Blog

  • Uprisings: Online Resouces

    With protests continuing, here is a partial list of online resources: For Libya: #Feb17; CNN’s Ben Wedeman; @EnoughGaddafi; For Bahrain: #Feb14, @OnlineBahrain; For Yemen: #Feb3; @JNovak_Yemen; Palestinian: #Mar15 Gulf: @dr_davidson, @tobycraigjones For Saudi Arabia: on Twitter: #Mar11; Webpages and blogs: rasid.com, ysoof.com/blog/?p=242, saudiwoman.wordpress.com, alasmari.wordpress.com, saudijeans.org To translate: translate.google.com Based in the U.S., but with extensive contacts…

    Read more »


  • “A New Bipartisan Consensus Against Low Income People”

    The president’s budget is a prosaic austerity plan that inflicts disproportionate pain on low income Americans. Fundamental questions about the costs of war and the fairness of tax cuts for the rich have been avoided by the decision to narrowly target non-security “discretionary” spending to bear the weight of deficit reduction. It used to be…

    Read more »


  • Challenges for Change in Algeria

    Tunisia and Egypt are relatively centralized states, Algeria not so, neither politically, nor culturally, nor geographically. Historically, the interior has been difficult to control, and there is no guarantee that the rest of the country would rally to the protests taking place in the capital as in the case of Egypt. The Algerian regime is…

    Read more »


  • “Mubarak has fallen. The regime didn’t”

    CAIRO — Mubarak has fallen. The regime didn’t. We still have the same cabinet appointed by [Mubarak]. The emergency state is still enforced. Old detainees are still in detentions and new ones since the 25th of January remain missing. There is no public apology for the killing. We hear several executives are being prosecuted, including…

    Read more »


  • Time to forge new, democratic system

    CAIRO — Last night, February 11, Cairo was the scene of what may well have been the largest street party in world history.  It was incredibly powerful and moving.  Of course, the night’s festivities marked both an end and a beginning. Now is the time for Egypt’s judges, other legal professionals, diplomats, other negotiators, intellectuals,…

    Read more »


  • Our Man in Cairo

    With Mubarak’s departure, the focus now falls on his chosen successor, Omar Suleiman. According to a classified American diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, Suleiman was Israel’s pick to succeed Mubarak. But there’s little doubt that he was also the choice of the United States, or at least of one particular American agency with which he…

    Read more »


  • Online Resources on Egypt and Beyond

    With protests against the Egyptian regime continuing, here is a partial list of resources: A critical Facebook page is “We are all Khaled Said” — also see the associated webpage elshaheeed.co.uk. (For background on Khaled Said, see IPA news release.) See: egyprotest-defense.blogspot.com; live updates at guardian.co.uk; Al-Jazeera English live blog and video, or via YouTube:…

    Read more »


  • Hungry Gazans Feed Egyptian Troops

    RAFAH, Feb 9, 2011 (IPS) – Mustapha Suleiman, 27, from J Block east of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, crosses through gaps in the iron fence on the border carrying bread, water, meat cans and a handful of vegetables for Egyptian soldiers stationed on the other side. [See at Inter Press Service]

    Read more »


  • Egypt’s military-industrial complex

    With US-made tear gas canisters fired on protesters in Cairo, Washington’s role in arming Egypt is under the spotlight In early January 2010, Bob Livingston, a former chairman of the appropriations committee in the US House of Representatives, flew to Cairo accompanied by William Miner, one of his staff. The two men were granted meetings…

    Read more »


  • Uprising Pays Off -– Sort of

    Today I went to a town only 23 kilometers south of Tahrir Square. The plan was to see if the 11-day uprising in Egypt has produced any benefits so far – just by way of finding something different from the insecurity and chaos in Cairo. Kirdasa, a small town known for its flower nurseries and…

    Read more »


  • Hurricanes and Global Warming

    KEVIN TRENBERTH Head of the Climate Analysis Section of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Trenberth said today: “There is no doubt that environmental changes related to human influences on climate have changed the odds in favor of more intense storms and heavier rainfalls. A reasonable estimate of the effect of global warming on storms,…

  • Military Families and Veterans in D.C.

    CINDY SHEEHAN Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq in combat, is arriving today in Washington, D.C., with the “Bring Them Home Now Bus Tour,” which has traveled around the U.S. the last several weeks. She and other military family members will be participating in major protests in D.C. this weekend. Other military family…

  • The Economic Toll: War in Iraq and Disaster in New Orleans

    FRANCES FOX PIVEN Author of the book The War at Home: The Domestic Costs of Bush’s Militarism, Piven is distinguished professor of political science and sociology at the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. Her past books include The Breaking of the American Social Compact. More Information ERIK LEAVER…

  • Critiques of Today’s Carter-Baker Election Commission Report

    SPENCER OVERTON Overton serves on the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform, which just released its final report. He said today: “I dissent from the voter ID provisions of the report. Unfortunately, the Commission rejected my 597-word dissent and allowed me only 250 words. (This limitation on dissent was first announced at our final meeting.)…

  • Environmental Aspects of New Orleans Disaster

    HUGH KAUFMAN Available for a limited number of interviews, Kaufman is senior policy analyst at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. He has worked at the agency for 35 years and was the chief EPA investigator for the post-9/11 emergency response. Speaking in his personal capacity he said today: “After…

  • Elections in Afghanistan This Weekend

    Nationwide legislative elections will be held in Afghanistan this Sunday. SAHAR SABA Saba is a member of the foreign affairs committee of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. She has just returned from Afghanistan to Pakistan. She said today: “Many people are hopeful about the elections but also are deeply worried about the…

  • As the UN Meets: Interviews Available on International Law · Roberts · Chavez · Sharon

    FRANCIS BOYLE Professor of international law at the University of Illinois, Boyle said today: “As Roberts made clear in Tuesday’s hearings during his interchange with Senator Leahy, he is a partisan of the Imperial Presidency. For example, Roberts refused to repudiate and condemn the infamous Korematsu decision which authorized the president to intern U.S. citizens…

  • The United Nations Summit — Being Derailed?

    YIFAT SUSSKIND SUNILA ABEYSEKERA BETTY MURUNGI TARCILA RIVERA ZEA Susskind is the associate director of MADRE, an international women’s human rights organization. She said today: “This week’s United Nations World Summit — originally intended to assess governments’ progress on pledges to reduce poverty and promote development by 2015 — is in danger of being derailed…

  • As the United Nations Summit Kicks Off

    The United Nations World Summit will take place from Sept. 14 to 16. It is expected to be the largest-ever gathering of world leaders, with more than 170 heads of state to be in attendance. JAMES PAUL Paul is the executive director of the Global Policy Forum, a think tank that monitors policymaking at the…

  • U.S. Military Policies: From New Orleans to the UN

    JEREMY SCAHILL Currently in Louisiana, Scahill is author of the recent article “Overkill: Feared Blackwater Mercenaries Deploy in New Orleans.” The piece notes: “Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans. … They say they are on contract with…

Mastodon