The Crusades: An Arab Perspective - Part 4: Liberation

From the Third Crusade to the siege of Acre - we explore how the crusader presence in the Holy Land was brought to an end and look at the long-lasting impact of this chapter in history.

Inside Libya's First Free City: Jubilation Fails to Hide Deep Wounds
THE GUARDIAN: The first foreign journalist to reach Benghazi sees how Muammar Gaddafi's bid to cling to power has failed

At the heart of the city where he launched his rise to power, Muammar Gaddafi's indignity is now complete. In little more than three days of rampage, the rebels in Libya's second city have done their best to wind the clock back 42 years – to life before the dictator they loathe.

Benghazi has fallen and Gaddafi's bid to cling on to power, whatever the cost, has crumbled with it. There is barely a trace of him now, except for obscene graffiti that mocks him on the dust-strewn walls where his portraits used to hang.

Residents who would not have dared to approach the town's main military base without an invitation were doing victory laps around it in their cars. Every barrack block inside had been torched and looted. The stage where Gaddafi would address the masses on the rare occasions that he came here had collapsed. His house across the road had been ransacked and there wasn't a loyalist soldier inside.

"He is gone. A dragon has been slain," cried Ahmed Al-Fatuuir outside the secret police headquarters. "Now he has to explain where all the bodies are."

The Middle East's longest ruling autocrat seems disinclined to do that, or to go quietly. His rambling speech on Tuesday night, in which he vowed to die in his homeland as a "martyr", has convinced many in Benghazi that although they may have ousted their foe from eastern Libya, they have not seen the last of the bloodshed. >>> Martin Chulov in Benghazi | Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi Released
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition leader, has been released after seven years in detention.


Ms San Suu Kyi appeared outside her house, waving and smiling. Someone threw her a flower which she put in her hair.

Addressing the jubilant crowd, she told her supporters: "["]There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk. People must work in unison. Only then can we achieve our goal."

She was expected to meet her party leaders inside her home on Saturday. She also invited her supporters to come to her party's headquarters on Sunday to hear her speak.

At least 1,000 people had gathered near her lakeside villa to witness her release.

Many cheered loudly and chanted "Release Aung San Suu Kyi" and "Long live Aung San Suu Kyi", as officials pulled down barbed wire and removed the concrete barricades.

Witnesses said that police were no longer stationed outside the building. >>> | Saturday, November 13, 2010

BIRMANIE : Enfin libre, Aung San Suu Kyi appelle au rassemblement de ses partisans
L'opposante Aung San Suu Kyi a été libérée après plus de sept ans en résidence surveillée. Photo : Le Pont
LE POINT: Aung San Suu Kyi, symbole de la lutte pour la démocratie en Birmanie, a été libérée samedi après plus de sept ans en résidence surveillée, demandant à des milliers de partisans en liesse de travailler "à l'unisson" pour l'avenir du pays. La lauréate du prix Nobel de la paix, considérée par certains comme l'unique solution face à la junte au pouvoir, est apparue souriante aux grilles de sa maison, quelques minutes après avoir pris connaissance de l'ordre de libération la concernant.

Portant dans ses cheveux une fleur lancée depuis la foule, elle a prononcé quelques mots devant des partisans en délire, la plupart de ses paroles étant couvertes par les hurlements et les applaudissements. "Nous devons travailler ensemble, à l'unisson" à l'avenir du pays, a-t-elle déclaré. "Si vous voulez entendre, venez s'il vous plaît demain à midi au bureau" de la Ligue nationale pour la démocratie (LND), son parti dissous avec lequel elle a mené tout son combat depuis son apparition sur la scène politique birmane, en 1988. "Elle est libre maintenant", avait indiqué un responsable birman quelques minutes auparavant, tandis que la police enlevait les barrières menant à la vieille demeure familiale dans laquelle elle a été si longtemps confinée. >>> Source AFP | Samedi 13 Novembre 2010

Aung San Suu Kyi auf freiem Fuss: Burmesische Friedensnobelpreisträgerin zeigt sich ihren Anhängern
NZZ ONLINE: Die birmanische Oppositionsführerin Aung San Suu Kyi kommt auf freien Fuss. Ihr wurde am Samstag die Aufhebung ihres Hausarrest verlesen.

In Burma ist die Oppositionspolitikerin Aung San Suu Kyi aus ihrem Hausarrest entlassen worden. «Sie ist nun frei», sagte ein Regierungsvertreter, der namentlich nicht genannt werden wollte.

Die Friedensnobelpreisträgerin zeigte sich danach ihren Anhängern. Die 65-Jährige erschien in Rangun am Tor ihres Hauses, in dem die sie jahrelang abgeschnitten von der Aussenwelt leben[.] >>> afp | Samstag, 13. November 2010

Dachau Concentration Camp – Liberation

Muslimah Experimenting with Freedom & Seeking Her Rights and Liberation
Photo courtesy of Google Images
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>