Conservative blogger Eleanor Duckwall notes that the women of Iran who are demanding democracy and freedom are empowered with university education but are suffocating under repressive cultural norms.

"When I watched the brave and often incredibly beautiful young Iranian women take to the streets in the last few days, I also thought back to how Dr. Nafisi's favorite students mocked a culture that allowed them a university education while attempting to confine them to gender roles more appropriate to 7th-century warring Arab nomads."

A Mumbai Mirror reader in India also points towards the reality of Iranian women's progress held hostage by lack of freedom. Writing to the editor, Rajendra Aneja says

"But a major lesson for the entire world from Iran is the dynamic role played by Iranian women. Even prior to the elections, women were leading the campaign for more freedom. After the results, Iranian women in the country and abroad are at the forefront of agitation and street protests…And now, women are leading and showing the way forward for change and fighting for it."

Maureen Callahan at The New York Post calls the women protesters "The Heroines of Iran" and notes the progress made by Iranian women in education and political activism.

"The women of Iran are on the verge. They are more literate and highly educated than men (63 percent attend university), and, as in the U.S., women comprise 50 percent of the vote. Ahmadinejad's challengers — even Karroubi, the cleric! — made a point of soliciting the female vote, appearing in public with their wives, or speaking to the need for more women in parliament or positions of power."

And the women on streets are not divided by economic class. Liana Aghajanian, editor-in-chief of independent Armenian magazine IANYAN, says

"At the beginning I thought this was going to be a fight between the lower class and the middle class. What I saw on Monday changed my mind completely. I saw many women, young and old, covered head-to-toe in black chadors shouting and chanting among the demonstrators and joining the young girls who were sitting on the ground in the middle of the street to stop the Basij militia from walking inside the crowd."

There are plenty of videos of the notorious Basij militia beating up protesters on YouTube. It is tough to verify the authenticity of the majority of the videos because of the environment of fear in Iran, but they offer those outside Iran a glimpse of events in the country.

Here is an unverified video of the Basij beating up women protesters.

Bhumika Ghimire

Why we protest: A forum with updates on rallies, missing persons, videos, and pictures of events.

Iranian: Website with protest pictures, the latest news, and updates from the ground. Has English and Farsi sections.

Iranian Woman: An Iranian woman blogs about life in today's Iran, in English and Farsi.

Feministing has an interesting article on the role of women in ongoing unrest in Iran.

I will post more links in the days to come.

Meanwhile, a CNN news update says that the planned opposition rally has been delayed in Iran after a government crackdown:

"The opposition had called for a ceremony to remember the victims of Iran's post-election protests, but Wednesday night, the Web site of defeated presidential candidate Mehdi Karrubi's party announced it would be delayed. The site did not offer an alternate date."

Commentators are now suggesting that the protesters have lost some momentum because of the government's harsh crackdown and intimidation techniques. And the delayed rally also hints towards that, but it is also true that daily nighttime protest, where people shout "god is great" on rooftops, is going on without fail.

Bhumika Ghimire

I do not mean to intrude, and I do not mean to be disrespectful, but when a young woman is killed just for standing up for her beliefs, it is absolutely my business and I will speak out.

I respect Iran and Iranian culture, but I have no respect for a regime that rigs elections and then kills people who protest the travesty.  

I have nothing against Islam, nothing against Muslims, but I have a big beef against the people who force women to the sidelines and then accuse others of being the "great Satan."

I am Neda and I am here for the Iranian people.

Bhumika Ghimire

Efforts to secure their release are underway. CNN is now reporting that the UN Security Council has agreed on tougher sanctions against the rouge regime.

"The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council have agreed on a resolution that would expand and tighten sanctions on North Korea, two senior Western diplomats at the United Nations said.

The members — the United States, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and France — reached agreement while working with Japan and South Korea."

If you would like to show your support for the captured journalists, visit LiberateLaura or this Facebook group.

For background information on events surrounding their arrest and the trial, Global Voices has an excellent post by Jillian York.

Bhumika Ghimire

 The Wall Street Journal says

"California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state's chief accountant Tuesday warned lawmakers that they have until June 15 to close the state's crippling budget deficit.

If they miss the deadline, the state will run out of cash by the end of July, said state Controller John Chiang. That means Californians could see a repeat of this past winter, when officials delayed payments to welfare recipients, private contractors and local governments to keep the state solvent amid a budget impasse."

 

At San Jose Mercury News, Thomas D. Elias calls the state to "dump state programs." He says that the heavy burden of state programs is dragging California behind.

"Some basic items are now on the chopping block. One proposal would eliminate the Healthy Families program that covers 942,000 children in families barely above the official poverty line. Do this and the state risks epidemics of diseases like measles and mumps, onetime scourges now kept in check by vaccinations. Do this and emergency rooms — which by federal law cannot turnmost patients away — could be swamped. It's uncertain who would pay them for their work. Don't pay them and widespread hospital closures may ensue. "No analysis (of this) has been done," conceded state finance director Mike Genest."

 

Most Americans, at this point in a recession can offer a very valuable suggestion to California government and politicians — don't spend if you can't afford it. As simple as that.

Bhumika Ghimire

But the most interesting thing I found in California is the way the local media is dealing with Prop 8/gay marriage right issue. Yesterday, just hours before the California Supreme Court was to hand down the decision on whether Prop 8 (gay marriage ban) stands, the local news media went crazy. The day I arrived here (two weeks back) the issue was already dominating local news media.

I take no position on the gay marriage issue; it is not for me to comment. What got me fired up is the way local media handled the issue. Their bias is so clear and they make no efforts to hide it. I know it is futile to ask for fairness in the media, especially after the way they handled Hillary Clinton during the primaries and the whole terrorism madness before Iraq was attacked, but I still find it interesting that Fox News is happily attacked for being pro-GOP while the liberal bias of some news outlets is accepted.

Bhumika Ghimire

The report says that:

"Congressional leaders were briefed repeatedly on the CIA's use of severe interrogation methods on Al Qaeda suspects, according to new information released by the Obama administration Thursday that appears to contradict the assertions of House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi."

 

So was Pelosi lying when she said the following?

"We were not — I repeat were not — told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used."

 Fox News, never a Pelosi fan, said:

"Republicans have already accused Pelosi and other Democrats of having selective and politically motivated amnesia when it comes to who knew what, and when, about the Bush-era interrogation programs. Those accusations were leveled in light of a Washington Post story published in 2007 that quoted two officials saying the California Democrat and three other lawmakers had received an hour-long secret briefing on the interrogation tactics, including waterboarding, and that they raised no objections at the time."

 

 Never a dull moment in Washington!

Bhumika Ghimire

According to Jeffrey Toobin's book on supreme court justices, Justice Souter is a low-tech person who loves the outdoors. He does not have a television or a cell phone. A bachelor, he was appointed to the court by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. Although President Bush appointed him assured of his conservative leaning, Justice Souter soon stunned everyone by supporting Roe v. Wade, voting to uphold the landmark ruling on abortion rights.

Now he is firmly on the more liberal side of the court. So when President Obama appoints his successor, there will not much change. But since Justice Ginsberg's health is a big concern because of her recent illness, the Obama administration could get lucky and get a chance to turn the court into a more liberal one.

CBS News is saying that the new appointee to the court could possibly be a woman from a minority group. Judge Sonia Sotomayor, a Latina woman, and solicitor general Elena Kagan are mentioned as possible choices.

US News & World Report writes about the calculations going on about the confirmation hearing, citing reports from today's New York Times, Politico, and The Washington Post.

Bhumika Ghimire

Birth of a daughter is still seen as a bad omen by many parents in the impoverished country. A girl child is more likely to be married off early, receive less education (or none), and be denied health care. In urban areas, child marriages may be rare, but in poor villages it is very common.

But now children themselves are leading the charge against child marriages. According to Republica, students called in the police to stop the marriage of four of their schoolmates, all of whom are minors.

It took quite an effort though to make the parents agree to stop the marriages. Dipak B.K, program coordinator of a local social group, said the parents refused to cooperate at first.

“After the refusal, local children took to the streets, rallied. and sloganeered. The parents then agreed to stop the marriages,” B.K. said. Among the slogans chanted by the children are “marriage only after twenty” and “child marriage will land you in jail.”

The students have done an admirable deed, but the battle against the evil of child marriages is far from over. The same report suggests that some parents may shift the marriage venue to neighboring India.

Bhumika Ghimire

Afghan president Hamid Karzai is currently reviewing the law, after much protest from the international community.

The law aimed at the minority Shia community prohibits a woman from leaving the house without her husband's permission and says that a wife cannot say no to her husband when it comes to sex.

Extremism is making a strong comeback in Afghanistan's government, and it is no secret. Otherwise, how can you explain a law that legalizes rape? Not only is the government in Kabul incompetent to deal with extremist mullahs and religious leaders, it is also inept at dealing with the resurgent Taliban.

According to UPI , the Taliban recently murdered a couple for eloping. The woman defied her parents and ran away with her lover. Her parents reported the incident to the religious militia and the young couple was publicly executed.

Bhumika Ghimire

Manama is not a very glitzy city when you compare it to cities in the region, but it is charming. Sadly the waterfront areas are being rapidly urbanized, making them look like an ugly replica of Dubai. And there were lot of South Asian laborers around the city. I met some from my native Nepal.

Along with its pragmatic attitude on women's rights and their participation in public life, Baharain has gone a new way on Jewish-Muslim relations.

The New York Times reports that "It's O.K. to be Jewish in Bahrain." It is no secret that in the region and around the world, Jewish-Muslim relations have suffered because of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa — a Sunni Muslim — has taken steps to embrace the country's Jewish minority.

But not everyone is happy. Some see the King's move as a way to keep America — Bahrain's ally — happy, and some question the king's tolerance towards Jews and discrimination against the native Shia.

Bhumika Ghimire

The attack on a police academy which killed nine comes just weeks after a visiting Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked. Lahore, Punjab province's largest city, has experienced two high-profile terrorist attack in a very short time span, proving that militants are not limited to the lawless Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP).

In an earlier post, "Pakistan dilemma," I discussed Pakistani government's decision to enter into a peace agreement with Taliban militants based in Swat Valley. The militants have established a Sharia court there and govern in the same authoritarian way as they did back in Afghanistan.

The decision to allow the militants to flourish in Swat Valley has hurt Pakistan's chances of defeating terrorism and getting rid of the Taliban and their al Qaeda friends. Why will the militants fear the government or the security forces when they see that, with enough pressure, the government is ready to agree to their demands?

President Obama has promised to overhaul America's policy on Pakistan and Afghanistan. He needs to stop pouring billions into Pakistan when the country's government is caving under the terrorists' demands. Terrorism in Pakistan can be defeated only when the country's government grows a spine.

Bhumika Ghimire