My column is out at Truthdig, “Sectarian Violence Undermines Syrian Regime” Excerpt: “The Syrian government’s resort to Alawite death squads in recent weeks, however, has threatened the big-city alliance that has allowed the Baath to survive. The sight of Sunni women and children massacred by the Shabiha in Houla and Mazraat al-Qubair drove Sunni shopkeepers […]
Egypt: Fundamentalist President + Junta = ?
Since December, Egypt has had as its president a military council, and as its legislature the Muslim Brotherhood. It is possible this morning that Egypt now has as its president the Muslim Brotherhood and as its legislature a military council. Thus, not everything has changed. Although it is true that the judiciary, backed by the […]
Omar Khayyam (138) “Don’t throw your precious lives to the wind…”
Don’t fall for this world’s enticements, you amateurs! You know all about its tricks. Don’t throw your precious lives to the wind. Get yourself a lover and open a bottle of wine. Translated by Juan Cole from Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat, [pdf] Whinfield 138
What America would be like if it was like Afghanistan (Engelhardt)
Tom Engelhardt writes at Tomdispatch [satire alert] It Couldn’t Happen Here, It Does Happen There The Value of American — and Afghan — Lives By Tom Engelhardt “Do you do this in the United States? There is police action every day in the United States… They don’t call in airplanes to bomb the place.” — […]
Father’s Day (Louis C.K.)
Comedian Louis C.K. on Father’s Day:
Did the Egyptian Generals make their Coup because of a Conspiracy Theory?
The initial reaction of the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party to the high court decision dissolving parliament had been acquiescence. On Sunday, they got a bit more active, arguing that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) did not have the right to dissolve parliament despite the court […]
Is the secret war in Yemen and Somalia secret no longer? (Woods)
Chris Woods writes at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism In what is being viewed by some as a significant move towards greater transparency, President Obama has officially acknowledged for the first time previously secret US military combat operations in Yemen and Somalia. The US military has been mounting aggressive combat operations in both countries for […]
On the Right Way to Vote (W. C. Fields Poster)
Egypt: An Election within a Coup within a Coup
Arab satellite television is showing lines of Egyptian voters at polling stations on Saturday, as some proportion of the 50 million eligible voters makes a decision between a former air force general and a leader of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood. The military has spread 150,000 troops through the country to safeguard some 13,000 polling stations. […]
© 2025 All Rights Reserved