January 2011

Standing up for democracy

by Paul Woodward 01.31.2011

As the Million Egyptian March takes to the streets of Cairo, is President Obama finally ready to take a strong stand on the side of the people? In The Guardian, Michael Tomasky writes “Obama is in no position to offer the moral thunder the protesters and their supporters everywhere crave.” Why? Because “the US should [...]

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Egypt army will defend the freedom of the Egyptian people

by News Sources 01.31.2011

It’s all over for Mubarak! Speculation that he might be able to turn the military against their own people can thankfully be laid to rest. Reuters: The army said on Monday it would not use force against Egyptians staging protests demanding President Hosni Mubarak step down, a statement said. It said “freedom of expression” was [...]

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In Bibiland Iran was Germany but now Egypt is Iran

by Paul Woodward 01.31.2011

After for several years being convinced that it was 1938, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who appears to live in a time warp, has now decided that it’s 1979. Iran was Germany and now Egypt is Iran. From Jerusalem, the prospect of Egyptians fully-armed with votes looks more dangerous than Iranians stockpiling enriched uranium. Further [...]

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The chimera of stability

by Paul Woodward 01.31.2011

However one views Hosni Mubarak, can anyone in their right mind still hold on to the idea that he is an anchor of stability? Haaretz reports: Israel called on the United States and a number of European countries over the weekend to curb their criticism of President Hosni Mubarak to preserve stability in the region. [...]

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Israel and the new Middle East

by News Sources 01.31.2011

Gideon Levy writes: As long as the masses in Egypt and in the entire Arab world continue seeing the images of tyranny and violence from the occupied territories, Israel will not be able to be accepted, even it is acceptable to a few regimes. The Egyptian regime became an ally of the Israeli occupation. The [...]

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The Egyptian people’s uprising — driven by human voices (updated)

by Paul Woodward 01.30.2011

When we can watch a revolution live on Al Jazeera and follow its minute-by-minute progress through Twitter and Facebook, it’s easy to overlook the degree to which a people’s uprising hinges on simply that: people rising up and taking to the streets. In the video below we witness the simple and visceral demand that came [...]

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Egyptian opposition rallies around Mohamed ElBaradei

by News Sources 01.30.2011

Egyptian activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei addressing “those people who have been safeguarding democracy” in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. “What we have begun cannot go back,” he told the crowd. “We have a key demand: For the regime to step down and to start a new era.” The National Coalition for Change, which [...]

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The thrill and fear of freedom

by Paul Woodward 01.30.2011

When a brutal regime is struggling to survive it turns to desperate measures. Even as low-flying Egyptian air force Lockheed F-16s are currently attempting to shake fear into the hundreds of thousands of people gathered now in the center of Cairo, the people are showing their increasing defiance. And even now the Obama administration remains [...]

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The Egyptians are bringing our dreams true today

by Paul Woodward 01.29.2011

Waseem Wagdi, an Egyptian human rights activist living in London who joined fellow Egyptians protesting outside their embassy today, talks about recent events in Egypt and their significance, not just for Egyptians or for all Arabs, but as something that every single human being who cares for freedom, can celebrate. Share

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On the streets, Egypt’s military defend the people

by Paul Woodward 01.29.2011

Even as the military-in-suits are being given positions in Mubarak’s newly-appointed government, there are signs that the troops and street-level commanders are willing to demonstrate their allegiance with the Egyptian people. The New York Times reports: [Mubarak's] grip on power was further challenged Saturday as the military that he had deployed to take back control [...]

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Inside the Egyptian revolution

by Paul Woodward 01.29.2011

Recorded shortly before Friday prayers (yesterday), this discussion with three Egyptian political activists in Cairo reveals more about the passions that are driving the Egyptian revolution than any amount of analysis from outside observers. The political power now unleashed across Egypt will topple the Mubarak regime not in spite of being leaderless but because it [...]

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Egyptians defy the curfew

by Paul Woodward 01.29.2011

Whatever illusions Hosni Mubarak might have had about the uprising diminishing in strength, the scenes in Egypt right now in defiance of a curfew that was supposed to take force almost an hour ago, demonstrate that the power of the people is indomitable. (Screen grab from Al Jazeera taken at 9.40 US Eastern.) Share

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Andrew Bacevich: Pentagon, Inc.

by TomDispatch 01.29.2011

Reprinted with permission of TomDispatch.com Oh, the nostalgia of it all! As Nick Turse reminds us in his book The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives, when the media went after the Pentagon in the 1980s for outrageous spending, at stake was “a $7,600 coffee pot, $9,600 Allen wrenches, and — the most [...]

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Lessons from Egypt

by Paul Woodward 01.28.2011

In its complacency, America views the democratic aspirations of others as the desire to possess what we already enjoy. Little do we imagine that these aspirations reveal what we have discarded or perhaps never even possessed. President Obama packages what has driven Egyptians onto the streets within the banal phrase “the desire for a better [...]

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Egyptians rising up to bring down the Mubarak regime — live updates

by Paul Woodward 01.28.2011

WATCH AL JAZEERA LIVE NOW 7.55 — After 12 hours of near-uninterrupted viewing of Al Jazeera English live television I can only shower this news organization with praise. They should set up an intern program for American news editors to show them how it’s possible to deliver news without being enslaved by commercial interests or [...]

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Biden shows his contempt for the people of Egypt

by Paul Woodward 01.27.2011

Vice President Joe Biden was asked on PBS this evening whether he views Egypt’s president as a dictator. Noting that President Mubarak has been a US ally and has normalized relations with Israel, Biden said: “I would not refer to him as a dictator.” When asked whether the time has come for Mubarak to go, [...]

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On the eve of Egypt’s day of reckoning

by Paul Woodward 01.27.2011

“No internet, no SMS, what is next? Mobile phones and land lines? So much for stability. #Jan25 #Egypt” tweets CNN’s Ben Wedeman. The shutdown came shortly after the release of this AP video showing a protester being gunned down. With major protests just hours away, scheduled to follow Friday morning prayers, Issandr El Amrani reports: [...]

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Mark Perry: Inside the Palestine Papers debate

by Guest Contributor 01.27.2011

Before publishing the Palestine Papers, Al Jazeera invited a group of experts and journalists to Doha to study the documents. The group included political and military analyst, Mark Perry, who provided analysis in this week’s special report and the following background for War in Context. He is the author of eight books, including Partners In [...]

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Egypt opposition arrive late to the revolution

by Paul Woodward 01.27.2011

There’s a thin line between well-organized and over-organized. On the one hand, the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood will be joining tomorrow’s regime-crushing demonstrations in Egypt looks likely to bring mass mobilization to a level that even an authoritarian government lacks the power to stop. At the same time, the fact that the Islamist movement [...]

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Is Mubarak’s rule threatened?

by News Sources 01.27.2011

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Obama supports reform not democracy in Egypt

by Paul Woodward 01.27.2011

“The United States of America stands with the people of Tunisia, and supports the democratic aspirations of all people,” President Obama said on Tuesday, but he could not say the US stands with the people of Egypt, even though they are currently making their democratic aspirations crystal clear. What the people of Egypt know, as [...]

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‘Down, Down Mubarak!’

by News Sources 01.26.2011

Mohamed ElBaradei is heading back to Egypt despite direct threats against his life. He said this to Newsweek: When Egypt had parliamentary elections only two months ago, they were completely rigged. The party of President Hosni Mubarak left the opposition with only 3 percent of the seats. Imagine that. And the American government said that [...]

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Palestine Papers: PA stonewalled the Goldstone vote

by News Sources 01.26.2011

The Palestine Papers reveal: On October 2, 2009, the UN Human Rights Council was widely expected to pass a resolution supporting the Goldstone Report, the UN’s probe of war crimes committed during Israel’s war in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. The Council instead agreed to delay a vote on the report until March [...]

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Is honesty the best foreign policy?

by Paul Woodward 01.26.2011

We live — as politicians frequently repeat — under the rule of law and there is nothing the legal system frowns on more earnestly than perjury. Hence during trials the solemn ritual that witnesses must swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And then there is government, where the [...]

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