英闻天下——91 Turmoil in the Mideast

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　　At the same time, the situation in Syria has made no noticeable progress, while the uncertainty¹ in the Palestinian territories remains² deep through 2012.

 

　　As such, today's key words are "Turmoil³ in the Mideast."

 

　　CRI's Shen Chengcheng has the story.

 

　　A nearly two-year conflict, an estimated death toll⁴ of 60-thousand and half-a-million registered refugees.

 

　　The Syrian civil war has evolved from demonstrators calling for more freedom to a bloodbath which has polarized the international community.

 

　　Hua Liming is the former Chinese ambassador to Iran.

 

　　"Syria's opposition⁶ has been supported by NATO members, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other foreign countries. Endless of weapons and money have flown into Syria. On the other side, there are Russia and Iran supporting the Assad's government. That's why we've seen the violence in Syria kept worsening in the past year."

 

　　Hua says if a political solution is going to be worked out, it's going to be critical to have Russia fully⁷ involved in the process.

 

　　"The US, other NATO members and Saudi Arabia and Qatar insist that Assad's departure must be a precondition for a political solution in Syria. Russia, meantime does not insist that Assad should remain in power, but it contends Assad's exit should not be the prerequisite⁸ of a Syrian-led political solution."

 

　　The deteriorating⁹ humanitarian¹⁰ situation, including thousands of refugees pouring over into neighboring countries, is also creating fears of a regional spillover.

 

　　Adding to the regional unrest is the political situation in Egypt.

 

　　A once-jailed Islamist leader is now the country's president.

 

　　Mohamed Morsi's Islamist backers have enabled his rise to the presidency¹¹, the approval of the new constitution and the election of an Islamist-dominated upper chamber¹².

 

　　On top of the political polarization in Egypt, the country is facing a deepening economic crisis, a crippling budget deficit¹³ and dwindling¹⁴ foreign reserves.

 

　　Hanan Ramsis is an Egyptian economic analyst¹⁵.

 

　　"I think that Egypt's last credit rating from Standard and Poor's ranked Egypt at B minus. That means we are not stable on both the political and economic sides. That means we are heading into a dark tunnel."

 

　　In an attempt to draw money into the coffers, Morsi had been proposing a new series of taxes. However, he later backed away after his advisors¹⁶ warned of more potential uprisings.

 

　　And while the economy and politics on the ground in Egypt remain shaky, the Morsi administration was able to create an international achievement for itself by mediating¹⁷ an end to the 8-days of fighting this past year between Palestinian fighters and the Israeli military in Gaza.

 

　　Still, in the Palestinian territories, political uncertainty remains an issue.

 

　　While Hamas and Fatah have settled some of their political differences in a show of unity⁵ following the Israeli raids, the UN's move to upgrade the Palestinian side to an "observer state" has raised new international concerns.

 

　　The UN upgrade has emboldened¹⁸ Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to start labeling his administration as the State of Palestine, rather than the Palestinian National Authority.

 

　　On top of this, the Israeli government has continued to authorize¹⁹ the construction of new settlements along the so-called E1 corridor, which has left the possibility of any new peace talks a distant likelihood.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Shen Chengcheng.

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