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.…

    Read more »


  • 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]

    Read more »


  • 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…

    Read more »


  • 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…

    Read more »


  • 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…

    Read more »


  • 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…

    Read more »


  • 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…

    Read more »


  • 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…

    Read more »


  • 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:

    Read more »


  • 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…

    Read more »


  • McCain: Consistent on Iraq War?

    “I believe that success will be fairly easy.” — John McCain (9/24/02, CNN) “I believe that we can win an overwhelming victory in a very short period of time.” — John McCain (9/29/02, CNN) “The American people … were led to believe that this would be some kind of a day at the beach which…

  • Estimate: 120 Veteran Suicides Per Week

    Late last year, a CBS News investigation found that in 2005 “there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That’s 120 each and every week, in just one year.” Last week, CBS News reported on data it had just obtained from the government on veterans who were recently treated…

  • Five Years After Invading Iraq

    IMAD KHADDURI Khadduri is author of the book Iraq’s Nuclear Mirage: Memoirs and Delusions. He worked on the Iraq nuclear weapons program beginning in 1981 and left Iraq for Canada in the late 1990s. Before the invasion of Iraq, Khadduri argued that, contrary to what the Bush administration was claiming, the Iraqi nuclear weapons program…

  • Churches Criticizing Governments

    Rev. JOHN DECKENBACK Conference minister for The United Church of Christ (the same denomination as Rev. Jeremiah Wright), Deckenback said today: “UCC has in its DNA from its very beginnings being responsible critics of our society. That’s rooted in the Amistad story (which holds a special place in UCC’s teachings). “There is a need for…

  • Fed Giving Wall Street a Nanny-State Bailout?

    Reuters reports: “A fire sale of Bear Stearns Cos Inc stunned Wall Street and pummeled global financial stocks on Monday on fears that few banks are safe from deepening market turmoil. … The combination of Bear Stearns’ bailout and the Fed’s offer on Sunday to extend direct lending to securities firms for the first time…

  • Five Years Later — Oil Contracts: Success of War?

    BEN LANDO President Bush has repeatedly called for the passage of the proposed Iraqi oil law. Lando is energy editor for UPI. He has recently launched the web page IraqOilReport.com. ANTONIA JUHASZ Juhasz is the author of the book The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time and is with the group…

  • Adm. Fallon and Attacking Iran

    The Washington Post reports on its front page today that Adm. William Fallon “had made several comments reflecting disagreement with the administration’s stance on Iran, most recently in an Esquire magazine article last week that portrayed him as the only person who might stop Bush from going to war with the Islamic republic.” GARETH PORTER…

  • Iraq Veterans Speak: Winter Soldier Hearings

    ADAM KOKESH KELLY DOUGHERTY Kokesh is co-chair of Iraq Veterans Against the War; Dougherty is the group’s executive director; they can direct media to other veterans from around the country. IVAW released a statement: “Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan is a four-day summit that will bring more than 200 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans together ……

  • Five Years into Iraq War, a Key Question: How Did This Happen in the First Place?

    Drawing on extensive archival research, the documentary film “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” makes its New York City theatrical debut with an engagement starting Friday (March 14) at the Quad Cinema in Manhattan. Coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, the documentary’s premiere in New…

  • Bush and McCain on Torture

    President George W. Bush said in his latest weekend radio address: “Congress recently sent me an intelligence authorization bill that would diminish these vital tools. So today, I vetoed it. And here is why: The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror — the…

Mastodon