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  • Mubarak, Army, U.S., Israel vs Egyptian People

    [As government forces have attacked peaceful protesters in Tahrir Square, Emad Mekay from Cairo reports] Mubarak is clearly backed by the Americans. He took some moves after speaking with Obama and a visit by a former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner. Mubarak, the army, the Americans and the Israelis are clearly on one side.…

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  • Unrest Spreads to Sinai

    A Bedouin youth casually spreads out a piece of cloth before a police headquarters in Sheikh Zwayyed town in Sinai, the vast desert area to the east of Cairo across the Suez. “I will leave when Mubarak leaves,” he says. [Full piece from Inter Press Service]

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  • Chomsky: Strategic and Economic Objectives, Not Anti-Islamization, Drives U.S. Policy

    [While many are claiming that a central goal of U.S. policy is to minimize influence of groups like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Noam Chomsky contributed this to our blog] It is well-established, including the major scholarly literature, that the U.S. supports democracy if and only if that accords with strategic and economic objectives.  Following…

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  • An Open Letter to President Barack Obama

    ————————————————————————————————————————— [To sign; for recent news releases on Egypt from the Institute for Public Accuracy] Dear President Obama: As political scientists, historians, and researchers in related fields who have studied the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy, we the undersigned believe you have a chance to move beyond rhetoric to support the democratic movement sweeping…

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  • Report from Cairo

    From Alex Ortiz in Cairo: “The army is beginning to come into Cairo … tens of thousands converged in midan al-gala’ coming from three different protest marches. Total communication blackout. Reports of senior police officers ordering their men to stand down and not beat or fire tear gas at protesters in Midan al-gala an hour…

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  • Report on Latest from Cairo

    CAIRO, Egypt [11 p.m. local time] — 1-Some government media figures appear to be joining ranks with the protesters. Mahmoud Saad, a talk show host in the Egyptian state-run TV, has announced that he will no longer appear on TV starting tonight after he came under pressure from top government officials to report “untruths” about…

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  • Police in Cairo Beating up Jounalists

    [From 9:28 a.m. ET]: Police started beating up journalists protesting outside the Press Syndicate in downtown Cairo. They beat up women journalists too who were screaming and crying for help. “Do not club women. Do not club women,” some of the men rushed to the police asking them not to target women. “You’ll make things…

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  • From Alex Ortiz in Cairo

    [The Egyptian government has apparently block Twitter, Facebook (as of Wed. morn U.S. ET) and other internet tools, though apparently some people are able to get around such restrictions. Email from 8:45 a.m. ET:] Downtown Cairo today remains in a state of high alert. There are many security forces and plainsclothed policemen visible on every…

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  • Video from Cairo

    Phone lines are intermittent and Twitter has reportedly been blocked in Egypt. Here is a live video feed: ustream.tv/channel/cairodowntown [update: ustream has been blocked, streaming now intermittently at livestream.com/cairowitness — further update, now at: www.justin.tv/cairowitness] Here is a YouTube video from earlier today:

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  • Ukraine’s Assault on a Free Press

    In Ukraine, where media diversity is often defined by which powerful oligarch controls which TV station, one network, TVi — known for its independent investigative style — is under intense legal pressure, with its owner not part of Ukraine’s power circles. TVi faces a court hearing on Tuesday over a legal claim that the station’s…

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  • Hague Group: Action or More Rhetoric?

    The only thing that Israel understands is power. So governments that would truly enforce international law and protect Palestinians from Israel’s depravity must impose economic pain and render it vulnerable to attack by cutting it off from trade, weapons and fuel.”

  • Will The Hague Group Live up to Their Legal Obligations?

    Colombian president Gustavo Petro is hosting a meeting of The Hague Group in Bogota and recently wrote the piece “Governments like mine have a duty to stand up to Israel. Far too many have failed.”

  • 80 Years After Trinity Atomic Test, “Oblivious to the Threat of Oblivion”?

    Eighty years after the atomic age began with the Trinity bomb test in New Mexico on July 16, 1945, American media and politics are “routinely oblivious to the threat of oblivion,” says an article published today by The Nation.

  • Peace Force for Gaza “the Least” the Hague Group Can Adopt

        “The Uniting for Peace precedent was established to break Security Council deadlocks and to uphold the UN’s founding promise: to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, as well as to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights and in the dignity and worth of the human person, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect…

  • Measles: U.S. May Soon Lose Elimination Status

    The U.S. is at risk of losing its elimination status for measles after the CDC reported the highest number of cases of the virus in 33 years. Cases have been reported in 38 states, with the highest concentration in West Texas. 

  • Epstein, Blackmail, Israel: Trump “Annihilates” His Credibility

    The Trump administration has made numerous false and contradictory statements about Jeffrey Epstein — and Trump himself has attempted to dismiss the story as old news.  Marcetic highlights some of the critical information and falsehoods:  BRANKO MARCETIC, [email protected], @BMarchetich Marcetic is a staff writer at Jacobin magazine, and is working on a piece on Epstein. He writes for other outlets…

  • Latest “Draconian” Assault on Free Speech Targets Palestine Action

    “For 20 months the Israeli military had been committing acts which most genocide scholars and experts consider to be genocide. The population was now being starved, and the very distribution of humanitarian aid had been turned into a killing field, according to UNRWA. “To say that Palestine Action were committing terrorism was the precise opposite…

  • Netanyahu: Crimes and Lies

    Israel killed a reported 288 Palestinians in Gaza over the last three days. Middle East Eye reports: “Secret Trump letter would let Israel resume war despite ceasefire: Report,” citing Israeli media. AntiWar.com reports: “Israel Carries Out ‘Intense’ Airstrikes in Yemen.” The Intercept reports: “The Israeli Plot to Extinguish the Journalists Documenting Genocide.”

  • Israel Killing 100 Palestinians a Day; 1,844 Strikes on Healthcare, 2,792 Infants and Toddlers Dead

    “Israeli forces have struck health-care facilities and personnel in Gaza at least 1,844 times, killing hundreds of patientsand health-care workers. According to the World Health Organization, 94 percent of hospitals in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. All are starved of the most basic medical supplies, electricity, and even clean water.”

  • Corporate Capture in the Iran Strikes

    The U.S. missile strikes in Iran reveal how the business of military works in action.

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