Almost funny: Despite its renown for gathering precise intelligence about its Arab neighbors, Israel was caught completely off guard by the political upheaval in Egypt, officials said Sunday. The dramatic outpouring of Egyptians demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, Israel’s longest standing ally in the Arab world, has shaken this country’s foreign policy establishment.…
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Boys with deadly toys in Egypt and US don’t want any change
Democracy is a messy beast, especially if it isn’t reliability “pro-US”. Hence, the last decades have seen very close relationships between Washington and a host of brutal dictatorships. Cairo is no different. No wonder America is worried that a “reliable” state – read pro-torture and pro-Israel – is teetering: The officer corps of Egypt’s powerful…
“This is not Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt anymore”
Democracy Now! journalist Sharif Kouddous returns to his homeland Egypt from New York and reports on the ground from a nation in transition: I grew up in Egypt. I spent half my life here. But Saturday, when my plane from JFK airport touched down in Cairo, I arrived in a different country than the one…
Don’t forget every “expert” who embraced Mubarak and his kind
The embedded journalists, writers, commentators and think-tankers who spend their hours urging “moderate” regimes in the Middle East – namely Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and others – never cared too much about the democratic aspirations of the Arab people themselves. Too messy, too inconvenient. And as long as Israel was happy, well, Washington (and…
Let’s not forget Israel loves autocrats to maintain its life
How does the Zionist state survive in the Middle East? Bribery, pressure, money and US backing. Nothing about democracy or rights or decency. And Egypt has been central to this for decades. So now what? Aluf Benn writes in Haaretz that Tel Aviv may have a few problems on its hands. Friends? More money may…
People of Gaza and Egypt need freedom from our thug
Burn, baby, burn. Israel and America are scurrying for some kind of response to the Egyptian uprising. The poor lambs. What on earth will they do if a compliant dictatorship actually falls? For example, the siege on Gaza may well be about to change. I hope. And so do the people of Gaza. They deserve…
We should be thanking Mubarak, our bad
Seriously: Reacting to the protests that have erupted in the capital and other cities,… Mubarak… urged calm, adding that only because of his own reforms over the years were people able to protest. Mona El Tahawy, an Egyptian columnist and author living in… the US, dismissed these comments. “There is no political freedom in Egypt, that’s exactly why…
Watch the emotional power of whipping Mubarak
Two very clever tweets from Guardian journalist Brian Whitaker. One: Israel’s analysis of Egypt is looking like the biggest intelligence failure since Iraqi WMD Two: Israel should henceforth be referred to as “the only democracy in the Middle East that supports dictators”
Who is providing the handy help for Cairo block the web?
Vultures (thank you Timothy Carr): The open Internet’s role in popular uprising is now undisputed. Look no further than Egypt, where the Mubarak regime today reportedly shut down Internet and cell phone communications — a troubling predictor of the fierce crackdown that has followed. What’s even more troubling is news that one American company is…
What Egyptian uprising says about the desperate desire for freedom
The Arab world is shaking. Crowds are seething. Anger is everywhere. Egyptian protesters are showing America, Israel and Mubarak what they think of them. Some of the latest reports here and here. From Al-Jazeera: The internet has been central to these protests, though impossible to tell how important. In an age of mass surveillance, it’s…