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…

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  • “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…

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  • 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…

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  • “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…

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  • 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,…

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  • 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…

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  • 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:…

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  • 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]

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  • 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…

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  • 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…

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  • Karzai in Washington, Torture in Afghanistan

    While President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan visits Washington, the following analysts are available for interviews: SONALI KOLHATKAR Kolhatkar, based in Los Angeles, is co-director of the Afghan Women’s Mission and has recently returned from a trip to Afghanistan. More Information REED BRODY Currently in Los Angeles, Brody is special counsel with Human Rights Watch, which…

  • Recruitment “Stand-Down”

    OSCAR CASTRO Castro is coordinator of the National Youth and Militarism Program for the American Friends Service Committee, which is organizing teach-ins and demonstrations around the country about recruitment today. He said: “The Army plans to suspend all recruiting on May 20. This follows reports of serious recruiter improprieties — including fraud and coercion —…

  • Scrutinizing Iraq Scandals: * Policy * Profiteering

    George Galloway, a member of the British Parliament who has been accused by Sen. Norm Coleman of profiting from the UN oil-for-food program, yesterday addressed the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is chaired by Coleman. Said Galloway: “I have met Saddam Hussein exactly the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld met him. The…

  • Ousted Haitian Prime Minister Fasting to Death?

    BILL FLETCHER Fletcher, president of TransAfrica Forum, is available for a limited number of interviews. He said today: “Yvon Neptune, the prime minister of the duly elected government of Haiti, has been jailed for 10 months without charge. He stopped eating on April 17 and is said by his family to be in very bad…

  • Behind and Beyond the Media Reform Movement

    JOHN NICHOLS Nichols is co-founder of Free Press, which organized the three-day National Conference for Media Reform that began today in St. Louis. Nichols said today: “The conference is taking place at an interesting time. The public is becoming more aware of the administration’s attempts to manipulate the media, Congress has begun to move against…

  • Media Reform

    The three-day National Conference for Media Reform begins Friday in St. Louis. The following media analysts, who will be attending the conference, are available for interviews: PETER HART Hart is with Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting. He said today: “We have documented a pattern of bias in major media over the years in a number…

  • Nonproliferation Realities: * McNamara * Ellsberg

    With the review conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) continuing at the United Nations, commentators available for interviews include: ROBERT McNAMARA Former Secretary of Defense McNamara said today: “The NPT was signed by a president. It was submitted to the Senate; it was ratified by the Senate. It is today the law of the land.…

  • Bush in Tbilisi: Why Is Georgia on His Mind?

    President Bush’s schedule in Tbilisi on Tuesday includes meeting with Georgian government officials and speaking to a crowd in the city’s Freedom Square. Why is Bush in Georgia? RONALD GRIGOR SUNY Suny, a professor of political science and history at the University of Chicago, is author of The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the…

  • After Blair’s Weak Victory, Key Issues Remain

    Many observers note that Tony Blair’s support for the Iraq war did significant damage to the Labor Party’s showing in yesterday’s British election. ANURADHA MITTAL Mittal is founder and executive director of the Oakland Institute, a progressive think tank that focuses on economic and social policy issues. She said today: “Anti-war sentiment and lack of…

  • Non-Proliferation and the Nuclear Shadow

    With the review conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) now underway at the United Nations, commentators include independent policy analysts and Americans who have direct experience with nuclear weapons tests. JOHN BURROUGHS Burroughs, executive director of the New York-based Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy, is monitoring the Non-Proliferation Treaty conference in New York. Burroughs presented…

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