White House/State Dept. Continue to Refuse to Condemn Egyptian Military

The violence is escalating in Tahrir Square with the military and security forces cracking down on protesters, with upwards of 35 killed. As usual when dealing with an intransigent, human rights-abusing ally, the administration has just called for “restraint on all sides” which is code for “we don’t want to denounce the disproportionate force used […]

US-Supported Egyptian Military Dictatorship Imprisons Egyptian Bloggers and Activists

Clearly, the US has decided that stability is more important than democracy and human rights in Egypt. For decades we’ve been very close with the corrupt, elite Egyptian defense forces all the while turning our backs while they entrenched themselves in every aspect of civil and economic society. That they detained, tortured and killed anyone […]

Did You Know the National Guard Has Troops in Egypt Enforcing the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty

I didn’t! I guess I should have known this but I didn’t. Today I ran across an article from April saying that the Maryland National Guard was preparing to head to Egypt (the Sinai Peninsula) for the purpose of monitoring compliance with the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. So I just did a search […]

Israel’s Claim That Terrorist Attacks Came From Gaza Called Into Question

I’ll admit to feeling sort of vindicated by this story in the independent Israeli mag +972 after being verbally taken to the woodshed by a liberal American Rabbi on Twitter yesterday who felt the need to school me about how Hamas was responsible for the terror attacks in Southern Israel last week. All I was […]

Egyptian #FlagMan Climbs Up Israeli Embassy and Removes Israeli Flag

Egyptians are pissed. After the IDF crossed the Egyptian border killing several Egyptian security forces the other day, Egyptians are demanding justice. They congregated outside the Israeli embassy by the thousands- something that would have been unheard of under Mubarak- and demanded that the Israeli Ambassador leave (he did). An Egyptian man, now being referred […]

Will There Ever Be An End to Military Dictatorship in Egypt?

This could put the U.S. in a prickly situation given the Egyptian people don’t trust us due to our strong support of the Egyptian military. While the Egyptian military did exercise significant restraint during the uprising, the U.S. turned a blind eye to the ongoing detention and torture of activists and dissidents by the military, […]

Just What We Need: Another Analysis of Egypt From Israel’s Perspective

The great thing about this Newsweek article is that it is unapologetic in letting us know that all that really matters with the Arab Spring is Israel. Whenever you hear the Israel Lobby and all their media watch groups (like CAMERA) complain about the anti-Israel press, just keep in mind that they know damn well […]

U.S. Militarism and Women’s Rights

This is a subject that I’ve been interested in for a long time. I’ve always had a hard time rationalizing certain feminist principles with the United States’ hawkish foreign policy. How can we as a country proclaim our unyielding support for women around the world while at the same time advocating military solutions to almost […]

Secretary Clinton Announced Willingness for Dialogue w/ Muslim Brotherhood and Neocons Heads Explode

Part of the neocon book of hypocritical non-diplomacy is a policy of never talking with people with whom you disagree, except when you do talk to them. Then, when other people do the exact same thing, you denounce them as cheese-eating surrender monkeys. Secretary Clinton on Friday announced the obvious- that the U.S. would be […]

Violent Clashes in Tahrir Square

Not good: Clashes are continuing between Egyptian security forces and more than 5,000 protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, leaving more than 590 injured, according to witnesses and medical officials. Tahrir Square, the epicenter of protests that toppled Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s former president, remained sealed off early on Wednesday as lines of security forces in riot […]

Bahrain Sentences Democracy Activists to Life in Prison

[note: I saw this story and wanted to put up a quick post- I apologize for any typos in advance, didn’t get to edit it because I have to run to a meeting.] Is this the sort of government reform the Obama administration has been lauding? Clearly Bahrain’s talk of reform is BS and they […]

The Role of Saudi Arabia in Bahrain’s Brutal Crackdown

While the Obama administration has been busy telling us that the difference between Libya, Syria, Bahrain, Iran, Tunisia and Egypt is “a one-size fit all approach doesn’t work” in the Middle East, the glaring inconsistency has been duly noted in the Arab world. Most pragmatists realize that there are differences between different Middle Eastern countries […]

Was Fox News Watching the Same Peaceful Revolution in Egypt That the Rest of Us Were?

Many in the GOP and almost everyone at Fox News have made it clear that freedom and democracy are just empty, hollow politically expedient tools to use to whack one’s political opponent over the head with. Anyone can stick a flag pin on their lapel and claim to be a patriot but it takes real […]

Sarah Palin Tweets on Egypt

This was apparently “Breaking News” on Fox News: Not “congratulations to the people of Egypt for standing up for the principles I myself espouse” but her usual negative snark. I guess in Sarah Palin-world Egypt is exactly the same as Iran because, well, they’re all Muslims so what’s the difference? The fact that one is […]