15-May-11 World View — Syria Refugees Flee To Lebanon

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com.

Hundreds of refugees crossing border from Syria to Lebanon

Syria has been cracking down violently on protesters in the town of Talkilakh, on the border with Lebanon. Hundreds of women and children are fleeing into Lebanon, while the men remain in Syria to protect their homes. With at least 250,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, most of whom are deprived of basic human rights, and thousands of Iraqi refugees receiving insufficient attention and care, Lebanon is hardly capable of coping with its current refugee populations, much less new ones. Palestine Chronicle

Two people injured in sectarian violence in Cairo

Violence erupted in a Cairo neighborhood on Saturday when some 2,000 pro-Coptic protesters clashed with several dozen unidentified men, leaving at least two people injured. Egyptian riot police were deployed and created a human barrier between the protesters of dozens of unidentified men, dressed in plain clothes, who began firing live ammunition into the air and attacking the demonstrators with sticks and stones. They also threw Molotov cocktails. It was not immediately clear who the attackers were or what their motive was. CNN

Pakistan reportedly drops intelligence sharing with the CIA

Officials at Pakistan’s ISI intelligence services are furious about being double-crossed by the CIA in misleading them about intelligence related to the the killing of Osama bin Laden. There are reports that ISI is refusing to share details of suspects or plots with their American counterparts in protest, raising the potential threat of attacks on Western cities. Telegraph

Pakistan’s parliament is threatening reprisals for American military actions on Pakistan’s soil — the drone strikes and the military action that killed Osama bin Laden. The lawmakers also threatened to prohibit Nato from ferrying military supplies into Afghanistan if Washington continued its campaign of drone strikes against militants. Military supplies have been reaching land-locked Afghanistan by overland routes through Pakistan, starting from Karachi. LA Times

Russia: Has the Putin-Medvedev war begun for real?


Medvedev and Putin (Ria Novosti)
Medvedev and Putin (Ria Novosti)

The relationship between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has been called a “tandem leadership,” since they seem to complement each other without friction. But now, with both of them eligible to run for president in next year’s elections, there are signs of friction. Medvedev is withholding approval of some of Putin’s initiatives, and has appeared to criticize Putin for his statements on Libya. Ria Novosti

North Korea and Iran illegally exchanging missile technology

North Korea and Iran have been regularly exchanging ballistic missile technology in violation of U.N. sanctions. The illicit technology transfers had “trans-shipment through a neighboring third country,” apparently China. “Prohibited ballistic missile-related items are suspected to have been transferred between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Islamic Republic of Iran on regular scheduled flights of Air Koryo and Iran Air,” according to a U.N. report. Reuters

Why Iran misses bin Laden

Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda is no friend of Iran, being a Sunni terrorist group that has targeted Shia Iran in the past. However, Iran cannot be pleased by the killing of bin Laden, since it gives greater prestige to President Obama, and because it raises the possibility of some similar kind of U.S. military operation in Iran. Meir Javedanfar

How did bin Laden keep three wives under one roof?

Osama bin Laden must have been driven nuts by living in the same home as three wives and 17 children. Time

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