Daily News Brief — July 29, 2010

Saudi, Syrian and Qatari leaders to meet in Beirut
Sauid King Abdullah, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani will be in Beirut tomorrow, in what’s being called a “mini-Arab summit” The meetings are seen to be attempts at easing worries that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s (STL) indictment against some Hezbollah members will spark a new sectarian conflict in Lebanon.  Earlier this week, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah announced he thought the STL would be indicting some Hezbollah members for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri. The visit will also mark Syrian President Assad’s first visit to Lebanon ever since the assassination.

• Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reject direct talks with Israel.
• A new report shows alarming corruption rates in Egypt.
• Hamas orders lingerie shops to remove scantily-clad mannequins from displays.
• Al Qaeda-linked group claims responsibility for the T.V. bombing in Baghdad.
• Israel speeds up West Bank barrier construction.
• Palestinian women work as ditch-diggers to support their families.

Daily Snapshot

A Yemeni man walks past burning tyres during a protest in the southern town of Sabr of the Lahj province on July 28, 2010 against the arrest of 10 men suspected in ambushing a military vehicle and killing four soldiers (AFP/Getty Images).

Arguments & Analysis
‘Gulf downturn strands laborers’ (Dan Nolan, Al-Jazeera English)
The global economic recession was felt particuarly hard in Dubai, where years of booming infrastructure development went bust virtually overnight. Yet an underclass of mostly Southeast Asian workers have been a largely ignored sector in the ongoing economic difficulties. In many cases, the plight of these workers has become a serious crisis in their own right.

‘Will There Be Justice for Murdered Egyptian Blogger?’ (Geoffrey Mock, Huffington Post)
The trial for the murder of Egyptian blogger Khaled Mohammed Said, who is alleged to have been beaten to death by two members of the security establishment, began this week. Despite a justice system that is generally relentless in its defense of the state against individuals, widespread protest and civic engagement have seen this case reverberate widely throughout the Egyptian public.

‘Turkey’s new foreign policy direction: Implications for U.S.-Turkish relations’ (Ian Lesser, German Marshall Fund)
In testimony on the Hill, Dr. Ian Lesser argued (pdf) that some divergence between the U.S. and Turkey has been inevitable for a number of years. Yet notwithstanding the more obvious differences on Iran and Israel (which are nonetheless legitimate and obvious reflections of Turkish foreign policy goals), there are a number of strategic issues that demonstrate the continued importance of the U.S.-Turkish relationship; talk of a Turkish turn to the East are thus misguided.

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