Arab World

You wouldn’t think Bahrain and Syria were much linked. Both are Arabic-speaking countries, though about half of Bahrain’s residents are non-citizen guest workers who speak anything but Arabic. One is a geographically fairly large country of some 23 million abutting the eastern Mediterranean. The other is a set of tiny islands in the Mideast’s Gulf. […]

Egypt

Military-Salafi Clashes in Egypt Injured hundreds, Kill 1 Soldier

Juan Cole

The Egyptian military pushed back Friday against largely Salafi protesters, who insisted on attempting to get near to the Ministry of Defense in the al-Abbasiya district. When they tried to cut through the barbed wire keeping them off the MoD grounds, troops used water cannon and teargas to disperse them, and charged the crowd, pushing […]

Egypt

Deaths of Protesters Lead Egyptian Politicians to Suspend Presidential Campaign

Juan Cole

Thugs, very possibly backed by the continued military dictatorship in Egypt, attacked protesters at dawn on Wednesday in front of the Ministry of Defense in al-Abbasiya, Cairo, leaving some 20 dead. The protesters suspect that they were actually plainsclothes police. The 500 or so protesters had been gathered to object to the disqualification of their […]

Egypt

Will the Egyptian Military Allow the New President to take Office?

Juan Cole

Al-Hayat reported that Egypt’s military council is making odd demands on the eve of the presidential election scheduled for May 23-24. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) says it wants the new constitution to be drafted before the president assumes office. Presumably this demand derives from the old constitution’s provisions that give the […]

Syria

Tens of Thousands of Syrians Protest Peacefully after Ceasefire, 6 Killed

Juan Cole

On the first day since the Baathist regime of Bashar al-Assad maintained that it had accepted a ceasefire with its opposition, tens of thousands of Syrians came out into the streets to protest. The regime did not, as promised, pull tanks from the streets, so that the crowds were thinner than they might have been. […]

Bahrain

Bahrain Crisis between Hunger Strike and Grand Prix Boycott

Juan Cole

The crisis in Bahrain continues to boil along, despite the harsh crackdown of the Sunni monarchy on the protest movement (made up largely of the Shiite majority, but also supported by some Sunni parties). The crackdown has left about 83 dead in the past year, and hundreds have been imprisoned. Abd al-Hadi al-Khwajah, a protester […]

Syria

Syrian Civil War Kills 160, Spills over onto Lebanon, Turkey; Will US Intervene?

Juan Cole

Fighting on Monday in Homs and other Syrian cities left some 160 dead on Monday, and, ominously, Syrian troops fired into Lebanon and Turkey, killing 3 persons. The Syrian crisis has escalated into a civil war, and now it is threatening to involve Syria’s neighbors. The Syrian military attacked the town of Rastan near Homs […]

Iraq

US Pentagon Trained Iranian terrorists in Nevada: Hersh

Juan Cole

For those who missed this this weekend. The intrepid Seymour Hersh reports at the New Yorker that the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) of the US military gave members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK or People’s Holy Jihadis) training in signals intelligence at a facility in Nevada during the Bush era. The MEK was then […]

Egypt

Videos on the Muslim Brotherhood and the Quest for Power in Egypt

Juan Cole

Aljazeera English on the Muslim Brotherhood’s Khairat al-Shater and his plans to run for the presidency of Egypt: The USG Open Source Center paraphrased this piece from the Muslim Brotherhood web site Cairo Egyptwindow in Arabic for Weds. April 4: “Article by Muhammad al-Suruji entitled: “10 important questions on al-Shatir’s nomination” dated 4 April. The […]