(By Juan Cole) In Egypt, the interim appointed government of Prime Minister Hazem Biblawi, backed by the military junta that made the coup of July 3, on Wednesday formally categorized the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. The decree was published by the feared Interior Ministry (kind of like US FBI but with torture) on […]
Wounded by Apartheid Wall, Occupied Bethlehem Hopes for Pilgrimage Revival
(Agence France Presse) Bethlehem eyes tourist boom after dark decade (via AFP) After a decade of unrest, Bethlehem has seen a surge in visits to Christ’s traditional birthplace, raising hopes of a tourism bonanza in the West Bank town despite Israel’s separation barrier. The Palestinian territories’ top tourist destination is… —- Related Video AFP: […]
The Flight to Egypt – Coptic Artwork (Picture of the Day)
h/t osjusa.org Attributed to the Coptic Museum, Cairo, Egypt Coptic Christians probably came to predominate in Egypt by the 600s when Muslim Arabs conquered it. As late as 1200, some historians think that Egypt was half Christian and half Muslim. For the past two hundred years, the Coptic Christian population has been estimated at around […]
Birth of Hope: Top Ten Solar Energy Stories 2013
(By Juan Cole) The story of a doomed race who need to be saved by a messiah is on people’s minds today. It functions at a spiritual level. There is an analogous story at the physical level. Humankind is facing the biggest crisis in its 120,000-year-long existence, the physical equivalent of original sin. It is […]
Chief Rabbi of Yazd, Iran, 1903 (Photo of the Day)
The Chief Rabbi of Yazd, Iran, in the center Iran’s population in 1900 was around 10 million. There were roughly 100,000 Jews in Iran at that time. Lord Curzon wrote in the late nineteenth century of different treatment of Jews in different parts of the country: “In Isfahan, where they are said to be 3,700 […]
The Iraqization of Egypt: Two Large Bombs Rock Security Bldg in Mansoura, kill 14, wound 130
(By Juan Cole) Two large explosions at the state security building in downtown Mansoura, Dahqaliya Province, killed at least 14 persons and wounded 130 on Monday, reducing some of the edifice to rubble and damaging its facade. The head of the directorate of security was among the wounded. [Photos via Mansouracity.com] Crowds immediately gathered to […]
War Crime: Syrian Regime Killed Hundreds of Civilians, including Children, with Airstrikes on Aleppo
(By Ole Solvang, senior emergencies researcher, Human Rights Watch) < Dozens of government airstrikes that have killed hundreds of civilians, including children, in Aleppo governorate in the last month were unlawful. After months of stalemate between government and opposition forces in Aleppo, Human Rights Watch documented an intensification of government attacks starting on November 23. […]
A Christian Bride of Mosul, Iraq, 1903 (Photo of the Day)
Caption: A Mosul Bride: The girl in the centre of the picture is a Christian bride decked out in her wedding costume. The gold coins, necklaces, and girdle are her dowry. From M. E. Hume-Griffith and A. Hume, Behind the Veil in Persia and Turkish Arabia: An Account of an Englishwoman’s Eight Years’ Residence Amongst […]
The End of the Turkish Model? Erdogan’s Paranoia and Authoritarian Streak Threaten his Legacy
(By Juan Cole) Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is sounding more and more hysterical, and less and less like a statesman as 2013 ends. If you thought Barack Obama had a tough twelve months, you should consider Erdogan. A major corruption scandal has broken out in his government, with 24 persons implicated including the sons […]
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