Arab World

Friday saw large demonstrations in Cairo and several other cities by Muslim Brotherhood members demanding the reinstatement of deposed Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi. Those who are happy to see him gone, including millions of youth of the Rebellion Movement, Coptic Christians, working class people hurt by his economic policies, and Mubarak regime leftovers, have less […]

Iraq

Iraq: 92-Year-Old Iraqi Man marries 22-Year-Old Woman

Juan Cole

“A 92-year-old man in Iraq marries a woman 70 years his junior. Muslai Mohammed, one of the most prominent figures in his village, decided to get married three years after the death of his first wife, who died aged 58. “I remained alone when my wife died, there was nobody to share anything with. I […]

Egypt

Top Ten Ways Egypt Actually Does deeply Matter to the United States

Juan Cole

A Pew poll shows that far fewer Americans are following events in Egypt closely now than in January-February 2011. Actually, about the same percentage are following it “fairly closely” as then (a quarter now versus 31% in 2011). The big fall-off is in people following events on the Nile “very closely,” which are only 15% […]

Egypt

New Egyptian gov’t on being sworn in, Complains of Turkish Interference in Egyptian Affairs

Juan Cole

Egypt’s appointed interim President Adly Mansour swore in a cabinet of 33 ministers on Tuesday, including 3 women, 7 members of the National Salvation Front, and 5 members of the previous, Hisham Qandil, government who agreed to stay on. The cabinet contains some of Egypt’s best economists, raising hopes that the country’s deep economic doldrums […]

Egypt

The Backlash against Political Islam is not a Backlash against Islam: Egypt and Bangladesh

Juan Cole

There is a big difference between being a believing Muslim and being a devotee of political Islam. Political Islam attempts to make the religion a platform for gaining governmental power. This movement (political Islam or the Muslim religious Right) has been very important in many Muslim countries in the past few decades, but its rise […]

Egypt

Egypt: Prosecutor Comes after Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood, as Divided Mass Protests Continue

Juan Cole

Egypt’s June 30 Movement is calling for big demonstrations on Sunday, saying “no” to “terrorism” and “yes” to the “gains of the Revolution.” The movements appears to be identifying elements of the deposed Muslim Brotherhood government as ‘terrorists’ (as far as I know it is mainly the Sinai Muslim radicals that fit that bill, not […]

Egypt

Egyptian PM Biblawi: Egypt had Left the “Arab Group” to Join the “Islamic Group”

Juan Cole

The USG Open Source Center translates an interview with new interim appointed prime minister of Egypt, Hazem Biblawi, in the Pan-Arab daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat. I have excerpted some of it below: “Interview with Egyptian Prime Minister Dr Hazim al-Biblawi, by Abd-al-Sattar Hatitiah, from Cairo: “New Egyptian Prime Minister in an Interview with Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: Our […]

Egypt

Egypt: Rebellion Movement Pressures President, PM to Pare Claimed Powers

Juan Cole

As Egypt braced for dueling huge demonstrations on Friday, a spokesman for the Rebellion or Tamarrud Movement, Hasan Shahin, said Thursday that the campaign expects the appointed interim president, Adly Mansour, to issue a new set of constitutional guidelines on the transitional government. Those declared a couple of days ago, they said, give too much […]

Syria

Remembering Syria: Homs ‘Ghost Town’ Under heavy Regime Bombardment

Juan Cole

In winter of 2012, the world was mesmerized and horrified as the Syrian Baath regime drew up artillery pieces and its tanks and fired on non-combatant civilian districts. Now, non-combatantants are under artillery barrages, and it seems as though the world is paying no attention. In Homs, according to the official newspaper al-Watan, there was […]