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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  • “Silence = Death”: Letter to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

    “The mission of the Holocaust Museum should be universal, not one primarily based in the exceptionalism of Jews. There is an urgent and dramatic opportunity for the Holocaust Museum to elevate its mission of Never Again. Silence in this case means death for countless Palestinian people.”

  • Biden’s “Humanitarian Corridors” Enabling Ethnic Cleansing

    “Biden’s corridors are nothing but an effort to provide a soft-sounding cover for the ongoing massacre of Palestinians. Israel announced the establishment of these corridors on October 21, 2023. The Israeli army dropped leaflets on northern Gaza ordering residents’ immediate ‘evacuation’ and warning residents that ‘anyone who chooses not to leave from the north of…

  • Pediatric Cancer Hospital Evacuated in Gaza

    Patients and staff at Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital have evacuated, waving white flags in the streets of Gaza.

  • Censorship on Palestine Reaches U.S. Medical Institutions

    Some cultural institutions have unleashed a wave of retaliation against speakers and thinkers since October 7. The medical community is now seeing similar backlash at healthcare institutions. At Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, an OB-GYN Grand Rounds seminar presentation was recently canceled after the speaker, Dr. Ghazaleh Moayedi, voiced solidarity with Palestinian people…

  • Israel Targets Water

    The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is reporting: “On 4 and 5 November, seven water facilities across the Gaza Strip were directly hit and sustained major damage, including three sewage pipelines in Gaza city, two water reservoirs (in Gaza City, Rafah and Jabalia refugee camp) and two water wells in Rafah. The…

  • “Endangered and Dangerous Israel, Endangering Jews”

    “It is now less credible to think of Israel as a safe place for Jews as Jews, in an ironic twist. And the more extreme measures Israel wreaks on Gaza for Israel’s safety, the more imperiled by association Jews outside Israel will be.”

  • “Netanyahu Abuses Bible to Impress U.S. Evangelicals”

    “Shortly after the 7 October attacks, a letter of support for Israel’s war on Gaza was issued by 60 conservative evangelical leaders in the United States, including two former presidents of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission — Russell Moore, now editor of Christianity Today, and Richard Land.”

  • Irish Nobel Laureate Calls on Governments to Invoke Genocide Convention to Hault Israeli Attack

    “As the U.S. uses its veto to block action at UN Security Council, another legal way must be found and this means state can invoke Genocide Convention at the World Court. States such as Ireland, Brazil, South Africa, Colombia, Venezuela, Iran, Spain could help save the lives of Palestinians being cruelly slaughtered in an immoral…

  • Support for Israel Drives Anti-Muslim Sentiment and a New McCarthyism

    “Rather than engage these young people in debate and the free exchange of ideas, supporters of Israel are instead seeking to punish them for departing from what they consider acceptable opinion. The beginnings of a new McCarthyism are taking shape.”

  • Biden Ramming Through Israel Funding in “Unprecedented” Ways

    “’I’ve never seen anything like it,’ says Josh Paul, former director of congressional and public affairs for the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. Paul recently resigned in protest against the administration’s plans to rush weapons to Israel. ‘A proposal in a legislative request to Congress to waive Congressional notification entirely for FMF-funded Foreign Military…

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