Human Rights

(By Human Rights Watch) (New York) – The Egyptian government’s designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization appears to be aimed at expanding the crackdown on peaceful Brotherhood activities and imposing harsh sanctions on its supporters. The government should promptly reverse the decision and stop interfering with the Brotherhood’s health, education, and other […]

Human Rights

The other Victim of Israeli settler vigilantism is Israeli Society Itself

contributors

(By Shirin Rubin) Israeli society will pay the ‘price’ for settler vigilantism, rights group warns (via The Christian Science Monitor) When Ahmad Milhem heard earlier this month that Jewish extremists had scrawled “Mohammad is a pig” on the walls of his local mosque, he feared for both his Arab and Jewish neighbors. “If our young […]

Dissent

Freed Pussy Riot Band Members call for ‘Russia without Putin’ (Video of the Day)

Juan Cole

Channel 4 News reports: On this occasion of their release, it is worthwhile reprinting excerpts from the translation of an interview by Elena Masyuk with Maria “Masha” Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova from last January that appears on the Free Pussy Riot web site: Masyuk: “— I attended almost every single day of your [Maria’s} trial […]

censorship

Snowden’s Christmas Message on Privacy: Does NSA threaten 9th, 14th Amendments, ‘Inviolate Personality’?

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Edward Snowden’s Christmas address, carried by the British Channel 4, concentrated on the disappearance of privacy. He said that a child born today might “never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves, an unrecorded, unanalyzed thought.” People walk around with a tracking device in their pockets, he noted, […]

Dissent

Egyptian Junta designates Muslim Brotherhood as “Terrorist Organization” in Attempt to Crush Dissent

Juan Cole

(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 […]

Dissent

Damascus’s Other Battle: Regime Cyberwar on the Opposition

contributors

(By Dave Maass) Social Engineering and Malware in Syria: EFF and Citizen Lab’s Latest Report on the Digital Battlefield (via EFF) More than two years into the Syrian conflict, the violence continues both on the ground and in the digital realm. Just as human rights investigators and weapons inspectors search for evidence of chemical weapons, […]

Egypt

The Iraqization of Egypt: Two Large Bombs Rock Security Bldg in Mansoura, kill 14, wound 130

Juan Cole

(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 […]

Human Rights

War Crime: Syrian Regime Killed Hundreds of Civilians, including Children, with Airstrikes on Aleppo

Juan Cole

(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. […]

Featured

The End of the Turkish Model? Erdogan’s Paranoia and Authoritarian Streak Threaten his Legacy

Juan Cole

(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 […]