The rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and the concomitant blow to the Egyptian security establishment has been the main take-away issue for governments around the Arab world from last year’s political upheaval. Egyptian security played a central role in coordinating with security […]
Mohammed Mursi was the Muslim Brotherhood’s “spare” after the charismatic Khairat al-Shater was disqualified from running in Egyptian presidential election. Opponents would even hold up spare tyres at rallies to ridicule a man who seemed awkward in public and not comfortable with […]
The death of Nayef would seem on paper to open up a world of exciting possibilities for Saudi society. He was the man with the hotline to the clerics who tried to keep them in line, he viewed the Shia as a […]
The street is mobilising again in Egypt after the Mubarak trial. The reasons appear entirely reasonable. Judge Ahmed Rifaat was clear that the evidence he was presented was shoddy. It was not enough to convict the six interior ministry security chiefs and […]
It’s easy to say in hindsight but there should not be any surprise that Mohammed Mursi and Ahmed Shafiq have come on top – by fair means or foul – in the first round of voting in Egypt’s presidential elections. The reason […]
Since this election has been one of the great guessing games of the age, I only spent the first of the two days of voting plodding the streets and stalking voters as they came in and out of schools. For what it’s […]
Walking around Cairo on the eve of the presidential election – the first free one, as media are calling it – and the sense of hope, anxiety and waiting is palpable. The city is of course crammed full of election posters, as […]
A few days after the great event, I finally watched the first debate between Amr Moussa and Abd al-Moneim Abu al-Futuh. Here are my thoughts on it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4r-x92f8D8&feature=g-u-u Tweet
From 27 January, discussion on events in Syria, Libya, Egypt, etc. Tweet
The rise of Islamist groups in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya as a result of the revolutionary movement in Arab countries this year has generated much angst about the fate of the arts, in Egypt in particular. The regimes in Egypt and Tunisia […]