Egypt
Islamist extremists up to their old tricks; moderate/reformist Muslims exist and need our support
September 13, 2012
On Tuesday, September 11 Islamist extremists murdered U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three staffers in Benghazi, Libya, and others attacked the U.S. embassy in Cairo. Protests continue to rage at U.S. embassies throughout...
J. Christopher Stevens, U.S. ambassador, murdered in Libya; Islamist extremists torch U.S. embassy in Egypt
September 13, 2012
Yesterday Islamist extremists attacked the U.S. embassy in Egypt. Islamist radicals in Libya murdered four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, pictured above.
Prior to serving as ambassador, Mr. Stevens did...
Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood crack down on Egyptian press
September 10, 2012
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has been cracking down on journalists, targeting those who criticize the Muslim Brotherhood.
This development is a sobering indicator of Egypt’s regression toward theocracy in the year and a...
Democracy is not a panacea – but with real commitment, it is a possible future
June 19, 2012
Last week’s Wall Street Journal ran a sobering piece by Bret Stephens in about the disappointing results of democratic elections the previous weekend. It’s true that democracy’s defenders have lately been mugged by...
Southern Sudanese to be deported from Israel by month’s end; activists seek reprieve for Christian Zionist community
March 14, 2012
Israel’s Ministry of the Interior has notified the employers of South Sudanese refugees who reside in Israel that they must no longer be employed by month’s end, according to a leading advocate for the rights of South...
Trial of pro-democracy workers set to begin tomorrow in Egypt
February 25, 2012
Tomorrow the trial of 43 civil society workers–including 16 Americans–is set to begin in Egypt.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “[t]he 43 employees will be tried on charges of illegally operating ...
Egyptian dissident Cynthia Farahat: America, be the strong horse
February 15, 2012
Today Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood announced it backs the country’s military government in its fight against the work of pro-democracy groups there.
Presumably the Brotherhood also supports the dictatorship’s detention and planned...
Sharansky calls for support for reformers; Alusi cautions U.S. troop withdrawal a blow to human rights in Iraq; Havel, champion of democracy, dies
December 18, 2011
The Washington Post just ran this thought-provoking piece on the Arab Spring by former Soviet dissident refusenik and Israeli Parliamentarian Natan Sharansky. As I wrote last spring, Recent upheavals across the mideast from Egypt to...
A New Middle East?
February 12, 2011
A wise man once told me, “People get the government they deserve.” At the time, I thought this assessment was overly harsh. After all, what can unarmed civilians do when they are under the control of a dictator? I still believe...