Egypt

By Brian M. Downing | (Informed Comment) – As the Iranian nuclear talks neared preliminary agreement, and as the Houthis drove into southern Yemen, world leaders and commentators warned that Iran is on the rise in the Middle East. This, they continued, had to be stopped by imposing tougher sanctions and opposing the Houthis, perhaps […]

Egypt

Ousted Egyptian President Morsi Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison

contributors

By Deirdre Fulton, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) – Morsi was convicted of ordering the arrest and torture of protesters during the clashes that erupted in December 2012 Ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, along with 14 other defendants, was sentenced on Tuesday to 20 years in maximum security prison and five years of parole over the […]

Central Intelligence Agency

US Increases Intelligence-Sharing With Saudi Arabia Over Yemen Strikes

contributors

By Nadia Prupis, staff writer | (Commondreams.org) – U.S. ups ‘sensitive’ intelligence-sharing with Saudis to help them get ‘better sense of the battlefield,’ while aid groups describe disaster on the ground in Yemen As the humanitarian crisis in Yemen worsens, the U.S. is stepping up its role in supporting Saudi Arabia’s bombing campaign against the […]

Barack Obama

US Arms Hypocrisy in Egypt: Obama’s New Beginning that Never Started

contributors

By Marwa Fikry Abdel Samei | (Informed Comment) – “To the people of Egypt, particularly the young people of Egypt: I want to be clear: We hear your voices. I have an unyielding belief that you will determine your own destiny and seize the promise of a better future for your children and your grandchildren.” […]

Egypt

Could Sunni-Shiite Rift make Tikrit a Pyrrhic Victory? Al-Azhar & Shiite Militias

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) The foremost Sunni Muslim seat of learning, al-Azhar University in Cairo, has stirred controversy by issuing a considered legal opinion (fatwa) condemning the Shiite militias or “Popular Mobilization Forces” that are now fighting alongside the Iraq army to take Tikrit back from Daesh (ISIL or ISIS). To be fair, […]

Egypt

In Egypt, the Law itself is an Enemy of Women’s Rights

contributors

By Rana Allam | – CAIRO, Feb 23 2015 (IPS) – In November 2013, a Thomson Reuters Foundation survey ranked Egypt as the worst of 22 Arab states with regards to women’s rights. Several people argued that any country strictly following Islamic laws should rank lower, because Egypt and many other Arab and Muslim countries […]

Egypt

Egypt: Sisi’s struggle with the Muslim Brotherhood and his Strikes on ISIL/ Daesh in Libya

contributors

By Henry Clements | (Informed Comment) – Egyptian president Abdel Fatah El-Sisi wants to rally the international community against terrorism in the Middle East. In a televised speech earlier this week he asserted, “Egypt and countries across the world are facing a fierce battle with terrorist organizations that adopt extremist ideology and share the same […]

al-Qaeda

Avenging its Christians, Egypt Bombs Libya in first formal Campaign since 1991

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The murder by Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) thugs in Sirte, Libya, of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians this weekend provoked the first formal Egyptian military incursion into another state’s territory since the 1991 Gulf War. Egyptian fighter jets bombed warehouses, training camps and other assets of Daesh in Derna. […]

Egypt

‘American Terrorist’: Middle East reacts to Murder of 3 Muslim-American Students in N Carolina

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – If American mass media seemed reluctant to cover the murder of three Muslims students at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill as a hate crime, the same was not true in the Middle East, where strong opinions were aroused. Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan criticized President Barack Obama […]