Egypt

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – On Thursday, the Syrian government announced that the last of those who wanted to be evacuated from the East Aleppo pocket had been bused out, and that the Bashar al-Assad regime had reestablished complete control over the entire city of Aleppo. Bashar al-Assad in his remarks […]

Authoritarianism

Life under the Junta: Deadly Explosion at Cairo’s Coptic Christian Cathedral Kills 25

contributors

TeleSur | – – The Coptic cathedral explosion has reportedly killed 25 people and injured dozens more. A crowd gathered outside Cairo city’s biggest Coptic Christian cathedral Sunday morning chanting, “Tell the sheikh, tell the priest, Egyptians’ blood is not cheap!” after a deadly bombing killed at least 25 people in the worst attack on […]

Egypt

Egypt’s Special Courts in time of Crisis are Nothing New

contributors

by Yoram Meital | (Informed Comment) | – – The toppling of a regime, whether by civil insurrection or military coup, invariably gives rise to a fierce struggle over the lineaments of the new order. This transition phase is the moment of truth in every revolution. It is informed by a collapse of the justice […]

Colonialism

60 Years later, Suez Crisis looks a lot like Iraq War

contributors

By Nigel Ashton | (The Conversation) | – – Does history repeat itself? Never perfectly or precisely, but some of the parallels between Anthony Eden’s handling of the 1956 Suez Crisis and Tony Blair’s role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq are worth pondering. In both cases prime ministerial decision-making dictated the course of British […]

Copts

Egypt: New Church Law Discriminates Against Christians

contributors

By Human Rights Watch | – – Authorities Fail to Prevent, Punish Violent Attacks (Tunis) – A long-awaited new law maintains restrictions over the construction and renovation of churches and discriminates against the Christian minority in Egypt. The law, passed by Egypt’s parliament on August 30, 2016, applies only to Christian houses of worship. Recent […]

Egypt

Arab nationalist press Reacts to Erdogan’s Crackdown with cries of “Dictator!”

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s firing of some 50,000 people, including educators, bureaucrats, police and military personnel, in the wake of the failed July 15 coup against him, provoked sharp criticism in Egypt, Jordan and other Arab countries that have an adversarial attitude toward the Religious Right […]

Egypt

Nile Valley Water Conflict: Can Egypt live with Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam?

contributors

By Dale Whittington | (The Conversation) | – – The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, or GERD, under construction on the Blue Nile near the Ethiopian-Sudanese border, is now approximately 50% complete. Initial filling will start this year and will begin in earnest in 2017. The idea of a dam on the Nile in Ethiopia – […]

Egypt

Is it ISIL? US Official Says Likely Explosion Happened on EgyptAir Plane

contributors

TeleSur | – – EgyptAir said the plane’s emergency devices sent a distress signal at 4.26 a.m. local time, about two hours after the previously stated radar contact. A senior U.S. Intelligence official familiar with the U.S.’s capabilities in the region told NBC News that infrared and multi-spectral imagers strongly suggest there was an explosion […]

Development

Surprise! Despite Syria-Iraq Turmoil, Major Mideast Economies growing 3-4%

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – When you only hear bad news from a place, you form a negative opinion of it. But when I went looking for news about the economies of the most populous Middle Eastern countries, I was surprised to find that the IMF and/or World Bank is seeing […]