Tag: egypt

Outside Agitators

A Cairo court has convicted 43 men and women of using foreign funds to foment unrest inside Egypt in connection with the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak. Sixteen of those convicted were Americans. All but one, Robert Becker of the National Democratic Institute, had already departed. Becker fled this week rather than serve two years … Continue reading “Outside Agitators”

Christians Worry Over a Future in Egypt

CAIRO — The tranquil, green, upper-class Cairo suburb Maadi is a bubble of privilege separated from the city’s noisier, dirtier, overcrowded suburbs where working-class Egyptians struggle to make ends meet and where Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood (MB) has established a strong following. But this bubble of tranquility stands juxtaposed to another reality which threatens other parts … Continue reading “Christians Worry Over a Future in Egypt”

Anti-American Violence Should Provoke Rethink

The attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four U.S. diplomats, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, is the latest example of tragic blowback from the U.S. government’s interventionist foreign policy in the Islamic world. That it happened on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, an even more severe example of such … Continue reading “Anti-American Violence Should Provoke Rethink”

Libya, Egypt Embassy Attacks Fuel US Presidential Race

Tuesday’s attacks by alleged radical Islamists on key U.S. diplomatic posts in Libya and Egypt propelled foreign policy, however briefly, to the center of the presidential race that has been dominated to date by the state of the economy. Pointing to the killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other U.S. officials in … Continue reading “Libya, Egypt Embassy Attacks Fuel US Presidential Race”

Egyptian Hospitals Under Attack as Patients Lose Patience

CAIRO — The emergency room of Mansoura International Hospital is closed, a lock and chain securing its entrance. Ambulances carrying stroke and burn victims are ordered to go elsewhere. Just hours earlier, dozens of people stormed this mid-sized hospital in northern Egypt, carrying a relative injured in a car accident. The group overpowered the military … Continue reading “Egyptian Hospitals Under Attack as Patients Lose Patience”

Has the Day of the Islamist Arrived?

Sixteen months after the United States abandoned its loyal satrap of 30 years, President Hosni Mubarak, to champion democracy in Egypt, the returns are in. Mohammed Mursi, candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, is president of Egypt, while the military has dissolved the elected parliament that was dominated by the Brotherhood and curbed his powers. The … Continue reading “Has the Day of the Islamist Arrived?”

Regime-Changers’ Report Card

Divide et impera – a strategy employed by empires since ancient times, and perfected by the British – has been the leitmotif of American foreign policy in the Middle East since the Bush administration’s “Arab Awakening” in Iraq and the supposed success of the “surge.” I’ve written in this space about the playing of the … Continue reading “Regime-Changers’ Report Card”

Blowback in Egypt

The trial of 43 employees of Western-backed “pro-democracy” groups in Egypt has been postponed until July, when government prosecution witnesses are scheduled to testify. The case attracted international attention when the authorities accused US- and European-backed groups of trying to overthrow the government. As Egyptian police raided the offices of several NGOs, and detained Sam … Continue reading “Blowback in Egypt”