Patrick Cockburn · Isis consolidates · LRB 21 August 2014

Isis consolidatesPatrick Cockburn

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As the attention of the world focused on Ukraine and Gaza, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Isis captured a third of Syria in addition to the quarter of Iraq it had seized in June. The frontiers of the new Caliphate declared by Isis on 29 June are expanding by the day and now cover an area larger than Great Britain and inhabited by at least six million people, a population larger than that of Denmark, Finland or Ireland. In a few weeks of fighting in Syria Isis has established itself as the dominant force in the Syrian opposition, routing the official al-Qaida affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra, in the oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor and executing its local commander as he tried to flee. In northern Syria some five thousand Isis fighters are using tanks and artillery captured from the Iraqi army in Mosul to besiege half a million Kurds in their enclave at Kobani on the Turkish border. In central Syria, near Palmyra, Isis fought the Syrian army as it overran the al-Shaer gasfield, one of the largest in the country, in a surprise assault that left an estimated three hundred soldiers and civilians dead. Repeated government counter-attacks finally retook the gasfield but Isis still controls most of Syria’s oil and gas production. The Caliphate may be poor and isolated but its oil wells and control of crucial roads provide a steady income in addition to the plunder of war.The birth of the new state is the most radical change to the political geography of the Middle East since the Sykes-Picot Agreement was implemented in the aftermath of the First World War. Yet

via Patrick Cockburn · Isis consolidates · LRB 21 August 2014.

Police get new power to clear Paternoster Square of protesters… with no order from court – London – News – London Evening Standard

Laws have been passed allowing police to clear the City of London square targeted by anti-capitalist protesters without a court order.Occupy London campaigners targeted Paternoster Square in their 2011 protest against “corporate greed”.But the square’s owners secured a High Court injunction shutting it to  the public and leaving thousands  of protesters spending months camped outside St Paul’s Cathedral, next to  the square.Now the City of London Corporation has granted the square, which is home to the London Stock Exchange, the status of “City walkway”.It means police can close Paternoster Square, and six adjoining lanes and alleys, immediately in the case of “imminent threat” or “force majeure”, the civil law term for unforeseen events.The move is part of a deal between the City, the square’s freeholders, and Canadian-owned Oxford Properties Group, which owns most of the buildings on the site.Oxford Properties Group requested extra powers that included “the ability … to restrict access to the estate  in the case of demonstration or terrorist threat”.The by-laws will be enacted once they are signed off by the town clerk.Matthew Varnham, Occupy’s legal advisor, said the change could be  challenged if it was seen to be incompatible with human rights law. He said: “It’s one step further in encroaching on people’s ancient rights.”

via Police get new power to clear Paternoster Square of protesters… with no order from court – London – News – London Evening Standard.

Police get new power to clear Paternoster Square of protesters… with no order from court – London – News – London Evening Standard

Laws have been passed allowing police to clear the City of London square targeted by anti-capitalist protesters without a court order.Occupy London campaigners targeted Paternoster Square in the

via Police get new power to clear Paternoster Square of protesters… with no order from court – London – News – London Evening Standard.

Here’s how big Gaza is in comparison to some cities around the world | SBS News

Here’s how big Gaza is in comparison to some cities around the world | SBS News.

22 JUL 2014 – 8:22PM

Here’s how big Gaza is in comparison to some cities around the world

 

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How does the population density of the entire Gaza Strip compare to individual cities around the world?

Gaza is a Palestinian region on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Egypt on the southwest for 13 kilometres and Israel on the east and north along a 59 kilometre border.

At 360 square kilometres, Gaza is home to a population of more than 1.5 million people, including 1.1 millionPalestinian refugees.

That means there are a lot of people in a very small area. For perspective, Adelaide is 1,827 square kilometres and home to 1.2 million people. It accounts for 5.72% of Australia’s total population.

Gaza City, the largest urban centre of the strip, is reportedly the 40th most densely populated area in the world.

How does the size of Gaza compare to major cities around Australia?

Sydney, population: 4.576 million (2010)

Brisbane, population 2.043 million (2010)

Melbourne, population 4.077 million (2010)

Adelaide, population 1.203 million (2010)

Perth, population 1.696 million (2010)

Canberra, population 358,222 (2010)

What about major cities around the world?

London, population 8.308 million (2013)

New York City, population 8.405 million (2013)

Tokyo, population 13.35 million (2014)

Berlin, population 3.502 million (2012)

Los Angeles, population 3.858 million

Israeli Interior Minister: “The Goal of the Operation Is to Send Gaza Back to the Middle Ages”, “Destroying All the Infrastructure Including Roads and Water” Washington’s Blog

Israeli Interior Minister: “The Goal of the Operation Is to Send Gaza Back to the Middle Ages”, “Destroying All the Infrastructure Including Roads and Water” Washington’s Blog.