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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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  • Candidates, Money and Lobbyists

    CRAIG HOLMAN Holman is government ethics lobbyist for Public Citizen, which has launched a web page WhiteHouseForSale.org that keeps track of money to candidates. He said today: “Even after John McCain ushered in the landmark McCain-Feingold law banning soft money, and Barack Obama brought us the sweeping lobbying and ethics reform law restricting influence-peddling by…

  • Carlyle Buying Booz Allen Hamilton’s Intel Outsourcing

    AP is reporting: “Privately held consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton … plans to sell a majority stake in its U.S. government business to private equity firm Carlyle Group for $2.54 billion, and spin off its commercial business into a separate company.” TIM SHORROCK Available for a limited number of interviews, Shorrock is author of the…

  • Resigned Lobbyist “Tip of Iceberg” in McCain Campaign

    CLIFF SCHECTER Schecter is the author of the new book The Real McCain. He said today: “Lobbyist Tom Loeffler’s exit from the McCain campaign is only the tip of the iceberg in a candidacy swimming with conflicts of interest. McCain has now asked all of his staffers to fill out a form listing any conflicts.…

  • Bush in the Mideast: A Big Charade?

    NIR ROSEN Currently in Beirut, Rosen is a fellow at New York University’s Center on Law and Security. He witnessed much of the recent fighting in Lebanon and can assess the role of the army and various groups in Lebanon. He said today: “A big part of what is driving events is the creation of…

  • Are Neglected Dams Time Bombs?

    JACQUES LESLIE Leslie’s latest book, Deep Water: The Epic Struggle Over Dams, Displaced People, and the Environment, won the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award and was named one of the top science books of the year by Discover magazine. He said today: “Reports indicate that there are 391 small dams in the vicinity of the…

  • Winter Soldier on the Hill

    Boots-on-the-ground veterans are testifying before Congress on Thursday about the effects of the Iraq occupation. This testimony, presented by veterans who have witnessed firsthand the devastation of Iraq and its people, comes on the same day that Congress is expected to debate a bill extending funding for the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan through 2009.…

  • $175 Billion Toward $3 Trillion War

    The House of Representatives is expected to have a full chamber debate on the war supplemental bill on Thursday. THEODORE LOWI Lowi is professor of American Institutions at Cornell University and author of several books including The End of Liberalism. He said today: “Supplementals are supposed to be for real emergencies — like Katrina. The…

  • Israel’s 60th

    AP is reporting: “President Bush on Wednesday opened a celebratory visit to Israel … ‘We consider the Holy Land a very special place, and we consider the Israeli people our close friends,’ Bush said. … The Palestinians are marking the 60th anniversary of the ‘nakba,’ or catastrophe…” ALICE ROTHCHILD Currently in Washington, D.C., Rothchild is…

  • Voter ID Battle

    The lead story in today’s New York Times reports: “The battle over voting rights will expand this week as lawmakers in Missouri are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment to enable election officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote. “The measure would allow far more rigorous demands than the voter…

  • Mother’s Day

    The first Mother’s Day proclamation, an impassioned plea for peace, was written by Julia Ward Howe in 1870. MEDEA BENJAMIN BAN ADIL SARHAN Benjamin is a founder of the women’s peace group CodePink and is just back from Jordan and Syria, where she met with many Iraqi refugees and grassroots organizations working with them. A…

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