International Politics and Economy

(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 […]

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

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’?

(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, […]

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

(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 […]

Damascus’s Other Battle: Regime Cyberwar on the Opposition

(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

(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 […]

Drones

How many American Weddings would have to get hit by Drones before they were Banned?

(By Tom Engelhardt) The headline — “Bride and Boom!” — was spectacular, if you think killing people in distant lands is a blast and a half. Of course, you have to imagine that smirk line in giant black letters with a monstrous exclamation point covering most of the bottom third of the front page of […]

Is Edward Snowden a modern Martin Luther?