 1977. It is a working sub-organization of the Arab League.
The Arab Monetary Fund's main objectives are to correct and balance the payment of its member states, remove payment restrictions between members, improve Arab monetary cooperation, encourage the development of Arab financial markets (paving the way for a unified Arab currency), and to facilitate and promote trade between member states.
The AMF's headquarters are in the city of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
Member countries (22) are:
The principal organs of the AMF are the Board of Governors, the Board of Executive Directors, and the Director-General. In the Board of Governors (General Assembly) each member state is represented by a Governor and a Deputy Governor. The Board of Executive Directors, composed of eight directors of renewable three-year terms, is chaired by the Director-General, who is appointed to the board for a renewable five-year term and also holds the position of Managing Director of the AMF. The organization distributes its work through various offices, departments and committees, and there are also other divisions, including administration, loans, legal, internal audit, treasury and investments.
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Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula (Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية šibh al-jazīrat al-ʻarabīya or جزيرة العرب Ǧazīrat al 'Arab) is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2 (1,250,000 mi2). The area is an important part of the Asian continent and plays a critical geopolitical role of the Middle East and Arab World due to its vast reserves of oil and natural gas. The peninsula formed as a result of the rifting of the Red Sea between 56-23 million years ago, and is bordered by the Red Sea to the west, the Persian Gulf to the northeast, and the Indian Ocean to the southeast.
The Arabian Peninsula is located in the Asia continent and bounded by (clockwise) the Persian Gulf on the northeast, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman on the east, the Arabian Sea on the southeast and south, the Gulf of Aden on the south, the Bab-el-Mandeb strait on the southwest, and the Red Sea on the southwest and west. The northern portion of the peninsula merges with the Syrian Desert with no clear border line, although the northern boundary of the Arabian Peninsula is generally considered to be the northern borders of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
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Babylon
Coordinates: 32°32′11″N 44°25′15″E / 32.53639°N 44.42083°E / 32.53639; 44.42083
Babylon (Arabic: بابل, Babil; Akkadian: Bābili(m);Sumerian logogram: KÁ.DINGIR.RAKI;Hebrew: בָּבֶל, Bābel;Greek: Βαβυλών, Babylōn) was an Akkadian city-state (founded in 1867 BC by an Amorite dynasty) of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babylon Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers (55 mi) south of Baghdad. All that remains of the original ancient famed city of Babylon today is a mound, or tell, of broken mud-brick buildings and debris in the fertile Mesopotamian plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The city itself was built upon the Euphrates, and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods.
Available historical resources suggest that Babylon was at first a small town which had sprung up by the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. The town flourished and attained independence with the rise of the First Amorite Babylonian Dynasty in 1894 BC. Claiming to be the successor of the ancient Eridu, Babylon eclipsed Nippur as the "holy city" of Mesopotamia around the time an Amorite king named Hammurabi first created the short lived Babylonian Empire; this quickly dissolved upon his death and Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination. Babylon again became the seat of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 612 to 539 BC which was founded by Chaldeans and whose last king was an Assyrian. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. After the fall of Babylon it came under the rules of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman and Sassanid empires.
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Baghdad
Baghdad (Arabic: بغداد, Baġdād, IPA: [bæɣˈdæːd]) is the capital of Republic of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Province. The population of Baghdad as of 2011 is approximately 7,216,040, making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab World (after Cairo, Egypt), and the second largest city in Western Asia (after Tehran, Iran).
Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century and became the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. Within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic World. This in addition to housing several key academic institutions (e.g. House of Wisdom) garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning". Throughout the High Middle Ages, Baghdad was considered to be the largest city in the world with an estimated population of 1,200,000 people. The city was largely destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues and multiple successive empires. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state (formerly the British Mandate of Mesopotamia) in 1938, Baghdad gradually regained some of its former prominence as a significant center of Arabic culture.
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Bahrain
Bahrain ( pronunciation) (Arabic: البحرين, al-Baḥrayn) (Persian: بحرين, Baḥrain), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain (Arabic: مملكة البحرين, Mamlakat al-Baḥrayn), is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,234,571, including 666,172 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.
Bahrain is an archipelago of 33 islands, the largest being Bahrain Island, at 55 km (34 mi) long by 18 km (11 mi) wide. Saudi Arabia lies to the west and is connected to Bahrain by the King Fahd Causeway. The peninsula of Qatar is to the southeast across the Gulf of Bahrain. The planned Qatar Bahrain Causeway will link Bahrain and Qatar and become the world's longest marine causeway.
Known for its oil and pearls, Bahrain is also home to many large structures, including the Bahrain World Trade Center and the Bahrain Financial Harbour, with a proposal in place to build the 1,022 m (3,353 ft) high Murjan Tower. The Qal'at al-Bahrain (the harbour and capital of the ancient land of Dilmun) was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. The Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix takes place at the Bahrain International Circuit.
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Brazil
Brazili/brəˈzɪl/ (Portuguese: Brasil, IPA: [bɾaˈziw]), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil, listen (help·info)), is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people. It is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas and the largest lusophone country in the world.
Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 km (4,655 mi). It is bordered on the north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas region of French Guiana; on the northwest by Colombia; on the west by Bolivia and Peru; on the southwest by Argentina and Paraguay and on the south by Uruguay. Numerous archipelagos form part of Brazilian territory, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, and Trindade and Martim Vaz. It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile.
Brazil was a colony of Portugal from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500 until 1815, when it was elevated to the rank of kingdom and the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was formed. The colonial bond was in fact broken in 1808, when the capital of the Portuguese colonial empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, after Napoleon invaded Portugal.Independence was achieved in 1822 with the formation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system. The country became a presidential republic in 1889, when a military coup d'état proclaimed the Republic, although the bicameral legislature, now called Congress, dates back to the ratification of the first constitution in 1824. Its current Constitution, formulated in 1988, defines Brazil as a Federal Republic. The Federation is formed by the union of the Federal District, the 26 States, and the 5,564 Municipalities.
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Bursa
Bursa (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈbuɾsa]) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the seat of Bursa Province. The metropolitan area in the entire Bursa province had a population of 2.6 million as of 2010, making the city the fourth most populous in Turkey. The city is equally one of the most industrialized metropolitan centers in the country.
Bursa was the capital of the Ottoman State between 1326 and 1365. The city was referred to as "Hüdavendigar" (meaning "God's Gift") during the Ottoman period, while a more recent nickname is "Yeşil Bursa" (meaning "Green Bursa") in reference to the parks and gardens located across its urban tissue, as well as to the vast forests in rich variety that extend in the surrounding region. The city is synonymous with Mount Uludağ which towers behind its core and which is also a famous ski resort. The mausoleums of the early Ottoman sultans are located in Bursa and the numerous edifices built throughout the Ottoman period constitute the city's main landmarks. The surrounding fertile plain, its thermal baths, several interesting museums, notably a rich museum of archaeology, and a rather orderly urban growth are further principal elements that complete Bursa's overall picture.
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Cairo
Cairo ( /ˈkaɪroʊ/ KYE-roh; Arabic: القاهرة al-Qāhira, literally "The Vanquisher" or "The Conqueror"), is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Located near the Nile Delta, it was founded in the year 969 A.D. making it 1,043 years old. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life. Cairo was founded by the Fatimid dynasty in the 10th century AD.; but the land composing the present-day city was the site of national capitals whose remnants remain visible in parts of Old Cairo. Cairo is also associated with Ancient Egypt due to its proximity to the ancient cities of Memphis, Giza and Fustat which are nearby to the Great Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza.
Egyptians today often refer to Cairo as Maṣr (Arabic: مصر), the Arabic pronunciation of the name for Egypt itself, emphasizing the city's continued role in Egyptian influence. Cairo has the oldest and largest film and music industries in the Arab World, as well as the world's second-oldest institution of higher learning, al-Azhar University. Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city, and the Arab League has had its headquarters in Cairo for most of its existence.
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Carthage
Carthage (Latin: Carthago or Karthago, Ancient Greek: Καρχηδών Karkhēdōn, Arabic: قرطاج Qarṭāj, Berber: ⴽⴰⵔⵜⴰⵊⴻⵏ Kartajen, Etruscan: *Carθaza, Modern Hebrew: קרתגו Qartágo, from the Phoenician Qart-ḥadašt meaning New City (Aramaic: קרתא חדאתא, Qarta Ḥdatha), implying it was a 'new Tyre', is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC. It is currently a suburb of Tunis, Tunisia, with a population of 20,715 (2004 Census).
The first civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic (a form of the word "Phoenician") or Carthaginian. The city of Carthage is located on the eastern side of Lake Tunis across from the centre of Tunis. According to Greek historians it was founded by Canaanite-speaking Phoenician colonists from Tyre (in modern Lebanon) under the leadership of Elissa who was renamed (Queen Dido) in Virgil's Aeneid. It became a large and rich city and thus a major power in the Mediterranean. The resulting rivalry with Syracuse, Numidia, and Rome was accompanied by several wars with respective invasions of each other's homeland.
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Casablanca
Casablanca (Arabic: الدار البيضاء ad-Dār al-Bayḍāʼ, original name in Berber: ⴰⵏⴼⴰ Anfa) is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.
Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture of Casablanca and 3,631,061 in the region of Grand Casablanca. Casablanca is considered the economic and business center of Morocco, while the political capital city of Morocco is Rabat.
Casablanca hosts headquarters and main industrial facilities for the leading Moroccan and international companies based in Morocco. Industrial statistics show Casablanca retains its historical position as the main industrial zone of the country. The Port of Casablanca is one of the largest artificial ports in the world, and the largest port of North Africa. It is also the primary naval base for the Royal Moroccan Navy.
The Latinized name of the city is a Spanish word combination meaning "White House" (blanca "white", casa "house"). It is thought that the Spaniards adopted the name from Portuguese Casa Branca. The city is now nicknamed Casa by many locals.
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Comoros
The Comorosi/ˈkɒməroʊz/ (Arabic: جزر القمر, Ǧuzur al-Qumur/Qamar), officially the Union of the Comoros (Comorian: Udzima wa Komori, French: Union des Comores, Arabic: الاتحاد القمري al-Ittiḥād al-Qumurī/Qamarī) is a sovereign, archipelago island nation in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa, on the northern end of the Mozambique Channel, between northeastern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar. Other countries near to the Comoros are Tanzania to the northwest and the Seychelles to the northeast. The capital is Moroni on Grande Comore.
At 1,862 km2 (719 sq mi) (excluding Mayotte), the Comoros is the third-smallest African nation by area. The population (excluding Mayotte) is estimated at 798,000. Its name derives from the Arabic word قمر qamar ("moon"). The archipelago is notable for its diverse culture and history, as a nation formed at the crossroads of many civilizations. It is the southernmost member state of the Arab League. Though in the contested island of Mayotte the sole official language is French, the "Union of the Comoros" has three official languages: Comorian, Arabic, and French.
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Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (French: Conseil de l'Europe) is an international organization promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation. It was founded in 1949, has 47 member states with some 800 million citizens, and is an entirely separate body from the European Union (EU), which has only 27 member states. Unlike the EU, the Council of Europe cannot make binding laws. The two do however share certain symbols such as the flag of Europe. The Council of Europe has nothing to do with either the Council of the European Union or the European Council, which are both EU bodies.
The best known bodies of the Council of Europe are the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the European Convention on Human Rights, and the European Pharmacopoeia Commission, which sets the quality standards for pharmaceutical products in Europe. The Council of Europe's work has resulted in standards, charters and conventions to facilitate cooperation between European countries.
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Darfur
Darfur (Arabic: دار فور Dār Fūr, English: Realm of the Fur) is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into five federal states: Central Darfur, East Darfur, North Darfur, South Darfur and West Darfur. Because of the war in Darfur between Sudanese government forces and the non-Arab indigenous population, the region was in a state of humanitarian emergency between 2003 and 2010.
Darfur covers an area of some 493,180 square kilometers (190,420 sq mi)—approximately the size of Spain. It is largely an arid plateau with the Marrah Mountains (Jebel Marra), a range of volcanic peaks rising up to 3,042 meters (9,980 ft) of topographic prominence, in the center of the region. The region's main towns are Al Fashir, Nyala, and Geneina.
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Djibouti
Djibouti (Arabic: جيبوتي Jībūtī, French: Djibouti, Somali: Jabuuti, Afar: Gabuuti), officially the Republic of Djibouti (Arabic: جمهورية جيبوتي Jumhūriyyat Jībūtī, French: République de Djibouti, Afar: Gabuutih Ummuuno, Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Jabuuti), is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east. Djibouti, which had a population of 818,159 at the 2009 census, is one of the least populous countries in Africa.Islam is the largest religion in the country, practiced by 94% of the population. The land was known as Obock and French Somaliland (Côte française des Somalis) in the 19th century; in 1967, it changed its name to Afars and Issas after new treaties with France. The territory was declared an independent nation in 1977 and changed its name to the "Republic of Djibouti" after its principal city. Djibouti joined the United Nations on September 20, 1977. While Djibouti is an independent sovereign state, it maintains deep French relations, and through various military and economic agreements with France, it receives continued security and economic assistance.
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Egypt
Egypti/ˈiːdʒɪpt/ (Arabic: مصر, Miṣr, Egyptian Arabic: [mɑsˤɾ] ; Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, Kīmi ; Sahidic Coptic: ⲕⲏⲙⲉ, Kēme), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: جمهوريّة مصر العربيّة (help·info), is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Covering an area of about 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi), Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.
Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its over 81 million people live near the banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.
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Eritrea
Eritrea (
/ˌɛrɨˈtreɪ.ə/ or /ˌɛrɨˈtriːə/;Ge'ez: ኤርትራ ʾErtrā, Arabic: إرتريا Iritrīyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea is the Italian form of the Greek name Ἐρυθραίᾱ (Erythraíā), meaning "red [land]". The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The northeast and east of the country has an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands are part of Eritrea. Eritrea's size is approximately 117,600 km2 (45,406 sq mi) with an estimated population of 6 million.
Together with northern Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and the Red Sea coast of Sudan, Eritrea is considered the most likely location of the land known to the ancient Egyptians as Punt (or "Ta Netjeru", meaning "God's Land"), whose first mention dates to the 25th century BC. The ancient Puntites were a nation of people that had close relations with Pharaonic Egypt during the times of Pharaoh Sahure and Queen Hatshepsut.
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Fes
Fes or Fez (Arabic: فاس Arabic pronunciation: [fɛs]) is the second largest city of Morocco, with a population of approximately 1 million (2010). It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region.
Fez, the former capital, is one of the country's four "imperial cities," the others being Rabat, Marrakech and Meknes. It comprises three distinct parts, Fes el Bali (the old, walled city), Fes-Jdid (new Fes, home of the Mellah) and the Ville Nouvelle (the French-created, newest section of Fes).
"Fas el Bali" is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its medina, the larger of the two medinas of Fes, is believed to be the world's largest contiguous car-free urban area. The University of Al-Karaouine, founded in AD 859, is the oldest continuously functioning university in the world. The city has been called the "Mecca of the West" and the "Athens of Africa".
Until the Almoravid rule in the 11th century, Fes consisted of two separate cities or medinas: Madinat Fas and Al-'Aliya. The former being founded by Idris I, the latter by his son, Idris II. During Idrisid rule the capital city was known as Al-'Aliya, with the name Fas being reserved for the separate site on the other side of the river: no Idrisid coins have been found with the name Fes, only al-'Aliya and al-'Aliya Madinat Idris. It is not known whether the name al-'Aliya was ever used to refer to both medinas. It wasn't until 1070 that the two agglomerations were united and the name Fas was used for both sites.
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Gaza Strip
The Gaza Strip (Arabic: قطاع غزة Qiṭāʿ Ġazzah, IPA: [qitˤaːʕ ɣazza]) lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, within the Middle East (at 31 25 N, 34 20 E). The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest, 11km long, and Israel on the east and north, 51km long. It is about 41 kilometres (25 mi) long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres (4–7.5 mi) wide, with a total area of 360 square kilometres (140 sq mi). It has a 40 km coastline onto the Mediterranean Sea, but has no maritime claims due to Israeli administration. The territory takes its name from Gaza-city, its main city and administrative center.
The Gaza Strip has a temperate climate, with mild winters, and dry and hot summers, subject to drought. The terrain is flat or rolling, with dunes near the coast. The highest point is Abu 'Awdah (Joz Abu 'Auda), at 105 metres above sea level. Main resources are arable land (about a third of the strip is irrigated), and recently discovered natural gas. Environmental issues include desertification; salination of fresh water; sewage treatment; water-borne disease; soil degradation; and depletion and contamination of underground water resources.
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Golan Heights
The Golan Heights (Arabic: هضبة الجولان Haḍbatu 'l-Jawlān or مرتفعات الجولان Murtafaʻātu l-Jawlān, Hebrew: רמת הגולן, Ramat ha-Golan (audio) (help·info)), referred to as the Syrian Golan by the United Nations, and as the Golan by other sources, forms a rocky plateau in the Anti-Lebanon mountains that overlooks southern Syria. The plateau has an average altitude of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), an area totaling 1,800 square kilometres (690 sq mi), and straddles the boundary between Syria and Israeli-held territory. Elevations range from 2,814 metres (9,232 ft) in the north at Mount Hermon, to below sea level along the Sea of Galilee and the Yarmuk River in the south. Internationally recognized as Syrian territory, it has been occupied and administered by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War. The region attracts three million tourists a year and supplies Israel with one-third of its water.
The earliest evidence of human habitation dates to the Upper Paleolithic period. According to the Bible, an Amorite Kingdom in Bashan was conquered by Israelites during the reign of King Og. Throughout the Old Testament period, the Golan was "the focus of a power struggle between the Kings of Israel and the Aramaeans who were based near modern-day Damascus." The Itureans, an Arab or Aramaic people, settled there in the 2nd century BCE and remained until the end of the Byzantine period. Organized Jewish settlement in the region came to an end in 636 CE when it was conquered by Arabs under Umar ibn al-Khattāb. In the 16th century, the Golan was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and was part of the Vilayet of Damascus until it was transferred to French control in 1918. When the mandate terminated in 1946, it became part of the newly independent Syrian Arab Republic.
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Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (Amharic: የአፍሪካ ቀንድ?, Arabic: القرن الأفريقي, Somali: Geeska Afrika, Tigrinya: ቀርኒ ኣፍሪቃ?) (alternatively Northeast Africa, and sometimes Somali Peninsula; shortened to HOA) is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent. Referred to in ancient and medieval times as Bilad al Barbar ("Land of the Berbers"), the Horn of Africa denotes the region containing the countries of Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia.
It covers approximately 2,000,000 km² (770,000 sq mi) and is inhabited by roughly 100 million people (Ethiopia: 85 million, Somalia: 9.3 million, Eritrea: 5.2 million, and Djibouti: 0.86 million). Regional studies on the Horn of Africa are carried out, among others, in the fields of Ethiopian Studies as well as Somali Studies.
The Horn of Africa is almost equidistant from the equator and the Tropic of Cancer. It consists chiefly of mountains uplifted through the formation of the Great Rift Valley, a fissure in the Earth's crust extending from Turkey to Mozambique and marking the separation of the African and Arabian tectonic plates. Most of the region is mountainous which arose through faults resulting from the Rift Valley, with the highest peaks in the Semien Mountains of northwestern Ethiopia.[citation needed]
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India
India (i/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.
Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.
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Iraq
Iraq (/ɪˈræk/ or
i/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.
Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.
Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.
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Israel
Coordinates: 31°N 35°E / 31°N 35°E / 31; 35
Israel, officially the State of Israel ( /ˈɪzriːəl/ or /ˈɪzreɪəl/; Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Medīnat Yisrā'el, IPA: [me̞diˈnät jisʁäˈʔe̞l] (
listen); Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل, Dawlat Isrāʼīl, IPA: [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl]), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, Egypt and the Gaza Strip on the southwest, and the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the south, and it contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is defined as a Jewish and Democratic State in its Basic Laws and is the world's only Jewish-majority state.
Following the adoption of a resolution by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption and implementation of the United Nations plan to partition Palestine, on 14 May 1948 David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel, a state independent from the British Mandate for Palestine. Neighboring Arab states invaded the next day in support of the Palestinian Arabs. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Portions of these territories, including east Jerusalem, have been annexed by Israel, but the border with the neighboring West Bank has not yet been permanently defined.[neutrality is disputed] Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have so far not resulted in peace.
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Jordan
Jordan ( /ˈdʒɔr.dən/;Arabic: اَلأُرْدُنّ, Al-'Urdunn), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Arabic: اَلمَمْلَكَة اَلأُرْدُنِيَّة اَلهَاشِمِيَّة), Al-Mamlakah Al-Urdaniyyah Al-Hashimiyyah) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing control of the Dead Sea with the latter. Jordan's only port is at its south-western tip, at the Gulf of Aqaba, which is shared with Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Over half of Jordan is covered by the Arabian Desert. However, the western part of Jordan is arable land and forests. Jordan is part of the Fertile Crescent. The capital city is Amman. According to the CIA World Factbook, Jordan has the second highest life expectancy in the Middle East, after Israel. The average life expectancy is one position behind the United Kingdom, although the age remains exactly the same (80.05 years).
The precursor to modern Jordan was founded in 1921 as the Hashemite Emirate, and it was recognized by the League of Nations as a state under the British mandate in 1922 known as The Emirate of Transjordan. In 1946, Jordan became an independent sovereign state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. After capturing the West Bank area of Cisjordan during the 1948–49 war with Israel, Abdullah I took the title King of Jordan and Palestine, and he officially changed the country's name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in April 1949.
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Khartoum
Khartoum (Arabic: الخرطوم al Ḫarṭūm) is the capital and second largest city of Sudan and of Khartoum State. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria and the Blue Nile flowing west from Ethiopia. The location where the two Niles meet is known as "al-Mogran", meaning the Confluence. The main Nile continues to flow north towards Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
Divided by the Niles, Khartoum is a tripartite metropolis with an estimated overall population of over five million people consisting of Khartoum proper[clarification needed], and linked by bridges to Khartoum North called (al-Khartūm Bahrī) and Omdurman (Umm Durmān) to the west.
The origin of the word is uncertain. One tradition is that khartoum derives from Arabic kartūm الخرطوم meaning 'end of an elephant’s trunk', probably referring to the narrow strip of land extending between the Blue and White Niles. Captain J. A. Grant, who reached Khartoum in 1863 with Captain Speke’s expedition, thought that the derivation was most probably from the Arabic qurtum, safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), which was cultivated extensively in Egypt for its oil, used in burning.[citation needed]
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Kuwait
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwaiti/kuːˈweɪt/ (Arabic: دولة الكويت, Dawlat al-Kuwayt) is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the Arabic أكوات ākwāt, the plural of كوت kūt, meaning a fortress built near water. The country covers an area of 17,820 square kilometers (6,880 sq mi) and has a population of about 3.5 million.
Historically, the region was the site of Characene, a major Parthian port for trade between Mesopotamia and India. The Bani Utbah tribe were the first permanent Arab settlers in the region, and laid the foundation of the modern emirate. By the 19th century, Kuwait came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire, and after World War I, it emerged as an independent sheikhdom under the protection of the British Empire. Kuwait's large oil fields were discovered in the late 1930s.
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Lebanon
Lebanon (i/ˈlɛbənɒn/ or /ˈlɛbənən/; Arabic: لبنان Libnān or Lubnān, Lebanese Arabic: [lɪbˈneːn]), officially the Lebanese Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية اللبنانية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Libnānīyah, Lebanese Arabic: [elˈʒʊmhuːɾɪjje l.ˈlɪbneːnɪjje]), is a country in the East Mediterranean. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland has dictated its rich history, and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity.
The earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than 7,000 years—predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Phoenicians, a maritime culture that flourished for nearly 2,500 years (3000–539 BC). Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, the five provinces that comprise modern Lebanon were mandated to France. The French expanded the borders of Mount Lebanon, which was mostly populated by Maronite Catholics and Druze, to include more Muslims. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, and established a unique political system, known as confessionalism, a power-sharing mechanism based on religious communities – Bechara El Khoury who became independent Lebanon's first President and Riad El-Solh, who became Lebanon's first prime minister, are considered the founders of the modern Republic of Lebanon and are national heroes for having led the country's independence. French troops withdrew from Lebanon in 1946.
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Libya
Libya (Arabic: ليبيا Lībyā), Berber: ⵍⵉⴱⵢⴰ) is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west.
With an area of almost 1.8 million square kilometres (700,000 sq mi), Libya is the third largest country in Africa by area, and the 17th largest in the world. The largest city, Tripoli, is home to 1.7 million of Libya's 6.4 million people. The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania, Fezzan and Cyrenaica.
In 2009 Libya had the highest HDI in Africa and the fourth highest GDP (PPP) per capita in Africa, behind Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Libya has the 10th-largest proven oil reserves of any country in the world and the 17th-highest petroleum production.
As a result of the Libyan civil war, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, which had at that time been in existence for 34 years, collapsed and Libya entered a period of governance by a transitional administration called the National Transitional Council. The NTC has stated its intention to oversee the first phase of a transition to constitutional democracy, after which it claims it will dissolve in favor of a representative legislature.
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Mauritania
Mauritaniai/mɔrɪˈteɪniə/ (Arabic: موريتانيا Mūrītānyā; Berber: Muritanya / Agawej; Wolof: Gànnaar; Soninke: Murutaane; Pulaar: Moritani; French: Mauritanie), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in West Africa and in the Maghreb. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara (controlled by Morocco) in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest. It is named after the ancient Berber Kingdom of Mauretania, which later became a province of the Roman Empire, even though the modern Mauritania covers a territory far to the south of the old Berber kingdom that had no relation with it. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, located on the Atlantic coast.
The government of Mauritania was overthrown on 6 August 2008, in a military coup d'état led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. On 16 April 2009, General Aziz resigned from the military to run for president in the 19 July elections, which he won. In Mauritania about 20% of the population live on less than US$1.25 per day.
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Mercosur
Mercosur or Mercosul (Spanish: Mercado Común del Sur, Portuguese: Mercado Comum do Sul, Guarani: Ñemby Ñemuha, English: Common Southern Market) is an economic and political agreement among Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asunción, which was later amended and updated by the 1994 Treaty of Ouro Preto. Its purpose is to promote free trade and the fluid movement of goods, people, and currency. The official languages are Portuguese, Guaraní, and Spanish. It has been updated, amended, and changed many times since. It is now a full customs union. Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations are customs unions that are components of a continuing process of South American integration connected to the Union of South American Nations.
Mercosur origins trace back to 1985 when Presidents Raúl Alfonsín of Argentina and José Sarney of Brazil signed the Argentina-Brazil Integration and Economics Cooperation Program or PICE (Portuguese: Programa de Integração e Cooperação Econômica Argentina-Brasil, Spanish: Programa de Integración y Cooperación Económica Argentina-Brasil). The program also proposed the Gaucho as a currency for regional trade.
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Morocco
Morocco (Arabic: المغرب al-Maghrib ; Berber: ⵍⵎⴻⵖⵔⵉⴱ / ⴰⵎⴻⵔⵔⵓⴽElmeɣrib / Amerruk), officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of about 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², including the disputed region of the Western Sahara, seen by and mostly administered by Morocco as the Southern Provinces. Morocco is part of the Maghreb region, in addition to Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Libya, with which it shares cultural, historical and linguistic ties.
Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive powers, including the power to dissolve the parliament. Executive power is exercised by the government but more importantly by the king himself. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives and the Assembly of Councillors. The king can also issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. The latest Parliamentary elections were held in November 25, 2011, and were considered by some neutral observers to be mostly free and fair. Voter turnout in these elections was estimated to be 43% of registered voters, but only about 25% of Moroccan adult citizens actually voted. The rest either chose not to vote or they were not registered as voters. The political capital is Rabat, but the largest city is Casablanca; other main cities include Marrakesh, Tetouan, Tangier, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, and Nador.
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NATO
Coordinates: 50°52′34.16″N 4°25′19.24″E / 50.8761556°N 4.4220111°E / 50.8761556; 4.4220111
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO ( /ˈneɪtoʊ/ NAY-toh; French: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique Nord (OTAN)), also called the (North) Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's Partnership for Peace, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world's defence spending.
For its first few years, NATO was not much more than a political association. However, the Korean War galvanized the member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two U.S. supreme commanders. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with nations of the Warsaw Pact, which formed in 1955. The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the organization's goal was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down." Doubts over the strength of the relationship between the European states and the United States ebbed and flowed, along with doubts over the credibility of the NATO defence against a prospective Soviet invasion—doubts that led to the development of the independent French nuclear deterrent and the withdrawal of the French from NATO's military structure in 1966.
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Oman
Oman (i/oʊˈmɑːn/ oh-MAAN; Arabic: عمان ʻUmān), officially called the Sultanate of Oman (Arabic: سلطنة عُمان Salṭanat ʻUmān), is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The Madha and Musandam enclaves are surrounded by the UAE on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman forming Musandam's coastal boundaries.
For a period, Oman was a moderate regional power, formerly having a sultanate extending across the Strait of Hormuz to Iran, and modern day Pakistan, and far south to Zanzibar on the coat of south-east Africa. Over time, as its power declined, the sultanate came under heavy influence from the United Kingdom, though Oman was never formally part of the British Empire, or a British protectorate. The Omani royal family claim that Oman has been ruled by the Al Said dynasty since 1744, although without substantial proof. Oman has long-standing military and political ties with the United Kingdom and the United States, although it maintains an independent foreign policy.
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Phoenicia
Phoenicia (UK /fɨˈnɪʃə/, US /fəˈniːʃə/; from the Greek: Φοινίκη: Phoiníkē), was an ancient Semitic Canaanite civilization situated on the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. The major Phoenician cities were on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550 BC to 300 BC. The Phoenicians used the galley, a man-powered sailing vessel, and are credited with the invention of the bireme. They were famed in Classical Greece and Rome as 'traders in purple', referring to their monopoly on the precious purple dye of the Murex snail, used, among other things, for royal clothing, and for their spread of the alphabet (or abjad), upon which all major modern phonetic alphabets are derived.
In the Amarna tablets of the 14th century BC, people from the region called themselves Kenaani or Kinaani (Canaanites), although these letters predate the invasion of the Sea Peoples by over a century. Much later, in the 6th century BC, Hecataeus of Miletus writes that Phoenicia was formerly called χνα, a name Philo of Byblos later adopted into his mythology as his eponym for the Phoenicians: "Khna who was afterwards called Phoinix". Egyptian seafaring expeditions had already been made to Byblos to bring back "cedars of Lebanon" as early as the third millennium BC.
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Qatar
Qatar (i/ˈkɑːtɑr/ or i/kəˈtɑr/;Arabic: قطر [ˈqɑtˤɑr]; local vernacular pronunciation: [ɡɪtˤɑr]), also known as the country or State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Persian Gulf. A strait of the Persian Gulf separates Qatar from the nearby island state of Bahrain.
Qatar has been ruled as an absolute monarchy by Al Thani family since the mid-19th century. Formerly a British protectorate noted mainly for pearling, it became independent in 1971, and has become one of the region's wealthiest states due to its enormous oil and natural gas revenues. In 1995, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani became Emir when he seized power from his father, Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, in a peaceful coup d'état. The most important positions in Qatar are held by the members of the Al Thani family, or close confidants of the al-Thani family. Beginning in 1992, Qatar has built intimate military ties with the United States, and is now the location of U.S. Central Command’s Forward Headquarters and the Combined Air Operations Center.
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Rabat
Rabat (Arabic الرباط; Amazigh ⵕⴱⴰⵟ, transliterated ar-Rabāṭ or ar-Ribāṭ or Rbat, literally "Fortified Place"; French Ville de Rabat; Spanish Ciudad de Rabat), is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000 (2010). It is also the capital of the Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer region.
The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the river Bou Regreg. On the facing shore of the river lies Salé, the city's main commuter town. Together with Temara the cities account for a combined metropolitan population of 1.8 million. Silting problems have diminished the Rabat's role as a port; however, Rabat and Salé still maintain important textile, food processing and construction industries. In addition, tourism and the presence of all foreign embassies in Morocco serve to make Rabat one of the most important cities in the country. Controversy surrounds sweatshop labour by major multinational corporations in the area (see Salé).
Rabat is accessible by train through the ONCF system and by plane through the nearby Rabat-Salé Airport.
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Sahara
The Sahara (Arabic: الصحراء الكبرى, Aṣ-Ṣaḥrā´ al-Kubrā, "The Great Desert") is the world's largest hot desert and second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over 9,400,000 square kilometres (3,600,000 sq mi), it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as China or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean. To the south, it is delimited by the Sahel, a belt of semi-arid tropical savanna that composes the northern region of central and western Sub-Saharan Africa.
Some of the sand dunes can reach 180 metres (590 ft) in height. The name comes from the Arabic word for desert: (صَحراء ṣaḥrāʾ [sˤɑħrɑːʔ] (
listen)).
The Sahara's boundaries are the Atlantic Ocean on the west, the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea on the north, the Red Sea on the east, and the Sudan (region) and the valley of the Niger River on the south. The Sahara is divided into western Sahara, the central Ahaggar Mountains, the Tibesti Mountains, the Air Mountains (a region of desert mountains and high plateaus), Ténéré desert and the Libyan desert (the most arid region). The highest peak in the Sahara is Emi Koussi (3,415 m/11,204 ft) in the Tibesti Mountains in northern Chad.
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Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia (i/ˌsaʊdi əˈreɪbi.ə/ or i/ˌsɔːdiː əˈreɪbi.ə/; Arabic: السعودية as-Su‘ūdīyah[citation needed] or incorrectly as-Sa‘ūdīyah, officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Arabic: المملكة العربية السعودية al-Mamlakah al-‘Arabīyah as-Su‘ūdīyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab world, after Algeria. It is bordered by Jordan, and Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south. The Red Sea lies to its west, and the Persian Gulf lies to the east. Saudi Arabia has an area of approximately 2,250,000 km2 (870,000 sq mi), and it has an estimated population of 27 million, of which 9 million are registered foreign expatriates and an estimated 2 million are illegal immigrants. Saudi nationals comprise an estimated 16 million people.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud (known for most of his career as Ibn Saud) in 1932, although the conquests which eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom began in 1902 when he captured Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud, referred to in Arabic as the Al Saud. The Saudi Arabian government, which has been an absolute monarchy since its inception, refers to its system of government as being Islamic, though this is contested by many due to its strong basis in Salafism, a minority school of thought in Islam. The kingdom is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam.
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Somalia
Somalia ( /soʊˈmɑːliə/ soh-MAH-lee-ə; Somali: Soomaaliya; Arabic: الصومال aṣ-Ṣūmāl), officially the Somali Republic (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, Arabic: جمهورية الصومال Jumhūriyyat aṣ-Ṣūmāl) and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory. The internationally recognized Transitional Federal Government controls only a small part of the country. Somalia has been characterized as a failed state and is one of the poorest and most violent states in the world.
Somalia lies in the easternmost part of Africa. It is bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden with Yemen to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Ethiopia to the west. It has the longest coastline on the continent, and its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Hot conditions prevail year-round, along with periodic monsoon winds and irregular rainfall.
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State of Palestine
Palestine (Arabic: فلسطين Filasṭīn/Falasṭīn/Filisṭīn), officially declared as the State of Palestine (Arabic: دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭin), is a state that was proclaimed in exile in Algiers on 15 November 1988, when the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) National Council (PNC) adopted the unilateral Palestinian Declaration of Independence. At the time of the 1988 declaration, the PLO did not exercise control over any territory, and its claimed territory remains under Israeli occupation. It claims the Palestinian territories (defined according to the 1967 borders), and has designated Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, despite Israeli control.
The 1974 Arab League summit designated the PLO as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and reaffirmed their right to establish an independent state of urgency." The PLO has had observer status at the United Nations as a "non-state entity" since 22 November 1974, which entitles it to speak in the UN General Assembly but not to vote. After the Declaration of Independence, the UN General Assembly officially "acknowledged" the proclamation and voted to use the designation "Palestine" instead of "Palestine Liberation Organization" when referring to the Palestinian permanent observer. In spite of this decision, the PLO does not participate at the UN in its capacity of the State of Palestine's government. Since 1998, the PLO is arranged for seating in the UN General Assembly immediately after non-member states, and before all other observers.
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Sudan
Sudan (i/suːˈdæn/ or /suːˈdɑːn/;Arabic: السودان, as-Sūdān), officially the Republic of the Sudan (Arabic: جمهورية السودان, Jumhūrīyat as-Sūdān), sometimes called North Sudan, is an Arab state in North Africa (sometimes also considered to be part of the Middle East). It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, and Libya to the northwest. The population of Sudan is a combination of indigenous inhabitants of Nile Valley, and descendants of migrants from the Arabian Peninsula. Due to the process of Arabisation common throughout the rest of the Arab World, today Arab culture predominates in Sudan. The majority of the population of Sudan adheres to Islam. The Nile divides the country between east and west sides.
The people of Sudan have a long history extending from antiquity which is intertwined with the history of Egypt. Sudan suffered seventeen years of civil war during the First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) followed by ethnic, religious and economic conflicts between the Muslim Arab northern Sudanese and the mostly animist and Christian Nilotes of Southern Sudan. This led to the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983. Because of continuing political and military struggles, Sudan was seized in a bloodless coup d'état by colonel Omar al-Bashir in 1989, who thereafter proclaimed himself President of Sudan. The civil war ended with the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement which granted autonomy to what was then the southern region of the country. Following a referendum held in January 2011, South Sudan seceded on 9 July 2011 with the consent of Sudan's President al-Bashir.
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Syria
Syria (/ˈsɪriə/ ( listen) SIRR-ee-ə; Arabic: سورية Sūriyya or سوريا Sūryā; Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܐ; Kurdish: Sûrî), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Arabīyah as-Sūriyyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.
In English, the name Syria was formerly synonymous with the Levant, known in Arabic as Sham, while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the third millennium BC. In the Islamic era, its capital city, Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate, and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.
The population of Syria is 74% Sunni, 12% Alawi, 10% Christian, and 3% Druze. Combined, 87% of the Syrian population is Muslim, while the other 10% is Christian, which includes mainly Arab Christians but also Assyrians and Armenians. Major ethnic minorities in Syria include Kurds (9%), Assyrians, Armenians, Turkmens and Circassians. The majority of the population is Arab (90%).
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Transjordan
The Emirate of Transjordan (Arabic: إمارة شرق الأردن ʾImārat Sharq al-ʾUrdun), also hyphenated as Trans-Jordan and previously known as Transjordania or Trans-Jordania, was a Hashemite ruled British protectorate established in April 1921, together with the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq, following the Cairo Conference. The territory was added to the British Mandate for Palestine, but had a fully autonomous governing system from Mandatory Palestine. In 1946, the Emirate became an independent state and in 1951 was officially declared as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Under the Ottoman empire, Transjordan did not correspond to any previous historical, cultural or political division, though most of it belonged to the Vilayet of Syria.
There were extensive pre-existing cultural, linguistic and religious ties between the populations living on the east of the Jordan river with those living on the west of the Jordan river. The inhabitants of northern Jordan had traditionally associated with Syria, and those of southern Jordan with the Arabian Peninsula.
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Tunis
Tunis (Arabic: تونس Tūnis) is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants.
Situated on a large Mediterranean Sea gulf (the Gulf of Tunis), behind the Lake of Tunis and the port of La Goulette (Halq al Wadi), the city extends along the coastal plain and the hills that surround it. At the centre of more modern development (from the colonial era and later) lies the old medina. Beyond this district lie the suburbs of Carthage, La Marsa, and Sidi Bou Said.
The medina is found at the centre of the city: a dense agglomeration of alleys and covered passages, full of intense scents and colours, boisterous and active trade, and a surfeit of goods on offer ranging from leather to plastic, tin to the finest filigree, tourist souvenirs to the works of tiny crafts shops.
Just through the Sea Gate (also known as the Bab el Bahr and the Porte de France) begins the modern city, or Ville Nouvelle, transversed by the grand Avenue Habib Bourguiba (often referred to by popular press and travel guides as "the Tunisian Champs-Élysées"), where the colonial-era buildings provide a clear contrast to smaller, older structures. As the capital city of the country, Tunis is the focus of Tunisian political and administrative life; it is also the centre of the country's commercial activity. The expansion of the Tunisian economy in recent decades is reflected in the booming development of the outer city where one can see clearly the social challenges brought about by rapid modernization in Tunisia.
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Tunisia
Tunisia (USi/tuːˈniːʒə/ two-NEE-zhə or UK /tjuːˈnɪziə/ tew-NIZ-iə; Arabic: تونس Tūnis pronounced [ˈtuːnɪs]), officially the Republic of Tunisia (Arabic: الجمهورية التونسية al-Jumhūriyyah at-Tūnisiyyah), is the northernmost country in Africa. It is an Arab Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area is almost 165,000 square kilometres (64,000 sq mi), with an estimated population of just under 10.7 million. Its name is derived from the capital Tunis located in the northeast.
Tunisia is the smallest country in North Africa. The south of the country is composed of the Sahara desert, with much of the remainder consisting of particularly fertile soil and 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) of coastline.
Tunisia has relations with both the European Union—with whom it has an association agreement—and the Arab world. Tunisia is also a member of the Arab Maghreb Union, the Arab League, and the African Union. Tunisia has established close relations with France in particular, through economic cooperation, industrial modernization, and privatisation programs.
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Turkey
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.
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United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emiratesi/juːˌnaɪtɨd ˌærəb ˈɛmɪrɨts/ (Arabic: دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة, Al Imārāt al ‘Arabīyah al Muttaḥidah), sometimes simply called the Emirates or the UAE, is a country situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south, as well as sharing sea borders with Qatar to the west and Iran to the north.
The UAE is a federation of seven emirates (equivalent to principalities), each governed by a hereditary emir, with a single national president. The constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. The capital is Abu Dhabi, which is also the state's center of political, industrial, and cultural activities.
Prior to independence in 1971, the UAE was known as the Trucial States or Trucial Oman, in reference to a 19th-century truce between the local sheikhs, hereditary rulers of the territories, and the United Kingdom. The term Pirate Coast was also used by some to refer to the emirates from the 18th to the early 20th century, owing to the preponderance of pirates operating from Emirati ports.
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Venezuela
Venezuela (i/ˌvɛnɨˈzweɪlə/ VEN-ə-ZWAY-lə), officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish: República Bolivariana de Venezuela [repuˈβlika βoliβaˈɾjana ðe βeneˈswela]), is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south. Its northern coastline of roughly 2,800 kilometres (1,700 mi) includes numerous islands in the Caribbean Sea, and in the north east borders the northern Atlantic Ocean. Caribbean islands such as Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Curaçao, Bonaire, Aruba and the Leeward Antilles lie near the Venezuelan coast. Venezuela's territory covers around 916,445 square kilometres (353,841 sq mi) with an estimated population of 29,105,632. Venezuela is considered a state with extremely high biodiversity, with habitats ranging from the Andes mountains in the west to the Amazon Basin rainforest in the south, via extensive llanos plains and Caribbean coast in the center and the Orinoco River Delta in the east.
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West Bank
The West Bank (Arabic: الضفة الغربية aḍ-Ḍaffah l-Ġarbiyyah, Hebrew: הגדה המערבית, HaGadah HaMa'aravit also known as Hebrew: יהודה והשומרון Yehuda ve-Ha'Shomron (Judea and Samaria)) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The West Bank also contains a significant coastline along the western bank of the Dead Sea. Since 1967, most of the West Bank has been under Israeli military occupation and is referred to as Judea and Samaria Area by Israel. A smaller part of the West Bank is administered by the Israeli civilian authorities as part of Jerusalem District.
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Western Sahara
Coordinates: 25°N 13°W / 25°N 13°W / 25; -13
Western Sahara (USi/ˌwɛstərn səˈhærə/, UK /ˌwɛstən səˈhɑrə/; Arabic: الصحراء الغربية Aṣ-Ṣaḥrā’ al-Gharbīyah; Spanish: Sahara Occidental), is a disputed territory in North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to 266,000 square kilometres (103,000 sq mi). It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly consisting of desert flatlands. The population is estimated at just over 500,000, many of whom live in El Aaiún (also called Laâyoune), the largest city in Western Sahara.
A colony of Spain since the late 19th century, the Western Sahara has been on the United Nations list of non-self-governing territories since 1963. In 1965, the UN General Assembly adopted its first resolution on Western Sahara, asking Spain to decolonise the territory. One year later, a new resolution was passed by the General Assembly requesting that a referendum be held by Spain on self-determination. In 1975, Spain relinquished the administrative control of the territory to a joint administration by Morocco, which had formally claimed the territory since 1957, and Mauritania. A war erupted between those countries and the Sahrawi national liberation movement Polisario Front, which proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) (exiled government in Tindouf, Algeria). Mauritania withdrew in 1979 and Morocco eventually secured effective control of most of the territory, including all the major cities and natural resources.
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Yemen
The Republic of Yemen (Arabic: الجمهورية اليمنية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Yamanīyah), commonly known as Yemeni/ˈjɛmən/ (Arabic: اليَمَن al-Yaman), is a country located in Western Asia, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east. Yemen is considered one of the poorest countries in the Arab world. Its capital and largest city is Sana'a. Yemen's territory includes over 200 islands, the largest of which is Socotra, about 415 km (258 mi) to the south of mainland Yemen, off the coast of Somalia. It is the only state in the Arabian Peninsula to have a purely republican form of government. Approximately 53% of Yemenis are Sunnis, while 45% are Zaydi Shias.
One etymology derives Yemen from yamin, meaning "on the right side", as the south is on the right when facing the sunrise. Another derives Yemen from yumn, meaning "felicity", as the region is fertile. The Romans called it Arabia Felix (Happy Arabia) as opposed to Arabia Deserta (Deserted Arabia), which was their term for northern Arabia.
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Amr Moussa
Amr Moussa (Arabic: عمرو محمد موسى, IPA: [ˈʕɑmɾe mæˈħæmmæd ˈmuːsæ]; born 3 October 1936) is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the Secretary-General of the Arab League, a 22-member forum representing Arab states, from 1 June 2001 until 1 June 2011. Previously he served in the government of Egypt as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1991 to 2001.
He was born on 3 October 1936 in Cairo, Egypt, the son of former parliamentarian Muhammad Moussa. His father also had a son named Pierre during his studies in France in the 1920s. However, Moussa's half-brother Pierre is only a French citizen and has no ties to Egypt.
Moussa finished his education after earning a degree in law from Cairo University in 1957.
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Kingdom of Kush
The Kingdom of Kush or Kush was an ancient African state centered on the confluences of the Blue Nile, White Nile and River Atbara in what is now the Republic of Sudan.
Established after the Bronze Age collapse and the disintegration of the New Kingdom of Egypt, it was centered at Napata in its early phase. After king Kashta ("the Kushite") invaded Egypt in the 8th century BC, the Kushite kings ruled as Pharaohs of the Twenty-fifth dynasty of Egypt for a century, until they were expelled by Psamtik I in 656 BC.
During Classical Antiquity, the Kushite imperial capital was at Meroe. In early Greek geography, the Meroitic kingdom was known as Ethiopia. The Kushite kingdom with its capital at Meroe persisted until the 4th century AD, when it weakened and disintegrated due to internal rebellion. The Kushite capital was subsequently captured by the Beja Dynasty, who tried to revive the empire. The Kushite capital was eventually captured and destroyed by the kingdom of Axum. After the collapse of the Kushite empire several states emerged in its former territories, among them Nubia.
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Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (Arabic: معمر محمد أبو منيار القذافي) (June 1942 – 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi /ˈmoʊ.əmɑr ɡəˈdɑːfi/ (Arabic: مُعَمَّر القَذَّافِي Muʿammar al-Qaḏḏāfī audio (help·info)) or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011. Gaddafi seized power in a bloodless military coup in 1969 and served as the country's head of state until 1977, when he stepped down from his official executive role as Chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council of Libya, and claimed subsequently to be merely a symbolic figurehead. He styled himself as "Leader of the Revolution"; in 2008 a meeting of traditional African rulers bestowed on him the title "King of Kings". A leading advocate for a United States of Africa, he served as Chairperson of the African Union (AU) from 2 February 2009 to 31 January 2010.
Gaddafi replaced the Libyan Constitution of 1951 with laws based on the political ideology he had formulated, which he called the Third International Theory and published in The Green Book. After establishing the Jamahiriya (جماهيرية, "state of the masses") system in 1977, he officially stepped down from power and after that time held a largely symbolic role within the country's official governance structure. Rising oil prices and extraction in Libya led to increasing revenues. By exporting as much oil per capita as Saudi Arabia and through various welfare programs, Libya achieved the highest living standards in Africa; Libya remained debt-free.
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Nabil Elaraby
Nabil Elaraby (Arabic: نبيل العربي) (born 15 March 1935) is an Egyptian diplomat, currently the Secretary-General of the Arab League having been elected on 15 May 2011. Previously, he was Foreign Minister of Egypt in Essam Sharaf's government from March-June 2011.
Elaraby holds a J.S.D. (1971) and an LL.M. (1969) from New York University School of Law and a law degree from Cairo University's Faculty of Law (1955).
Elaraby is a partner at Zaki Hashem & Partners in Cairo, specializing in negotiations and arbitrations.
Elaraby was Legal Adviser and Director in the Legal and Treaties Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1976 to 1978 and then Ambassador to India from 1981 to 1983; he then returned to his previous post at the Foreign Ministry from 1983 to 1987.
He was Legal Adviser to the Egyptian delegation to the Camp David Middle East peace conference in 1978, Head of the Egyptian delegation to the Taba negotiations from 1985 to 1989, and Agent of the Egyptian Government to the Egyptian-Israeli arbitration tribunal (Taba dispute) from 1986 to 1988.
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Phoenicia
Phoenicia (UK /fɨˈnɪʃə/, US /fəˈniːʃə/; from the Greek: Φοινίκη: Phoiníkē), was an ancient Semitic Canaanite civilization situated on the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. The major Phoenician cities were on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550 BC to 300 BC. The Phoenicians used the galley, a man-powered sailing vessel, and are credited with the invention of the bireme. They were famed in Classical Greece and Rome as 'traders in purple', referring to their monopoly on the precious purple dye of the Murex snail, used, among other things, for royal clothing, and for their spread of the alphabet (or abjad), upon which all major modern phonetic alphabets are derived.
In the Amarna tablets of the 14th century BC, people from the region called themselves Kenaani or Kinaani (Canaanites), although these letters predate the invasion of the Sea Peoples by over a century. Much later, in the 6th century BC, Hecataeus of Miletus writes that Phoenicia was formerly called χνα, a name Philo of Byblos later adopted into his mythology as his eponym for the Phoenicians: "Khna who was afterwards called Phoinix". Egyptian seafaring expeditions had already been made to Byblos to bring back "cedars of Lebanon" as early as the third millennium BC.
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Arab League - The End OF The World (20??) - MC Amin, Sphinx & Qusai
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:22
- Updated: 08 Jan 2013
Arab League - The End OF The World (20??) - MC Amin, Sphinx & Qusai Download MP3 : www.mediafire.com ==== www.arableaguerap.com http www.facebook.com www.facebook.com
http://wn.com/Arab_League_The_End_OF_The_World_20??_MC_Amin,_Sphinx_Qusai
Arab League - The End OF The World (20??) - MC Amin, Sphinx & Qusai Download MP3 : www.mediafire.com ==== www.arableaguerap.com http www.facebook.com www.facebook.com
Inside Syria - Has the Arab League failed in Syria?
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 25:21
- Updated: 08 Jan 2013
The violence in Syria continues despite the presence of Arab observers, so we ask if it is time for the UN to step in. Inside Syria, discusses with guests: Shashank Joshi, Dr. Hussein Al Harbi and Dr. Bassam Abu Abdullah.
http://wn.com/Inside_Syria_Has_the_Arab_League_failed_in_Syria?
The violence in Syria continues despite the presence of Arab observers, so we ask if it is time for the UN to step in. Inside Syria, discusses with guests: Shashank Joshi, Dr. Hussein Al Harbi and Dr. Bassam Abu Abdullah.
- published: 08 Jan 2012
- views: 9168
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
Syria suspended from Arab League
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:25
- Updated: 06 Jan 2013
Syria suspended from Arab League Syria has been suspended from the Arab League for killing thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators.
http://wn.com/Syria_suspended_from_Arab_League
Syria suspended from Arab League Syria has been suspended from the Arab League for killing thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators.
- published: 06 Jan 2013
- views: 12
- author: MultiEuroNews
4259WD EGYPT-ARAB LEAGUE MESHAAL ABBAS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:58
- Updated: 11 Jan 2013
4259WD EGYPT-ARAB LEAGUE MESHAAL ABBAS
http://wn.com/4259WD_EGYPT-ARAB_LEAGUE_MESHAAL_ABBAS
Arab League - MC Amin, Sphinx ,Emoney, F Killa ,DJ FatSam - Eih Ya Morsy
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:55
- Updated: 12 Jan 2013
Arab League - MC Amin, Sphinx ,Emoney, F Killa ,DJ FatSam - ايه يا مرسي Arab League Records www.arableaguerap.com http MC Amin www.facebook.com Sphinx www.facebook.com E Money www.facebook.com F Killa www.facebook.com
http://wn.com/Arab_League_MC_Amin,_Sphinx_,Emoney,_F_Killa_,DJ_FatSam_Eih_Ya_Morsy
Arab League - MC Amin, Sphinx ,Emoney, F Killa ,DJ FatSam - ايه يا مرسي Arab League Records www.arableaguerap.com http MC Amin www.facebook.com Sphinx www.facebook.com E Money www.facebook.com F Killa www.facebook.com
- published: 28 Dec 2012
- views: 9378
- author: Ahmad Amin
'Qatar isolated, not Assad': Arab League extends Syria mission
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:26
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
Arab League officials have decided their team of monitors will continue to work inside Syria for another month. The group also intends to increase the number of observers and they'll receive training by the UN. The mission expired this week, but violence is still flaring up in the country. In one of the latest outbreaks, 14 people were killed when a police car, transporting prisoners, was ambushed in the north-west. And RT's Sara Firth's been to the town of Zabadani, which has seen some of the fiercest battles between security forces and armed opposition groups. And for more on the situation around Syria - RT talks to Alastair Crooke, a Former EU Middle East Mediator and Director of the Conflicts Forum in Beirut. RT on Twitter twitter.com RT on Facebook www.facebook.com
http://wn.com/'Qatar_isolated,_not_Assad'_Arab_League_extends_Syria_mission
Arab League officials have decided their team of monitors will continue to work inside Syria for another month. The group also intends to increase the number of observers and they'll receive training by the UN. The mission expired this week, but violence is still flaring up in the country. In one of the latest outbreaks, 14 people were killed when a police car, transporting prisoners, was ambushed in the north-west. And RT's Sara Firth's been to the town of Zabadani, which has seen some of the fiercest battles between security forces and armed opposition groups. And for more on the situation around Syria - RT talks to Alastair Crooke, a Former EU Middle East Mediator and Director of the Conflicts Forum in Beirut. RT on Twitter twitter.com RT on Facebook www.facebook.com
- published: 22 Jan 2012
- views: 19715
- author: RussiaToday
Gaddafi speech: "America hanged Saddam, and we could be next!" (with English)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:41
- Updated: 12 Jan 2013
Gaddafi speech attacking Arab leaders during Arab summit in Syria (2008), stressing that Saddam Hussein's fate awaits all Arab leaders! - (with accurate English subtitles).
http://wn.com/Gaddafi_speech_America_hanged_Saddam,_and_we_could_be_next!_with_English
Gaddafi speech attacking Arab leaders during Arab summit in Syria (2008), stressing that Saddam Hussein's fate awaits all Arab leaders! - (with accurate English subtitles).
- published: 30 Mar 2011
- views: 217120
- author: salim000001
Journalist Robert Fisk: Arab League using war in Syria to attack Iran
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:07
- Updated: 07 Dec 2012
Robert Fisk, a foreign correspondent for the UK's Independent newspaper, spoke to Al Jazeera from Tunisia's capital, Tunis, about the developments in Syria.
http://wn.com/Journalist_Robert_Fisk_Arab_League_using_war_in_Syria_to_attack_Iran
Robert Fisk, a foreign correspondent for the UK's Independent newspaper, spoke to Al Jazeera from Tunisia's capital, Tunis, about the developments in Syria.
- published: 16 Feb 2012
- views: 8406
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
'More bloodshed tomorrow': Arab League tightens noose on Syria
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:38
- Updated: 30 Nov 2012
It's not just Egypt's fate that's being decided in Cairo, but Syria's future as well. Arab League members have, in the past couple of hours, approved unprecedented economic sanctions against Damascus over its crackdown on protesters. The measures were voted for by 19 out of 22 nations and they include a travel ban on senior officials, freezing deals with the Syrian central bank and suspending flights into the country. Damascus has already condemned the move as a betrayal of Arab solidarity. Dr. Rania Masri from the University of Balamand in Beirut says Arab League was designed by the West to support former colonial countries' interests in the Arab world. RT on Twitter: twitter.com RT on Facebook: www.facebook.com
http://wn.com/'More_bloodshed_tomorrow'_Arab_League_tightens_noose_on_Syria
It's not just Egypt's fate that's being decided in Cairo, but Syria's future as well. Arab League members have, in the past couple of hours, approved unprecedented economic sanctions against Damascus over its crackdown on protesters. The measures were voted for by 19 out of 22 nations and they include a travel ban on senior officials, freezing deals with the Syrian central bank and suspending flights into the country. Damascus has already condemned the move as a betrayal of Arab solidarity. Dr. Rania Masri from the University of Balamand in Beirut says Arab League was designed by the West to support former colonial countries' interests in the Arab world. RT on Twitter: twitter.com RT on Facebook: www.facebook.com
- published: 27 Nov 2011
- views: 9278
- author: RussiaToday
Inside Syria - Is the Arab League mission doomed to fail?
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 25:39
- Updated: 25 Jun 2012
How effective is the Arab League mission? Has the Syrian regime managed to continue their heavy handed crackdown on protesters despite Arab League's presence on the ground? Guests: Elias Hanna; As'ad Abukhalil; and Ahed al-Hendi.
http://wn.com/Inside_Syria_Is_the_Arab_League_mission_doomed_to_fail?
How effective is the Arab League mission? Has the Syrian regime managed to continue their heavy handed crackdown on protesters despite Arab League's presence on the ground? Guests: Elias Hanna; As'ad Abukhalil; and Ahed al-Hendi.
- published: 01 Jan 2012
- views: 4722
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
'Qatar agressive, plays split in Arab League'
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:12
- Updated: 24 Oct 2012
Russia's foreign ministry has downgraded relations with Qatar, following an incident in which the Russian ambassador to the country was assaulted by border security guards. RT discusses what's behind this diplomatic scandal with James Corbett, editor of the independent news website Corbett Report dot com. RT on Twitter twitter.com RT on Facebook www.facebook.com
http://wn.com/'Qatar_agressive,_plays_split_in_Arab_League'
Russia's foreign ministry has downgraded relations with Qatar, following an incident in which the Russian ambassador to the country was assaulted by border security guards. RT discusses what's behind this diplomatic scandal with James Corbett, editor of the independent news website Corbett Report dot com. RT on Twitter twitter.com RT on Facebook www.facebook.com
- published: 05 Dec 2011
- views: 9869
- author: RussiaToday
Arab League Summit Meets in Baghdad (Dispatch)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:54
- Updated: 30 Jul 2012
Vice President of Strategic Intelligence Reva Bhalla examines the political intricacies of the first Arab League Summit that Baghdad has hosted in over two decades. For more, visit: www.stratfor.com
http://wn.com/Arab_League_Summit_Meets_in_Baghdad_Dispatch
Vice President of Strategic Intelligence Reva Bhalla examines the political intricacies of the first Arab League Summit that Baghdad has hosted in over two decades. For more, visit: www.stratfor.com
- published: 26 Mar 2012
- views: 2962
- author: STRATFORvideo
War Zone (Rush Feat Sphinx) Prod. Raisi K (Arabian Knightz/Arab League Records)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:03
- Updated: 09 Jan 2013
New Track by Arabian Knightz's Rush and Sphinx Beat made by Raisi K and track mixed by Maher Recorded in Universal Legends Studios Download Link: www.mediafire.com
http://wn.com/War_Zone_Rush_Feat_Sphinx_Prod_Raisi_K_Arabian_Knightz_Arab_League_Records
New Track by Arabian Knightz's Rush and Sphinx Beat made by Raisi K and track mixed by Maher Recorded in Universal Legends Studios Download Link: www.mediafire.com
- published: 26 Apr 2012
- views: 6074
- author: arabianknightztv
Arab League Iraq president 29-03-2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 23:09
- Updated: 24 Nov 2012
Arab League Iraq president 29-03-2012 Nile International nileinternational.net Egypt Television
http://wn.com/Arab_League_Iraq_president_29-03-2012
Arab League Iraq president 29-03-2012 Nile International nileinternational.net Egypt Television
- published: 29 Mar 2012
- views: 12172
- author: NileInternationalTV
Turkish PM slams Israel at the Arab League
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:53
- Updated: 03 Jan 2013
In a sign of Turkey's growing influence in the Middle East, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received a rapturous welcome as he spoke at the Arab League's meeting in Cairo. He delivered a strong message for Israel, calling for an end to the siege of Gaza and throwing his support behind the Palestinian statehood bid. Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reports from Cairo.
http://wn.com/Turkish_PM_slams_Israel_at_the_Arab_League
In a sign of Turkey's growing influence in the Middle East, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received a rapturous welcome as he spoke at the Arab League's meeting in Cairo. He delivered a strong message for Israel, calling for an end to the siege of Gaza and throwing his support behind the Palestinian statehood bid. Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reports from Cairo.
- published: 14 Sep 2011
- views: 25361
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
Chossudovsky: Arab League Gives US-NATO Green Light to Intervene in Syria
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:34
- Updated: 03 Jan 2013
The Arab League has voted to suspend Syria from all meetings until Damascus ends its bloody crackdown against anti-government protesters. Eighteen countries supported the move while Lebanon, Yemen and Syria voted against it and Iraq abstained. The suspension will come into effect on November 16, according to the Qatari Foreign Minister, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim. The vote came during an emergency session to discuss Syria's failure to end a bloody government crackdown on opposition protests. Qatar's foreign minister has called on the Syrian army to stop the violence against civilians. In turn, Syria's representative to the Arab League, Youssef Ahmed, said the decision to suspend Damascus violated the organization's charter and showed it was "serving a Western and American agenda," reports Reuters. Ahmed told Syrian state television that the move to suspend Syria would only have been valid if taken by consensus at a summit meeting of Arab leaders, whereas it was in fact opposed by two delegates at the Arab League meeting. The League has also warned Syria that it could face sanctions if it fails to end the violence. However, Bin Jassim stressed that "no-one is talking about a no-fly zone -- people are trying to mix up the cases. None of us is talking about this kind of decision." In February, the LAS suspended Libya's membership and went on to propose the enforcement of a no-fly zone over the country. Michel Chossudovsky, the Director of the Centre for Research on ...
http://wn.com/Chossudovsky_Arab_League_Gives_US-NATO_Green_Light_to_Intervene_in_Syria
The Arab League has voted to suspend Syria from all meetings until Damascus ends its bloody crackdown against anti-government protesters. Eighteen countries supported the move while Lebanon, Yemen and Syria voted against it and Iraq abstained. The suspension will come into effect on November 16, according to the Qatari Foreign Minister, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim. The vote came during an emergency session to discuss Syria's failure to end a bloody government crackdown on opposition protests. Qatar's foreign minister has called on the Syrian army to stop the violence against civilians. In turn, Syria's representative to the Arab League, Youssef Ahmed, said the decision to suspend Damascus violated the organization's charter and showed it was "serving a Western and American agenda," reports Reuters. Ahmed told Syrian state television that the move to suspend Syria would only have been valid if taken by consensus at a summit meeting of Arab leaders, whereas it was in fact opposed by two delegates at the Arab League meeting. The League has also warned Syria that it could face sanctions if it fails to end the violence. However, Bin Jassim stressed that "no-one is talking about a no-fly zone -- people are trying to mix up the cases. None of us is talking about this kind of decision." In February, the LAS suspended Libya's membership and went on to propose the enforcement of a no-fly zone over the country. Michel Chossudovsky, the Director of the Centre for Research on ...
- published: 13 Nov 2011
- views: 2992
- author: GlobalResearchTV
Uknighted feat.Arab Rap All Stars (Arabian Knightz) - Uknighted State Of Arabia
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 11:53
- Updated: 11 Jan 2013
itunes.apple.com UKNIGHTED - From Arabian Knightz "USA Album" Download NOW itunes: tiny.cc Amazon: tiny.cc www.arabianknightz.com === ARAB LEAGUE RECORDS www.arableaguerap.com www.facebook.com === "UKNIGHTED" Sphinx - Egypt MC Amin - Egypt Omar Offendum - Syria Malikah - Lebanon The Narcicyst - Iraq Hossam L Hossainy - Egypt Omar Boflot - Egypt Hatim (H-Kayne) - Morocco One 2 - Iran Boikutt - Palestine Qusai - Saudi Arabia Mounir - Algeria Rush - Egypt Deeb - Egypt Aryn - Armenia Faiq - Oman Gad - Egypt E Money - Egypt Mohamed Yasser - Egypt Patriarch - Palestine Stormrap - Palestine X:144 - Egypt Adil (H-Kayne) - Morocco Michael Arkangelo - Egypt Mohmoud Jreri (DAM) - Palestine Jamil Nafar - Palestine Hanouneh - Palestine Tamer Naffar (DAM) - Palestine Dj Lethal Skillz - Lebanon Produced by 4th Disciple === VIDEO BY Raed Al Murish www.facebook.com www.b-style1.com
http://wn.com/Uknighted_featArab_Rap_All_Stars_Arabian_Knightz_Uknighted_State_Of_Arabia
itunes.apple.com UKNIGHTED - From Arabian Knightz "USA Album" Download NOW itunes: tiny.cc Amazon: tiny.cc www.arabianknightz.com === ARAB LEAGUE RECORDS www.arableaguerap.com www.facebook.com === "UKNIGHTED" Sphinx - Egypt MC Amin - Egypt Omar Offendum - Syria Malikah - Lebanon The Narcicyst - Iraq Hossam L Hossainy - Egypt Omar Boflot - Egypt Hatim (H-Kayne) - Morocco One 2 - Iran Boikutt - Palestine Qusai - Saudi Arabia Mounir - Algeria Rush - Egypt Deeb - Egypt Aryn - Armenia Faiq - Oman Gad - Egypt E Money - Egypt Mohamed Yasser - Egypt Patriarch - Palestine Stormrap - Palestine X:144 - Egypt Adil (H-Kayne) - Morocco Michael Arkangelo - Egypt Mohmoud Jreri (DAM) - Palestine Jamil Nafar - Palestine Hanouneh - Palestine Tamer Naffar (DAM) - Palestine Dj Lethal Skillz - Lebanon Produced by 4th Disciple === VIDEO BY Raed Al Murish www.facebook.com www.b-style1.com
- published: 15 Nov 2012
- views: 2370
- author: arabianknightztv
Iraq gears up for Arab League summit
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:21
- Updated: 25 Jun 2012
Syria is going to be at the top of the agenda during an Arab League summit in Baghdad later this month. It will be the first meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Iraq since 1990 - just after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Jane Arraf reports on how the government is preparing.
http://wn.com/Iraq_gears_up_for_Arab_League_summit
Syria is going to be at the top of the agenda during an Arab League summit in Baghdad later this month. It will be the first meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Iraq since 1990 - just after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Jane Arraf reports on how the government is preparing.
- published: 10 Mar 2012
- views: 16377
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
Arab League meeting & Syria-News Analysis-01-22-2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 24:41
- Updated: 03 May 2012
As Syria continues to face violence inside the country the Arab League has voted to send back its monitors for another month to observe the situation. In the meantime the Saudis say they are pulling out of the Arab contingency monitoring Syria as Damascus hasn't kept its promises. What does this all mean? This edition of News Analysis comments on the Syrian crisis.
http://wn.com/Arab_League_meeting_Syria-News_Analysis-01-22-2012
As Syria continues to face violence inside the country the Arab League has voted to send back its monitors for another month to observe the situation. In the meantime the Saudis say they are pulling out of the Arab contingency monitoring Syria as Damascus hasn't kept its promises. What does this all mean? This edition of News Analysis comments on the Syrian crisis.
- published: 23 Jan 2012
- views: 2575
- author: PressTVGlobalNews
Qatar receives troubled Arab League - 29 Mar 09
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:15
- Updated: 12 Jun 2012
Arab foreign ministers met in Qatar on Saturday, ahead of the 21st annual Arab League summit. Members hope to address pressing issues such as an Arab-backed Middle East peace offer, and unity amongst an increasingly fragmented organisation. But nine out of the League's 22 member countries have said they won't attend the conference. And as Al Jazeera's Mohammed Vall reports, there's a lot for the new League's presidency to deal with, when Syria hands over to Qatar.
http://wn.com/Qatar_receives_troubled_Arab_League_29_Mar_09
Arab foreign ministers met in Qatar on Saturday, ahead of the 21st annual Arab League summit. Members hope to address pressing issues such as an Arab-backed Middle East peace offer, and unity amongst an increasingly fragmented organisation. But nine out of the League's 22 member countries have said they won't attend the conference. And as Al Jazeera's Mohammed Vall reports, there's a lot for the new League's presidency to deal with, when Syria hands over to Qatar.
- published: 29 Mar 2009
- views: 23055
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
Gaddafi Speech at Arab League Meeting, March 2008 - We all distrust each other
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:41
- Updated: 11 Dec 2012
This speech helps one understand why the Gulf States are not that fond of Gaddafi. He remembers them for one that about 70% of the people living in the Gulf States are 'Iranians' [in the sense that they are sjiite I suppose] and they are governed by Arab monarchs [who hardly represent their people]
http://wn.com/Gaddafi_Speech_at_Arab_League_Meeting,_March_2008_We_all_distrust_each_other
This speech helps one understand why the Gulf States are not that fond of Gaddafi. He remembers them for one that about 70% of the people living in the Gulf States are 'Iranians' [in the sense that they are sjiite I suppose] and they are governed by Arab monarchs [who hardly represent their people]
- published: 19 Jun 2011
- views: 5908
- author: WolkenZwemmer
'US wants puppet regime in Syria'
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 24:07
- Updated: 14 Dec 2012
The anti-Syria imperialists would not be happy to see a ceasefire which would allow for dialogue to resolve the turmoil in the country, says an activist. The Arab League has welcomed the formation of a new anti-Syria opposition bloc, recognizing the so-called Syrian National Coalition for Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (SNCROF) as the representative of the Syrian people. Follow our Facebook on: www.facebook.com Follow our Twitter on: twitter.com Follow our Tumblr on: presstvchannel.tumblr.com
http://wn.com/'US_wants_puppet_regime_in_Syria'
The anti-Syria imperialists would not be happy to see a ceasefire which would allow for dialogue to resolve the turmoil in the country, says an activist. The Arab League has welcomed the formation of a new anti-Syria opposition bloc, recognizing the so-called Syrian National Coalition for Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (SNCROF) as the representative of the Syrian people. Follow our Facebook on: www.facebook.com Follow our Twitter on: twitter.com Follow our Tumblr on: presstvchannel.tumblr.com
- published: 14 Nov 2012
- views: 1143
- author: PressTVGlobalNews
Inside Syria - Is it time to increase the pressure on Syria?
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 24:28
- Updated: 13 Dec 2012
As the Arab League meets to discuss its next move in Syria, we ask which options it should pursue to end the violence. Inside Syria discusses with guests: Najib Ghadbian, Anoushka Kurkjian and Bassam Abu Abdullah.
http://wn.com/Inside_Syria_Is_it_time_to_increase_the_pressure_on_Syria?
As the Arab League meets to discuss its next move in Syria, we ask which options it should pursue to end the violence. Inside Syria discusses with guests: Najib Ghadbian, Anoushka Kurkjian and Bassam Abu Abdullah.
- published: 22 Jan 2012
- views: 3876
- author: AlJazeeraEnglish
photo: AP / Mohamed Sheikh Nor
12 Jan 2013
Helicopter raid fails to rescue agent 'Denis Allex' from Islamist group al-Shabaab, as French combat pilot killed in Mali. French secret service hostage 'Denis Allex' pictured in Somalia in October 2012. Photograph. SITE Monitoring Service/AFP/Getty Images. A French hostage and two French soldiers have been killed during a failed secret service rescue mission in Somalia ... The group said it had also captured a wounded French commando ... ....(size: 4.7Kb)
photo: US Navy / MCS2 Gretchen Albrecht
13 Jan 2013
The draft version of the US National Climate Assessment, released on Friday, makes remarkable reading – not just for Americans but for all humanity. Put together by a special panel of more than 240 scientists, the federally commissioned report reveals that the US is already reeling under the impact of global warming ... Nor is there any doubt about the cause of these rising temperatures ... A bitter struggle lies ahead ... Sender's name ... ....(size: 6.2Kb)
photo: AP / Remy de la Mauviniere
11 Jan 2013
The executions of three Kurdish women in Paris have sparked questions over the motives for the high-level assassinations. FRANCE 24 asks Kendal Nezan, president of the Kurdish Institute in Paris, for his views on the mysterious murders. By Ségolène ALLEMANDOU (text). ... Sakine Cansiz, Fidan Dogan and Leyla Soylemez were found shot dead inside the Kurdish Institute of Paris. Screen grab of Firatnews ... France 24 ... Kendel Nezan ... FRANCE 24 ... ....(size: 9.7Kb)
photo: AP / Karim Kadim
12 Jan 2013
Thousands of Sunni Iraqis have taken to the streets of Baghdad and other parts of the country to decry the alleged targeting of their minority, in rallies hardening opposition to the country's Shia leader ... The protests have worsened a political crisis, pitting Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki against his erstwhile government partners, with the premier facing accusations of authoritarianism and sectarianism ahead of key provincial polls ... ....(size: 19.5Kb)
photo: AP / Jacques Brinon
11 Jan 2013
PARIS/BAMAKO (Reuters) - France's armed forces began a military intervention in Mali on Friday to help the government stem a push south by Islamist rebels who control much of the north, President Francois Hollande said. Women hold banners urging national talks to end the political paralysis in the south of Mali, in the capital Bamako January 10, 2013. REUTERS/Francois Rihouay ... The U.N ... REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE ... Related Stories. ... ....(size: 4.7Kb)
Star Tribune
13 Jan 2013
Salam Fayyad met Sunday with Arab League members to discuss ways to raise $100 million in aid they pledged earlier to his Palestinian Authority. The Arab League chief said seven countries have ......(size: 1.0Kb)
noodls
13 Jan 2013
Kingdom of Bahrain Government) HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs participates in the Arab League extraordinary meeting ... The meeting was held today at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo in the presence of Secretary General of the League of Arab States Dr ... necessitating the continuation of Arab political action to put an end to the crisis....(size: 3.6Kb)
The Washington Post
13 Jan 2013
... to meet its obligations to its people because of a cash crunch, urging Arab countries to pay up promised aid. Salam Fayyad met Sunday with Arab League members to discuss ways to raise $100 million in aid they pledged earlier to his Palestinian Authority. The Arab League chief said seven countries have responded favorably, but he did not name them....(size: 2.8Kb)
Fox News
13 Jan 2013
Ha'aretz
13 Jan 2013
Fayyad met with Arab League members to discuss ways to raise the $100 million they pledged earlier to his Palestinian Authority. Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said seven countries have responded favorably, but he did not name them. ... In a statement, the Arab League urged Israel to release those funds, and called on the international community to press Israel to do so.....(size: 5.0Kb)
Kansas City Star
13 Jan 2013
Salam Fayyad met with Arab League members to discuss ways to raise the $100 million they pledged earlier to his Palestinian Authority. Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said seven countries have responded favorably, but he did not name them ... In a statement, the Arab League urged Israel to release those funds, and called on the international community to press Israel to do so....(size: 2.7Kb)
noodls
13 Jan 2013
Commenting on the UN- Arab League Joint Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi's call for finding a ... Neither the Arab League nor the Arab Ministerial Committee on Syria, which I chair, favor this option and all the parties agree with us ... That is to have a government with full powers, and this is we called for at the Arab League from the beginning....(size: 2.6Kb)
noodls
13 Jan 2013
Commenting on the UN- Arab League Joint Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi's call for finding a ... Neither the Arab League nor the Arab Ministerial Committee on Syria, which I chair, favor this option and all the parties agree with us ... That is to have a government with full powers, and this is we called for at the Arab League from the beginning....(size: 2.7Kb)
Seattle Post
13 Jan 2013
Salam Fayyad met Sunday with Arab League members to discuss ways to raise $100 million in aid they pledged earlier to his Palestinian Authority. The Arab League ......(size: 0.8Kb)
Sacramento Bee
13 Jan 2013
Salam Fayyad met Sunday with Arab League members to discuss ways to raise $100 million in aid they pledged earlier to his Palestinian Authority. The Arab League chief ......(size: 0.8Kb)
BBC News
13 Jan 2013
The hotel was sprucing itself up to welcome guests at not one but several international events being held in town, including the Gulf Energy Forum and an Arab League conference on Palestine ... I was attending the Arab League conference ... While the poor Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, was giving us participants at the Arab League Conference on Palestine a formal welcome, half of us were staring up at the ceiling open-mouthed....(size: 6.1Kb)
Xinhua
13 Jan 2013
• Brahimi agreed with U.S. and Russian envoys that there was no military solution to Syria conflict. • The three underscored necessity to reach a political solution based on Geneva Communique ... UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi speaks during a press conference in Geneva, Jan. 11, 2013 ... (Xinhua/Wang Siwei). GENEVA, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said here on Friday that he agreed with U.S ... 1 2 3 ... ....(size: 2.3Kb)
 |
It has been suggested that Member states of the Arab League , Charter of the Arab League and Enlargement of the Arab League be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since August 2011. |
| League of Arab States
جامعة الدول العربية
Jāmiʻat ad-Duwal al-ʻArabiyya |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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_updated.svg) |
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| Headquarters | Cairo1 | |||||
| Official languages | Arabic | |||||
| Membership |
21 members
1 suspended
|
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| Leaders | ||||||
| - | Arab League Secretariat | Nabil Elaraby | ||||
| - | Arab Parliament | Ali Al-Duqbasi | ||||
| - | Council Presidency |  Iraq |
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| Legislature | Arab Parliament | |||||
| Establishment | ||||||
| - | Alexandria Protocol | 22 March 1945 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total area | 13,333,296 km2 (2nd2) 5,148,048 sq mi |
||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | 2011 estimate | 349,870,608 (3rd2) | ||||
| - | Density | 24.33/km2 63/sq mi |
||||
| GDP (PPP) | 2011 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | $4.766 trillion[1] | ||||
| - | Per capita | $7,682[citation needed] | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2011 estimate | |||||
| - | Total | 3.526 trillion[citation needed] | ||||
| - | Per capita | $4,239[citation needed] | ||||
| Currency |
21 currencies
|
|||||
| Time zone | (UTC+0 to +4) | |||||
| Website arableagueonline.org/ |
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| 1 | From 1979 to 1989: Tunis, Tunisia | |||||
| 2 | If ranked among nation states. | |||||
 |
This article contains Arabic text, written from right to left in a cursive style with some letters joined. Without proper rendering support, you may see unjoined Arabic letters written left-to-right instead of right-to-left or other symbols instead of Arabic script. |
The Arab League (Arabic: الجامعة العربية al-Jāmiʻa al-ʻArabiyya), officially called the League of Arab States (Arabic: جامعة الدول العربية Jāmiʻat ad-Duwal al-ʻArabiyya), is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and Southwest Asia (Middle East). It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan (renamed Jordan in 1949), Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a member on 5 May 1945. The Arab League currently has 22 members (including Syria, whose participation was suspended in November 2011). The main goal of the league is to "draw closer the relations between member States and co-ordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries."[2]
Through institutions such as the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) and the Economic and Social Council of the Arab League's Council of Arab Economic Unity (CAEU), the Arab League facilitates political, economic, cultural, scientific and social programs designed to promote the interests of the Arab world.[3][4] It has served as a forum for the member states to coordinate their policy positions, to deliberate on matters of common concern, to settle some Arab disputes, and to limit conflicts such as the 1958 Lebanon crisis. The League has served as a platform for the drafting and conclusion of many landmark documents promoting economic integration. One example is the Joint Arab Economic Action Charter which sets out the principles for economic activities in the region.
Each member state has only one vote in the League Council, while decisions are binding only for those states that have voted for them. The aims of the league in 1945 were to strengthen and coordinate the political, cultural, economic, and social programs of its members, and to mediate disputes among them or between them and third parties. Furthermore, the signing of an agreement on Joint Defense and Economic Cooperation on 13 April 1950 committed the signatories to coordination of military defense measures.
The Arab League has played a role in shaping school curricula, advancing the role of women in the Arab societies, promoting child welfare, encouraging youth and sports programs, preserving Arab cultural heritage, and fostering cultural exchanges between the member states.[citation needed] Literacy campaigns have been launched, intellectual works reproduced, and modern technical terminology is translated for the use within member states. The league encourages measures against crime and drug abuse, and deals with labour issues—particularly among the emigrant Arab workforce.
Contents |
History[link]
Main article: History of the Arab League
Following adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944, the Arab League was founded on 22 March 1945. It aimed to be a regional organisation of Arab states with a focus to developing the economy, resolving disputes, and coordinating political aims.[5] Other countries joined the league at later dates.[6] Each country was given one vote in the council. The first major action was the joint intervention, allegedly on behalf of the majority Arab population that was being uprooted as the State of Israel emerged in 1948 (and in response to popular outcry in the Arab world), although in fact a main participant in this intervention, Transjordan, had agreed with the Israelis to divide up the Arab Palestinian state proposed by the UN General Assembly, while Egypt intervened primarily to prevent its rival in Amman from accomplishing its objective.[7] This was followed by the creation of a mutual defense treaty two years later. A common market was established in 1965.[5] (Robert W. MacDonald, The League of Arab States: A Study in Regional Organization. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1965.)
Geography[link]
File:Provinces - Arab League.PNG
Administrative divisions in the Arab League
Main article: Geography of the Arab League
The area of members of the Arab League covers around 13,000,000 km2 (5,000,000 sq mi) and straddles two continents: Africa, and Asia. The area consists of large arid deserts, namely the Sahara. Nevertheless, it also contains several very fertile lands, such as the Nile Valley, the High Atlas Mountains, and the Fertile Crescent which stretches from Iraq over Syria, and Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine. The area comprises deep forests in southern Arabia, as well as parts of the world's longest river, the Nile.
The area witnessed the rise of many ancient civilizations: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Israel and Judah, Assyria, Babylon, Phoenicia, Carthage, Kush, Ancient Somalia and the Nabateans, among others.
Main article: Life in the Arab League
Member states[link]
Main article: Member states of the Arab League
See also: Enlargement of the Arab League
1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
The Arab League was founded in Cairo in 1945 by seven countries, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Transjordan (Jordan from 1946), and Yemen. There was a continual increase in membership during the second half of the 20th century, with additional 15 Arab states being admitted, with a current total of 21 member states due to Syria's suspension following the 2011 uprising.
On 22 February 2011, following the start of the 2011 Libyan civil war and the use of military force against civilians, the Arab League Secretary General, Amr Moussa, stated that Libya's membership in the Arab League had been suspended: "the organisation has decided to halt the participation of the Libyan delegations from all Arab League sessions".[8] This makes Libya the second country in the League's history to have a frozen membership. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi declared that the League was illegitimate, saying, "The Arab League is finished. There is no such thing as the Arab League".[9][10] On 25 August 2011, Secretary General Nabil Elaraby announced it was "about time" Libya's full member status was restored. The National Transitional Council, the partially recognised interim government of Libya, will send a representative to be seated at the Arab League meeting on 17 August to participate in a discussion as to whether to readmit Libya to the organisation.[11]
The Arab Parliament recommended the suspension of member states Syria and Yemen on 20 September 2011, over persistent reports of disproportionate violence against regime opponents and activists during the Arab Spring.[12] A vote on 12 November agreed to formally suspend Syria four days after the vote, giving Assad a last chance to avoid suspension. Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen voted against the motion, while Iraq abstained.[13] A wave of criticism rose as the Arab League sent in Dec 2011 a commission "monitoring" Syria's violence (massacres) on its own people who protested its tyranny. The commission was headed by Mohammad Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, who served as head of infamous Omar al-Bashir's military intelligence, while heinous war crimes including genocide were committed on his watch.[14][15][16] Syria remains suspended.
Political policy and administration[link]
Main articles: Government of the Arab League and Arab Parliament
The Charter of the Arab League[2] endorsed the principle of an Arab homeland while respecting the sovereignty of the individual member states. The internal regulations of the Council of the League[17] and the committees[18] were agreed in October 1951. Those of the Secretariat-General were agreed in May 1953.[19]
Since then, governance of the Arab League has been based on the duality of supra-national institutions and the sovereignty of the member states. Preservation of individual statehood derived its strengths from the natural preference of ruling elites to maintain their power and independence in decision making. Moreover, the fear of the richer that the poorer may share their wealth in the name of Arab nationalism, the feuds among Arab rulers, and the influence of external powers that might oppose Arab unity can be seen as obstacles towards a deeper integration of the league.
Mindful of their previous announcements in support of the Arabs of Palestine the framers of the Pact were determined to include them within the League from its inauguration.[20] This was done by means of an annex that declared:[2]
| “ | Even though Palestine was not able to control her own destiny, it was on the basis of the recognition of her independence that the Covenant of the League of Nations determined a system of government for her. Her existence and her independence among the nations can, therefore, no more be questioned de jure than the independence of any of the other Arab States. [...] Therefore, the States signatory to the Pact of the Arab League consider that in view of Palestine's special circumstances, the Council of the League should designate an Arab delegate from Palestine to participate in its work until this country enjoys actual independence | ” |
At the Cairo Summit of 1964, the Arab League initiated the creation of an organisation representing the Palestinian people. The first Palestinian National Council convened in East Jerusalem on 29 May 1964. The Palestinian Liberation Organization was founded during this meeting on 2 June 1964. Today, Palestine is a full member of the Arab League and is represented by the Palestine Liberation Organization.
At the Beirut Summit on 28 March 2002, the league adopted the Arab Peace Initiative,[21] a Saudi-inspired peace plan for the Arab–Israeli conflict. The initiative offered full normalisation of the relations with Israel. In exchange, Israel was required to withdraw from all occupied territories, including the Golan Heights, to recognise Palestinian independence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital, as well as a "just solution" for the Palestinian refugees. The Peace Initiative was again endorsed at 2007 in the Riyadh Summit. In July 2007, the Arab League sent a mission, consisting of the Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers, to Israel to promote the initiative. Following Venezuela's move to expel Israeli diplomats amid the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, Kuwaiti member of parliament Waleed al-Tabtabai proposed moving Arab League headquarters Caracas, Venezuela.[22] On 13 June 2010, Amr Mohammed Moussa, Secretary-General of the Arab League visited the Gaza Strip, the first by an official of the Arab League since the election of Hamas in 2007.
Summits[link]
Cairo: 13–17 January 1964.- Alexandria: 5–11 September 1964.
Casablanca: 13–17 September 1965.
Khartoum: 29 August 1967.- Rabat: 21–23 December 1969.
- Cairo (first emergency summit): 21–27 September 1970
Algiers: 26–28 November.1973.- Rabat: 29 October 1974.
Riyadh (2nd emergency summit): 17–28 October 1976.
Cairo: 25–26 October 1976.
Baghdad: 2–5 November.1978.
Tunis: 20–22 November 1979.
Amman: 21–22 November 1980.- Fes: 6–9 September 1982.
- Casablanca (3rd emergency summit): 7–9 September 1985
- Amman (4th emergency summit): 8–12 November 1987.
- Algiers (5th emergency summit): 7–9 June 1988.
- Casablanca (6th emergency summit): 23–26 June 1989.
- Baghdad (7th emergency summit): 28–30 March 1990.
Cairo (8th emergency summit): 9–10 August 1990- Cairo (9th emergency summit): 22–23 June 1996.
- Cairo (10th emergency summit): 21–22 October 2000.
- Amman: 27–28 March 2001.
Beirut: 27–28 March 2002.- Sharm el-Sheikh: 1 March 2003.
- Tunis: 22–23 May 2004.
- Algiers: 22–23 March 2005.
- Khartoum: 28–30 March 2006.
- Riyadh: 27–28 March 2007.
Damascus: 29–30 March 2008.
Doha: 28–30 March 2009.
Sirte: 27–28 March 2010.- Baghdad: 27-29 March 2012.
- Doha: March 2013.
- Two summits are not added to the system of Arab League summits:
- Anshas, Egypt: 28–29 May 1946
- Beirut, Lebanon: 13 – 15 November 1958
- Summit 14 in Fes, Morocco, occurred in two stages:
- On 25 November 1981: The 5-hours meeting ended without an agreed on document.
- On 6–9 September 1982
Economic resources[link]
Main article: Economy of the Arab League
The Arab League is rich in resources, with enormous oil and natural gas resources in certain member states; it also has great fertile lands in southern Sudan, usually referred to as the food basket of the Arab World. Another industry that is growing steadily in the Arab League is telecommunications. Within less than a decade, local companies such as Orascom, and Etisalat have managed to compete internationally.
Economic achievements initiated by the League amongst member states have been less impressive than those achieved by smaller Arab organisations such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).[23] Among them is the Arab Gas Pipeline, that will transport Egyptian and Iraqi gas to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey. Significant difference in wealth and economic conditions exist between the rich oil states of the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Algeria, and poor countries like the Comoros, Mauritania, and Djibouti. The Arab League agreed to support the Sudanese region of Darfur with US$500 million.
Literacy in Arab league countries[link]
Main article: List of countries by literacy rate
In collecting literacy data, many countries estimate the number of literate people based on self-reported data. Some use educational attainment data as a proxy, but measures of school attendance or grade completion may differ. Because definitions and data collection methods vary across countries, literacy estimates should be used with caution. United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2010.
| Rank | Country | Literacy rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Kuwait |
98.6[24] |
| 2 | Lebanon |
94.5[25] |
| 3 |  Palestinian Authority |
94.1[24] |
| 4 | Qatar |
93.1[26] |
| 5 | Jordan |
92.2[25] |
| 6 |  Bahrain |
90.8[26] |
| 7 |  United Arab Emirates |
90.0[26] |
| 8 |  Libya |
88.4[25] |
| 9 |  Oman |
86.7[24] |
| 10 | Saudi Arabia |
85.5[25] |
| 11 | Syria |
83.6[27] |
| 12 | Tunisia |
78[25] |
| 13 | Iraq |
77.6[24] |
| 14 |  Comoros |
73.6[27] |
| 15 | Algeria |
72.6[25] |
| 16 | Morocco |
70[27] |
| 17 | Sudan |
69.3[24] |
| 18 |  Djibouti |
67.9[28] |
| 19 | Egypt |
66.4[27] |
| 20 |  Yemen |
60.9[27] |
| 21 |  Mauritania |
56.8[27] |
| 22 |  Somalia |
54.8[27] |
Demographics of Arab League countries[link]
Main article: Demographics of the Arab League
The Arab League is a culturally and ethnically diverse association of 22 member states, although the overwhelming majority of the League's population identifies as Arab (either on a cultural basis, or on an ethno-racial basis). As of 1 January 2007, about 340,000,000 people live in the states of the Arab League. Its population grows faster than in most other global regions. The most populous member state is Egypt, with a population of about 81 million.[29] The least populated is the Comoros, with over 0.6 million inhabitants.
| Rank | Country | Population | Density (/km2) | Density (sq mi) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Egypt |
81,650,212 | 90 | 233 | [30] |
| 2 | Algeria |
37,100,000 | 16 | 41 | [31] |
| 3 | Morocco |
36,064,173 | 75 | 194 | [32] |
| 4 | Sudan |
30,894,000 | 16 | 41 | [33] |
| 5 | Iraq |
30,747,000 | 70 | 181 | [31] |
| 6 | Saudi Arabia |
28,146,658 | 12 | 31 | [31] |
| 7 | Yemen |
23,580,000 | 45 | 117 | [31] |
| 8 | Syria |
21,906,000 | 118 | 306 | [31] |
| 9 | Tunisia |
10,673,800 | 65 | 168 | [34] |
| 10 | Libya |
6,733,620 | 3.8 | 9.8 | [31] [35] |
| 11 | Somalia |
9,133,000 | 14 | 36 | [31] |
| 12 | United Arab Emirates |
8,264,070 | 99 | 256 | [36] |
| 13 | Jordan |
6,316,000 | 71 | 184 | [31] |
| 14 | Lebanon |
4,224,000 | 404 | 1,046 | [31] |
| 15 | Palestinian Authority |
4,136,540 | 687 | 1,779 | [37] |
| 16 | Kuwait |
3,566,437 | 200 | 518 | [31] |
| 17 | Mauritania |
3,291,000 | 3.2 | 8.3 | [31] |
| 18 | Oman |
2,845,000 | 9.2 | 24 | [31] |
| 19 | Qatar |
1,699,435 | 154 | 399 | [31] |
| 20 | Bahrain |
1,234,596 | 1,646 | 4,263 | [38] |
| 21 | Djibouti |
864,000 | 37 | 96 | [31] |
| 22 | Comoros |
691,000 | 309 | 800 | [31] |
| Total |  Arab League |
349,870,608 | 26.6 | 68.1 |
| Religions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Islam |
|
90% | ||
| Christianity |
|
6% | ||
| Other |
|
4% | ||
The vast majority of the Arab League's citizens are Muslim, with Christianity being the second largest religion. Over 20 million Christians live in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, Sudan and Syria.
| N | Country | Islam | Christians | Others |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Algeria |
99% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| 2 | Bahrain |
81.2% | 9% | 8.81% |
| 3 | Comoros |
99% | 1% | n/a |
| 4 | Djibouti |
94% | 5% | 1% |
| 5 | Egypt |
83% | 16% | 1% |
| 6 | Iraq |
95% | 4.3% | 0.7% |
| 7 | Jordan |
93% | 6% | 1% |
| 8 | Kuwait |
85% | 10% | 5% |
| 9 | Lebanon |
63% | 34% | 3% |
| 10 | Libya |
88% | 5% | 7% |
| 11 | Mauritania |
100% | 0% | 0% |
| 12 | Morocco |
98.7% | 1% | 0.3% |
| 13 | Oman |
92.5% | 5% | 2.5% |
| 14 | Palestinian Authority |
92% | 8% | - |
| 15 | Qatar |
77.6% | 11% | 11.4% |
| 16 | Saudi Arabia |
100% | 0% | 0% |
| 17 | Somalia |
100% | 0% | 0% |
| 18 | Sudan |
97% | 3% | 0.001% |
| 19 | Syria |
82% | 12% | 6% |
| 20 | Tunisia |
98% | 1% | 1% |
| 21 | United Arab Emirates |
76% | 9% | 15% |
| 22 | Yemen |
99% | 0.2% | 0.8% |
| Arab League |
90% | 6% | 4% |
Jurisdiction[link]
| Rank | Country | Area (km2)[Note 1] | Area (sq mi) | % of Total | Notes |
| 1 | Algeria |
2,381,741 | 919,595 | 18.1% | Largest country in Africa and in the Arab world. |
| 2 | Saudi Arabia |
2,149,690 | 830,000 | 16.4% | Largest country in the Middle East. |
| 3 | Sudan |
1,886,068 | 728,215 | 14.2% | Formerly the largest country in Africa. |
| 4 | Libya |
1,759,540 | 679,360 | 11.4% | |
| 5 | Mauritania |
1,030,700 | 398,000 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Egypt |
1,022,600 | 394,800 | 7.6% | Excluding the Hala'ib Triangle (20,580 km2/7,950 sq mi). |
| 7 | Somalia |
637,657 | 246,201 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Yemen |
527,968 | 203,850 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Morocco |
446,550 | 172,410 | 3.4% | Does not include Western Sahara (266,000 km2/103,000 sq mi). |
| 10 | Iraq |
435,244 | 168,049 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | Oman |
309,500 | 119,500 | 2.4% | |
| 12 | Syria |
185,180 | 71,500 | 1.4% | Including the part of the Golan Heights (1,200 km2/460 sq mi) currently administered by Israel. |
| 13 | Tunisia |
163,610 | 63,170 | 1.2% | |
| 14 | Jordan |
89,342 | 34,495 | 0.7% | |
| 15 | United Arab Emirates |
83,600 | 32,300 | 0.6% | |
| 16 | Djibouti |
23,200 | 9,000 | 0.1% | |
| 17 | Kuwait |
17,818 | 6,880 | 0.1% | |
| 18 | Qatar |
11,586 | 4,473 | 0.08% | |
| 19 | Lebanon |
10,452 | 4,036 | 0.08% | |
| 20 | Palestine |
6,020 | 2,320 | 0.05% | |
| 21 | Comoros |
2,235 | 863 | 0.01% | |
| 22 | Bahrain |
758 | 293 | 0.005% |
See also[link]
- Arab Charter on Human Rights
- Arab Cold War
- Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD)
- Arab Inter-parliamentary Union
- Arab League and the Arab–Israeli conflict
- Arab League boycott of Israel
- Arab Maghreb Union (UMA)
- Arab Monetary Fund
- Arab Organization for Industrialization
- Bloudan Conference (1937)
- Council of Arab Economic Unity (CAEU)
- General Arab Insurance Federation
- General Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture for Arab Countries
- International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions
- List of conflicts in the Arab League
- List of largest cities of the Arab League
- Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC)
- Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
- Pan Arab Games
- Pan Arabism
- Summit of South American-Arab Countries
- United Arab Command
- Orange card system - motor insurance scheme of the Arab League
Notes[link]
- ^ Source, unless otherwise specified: (pdf) Demographic Yearbook—Table 3: Population by sex, rate of population increase, surface area and density. United Nations Statistics Division. 2008. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/dyb2008/Table03.pdf. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
Entries in this table giving figures other than the figures given in this source are bracketed by asterisks () in the Notes field, and the rationale for the figure used are explained in the associated Note.
References[link]
- ^ MENAFN (28 December 2009). "Qatar, UAE, wealthiest Arab states". http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?storyid=1093292067. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
- ^ a b c "Pact of the League of Arab States, 22 March 1945". The Avalon Project. Yale Law School. 1998. http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/arableag.htm. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
- ^ "The Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALESCO)". http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=36214&URL_DO=DO_PRINTPAGE&URL_SECTION=201.html.
- ^ Ashish K. Vaidya, Globalization, (ABC-CLIO: 2006), p.525
- ^ a b http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/arab-league-formed
- ^ http://history.howstuffworks.com/asian-history/arab-league.htm
- ^ Avi Shlaim, Collusion Across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist Movement, and the Partition of Palestine.Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon Press, 1988; Uri Bar-Joseph, Uri, The Best of Enemies: Israel and Transjordan in the War of 1948. London: Frank Cass, 1987; Joseph Nevo , King Abdullah and Palestine: A Territorial Ambition (London: Macmillan Press; New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Souhail Karam - Tom Heneghan - Michael Roddy (16 March 2011). "Gaddafi taunts critics, dares them to get him". Reuters Africa. http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFLDE72E2RO20110316. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ^ Kat Higgins (16 March 2011). "Libya: Clashes Continue As World Powers Stall". Sky News. http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/VIDEO-Libyan-Army-Pushes-Towards-Benghazi-As-World-Powers-Debate-No-Fly-Zone-Against-Gaddafi/Article/201103315953124?lpos=World_News_First_World_News_Article_Teaser_Region_3&lid=ARTICLE_15953124_VIDEO%3A_Libyan_Army_Pushes_Towards_Benghazi_As_World_Powers_Debate_No_Fly_Zone_Against_Gaddafi. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ^ "Arab League Recognizes Libyan Rebel Council". RTT News. 25 August 2011. http://www.rttnews.com/Content/GeneralNews.aspx?Id=1700187&SM=1. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "Arab League parliament urges Syria suspension". Al Jazeera English. 20 September 2011. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/09/201192017594330402.html. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
- ^ "Arab League Votes to Suspend Syria Over Crackdown". NYTimes.com. 12 November 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/world/middleeast/arab-league-votes-to-suspend-syria-over-its-crackdown-on-protesters.html. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
- ^ D. Kenner, "The World's Worst Human Rights Observer." Foreign Policy, December 27, 2011. As Arab League monitors work to expose President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown, the head of the mission is a Sudanese general accused of creating the fearsome "janjaweed," which was responsible for the worst atrocities during the Darfur genocide. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/12/27/the_worlds_worst_human_rights_observer
- ^ "Syrian activists slam Arab League mission head," CNN, December 28, 2011, http://articles.cnn.com/2011-12-28/middleeast/world_meast_syria-opposition-al-dabi_1_ali-kushayb-local-coordinating-committees-syrian-opposition?_s=PM:MIDDLEEAST
- ^ "Violence in second Syrian city ahead of Arab League monitors' visit," The Guardian, December 28, 2011,http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/28/syria-egypt
- ^ "Internal Regulations of the Council of the League of Arab States". Model League of Arab States. Ed Haynes, Winthrop University. 6 April 1998. Archived from the original on 6 April 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080406061423/http://faculty.winthrop.edu/haynese/mlas/CouncilRegs.html. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
- ^ "Internal Regulations of the Committees of the League of Arab States". Model League of Arab States. Ed Haynes, Winthrop University. 6 April 1998. Archived from the original on 6 April 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080406075743/http://faculty.winthrop.edu/haynese/mlas/CmteeRegs.html. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
- ^ "Internal Regulations of the Secretariat-General of the League". Model League of Arab States. Ed Haynes, Winthrop University. 6 April 1998. Archived from the original on 6 April 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080406064006/http://faculty.winthrop.edu/haynese/mlas/SecGenRegs.html. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
- ^ Geddes, 1991, p. 208.
- ^ "The Arab Peace Initiative, 2002". al-bab.com. 1 October 2005. http://www.al-bab.com/arab/docs/league/peace02.htm. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
- ^ "Kuwaiti MP calls to move Arab league to Venezuela". AFP, via CaribbeanNetNews. 15 January 2009. http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-13536--12-12--.html. Retrieved 16 January 2009.
- ^ Reuters.com
- ^ a b c d e p. 195
- ^ a b c d e f p. 193
- ^ a b c p. 192
- ^ a b c d e f g p. 194
- ^ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/dj.html
- ^ "Central Agency for Public Mobilization And Statistics". http://www.msrintranet.capmas.gov.eg/pls/fdl/tst12e?action=1&lname=.
- ^ http://www.msrintranet.capmas.gov.eg/pls/fdl/tst12e?action=1&lname=%201 Official Egyptian Population clock
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o (PDF) World Population Prospects, Table A.1. 2008 revision. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 2009. p. 17. http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2008/wpp2008_text_tables.pdf. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
- ^ http://www.hcp.ma Official Moroccan Population clock
- ^ http://www.cbs.gov.sd 2008 Sudanese census
- ^ http://www.ins.nat.tn/indexen.php National Statistics Institute of Tunisia
- ^ CIA World Factbook. July 2012 population estimate for Libya. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ly.html
- ^ "المركز الوطني للإحصاء: المواطنون 947.9 ألفاً - جريدة الاتحاد". Alittihad.ae. http://www.alittihad.ae/details.php?id=31500&y=2011. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
- ^ PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES GAZA STRIP AND WEST BANK
- ^ http://www.census2010.gov.bh/results_en.php
External links[link]
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- Arab League official site (Arabic)
- The League of Arab States at Al-Bab.com
- Arab Turk Conference and Expo at Bursa
- The Arab League at Council on Foreign Relations
- Profile: Arab League, BBC News, updated 9 March 2011
- Arab League at Jewish Virtual Library
- Arab League at WorldStatesmen.org
- Arab League collected news and commentary at Bloomberg News
- Arab League collected news and commentary at The Jerusalem Post
- Arab League collected news and commentary at The New York Times
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| File:McAmin.jpg | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ahmed Amin (Arabic: أحمد أمين ) |
| Also known as | Malek El-Ginaan, El-General |
| Born | 1985 Mansoura City, Egypt |
| Origin | Egypt |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Occupations | Rapper |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 2004—present |
| Associated acts | Arabian Knightz, Ostaz Samm |
| Website | Mc Amin Official MySpace page |
Ahmed Amin (Arabic: أحمد أمين) (born in 1985) better known by his stage name Mc Amin and El-General, is a rapper from Mansoura City.[citation needed]
Contents |
Biography[link]
Discography[link]
- MC Amin - Vol #1 - Black Attack (2006)
- MC Amin - Vol #2 - Arab Rap Soldiers (2007)
- MC Amin - Vol #3 - Hiroshima
- Arab League - Vol #1 - Desert Saga (2008)
References[link]
 |
This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (June 2009) |
Much of content of this article comes from Mc Amin Official Site and MySpace page for Mc AMin
See also[link]
External links[link]
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Mc Amin |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 1985 |
| Place of birth | Mansoura City, Egypt |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/MC_Amin
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MC_Amin
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
For other people named Robert Fiske, see Robert Fiske (disambiguation).
| Robert Fisk | |
|---|---|
 Robert Fisk at a book festival in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2008. |
|
| Born | (1946-07-12) 12 July 1946 (age 65) Maidstone, Kent, England |
| Education | Lancaster University (B.A., 1968) Trinity College, Dublin (Ph.D., 1985) |
| Occupation | Middle East correspondent for The Independent |
| Notable credit(s) | Jacob's Award, Amnesty International UK Press Awards, British Press Awards, International Journalist of the Year, "Reporter of the Year", David Watt prize, Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize |
| Website | |
| http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/ | |
Robert Fisk (born 12 July 1946) is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. As Middle East correspondent of The Independent, he has primarily been based in Beirut for more than 30 years.[1] He has published a number of books and has reported on the United States's war in Afghanistan and its 2003 invasion of Iraq. Fisk holds more British and International Journalism awards than any other foreign correspondent.[2]
Contents |
Career[link]
The New York Times once described Robert Fisk as "probably the most famous foreign correspondent in Britain."[3] He reported the Northern Ireland troubles in the 1970s, the Portuguese Revolution in 1974, the Lebanese Civil War, the Iranian revolution in 1979, the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the Iran–Iraq War, the Gulf War and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. A vernacular Arabic speaker,[4] he is one of few Western journalists to have interviewed Osama bin Laden, and did so three times between 1994 and 1997.[5][6] His awards include being voted International Journalist of the Year seven times.
Fisk has said that journalism must "challenge authority, all authority, especially so when governments and politicians take us to war." He has quoted with approval the Israeli journalist Amira Hass: "There is a misconception that journalists can be objective ... What journalism is really about is to monitor power and the centres of power."[7] Speaking on "Lies, Misreporting, and Catastrophe in the Middle East," at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 22 September 2010, Fisk stated, "I think it is the duty of a foreign correspondent to be neutral and unbiased on the side of those who suffer, whoever they may be." [8]
He has written at length on how much of contemporary conflict has its origin, in his view, in lines drawn on maps: "After the allied victory of 1918, at the end of my father's war, the victors divided up the lands of their former enemies. In the space of just seventeen months, they created the borders of Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and most of the Middle East. And I have spent my entire career—in Belfast and Sarajevo, in Beirut and Baghdad—watching the people within those borders burn."[9]
Fisk is a pacifist and has never voted.[10]
The blogosphere term fisking originates from various American conservative blogs, which have taken particular issue with Mr. Fisk, who holds a "very skeptical view of U.S. foreign policy", and his articles and reports. Many of these bloggers have responded by reprinting his dispatches on their blogs, adding their own paragraph-by-paragraph commentary, purportedly dissecting and debunking Fisk's facts and opinions.[11] Irrespective of the success of their endeavour, the term "fisking" has come to denote the practice of "savaging an argument and scattering the tattered remnants to the four corners of the internet".[12]
In a 2002 appearance at the Cambridge Union Society, actor John Malkovich when asked whom he would most like to "fight to the death", replied that he would "rather just shoot" journalist Robert Fisk and British MP George Galloway.[13] Both Fisk and Galloway reacted with outrage.[14][15]
Early career[link]
Fisk was educated at Yardley Court preparatory school,[16] Sutton Valence School and at Lancaster University [17] and has a PhD in Political Science, from Trinity College, Dublin in 1983.[18] The title of his doctoral thesis was "A condition of limited warfare: Éire’s neutrality and the relationship between Dublin, Belfast and London, 1939–1945".[18] He worked on the Sunday Express diary column before a disagreement with the editor, John Junor, prompted a move to The Times.[19] From 1972–75, the height of The Troubles, Fisk served as Belfast correspondent for The Times, before becoming its correspondent in Portugal covering the aftermath of the Carnation Revolution. He then was appointed Middle East correspondent (1976–1988). When a story of his was spiked (Iran Air Flight 655) after Rupert Murdoch's takeover, he moved to The Independent, with his first report published there on 28 April 1989.
Lebanon, and other conflicts[link]
Fisk has been living in Beirut since 1976,[20] and was present in Beirut throughout the Lebanese civil war. He was one of the first journalists to visit the scene of the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon, as well as the Syrian Hama Massacre. His book on the Lebanese conflict, Pity the Nation, was first published in 1990. Fisk also reported on the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Kosovo war, the Algerian civil war, and the Iran-Iraq War. Fisk suffered partial but permanent hearing loss as a result of being close to Iraqi heavy artillery in the Shatt-al-Arab when covering the early stages of the Iran-Iraq conflict.[citation needed]
Osama bin Laden[link]
Fisk is one of the few Western journalists to have interviewed Osama bin Laden—three times (all published by The Independent: 6 December 1993, 10 July 1996, and 22 March 1997). During one of Fisk's interviews with Bin Laden, Fisk noted an attempt by Bin Laden to convert him. Bin Laden said; "Mr Robert, one of our brothers had a dream. He dreamed ... that you were a spiritual person ... this means you are a true Muslim." Fisk replied; "Sheikh Osama, I am not a Muslim ... I am a journalist ... A journalist's task is to tell the truth." Bin Laden replied: "If you tell the truth, that means you are a good Muslim."[21][22]
During the 1996 interview, Bin Laden accused the Saudi royal family of corruption. During the 1997 (and final) interview, Bin Laden said he sought God's help "to turn America into a shadow of itself".[23]
11 September attacks[link]
Fisk condemned the 11 September 2001 attacks, describing them as a "hideous crime against humanity." He also denounced the Bush administration's response to the attacks, arguing that "a score of nations" were being identified and positioned as "haters of democracy" or "kernels of evil," and urged a more honest debate on U.S. policy in the Middle East. He argued that such a debate had hitherto been avoided "because, of course, to look too closely at the Middle East would raise disturbing questions about the region, about our Western policies in those tragic lands, and about America's relationship with Israel."[24]
In August 2007 Fisk expressed personal doubts about the official historical record of the 11 September attacks. In an article for The Independent, he claimed that, while the Bush administration was incapable of successfully carrying out such attacks due to its organisational incompetence: "I am increasingly troubled at the inconsistencies in the official narrative of 9/11." He proceeded to raise his concerns about a lack of aircraft debris, the melting point of steel, the collapse of World Trade Center 7, misidentified suicide-hijackers, the authenticity of correspondence attributed by the CIA to Mohamed Atta, and other familiar questions that have circulated within the 9/11 Truth Movement. He added that he does not condone the "crazed 'research' of David Icke [...] I am talking about scientific issues".[25] Fisk had earlier addressed similar concerns in a speech at Sydney University in 2006.[26] During the speech, Fisk said: "Partly I think because of the culture of secrecy of the White House, never have we had a White House so secret as this one. Partly because of this culture, I think suspicions are growing in the United States, not just among Berkeley guys with flowers in their hair [...] But there are a lot of things we don’t know, a lot of things we’re not going to be told [...] perhaps the plane was hit by a missile, we still don’t know."[27]
War in Afghanistan[link]
After the United States launched its attack on Afghanistan, Fisk was for a time transferred to Pakistan to provide coverage of that conflict. While reporting from there, he was attacked and beaten by a group of Afghan refugees fleeing heavy bombing by the United States Air Force. He was saved from this attack by another Afghan refugee. In his graphic account of his own beating, Fisk pardoned the attackers of responsibility and pointed out that their "brutality was entirely the product of others, of us—of we who had armed their struggle against the Russians and ignored their pain and laughed at their civil war and then armed and paid them again for the 'War for Civilisation' just a few miles away and then bombed their homes and ripped up their families and called them 'collateral damage.'"[28]
Iraq[link]
During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Fisk was stationed in Baghdad and filed many eyewitness reports. He has criticized other journalists based in Iraq for what he calls their "hotel journalism", literally reporting from one's hotel room without interviews or first hand experience of events.[29] His opposition to the war brought criticism from both Irish Sunday Independent columnist and senator, Eoghan Harris,[30] and The Guardian columnist, Simon Hoggart.[31]
Fisk has criticised the American handling of the sectarian violence in post-invasion Iraq, and argued that the official narrative of sectarian conflict is not possible: "The real question I ask myself is: who are these people who are trying to provoke the civil war? Now the Americans will say it's Al Qaeda, it's the Sunni insurgents. It is the death squads. Many of the death squads work for the Ministry of Interior. Who runs the Ministry of Interior in Baghdad? Who pays the Ministry of the Interior? Who pays the militia men who make up the death squads? We do, the occupation authorities [...] We need to look at this story in a different light."[32]
Books and other works[link]
Books[link]
Fisk has published a number of books. His 2005 work, The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East, with its criticism of Western and Israeli approaches to the Middle East, was well-received by critics and students of international affairs, and is perhaps his best-known work.
- The Point of No Return: The Strike which Broke the British in Ulster (1975). London: Times Books/Deutsch. ISBN 0-233-96682-X
- In Time of War: Ireland, Ulster and the Price of Neutrality, 1939–1945 (2001). London: Gill & Macmillan. ISBN 0-7171-2411-8 (1st ed. was 1983).
- Pity the Nation : Lebanon at War (3rd ed. 2001). London: Oxford University Press; xxi, 727 pages. ISBN 0-19-280130-9 (1st ed. was 1990).
- The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East (October 2005) London. Fourth Estate; xxvi, 1366 pages. ISBN 1-84115-007-X
- The Age of the Warrior: Selected Writings (2008) London, Fourth Estate ISBN 978-0-00-727073-6
Video documentary[link]
Fisk produced a three-part series titled From Beirut To Bosnia in 1993 which Fisk says was an attempt "to find out why an increasing number of Muslims had come to hate the West."[33] Fisk says that the Discovery Channel did not show a repeat of the films, after initially showing them in full, due to a letter campaign launched by pro-Israel groups such as CAMERA.[33][34]
Forgery misattributed to Robert Fisk[link]
- Saddam Hussein—From Birth to Martyrdom (2007). Egypt: Ibda; 272 pages.[35]
Awards[link]
In 1991, Fisk won a Jacob's Award for his RTÉ Radio coverage of the first Gulf War.[36] He received Amnesty International UK Press Awards in 1998 for his reports from Algeria and again in 2000 for his articles on the NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999. In 1999, Fisk won the Orwell Prize for journalism.[37]
He has received the British Press Awards' International Journalist of the Year seven times, and twice won its "Reporter of the Year" award.[38] In 2001, he was awarded the David Watt Prize for "outstanding contributions towards the clarification of political issues and the promotion of their greater understanding" for his investigation into the Armenian Genocide by the Turks in 1915.[39] In 2002 he was the fourth recipient of the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. More recently, Fisk was awarded the 2006 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize along with $350,000.[40]
He was made an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of St Andrews on 24 June 2004. The Political and Social Sciences department of Ghent University (Belgium) awarded Fisk an honorary doctorate on 24 March 2006. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the American University of Beirut in June 2006. Trinity College Dublin awarded him a second, honorary, Doctorate in July 2008.[41]
Fisk gave the 2005 Edward Said Memorial lecture at Adelaide University.[42]
In 2011, Fisk was awarded the International Prize at the Amalfi Coast Media Awards in Italy.[43]
Fisk is also a recipient of the College Historical Society's "Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse".[citation needed]
References[link]
- ^ "Robert Fisk". The Independent. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk. Retrieved 2006-07-19.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjoGLA4mVxU&feature=channel
- ^ Bronner, Ethan (19 November 2005). "A Foreign Correspondent Who Does More Than Report". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/books/review/19bron.html?ei=5070&en=55044ab9f817eb99&ex=1153454400&pagewanted=print. Retrieved 2006-07-19.
- ^ http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/activities/item.php?updatenum=466
- ^ Robert Fisk: The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle Eastpp. 1–39 ISBN 1-84115-007-X
- ^ "Honoured War Reporter Sides With Victims of Conflict". New Zealand Press Association. 4 November 2005.
- ^ Miles, Oliver (19 November 2005). "The big picture". Guardian Unlimited. http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/politicsphilosophyandsociety/0,6121,1645908,00.html. Retrieved 2006-07-19.
- ^ "Robert Fisk: Terror of Power and Power of Terror". [[Making Contact (radio program)|]]. National Radio Project. 12 October 2010. http://www.radioproject.org/2010/10/robert-fisk-the-terror-of-power-and-the-power-of-terror/. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
- ^ Robert Fisk, The Great War for Civilisation, 2005
- ^ Robert Fisk and Martin Bell. (10 November 2009) The lost art of reportage The Independent. 15:48–15:52 minutes in. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
- ^ Word detective, 2003
- ^ "Archbishop on end of a good Fisking" The Guardian, 19 June 2005
- ^ "MP stunned at actor's outburst". BBC Online. May 4, 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1967317.stm. Retrieved December 28, 2008.
- ^ Fisk, Robert (May 14, 2002). "Why Does Malkovich Want to Kill Me?". The Independent (London). http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-why-does-john-malkovich-want-to-kill-me-605849.html. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
- ^ Fisk, Robert (10 March, 2012). "Robert Fisk: Condemn me, but get your facts right first". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-condemn-me-but-get-your-facts-right-first-7547335.html?origin=internalSearch. Retrieved April 29, 2012.
- ^ "Deadly skies: The bloody truth about the Battle of Britain 70 years on". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/deadly-skies-the-bloody-truth-about-the-battle-of-britain-70-years-on-2015062.html. Retrieved 2011-10-24.
- ^ "Robert Fisk lecture". LU News (Lancaster University). November 2006. http://domino.lancs.ac.uk/Info/lunews.nsf/I/9273D1AFBDC1A6B38025721B0049FA77. Retrieved 2008-10-14
- ^ a b "Former postgraduate students". Trinity College, Dublin. http://www.tcd.ie/Political_Science/postgraduate/phdstudentspre1995.php. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
- ^ Robert Fisk (26 July 2008). "My days in Fleet Street's Lubyanka". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-my-days-in-fleet-streets-lubyanka-877812.html. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
- ^ Fisk, Robert (2006). The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East. London: Harper Perennial. pp. 973. ISBN 978-1-84115-008-6.
- ^ Ben Naparstek, New Zealand Listener, Watching the warriors, 30 August-5 September 2008 Vol 215 No 3564
- ^ Fisk, Robert (2007). The Great War For Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East. Vintage. pp. 29–30. ISBN 978-1-4000-7517-1.
- ^ Fisk, Robert. Robert Fisk on Bin Laden at 50, The Independent. 4 March 2007.
- ^ Fisk, Robert. One year on: A view from the Middle East, The Independent, 11 September 2002.
- ^ Fisk, Robert (25 August 2007). "Even I question the 'truth' about 9/11". The Independent. http://news.independent.co.uk/fisk/article2893860.ece. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
- ^ Are they all mad?, Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun, 29 March 2006
- ^ Robert Fisk at Sydney Ideas 2006 Robert Fisk, ABC News Australia, Sunday 26 March 2006
- ^ Fisk, Robert (2001-12-10). "My beating by refugees is a symbol of the hatred and fury of this filthy war". robert-fisk.com. Archived from the original on 2006-06-18. http://web.archive.org/web/20060618131439/http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles1.htm. Retrieved 2006-07-19.
- ^ Fisk, Robert (2005-01-17). "Hotel journalism gives American troops a free hand as the press shelters indoors". [1]. Archived from the original on 2006-03-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20060327175323/http://robert-fisk.com/articles450.htm. Retrieved 2006-07-19.
- ^ Harris, Eoghan. Air-kissing the terrorists—call it Luvvies Actually, Sunday Independent, 23 November 2003.
- ^ Hoggart, Simon. A war cry from the pulpit, The Guardian, 17 November 2001.
- ^ Robert Fisk shares his Middle East knowledge Tony Jones, ABC Australia, 02/03/2006
- ^ a b David Wallis, ed. (2004). Killed: great journalism too hot to print. Nation Books. pp. 388. ISBN 978-1-56025-581-9. http://books.google.com/?id=HH9XFP2VAhAC&pg=PA388&q=.
- ^ Trager, Robert; Donna Lee Dickerson (1999). Freedom of expression in the 21st century. Pine Forge Press. pp. 80. ISBN 978-0-8039-9085-2. http://books.google.com/?id=3B3HcQrDobYC&pg=PA80&q=.
- ^ Fisk, Robert (1 February 2008). "Robert Fisk: The curious case of the forged biography". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/robert-fisk-the-curious-case-of-the-forged-biography-776775.html. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
- ^ The Irish Times, "In the wars", 19 November 1991
- ^ List of 1999 winners The Orwell Prize for Journalism
- ^ "Times reporter wins award". The Times. 15 December 1987.
- ^ "Fisk wins award for political journalism". The Independent. 20 July 2001. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/fisk-wins-award-for-political-journalism-678347.html.
- ^ "2006 Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize awarded to Robert Fisk". Lannan Foundation. http://www.lannan.org/lf/cf/detail/2006-lannan-cultural-freedom-prize-awarded-to-robert-fisk/.
- ^ "Five recipients to receive honorary degrees at Trinity College Dublin". http://www.tcd.ie/Communications/news/news.php?headerID=954&vs_date=2008-7-1.
- ^ "About the Edward Said Memorial Lecture". University of Adelaide. http://www.adelaide.edu.au/esml/about/. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
- ^ Robert Fisk wins International Prize
Further reading[link]
- Robert Fisk on Shakespeare and war
- Man of War by Rachel Cooke of The Observer, 13 April 2008
- Journalism and 'the words of power': Robert Fisk address to the fifth Al Jazeera annual forum on 23 May
External links[link]
- Column archive at The Independent
- Robert Fisk at ZSpace
- Article archive at Journalisted
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Robert Fisk on Charlie Rose
- Robert Fisk at the Internet Movie Database
- Works by or about Robert Fisk in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Robert Fisk on the Gap Between U.S. Rhetoric and Action in the Egyptian Uprising—video interview by Democracy Now!, 2011
- Interview with Robert Fisk in Lebanon - 16 May 2011 (The Student Journals)
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robert Fisk |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Fisk, Robert |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 1946-07-12 |
| Place of birth | Maidstone, Kent, England |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Robert_Fisk
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fisk
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
