Links for March 26th

Links from my del.icio.us account for March 26th:

• A Matter of National Security - No time to blog about this, but there actually was a debate this year when the Egyptian parliament voted to waive approval of arms deals - giving the president the power to make them at his discretion, with no oversight.


• Israel's Netanyahu doesn't expect U.S. policy pressure - washingtonpost.com - Bibi not worried: ""I think you are talking about something that I doubt existed for any length of time in the past and which I am convinced does not exist today," the hawkish Netanyahu told reporters in reply to a question about possible U.S. pressure."


• Almasry Alyoum : Sufi Sheikhs Call For Foiling April 6 Strike And Describe Its Advocators As Dissenters - Sufis for dictatorship: "Mohamed el-Shahawi, Chairman of the five-party Committee managing the dissolved Supreme Council of Sufi Orders, said all Sufis in Egypt believed in obedience to the ruler (as stated by Islam) as long as he does not violate the Islamic Law." Note he feels compelled to say this as some kind of govt-backed reordering of Sufism is taking place.


• Hamas accused of war crimes in Gaza | World news | guardian.co.uk - HRW says Hamas guilty of war crimes, but not of using civilian shields, unlike Israel: "It said Hamas deployed fighters in civilian homes during the conflict and fired rockets from bases close to civilian areas, both violations of international humanitarian law. Israel has claimed that Hamas frequently used Palestinians as human shields against Israeli attack, but Human Rights Watch said it could not find any such cases. It said its investigation had been limited because Israel had refused to grant its researchers access to Gaza."


• Syria Comment » Archives » Khalid Michal Interview by Paul McGeough - Interview by author of "Kill Khalid" book.