Blog

  • 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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  • Trump Attacks Scientific Expertise

    The Trump administration has continued its assault on scientific expertise. An analysis from a public health expert suggests that––more than simply tax cuts, ending regulatory oversight of corporations, or optimizing the privatization of government services––the undermining and destruction of public health expertise is part of President Trump’s larger culture war against universities, public schools, independent…

  • U.S. Taxpayers Challenge Funding of Genocide

    “I did not consent to my tax dollars being used to commit violence against my own family. … It is a ludicrous and delusional expectation that we, the American taxpayers, will stand idly by while money that should be going to our education, healthcare and veterans is instead going on to fund more war crimes,…

  • A New Pope

    “Pope Leo XlV, as a missionary, go immediately to the concentration camp called Gaza. … You can deliver Pope Francis’ gift, the popemobile, to the starving, tortured children of Gaza.”

  • “Syria’s New Rulers Get a Makeover”

    “The messages started appearing on my phone as soon as I left Syria in mid-January. At first, there were links to articles, and social media posts, about threats to Alawis and Christians. Then came friends’ accounts of scary incidents. One woman wrote that a police officer from the new government ordered her to cover her…

  • * “Abraham Accords a Confederacy of Killers” * Pakistan and India: “Art of Distraction”

    To date, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan have entered into these agreements which leave the issue of Palestinian safety and self-determination totally out of the picture. One by one, the Arab countries entering into the Abrahamic Accords abdicate meaningful solidarity with Palestine in exchange for economic deals and access to state-of-the-art U.S.…

  • 100 Ways of Hurting Workers

    A new report shows that during President Trump’s first 100 days, he hurt workers and their families in at least 100 ways. The administration cut workers’ wages, made working conditions worse, damaged economic growth, hurt workers’ purchasing power, attacked immigrant workers, put healthcare at risk, caused inefficiency in the public sector, and attacked anti-discrimination protections,…

  • Talking to Hamas: “Netanyahu is Lying”

    These movements are often portrayed in a cartoonish manner as irrational terrorists who want to kill for the sake of killing. When they are interviewed by Western outlets, it is either to quote a sentence or two responding to allegations made by Israel or the U.S. or to relitigate the events of October 7.

  • “Antisemitism” Being Used to Attack First Amendment

    “As both Democratic and Republican representatives have stated,” the legislation is “plainly unconstitutional. It also illustrates the bizarrely protected status that Zionist lobby organizations — both Jewish and Evangelical — have created for the State of Israel in the U.S. government.”

  • Christians for Ceasefire & Just Peace Go to Congress

    “It has been two months since Israel reimposed a total blockade and siege on Gaza. Israel has cut off all supplies essential for human survival, including water, food, medicine, and fuel.

  • Medicare for All Reintroduced in Congress

    This week, progressive Congressional leaders submitted the 2025 version of Medicare for All. 

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