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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  • Syria: Civil War to Holy War?

    tempered by fear for the future. The victorious insurgents were supported by outside powers and had a track record of brutality comparable to Assad’s in addition to religious fanaticism.

  • Trump Uses ICE to Attack First Amendment in Service of Israel 

    The Trump administration’s attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful permanent resident who hasn’t been charged with any crime, represents a frightening erosion of First Amendment protections that threatens all Americans.

  • Fears for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

    Evidence is abundant that the Trump administration is illegally attempting to destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

  • “Not Another Child, Not Another Hospital”

    “Every single day in Gaza, Palestinians are recovering large numbers of bodies of people killed during the past 17 months. Hossam reports 50 bodies from this mass grave today. Horror.”

  • Block Taxpayer Funding for Elon Musk’s Contracts?

    A new proposal calls for halting federal contracts with Elon Musk’s companies. The Freedom Forward organization has launched a national campaign to get U.S. senators to block all taxpayer funding for Musk. 

  • After RFK Jr.’s Confirmation

    Public health experts are discussing the fallout from the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. And they’re looking ahead to upcoming hearings on other HHS nominations, including Dr. Mehmet Oz for Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and biotech investor Jim O’Neill for HHS Deputy…

  • Investigative Analysis of “Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace” Group J Street

    “Month after month, J Street news releases echoed pronouncements coming from the White House and State Department, becoming grim parodies of wishful thinking and empty warnings. The headlines of J Street releases were largely contoured around hollow claims from the Biden administration that it was diligently striving to end the death and agony in Gaza.”

  • U.S. Officials Culpable for “Aiding Israeli Crimes”

    “Not only did Biden, Blinken and Secretary Austin ignore and justify the overwhelming evidence of Israel’s grotesque and deliberate crimes, overruling their own staff recommendations to halt weapons transfers to Israel, they doubled down by providing Israel with unconditional military and political support to ensure it could carry out its atrocities,”

  • Positive Developments in Transgender Rights?

    Erin Reed, a journalist reporting on LGBTQ+ legislation and news, talks to the Institute for Public Accuracy about the fight for transgender rights across the U.S.

  • Israel Continuing Siege Against Gaza  

    Both are part of the International Coalition to Stop Genocide in Palestine, which recently stated: “Strong winter winds and heavy rains, particularly in Northern Gaza, are contributing to the suffering and death of Palestinians as their tents and makeshift living structures break down, blow away or are inundated with mud and floodwaters.

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