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28 Jan 2011 13:16

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World: U.S. aid money helps prop up Egyptian government

  • $1.3
    billion     the amount that Egypt has gotten from the U.S. government on average each year – second to Israel
  • $30
    billion     the amount that Egypt has gotten from the U.S. since 1975, according to the State Department source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jan 2011 12:54

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World: Al-Jazeera: How the network became the Arab world’s conscience

  • The notion that there is a common struggle across the Arab world is something Al Jazeera helped create. They did not cause these events, but it’s almost impossible to imagine all this happening without al-Jazeera.
  • George Washington University Middle East Studies professor Marc Lynch • Describing the role in popular uprisings that al-Jazeera has had over the years. It’s a role that’s clearly becoming more apparent this week as protests and popular uprisings become more widespread. While many praise the Qatar-based network for this role (we certainly do), others note that its coverage often seems biased or plays favorites – particularly favoring Hezbollah and Hamas. That said, al-Jazeera hasn’t played such a central role as the conscience of the Arab world since the heady days of the Iraq War in 2003. Especially considering scenes like this one. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jan 2011 11:13

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World: Egypt’s situation completely screwed up beyond disrepair today

  • To be clear, a lot is happening in Egypt right now. It’s a giant mess, really. Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei is reportedly under house arrest, media outlets are getting attacked, security forces are attacking protesters, the internet’s OFF … pretty much every bad thing that could happen in a revolution is happening today. It’s very much a “where-do-we-start”-type of situation. There is no central point. It’s a lot of bad, everywhere. We’ll try our best to keep an eye on all this today. (tweet via @alaa, a South African who has been covering Egypt heavily) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jan 2011 02:32

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World: Mohamed ElBaradei on Egypt: “Every demand fell on deaf ears”

  • I wish we didn’t have to go to the street to impress on the regime the need to change. We tried signatures. We tried boycotting the elections. Nothing worked; every demand fell on deaf ears and the young took the credit for going onto the streets and making things happen.
  • Egyptian opposition leader (and Nobel Peace Prize winner) Mohamed ElBaradei • Offering his take on the events that led to the current protests. While he’s seen as a possible new leader in the country, he’s not universally loved; others criticize him for choosing to live in Vienna instead of Egypt even after he completed his time with the United Nations’ atomic energy agency. Nevertheless, he’s a symbol to rally around. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jan 2011 02:12

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World: Three interesting findings from Wikileaks’ Egypt-focused cables

  • tactics Obama’s people have tended to be harsher about Egypt in private than in public, a change from the more critical Bush years.
  • blogs While the Egyptian government claims they don’t block free speech, they may be forced to act when “people are offended by blogs.”
  • torture Diplomats noted one case where a number of detainees were both shocked and deprived of sleep, making them zombie-like. source
  • » Obama’s not-very-harsh words: It’s clear that Obama’s comments on Egypt, made during a YouTube town-hall style thingy, try to tow that public/private line noted above. “I’ve always said to him that making sure that they are moving forward on reform – political reform, economic reform – is absolutely critical to the long-term well-being of Egypt,” Obama said. “And you can see these pent-up frustrations that are being displayed on the streets.” Dear Obama administration: There’s a point where a chummy relationship doesn’t work anymore.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jan 2011 01:57

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World: How quickly did Egypt’s internet completely disappear?

  • This is how quick the Interwebs died in Egypt: “It’s probably a phone call that goes out to half a dozen folks who enter a line on a router configuration file and hit return,” said Craig Labovitz, chief scientist for Arbor Networks. “It’s like programming your TiVo – you have things that are set up and you delete one. It’s not high-level programming.” Basically, Egypt is not a country with a ton of pipe, so it’s far easier to shut them down than, say, the U.S. Still, though, it’s utterly shocking how quickly it just disappeared. (image via Google’s Tim Bray) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2011 23:22

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World: Internet, text messaging severed in Egypt, most likely by government

  • NO Internet in Egypt; it’s been shut down source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

27 Jan 2011 22:42

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World: China airs clip from Tom Cruise film, claims it’s military training footage

  • claim China Central Television aired footage of fighter jets shooting one another down and exploding spectacularly in mid-air, claiming it was taken from a air force training exercise.
  • reality A closer analysis of the footage reveals that, far from a military training reel, it’s actually just a bunch of clips from “Top Gun,” the beloved 80’s classic. Oh, China, you’re so adorable. source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2011 13:36

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World: Italian PM Berlusconi accused of another underage prostitute liaison

  • Another day, another sex scandal: The water continues to heat up on Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, as the police have alleged a second liaison with a seventeen-year-old prostitute. While prostitution is not illegal in Italy, and the age of legal consent is fourteen, it is illegal to hire a prostitute under the age of eighteen. (photo via europeanpeoplesparty) source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Jan 2011 12:38

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World: Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato beaten, killed in home

  • A sad day for human rights: Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato was found beaten to death in his home yesterday. His picture recently appeared on a Ugandan magazine next to the words “hang them,” a byproduct of a violent, anti-gay political climate fostered by David Bahati’s disgusting homosexuality legislation, which prescribes the death penalty for “serial offenders.” Bahati is a member of the potent U.S. Evangelical group “The Family,” home to many American politicos, so don’t expect this story to go away too easily. We hope like hell it won’t. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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