Latin America

Hugo Chavez’s offer to mediate in the Libyan crisis marks the Venezuelan president’s latest attention-grabbing foray onto the world stage, yet analysts warn that he risks “ending up on the wrong side of history” if he stands by Muammar Gaddafi’s internationally discredited regime.

The most popular tactic is to run and shoot, retreat a bit if taking fire, and regroup and try again. It’s more street fighting than military tactics.

“Every woman is a woman of frustration. Me, I’m just struggle.” Hanin Zoabi, 41, is a Palestinian Israeli woman, a fighting woman. An elected member of the Israeli Knesset parliament, she is the first woman on an Arab party’s list, Balad.

“Gaddafi’s leadership style has always been repressive, impulsive and unpredictable,” says Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco, where he chairs the program in Middle Eastern Studies.

The Baghdad demonstration was one of many taking place across the country on Friday, including in the port of Basra and the holy city of Najaf.

The uprisings sweeping the Arab world have been provoked by long injustice, low income, police brutality, and lack of social security. While the world looks at this, the suffering of up to three million maids across the Arab world remains wrapped in silence.

Fabiana Frayssinet HAVANA TIMES, Feb. 28 (IPS) — A protestor held out a handful of metal dust, part of the

Besieged Libyan leader Muammar el-Gaddafi, who has incurred the wrath of his own people and drawn punitive strictures from the international community, is now under attack by a coalition of over 200 Arab non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including a group of intellectuals from across the Middle East.

The momentous events of Tahrir Square, Egypt also signify a huge step forward for gender equality in the region, women’s rights activists said Friday.