Some years are pivotal and serve to mark off eras of history. 2011 saw the end of American hyperpower, and it announced the end of a decade of US-Muslim conflict that began with 2001. It saw the killing of Usama Bin Laden, the virtual rolling up of al-Qaeda, the repudiation of al-Qaeda’s methods by the […]
Archives for December 2011
Top Ten Myths about the Arab Spring of 2011
1. The upheavals of 2011 were provoked by the Bush administration’s overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq Bzzt! Wrong answer. None of the young people who made this year’s revolutions ever pointed to Iraq as an inspiration. The only time Iraq was even brought up in their tweets was as a negative example (“let’s not […]
Gascoigne: Syria, the Invisible Massacre
Martin Gascoigne writes in a guest essay for Informed Comment The ongoing conflict in Syria, in a year of tremulous conflict across the region and beyond, singularly fails to ignite passions in the West. Oddly, even professional media coverage is relatively lacking, certainly compared to the interest in, say, Egypt. It is not as if […]
Egyptian Blogger-Activist Alaa on Democracy Now!
Amy Goodman interviews Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, who was recently released from jail, on Democracy Now! @Alaa is a renowned leftist blogger from a family of longtime Egyptian activists. He was arrested for challenging continued military rule and now supports having the speaker of parliament, who will be chosen in January, assume […]
Christian Priests Brawl at Jesus’ Birthplace
The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem has now seen its annual brawl between Armenian and Eastern Orthodox priests, who are jointly responsible for its administration. Police of the Palestine Authority broke it up but made no arrests because the pugilists are “men of God.” Somehow you get a sense that Jesus of Nazareth would […]
Egyptian Court orders Military to Cease Virginity Tests
An Egyptian court has ordered the Egyptian military to cease subjecting arrested female protesters to virginity tests. The ruling is a strike for women’s rights, but also is significant as an assertion of civil courts’ rights to tell the military what to do. The tests are administered because Egyptian conservatives in the military maintain that […]
Iranian Navy Menaces Oil Exports from Hormuz
United Nations and United States financial and economic sanctions on Iran have probably gone about as far as they can in damaging Iran’s economy. They have had a significant effect, but are hardly in danger of shaking the regime or convincing it to cease its civilian nuclear enrichment program. Iran is preemptively responding to threats […]
Israeli Hardliners attack Police over Women’s Segregation
Haredi Jews clashed with police on Monday in Beit Shemesh, Israel, leaving one policeman wounded, over the issue of segregation of women. They shouted “Nazis!” at the police. The Haredim are the Salafis of Judaism, and many insist on strict separation of women in public. Some forbid women to visit deceased relatives in cemeteries or […]
2011 Revolutions and the End of Republican Monarchy
Egyptian reformer Saad Eddin Ibrahim observed in the late 1990s and 2000 that the Arab world was beginning to be characterized by a bizarre gryphon-like form of government, the republican monarchy. In a republic, power is supposed to be vested in the people, who are sovereign, and who can change out their leaders through elections. […]
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