Image by Mohamed Azazy via Flickr
with Noam Chomsky
MIT ESA on Oct 8, 2013
This event took place on October 4th, 2013 in Kresge Auditorium, MIT, Cambridge.
Egypt has undergone many cycles of change since the revolution in January 2011, and making sense of these radical transformations in the heart of the Middle East has been challenging. We had the privilege of discussing the past, present and future of Egypt’s political landscape with Prof. Chomsky.
Image by Mohamed Azazy via Flickr
RussiaToday on Aug 19, 2013
Egypt’s government confirms its security forces have killed 36 Muslim Brotherhood supporters that attempted to escape during a prison transfer. Officials claimed the prisoners took an officer hostage, but suffocated when police used tear gas. The Muslim Brotherhood may end up listed as a terrorist organization under Egypt’s new constitution, according to reports. The draft is expected to be announced on Wednesday and may also include a ban on all religious political parties. And as RT’s Paula Slier now reports the violence in the country has left some families scarred for life.
by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
andrewgavinmarshall.com
Originally published on The Hampton Institute
August 7, 2013
America’s Mambo with Mubarak
America’s ruling elites – and those of the Western world more generally – are comfortable dealing with ruthless tyrants and dictators all over the world, partly because they’ve just had more practice with it than dealing with ‘democratic’ governments in so-called ‘Third World’ nations. This is especially true when it comes to the Arab world, where the West has only ever dealt with dictatorships, and often by arming them and supporting them to repress their own populations, and in return, they support US and Western geopolitical, strategic and economic interests in the region. America’s relationship with Egypt – and most notably with Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt from 1981 to 2011 – has been especially revealing of this imperial-proxy relationship between so-called ‘democracies’ and dictatorships.
by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com
Originally published on The Hampton Institute
July 30, 2013
Part 1: Working Class Resistance and European Imperial Ambitions
Part 2: The “Threat” Of Arab Nationalism
Between 1952 and 2011, Egypt was ruled by three military dictators: Nasser, Sadat, and Mubarak. Nasser placated labour unrest and imposed many social programs that benefited the population. Sadat subsequently began to break down the ‘social contract’ with Egyptian society, and when Mubarak came to power in 1981, the following three decades witnessed the imposition of a neoliberal order, complete with crony-capitalists, corrupted bureaucracies and a repressive police force. Continue reading
by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
July 26, 2013
Image by MoudBarthez via Flickr
Egypt’s military strongman General Al Sisi is playing with fire that may engulf the North African country with even more internecine bloodshed. This week on state TV, Al Sisi called for massive street protests to face down “terrorists” who, he said, were destabilizing Egypt’s national security.
He also claimed that such popular show of strength would give the Egyptian army “a mandate” to use violence to restore order.
by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com
Originally published on The Hampton Institute
July 23, 2013
Part 1: Working Class Resistance and European Imperial Ambitions
In 1945, the British agreed to renegotiate the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936, with the British seeking to protect their large military presence with their base at the Suez Canal. The negotiations had become frustrated with the Egyptians demanding the unconditional removal of all British troops, a prospect that was reviled by both the British and Americans, who were first and foremost interested in maintaining their imperial hegemony over the region.[1] One of the major threats to Western imperial domination of the Middle East and North Africa (and thus, of Asia and Africa more generally) was the “rising tide” of Arab Nationalism.
by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from Strategic-Culture.org
July 20, 2013
Image by Kodak Agfa via Flickr
Egypt’s political turmoil took on surreal dimensions this week with the swearing in of the military-backed interim civilian government. The procedure was shown “live” on national television, as if to lend an image of “transparency” and “accountability”.
The central figure in the cabinet photo-op, dressed in khaki military uniform, was the head of the Egyptian armed forces, General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. He was the man who led the military arrest of former president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July, and in turn, ushered in his replacement, Adli Mansour, the country’s top judge, who had served under the ancien regime of Hosni Mubarak.
by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
July 11, 2013
Image by Kodak Agfa via Flickr
In order to determine whether the turmoil in Egypt is in the best interests of the mass of ordinary Egyptians, we should use the trusted maxim – follow the money.
Within hours of the military’s arrest last week of now-deposed President Mohamed Morsi, the Persian Gulf Arab monarchies were offering their congratulations to defense minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and the new interim president, Adli Mansour.
by Andrew Gavin Marshall
Writer, Dandelion Salad
http://andrewgavinmarshall.com, July 11, 2013
Originally published on The Hampton Institute
July 13, 2013
Image by MoudBarthez via Flickr
Egypt is one of the most important countries in the world, geopolitically speaking. With a history spanning some 7,000 years, it is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, sitting at the point at which Africa meets the Middle East, across the Mediterranean from Europe. Once home to its own empire, it became a prized possession in the imperial designs of other civilizations, including the Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Byzantine to the Islamic and Ottoman Empires, and subsequently the French, British and Americans. For any and every empire that has sought to exert control over the Middle East, Asia or Africa, control over Egypt has been a pre-requisite. Its strategic location has only become more important with each subsequent empire.
by Felicity Arbuthnot
Writer, Dandelion Salad
London, England
July 7, 2013
Image by Kodak Agfa via Flickr
Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive.— Sir Walter Scott, 1771-1832
It has been a bit of a foot-in-mouth week for the constitutional lawyer who is President of the United States.
As Egypt’s increasingly autocratic and theocratic Muslim Brotherhood’s President Mohammed Morsi was rejected by the population with an estimated 33 million person demonstration and a 22 million signature petition, the US Nobel Prize Laureate cheerleading for the overthrow of Syria’s sovereign Head of State, declared he is “deeply concerned” over the ousting of President Morsi.
by Finian Cunningham
Writer, Dandelion Salad
East Africa
Crossposted from PressTV
July 9, 2013
Image by Kodak Agfa via Flickr
The massacre this week in Cairo of more than 50 men, women and children by the Egyptian army shatters any illusions that the military is operating to promote national unity and progress towards democracy.
Reports and video footage indicate the Egyptian army embarked on a deliberate shoot-to-kill slaughter of a civilian protest gathered outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in the early hours of Monday, just when many were saying their dawn prayers.
by Rick Rozoff
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Stop NATO
July 9, 2013
Image by Kodak Agfa via Flickr
John Robles
Voice of Russia
July 9, 2013
Recorded on July 6, 2013
Leaders of the Otpor! movement which helped destroy the former Yugoslavia are active in Egypt training radical youth of the CANVAS movement. Both groups are funded by NGOs, the U.S. State Department and the CIA and their sole purpose is to overthrow and topple governments. After what can be called a military coup d’etat in Egypt, the U.S. has been quiet because they are also supporters of the Egyptian military. Voice of Russia regular contributor Rick Rozoff spoke about these issues and more in this exclusive interview with the Voice of Russia’s John Robles.
Image by Mohamed Azazy via Flickr
RussiaToday on Jul 3, 2013
Some parts of the Egyptian army have reportedly been put on high alert status – as the military’s ultimatum for President Morsi to resolve the violent crisis has now passed. Fresh clashes between government supporters and anti-Islamist protesters erupted earlier outside Cairo University after at least 18 people were said to have been killed there overnight. RT’s correspondents Bel Trew and Paula Slier are in the Egyptian capital right now. READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/snqlvb
Image by MrGluSniffer via Flickr
with Noam Chomsky
Oz House Jun 12, 2013
Noam Chomsky: MIT Linguist, US critic and activist, author of dozens of books about US foreign policy, state based capitalism and mass media e.g. “Manufacturing Consent”, “Profit over People”, “Hegemony or Survival” and “Occupy”. Chomsky is official supporter of Kontext TV.
Courtesy of http://www.kontext-tv.de
Brought to YouTube by http://ozhouse.org
by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
December 17, 2012
Image by MoudBarthez via Flickr
When Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Iran after 14 years in exile on Feb. 1, 1979, he set out to destroy the secular opposition forces, including the Communist Party of Iran, which had been instrumental in bringing down the shah. Khomeini’s declaration of an Islamic government, supported by referendum, saw him rewrite the constitution, close opposition newspapers and ban opposition groups including the National Democratic Front and the Muslim People’s Republican Party. Continue reading
Dandelion Salad 