The Muslim Brotherhood and other religious parties in Egypt (including the Salafis and the Gama’a al-Islamiya) held a rally at al-Husayn Square in Cairo last Friday to which a few thousand people came. The big rally was at Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo and was dominated by secular forces. This is an Arabic news article […]
Empire by the Numbers
Number of Pakistani troops killed at checkpoint Saturday by a US helicopter raid from Afghanistan: 25 Number of NATO supply trucks allowed to cross from Pakistan to Afghanistan Saturday: 0 Number of Afghan children killed near Qandahar Wednesday by a US air strike: 6 Percentage of Pakistanis [pdf] who want US troops out of Afghanistan: […]
Anti-Liberal Netanyahu Slams Arab Spring as Anti-Liberal
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said yesterday that he had been right to oppose the forced resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last February and categorized the uprisings in the Arab world as “anti-Western, anti-liberal, anti-Israeli and anti-democratic wave.” He gave the “uncertainty” in the region as yet another excuse for the Likud Party to […]
Beeman: Letter from Iran
This is the second in a series of letters written this week from Iran by University of Minnesota Professor William Beeman. Since Americans hear so little directly from that country in their media, I thought it was worth sharing, and Bill kindly agreed to let me do so.. — Juan . Dear Friends… Two other […]
Top Ten Things Americans can be Thankful for 2011
News is too often defined as bad news. At a time when many Americans are unemployed or under-employed, or have lost their homes or seen their value plummet, it is hard to be too sunny. But the US does have a lot of good news stories to celebrate, despite the adversity we are currently facing, […]
Gingrich Urges War with Iran and Skyrocketing Oil Prices
New Gingrich, sleep-walked into a declaration of war on Iran in last night’s Republican foreign policy debate. Here is the relevant exchange: “BLITZER: The argument, Speaker Gingrich — and I know you’ve studied this, and I want you to weigh in — on the sanctioning of the Iranian Central Bank, because if you do that, […]
Egyptian Protesters Reject Military Concessions, Demand Officers Return to Barracks
On Wednesday morning there were clashes between protesters and the military at the Ministry of Interior, which the interim government feared might be invaded and/or torched. In Egypt, Interior is in charge of security police (Amn al-Dawlah), the force that is accused of using undue force and killing dozens of protesters since last Friday. The […]
Students, Pepper Spray & Class War: Cole in Truthdig
My column, ” How Students Landed on the Front Lines of a Class War” is out in Truthdig.
Egyptian Revolution 2.0?
Egypt is virtually rudderless as morning breaks on Tuesday. Interim prime minister Essam Sharaf and his cabinet tendered their resignations in protest against the use of violence against protesters in Tahrir Square. The demonstrators had been demanding that the military withdraw its “Silmi Communique,” which pledged military oversight of the next Egyptian government, put the […]