Middle East

My interview on Democracy Now on the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 is available on the Web. A text transcript follows at that link. and here it is mirrored on YouTube:

Egypt

Thousands of Protesters Challenge Police Crackdown in Egypt

Juan Cole

Thousands of protesters came out into the streets of Cairo on Friday, to be met with concerted opposition from the security police, who kept them away from Maidan al-Tahrir (Liberation Square) with crowd control vehicles, police phalanxes, and barriers. People massed on bridges and overpasses beyond the grasp of the police below, and sometimes threw […]

Egypt

Egyptian Demonstrators Rev up for Big Friday as Regime Cracks Down

Juan Cole

As of Friday Egypt began being cut off from text messaging and internet access was disrupted ahead of planned mass protests. At 12:30 am Egyptian time, according to an email sent around by activists, the internet went down completely. The government is attempting to interfere in dissidents’ ability to organize. Similar techniques were used by […]

Egypt

Egyptians Defy Protest Ban, Plan big Rallies for Friday; Death toll Rises to 6

Juan Cole

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton backed away from her unqualified support of the Egyptian government on Wednesday, saying, “We believe strongly that the Egyptian government has an important opportunity at this moment in time to implement political, economic and social reforms to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people.” The Obama […]

Tunisia

Anzalone: Hezbollah’s Double Standards: Tunisia and Iran

Juan Cole

Christopher Anzalone writes in a guest column for Informed Comment Hezbollah’s Double Standards: Tunisia, Iran, & Popular Protest Hezbollah just issued a statement via its media relations office expressing strong support for “the people’s uprising” (the Arabic term intifada is used) in Tunisia. This, only days after it and its allies withdrew their ministers from […]

Egypt

Egypt forbids Protests a Day after it was Shaken by Thousands of Demonstrators, 3 Killed

Juan Cole

Egypt was wracked by demonstrations on Tuesday’s “Day of Rage,” called for by the April 6 committee of youth activists on social media last week. The protesters were hoping to profit from the momentum for reform in the region created by the Tunisian revolution, which forced the Ben Ali regime from power nearly two weeks […]

Israel/ Palestine

Pressman: One Leaked Document on the Annapolis Process

Juan Cole

Jeremy Pressman writes in a guest column for Informed Comment One Document in the Annapolis Process Jeremy Pressman As al-Jazeera continues to release more leaked documents from the negotiation office of the Palestine Authority, what do minutes of the back-and-forth negotiations reveal about the core issues? On April 8, 2008, Abu Ala and Tzipi Livni […]

Afghanistan

The US Corruption Game – Cole in Tomdispatch

Juan Cole

My essay, “The Corruption Game: What the Tunisian Revolution and WikiLeaks Tell Us about American Support for Corrupt Dictatorships in the Muslim World is up at The Nation Institute’s Tomdispatch. Excerpt: In July of 2009, for instance, the U.S. ambassador dined with Nesrine Ben Ali el-Materi and Sakher el-Materi, the president’s daughter and son-in-law, at […]

Israel/ Palestine

Protest against Aljazeera Leaks in Ramallah; US Dictated Leadership to Palestinians

Juan Cole

Aljazeera reports on how Palestinians in the West Bank town of Ramallah were so angered at the allegations against the Palestine Liberation Organization leadership in the leaked documents published at the Qatari news organization’s site that they tried to invade the Aljazeera offices in that city. They accused Aljazeera of lying about their leaders. The […]