February 2011

The mind of a dictator

by Paul Woodward 02.06.2011

Robert Fisk writes: In his novel The Autumn of the Patriarch, Gabriel Garcia Marquez outlines the behaviour of a dictator under threat and his psychology of total denial. In his glory days, the autocrat believes he is a national hero. Faced with rebellion, he blames “foreign hands” and “hidden agendas” for this inexplicable revolt against [...]

Read the full article →

The Muslim Brotherhood bogeyman

by Paul Woodward 02.06.2011

Nicholas Kristof writes: Maybe my judgment is skewed because pro-Mubarak thugs tried to hunt down journalists, leading some of us to be stabbed, beaten and arrested — and forcing me to abandon hotel rooms and sneak with heart racing around mobs carrying clubs with nails embedded in them. The place I felt safest was Tahrir [...]

Read the full article →

Slavoj Zizek and Tariq Ramadan on the future of Egyptian politics

by Paul Woodward 02.05.2011

Many American academics and pundits from thinktankland should study the way Slavoj Žižek expresses himself. Passionate, emphatic, uninhibited, eccentric, and humorous — above all, a man who knows what it means to speak your mind. This is a display that shows that deep analysis does not need the protection of cover-your-ass-caveats or manicured sobriety. It [...]

Read the full article →

» Dissolving stereotypes of the Middle East

by Attention to the Unseen 02.05.2011

“Highlights” by Digla, an acoustic rock band from Cairo. This is their first music video. Share

Read the full article →

After Mubarak

by News Sources 02.05.2011

Adam Shatz writes: Mubarak, when he stands down, is not likely to be missed by many people in Egypt, where he has pledged to spend his last days, but he will be missed in Washington and, above all, in Tel Aviv. Mubarak and Omar Suleiman, now the interim vice president, worked closely with Israel on [...]

Read the full article →

What Mubarak must do before he is replaced

by News Sources 02.05.2011

Hossam Bahgat and Soha Abdelaty, the executive director and deputy director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, write: Egypt’s constitution stipulates that if the president resigns or his office becomes permanently “vacant,” he must be replaced by the speaker of parliament or, in the absence of parliament, the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional [...]

Read the full article →

Return of the Turks as Middle East kingmaker

by News Sources 02.05.2011

Joshua Walker writes: “Enough we say, the decision belongs to the people of the brotherly Egyptian and Tunisian nations… Turkey shares the grief of these nations as well as their hopes.” So-declared a self-confident Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday in his prime-time speech on recent events in the Middle East that received [...]

Read the full article →

Egypt’s aftershocks shake the Washington debate

by News Sources 02.05.2011

Mark Perry writes: It is commonplace for historians to compare revolutions to earthquakes, but the metaphor remains powerful. The Egyptian revolution is much like an earthquake: its epicenter may be Cairo, but its shockwaves have reached all the way to Washington. Since the first crowds began to appear in Tahrir Square, the Egyptian trembler has [...]

Read the full article →

Scenes from Tahrir Square

by News Sources 02.04.2011

“Let’s make Mubarak hear our voices. We all, one hand, requested one thing, leave leave leave…Down Down Hosny Mubarak, Down Down Hosny Mubarak.. The people want to dismantle the regime….He is to go, we are not going… He is to go, we won’t leave…. We all, one hand, ask one thing, leave leave.” Share

Read the full article →

When corporations choose despots over democracy

by News Sources 02.04.2011

Amy Goodman writes: Egypt has been the second-largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid for decades, after Israel (not counting the funds expended on the wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan). Mubarak’s regime has received roughly $2 billion per year since coming to power, overwhelmingly for the military. Where has the money gone? Mostly to [...]

Read the full article →

Freedom lies behind a closed door that can only be broken down by a bleeding Arab fist

by News Sources 02.04.2011

Tariq Ali writes: “Freedom lies behind a door closed shut,” the great Egyptian poet Ahmed Shawqi wrote in the last century. “It can only be knocked down with a bleeding fist.” More than that is bleeding in the Arab world at the moment. The uprisings we are witnessing in Egypt have been a rude awakening [...]

Read the full article →

Mubarak’s last gasps

by News Sources 02.04.2011

Esam Al-Amin writes: On Saturday Jan. 29, The National Security Council advised the president to ask Mubarak in no uncertain terms to immediately step down. However, Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, whom the president consulted, strenuously objected and pleaded for time to allow Mubarak to stay in power at least [...]

Read the full article →

It’s not radical Islam that worries the US – it’s independence

by News Sources 02.04.2011

Noam Chomsky writes: ‘The Arab world is on fire,” al-Jazeera reported last week, while throughout the region, western allies “are quickly losing their influence”. The shock wave was set in motion by the dramatic uprising in Tunisia that drove out a western-backed dictator, with reverberations especially in Egypt, where demonstrators overwhelmed a dictator’s brutal police. [...]

Read the full article →

Mubarak’s day of departure? Live upates

by Paul Woodward 02.04.2011

WATCH AL JAZEERA LIVE Sarah A. Topol says: Many ask me about America, puzzling over the Obama administration’s comments about the protests. There’s a lot of frustration, but most say they want the United States to butt out. “This revolution is an Egyptian revolution against Mubarak and his policies—we don’t want another client regime. We [...]

Read the full article →

Washington’s newly shaped Mubarak-must-go-now posture

by News Sources 02.03.2011

Bloomberg reports: Senior members of the U.S. Congress are debating whether to halt foreign aid to Egypt as a way to hasten President Hosni Mubarak’s exit from power amid continuing protests against his three-decade rule. Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the panel that controls foreign aid, said he’s prepared to stop all U.S. financial [...]

Read the full article →

Mubarak holds Egypt hostage

by News Sources 02.03.2011

Michael Wahid Hanna writes: As evidence mounts that the violence in Tahrir Square is a regime-orchestrated attempt to crush dissent and peaceful protest, the manifest flaws in President Mubarak’s plan to remain in office are becoming clear. The Egyptian president, under pressure, committed not to run for a sixth presidential term, but refused to begin [...]

Read the full article →

Egypt’s torture victims describe beatings, electroshock, rape threats

by News Sources 02.03.2011

ABC News reports: When Abdel Haleem Halim approached Hosni Mubarak at a 2002 conference to confront the Egyptian president about rampant unemployment, he says he received a familiar response. Like many of Egypt’s political dissidents, Halim says he was whisked away by the Mubarak regime’s domestic intelligence agents and tortured. “They would bring me a [...]

Read the full article →

“Mubarak may be preparing for something which he does not want the world to see”

by News Sources 02.03.2011

Reporters Without Borders is horrified by what appears to be an all-out witch-hunt against news media that are covering events in Egypt and is very concerned for all the journalists currently in Cairo, especially on the eve of a major demonstration planned by President Hosni Mubarak’s opponents for tomorrow, which they are describing as the [...]

Read the full article →

Mubarak’s hired thugs

by News Sources 02.03.2011

Now that so-called “pro-Mubarak supporters” have been unleashed to attack pro-democracy protesters in Cairo, Sarah Carr writes: The use of hired thugs is classic Mubarak. The regime’s relationship with its people has always depended on intimidation and violence, which proved problematic with the wave of demonstrations and labour protests that have been a growing phenomenon [...]

Read the full article →

“We will get our freedom”

by News Sources 02.03.2011

“This is our message to all over the world: We don’t want to ask anyone for our freedom. We will get our freedom. We are not cowards.” This was filmed by Philip Rizk and I posted a shorter version without translations a few days ago. He describes the scene: Following Friday prayers on January 28 [...]

Read the full article →

Where goes the revolution?

by Paul Woodward 02.03.2011

“This is a revolution without leaders. Three Million individuals choosing hope instead of fear and braving death on hourly basis to keep their dream of freedom alive. Imagine that.” “Bleak outlook for the future of Egypt should revolution fail (god forbid),” wrote the Egyptian blogger, Mahmoud Salem, author of Sandmonkey this morning. His website later [...]

Read the full article →

The Middle East’s freedom train has just left the station

by News Sources 02.02.2011

Christopher Dickey spoke with Nawal El Saadawi, an 80-year-old protester, about her refusal to go home when the protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square turned violent. “They have a strategy to frighten us and to starve us,” she said. Rami G. Khouri writes: To appreciate what is taking place in the Arab world today you have [...]

Read the full article →

The US-Egyptian breakup

by News Sources 02.02.2011

Steven Cook writes: The United States was not responsible for the inequity of Mubarak’s rule, but it did enable and benefit from it. Mubarak was long Washington’s man in Cairo: he kept open the Suez Canal, repressed the Islamists, and maintained peace with Israel. In return, the United States provided much for Egypt, contributing billions [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →