Middle East

My tribute to Saad Eddin Ibrahim, with whom I studied, is out at Truthdig. Excerpt: ‘ Saad Eddin Ibrahim has spoken out forcefully on human rights and democracy for decades, and he is finally being vindicated. But his message that the United States needs to support democracy in the Arab world and put aside its […]

Despite efforts of the regime of Hosni Mubarak to forestall it by canceling trains to Cairo and throwing up checkpoints, masses of Egyptians poured into Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, as well into the downtown of Alexandria, on Tuesday morning. At Twitter, courtesy Google/ phone land line (+16504194196 ), we could read from Sharif Abdel […]

50,000 protesters in Tahrir Square on 7th day of Wrath, as Muslim Brotherhood backs off Elbaradei endorsement. Army fires heavy artillery warning shots in air in Alexandria. A bad thing if it is a sign of things to come.

Protesters in downtown Cairo on Monday morning were calling for a general strike. On Tuesday, they said they will launch a ‘million-person march,’ clearly with the aim of toppling the Mubarak government. On Sunday, a multi-party coalition of oppositionists had formed a 10-man committee to head their movement. The leader of the committee, in turn, […]

On Sunday morning there was some sign of the Egyptian military taking on some security duties. Soldiers started arresting suspected looters, rounding up 450 of them. The disappearance of the police from the streets had led to a threat of widespread looting is now being redressed by the regular military. Other control methods were on […]

Nobelist in chemistry, Dr. Ahmed Zewail of the California Institute of Technology, is an Egyptian-American who has sometimes been mentioned as a candidate for president of Egypt. He has served as a science envoy to the Arab world of President Obama. In an interview on Aljazeera Arabic, Zewail called for fundamental change in Egypt, not […]

Gen. Hosni Mubarak’s response to a mass uprising demanding an end to military rule in Egypt? He appoints the former head of Egyptian military intelligence (Omar Suleiman) his vice president (and therefore likely successor). He appoints the Air Force Chief of Staff (Ahmad Shafiq) as prime minister. Can you spell TONE DEAF? Meanwhile, crowds in […]