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Geopolitics

ARABICA - A Daily Shot Of What the Arab World is Saying/Hearing/Sharing

ARABICA - A Daily Shot Of What the Arab World is Saying/Hearing/Sharing
Kristen Gillespie


A R A B I C A ارابيكا

LIBYA TODAY
Libyan rebels are launching an offensive in the western part of the country, as well as a push toward Muammar Gaddafi's historical stronghold of Sirte. One rebel military official predicts, "God willing, we will finish soon."

LIBYA TOMORROW
Libyan commentator Saleh al-Sanusi writes on Al Jazeera's website that carrying out the revolution is a small task compared with what lies ahead. "There is a big difference between the easy destruction of things and the difficulty of constructing them."

SYRIAN FRIDAY
The Syrian Revolution Facebook group rallied its followers to protest across the country on the last Friday of Ramadan, specifically in Aleppo's Al-Jabiri Square following evening prayers. The group is calling on citizens to hold a silent protest, "without chants' through dawn Saturday morning to commemorate the Muslim holiday of Lailat al-Qader, during which believers pray through the night.

Aleppo and Damascus are widely considered the keys to bringing down the Assad regime. Sporadic protests have broken out in both cities, and in their suburbs, but a heavy military presence may be a deterring factor in the relative calm witnessed there these past two months. The Facebook group is focusing on Aleppo, a city of merchants and trade, to put further pressure on the regime.

FOG OF REGIME, TAKE 1
As President Bashar al-Assad is facing its most serious threat after 41 years of Assad rule in Syria, with a popular uprising that appears undeterred even in the face of 2,000 civilian deaths, the leader himself this week praised the "genuine essence of Syrian citizens and the pride in their homeland."

FOG OF REGIME, TAKE 2
Meanwhile The Syrian ambassador to Lebanon stated on Friday that the situation in Syria is "good and stable." Ambassador Ali Abdulkarim Ali said Syria "is fine and on the way to implementing reforms." Following a meeting with officials in Beirut, he added that "the unrest is now behind us…Syria is reinforced by its national unity and the awareness of its people who reject any conspiracy that can lead to unrest."

August 26, 2011

photo credit: illustir

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Society

Italy's Right-Wing Government Turns Up The Heat On 'Gastronationalism'

Rome has been strongly opposed to synthetic foods, insect-based flours and health warnings on alcohol, and aggressive lobbying by Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government against nutritional labeling has prompted accusations in Brussels of "gastronationalism."

Dough is run through a press to make pasta

Creation of home made pasta

Karl De Meyer et Olivier Tosseri

ROME — On March 23, the Italian Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, Francesco Lollobrigida, announced that Rome would ask UNESCO to recognize Italian cuisine as a piece of intangible cultural heritage.

On March 28, Lollobrigida, who is also Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's brother-in-law, promised that Italy would ban the production, import and marketing of food made in labs, especially artificial meat — despite the fact that there is still no official request to market it in Europe.

Days later, Italian Eurodeputy Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of fascist leader Benito Mussolini and member of the Forza Italia party, which is part of the governing coalition in Rome, caused a sensation in the European Parliament. On the sidelines of the plenary session, Sophia Loren's niece organized a wine tasting, under the slogan "In Vino Veritas," to show her strong opposition (and that of her government) to an Irish proposal to put health warnings on alcohol bottles. At the end of the press conference, around 11am, she showed her determination by drinking from the neck of a bottle of wine, to great applause.

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