Egypt

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – The Egyptian government has severely curtailed environmental groups’ ability to carry out independent policy, advocacy, and field work essential to protecting the country’s natural environment, Human Rights Watch said today. These restrictions violate the rights to freedom of assembly and association and threaten Egypt’s ability to uphold its environmental […]

Egypt

Ukraine War Threatens Wheat Supply to Egypt, where a Meal isn’t complete without Bread

The Conversation

Jessica Barnes, University of South Carolina | Russia’s war on Ukraine is disrupting global grain supplies. Restrictions on navigation in the Azov Sea and the closure of ports have interrupted grain shipments from Russia, the world’s largest wheat exporter, and economic sanctions are complicating purchase agreements. Amid concerns about meeting food needs at home, Ukraine […]

Algeria

Sanctions on Russia may be a Bonanza for Mideast Gas and Oil Producers, but Where will they get their Wheat?

Middle East Monitor

By Ihsan Al-Faqih | – Over the decades, the Middle East has been an arena of contention over influence and interests between the US and Russia in various conflicts. This continued until the end of former US President Donald Trump’s presidency. The involvement of the US in the region’s conflicts has declined since Joe Biden […]

Climate Crisis

Egypt announces Plan to Get 42% of Electricity from Renewables, become Solar Energy Hub for Europe via Greece

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Ghada El-Gendy, the Executive Director of the Arab Renewable Energy Company, said Friday that Egypt has plans to increase the share of renewables in its electricity production to 42 percent by 2035. At the moment, most of Egypt’s power plants run on methane gas or petroleum, and only 12.5 percent […]

Arab World

Authoritarian Quadrangle: How the United Arab Emirates, Russia, Egypt and Israel undermine Democracy in the Middle East

Middle East Monitor

By Gilbert Achkar | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – From the middle of the 20th century until the first decade of the 21st, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was the main fortress of Arab reactionism. This was due to the size of the Kingdom, its location in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula, […]

Climate Crisis

As Climate Emergency Worsens, Freak Lightning Storm sends Snow, Scorpion Plague on Egypt’s Aswan

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – How freakish and biblical our climate emergency could become was illustrated this week in the Upper Egyptian city of Aswan, which was struck in November by rolling lightning storms, downpours, snow and a plague of scorpions. High winds blew the deadly Egyptian black, fat-tailed scorpions from the surrounding desert into […]

censorship

Demands for Egypt’s U.S.-backed Egyptian Strongman al-Sisi to Release Activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, detained for 2 Years without Charge

Global Voices

By Ellery Roberts Biddle | – The life of Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Abd El Fattah is in danger. The 39-year-old was jailed in 2019 on charges of spreading fake news, but, despite the limits of Egyptian law, he has yet to go to trial. At a recent hearing concerning the case, his lawyer […]

Donald Trump

In Siccing Justice Dept. on Jimmy Kimmel and SNL, Trump Channeled worst Mideast Dictators

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Bassem Youssef was Egypt’s most famous comedian in the 2000s and until 2014. His weekly half-hour satire, “The Program,” skewered the government of president-for-life Hosni Mubarak in the run-up to the 2011 youth revolt. Mubarak was thin-skinned but did allow some comedians and pundits to blow off steam. He did, […]

Egypt

How Renewables could Forestall an Egypt-Sudan-Ethiopia War over the Grand Renaissance Nile Dam

Sustainability Times

By Laureen Fagan | – ( Sustainability Times) – Renewable sources have the power when it comes to the energy future of East Africans, but they also may prove a solution to a complicated diplomatic and geopolitical problem. That’s according to scientists at Belgium’s Vrije Universiteit Brussel, who say that adding solar and wind energy […]