Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Democratic protests in Tunisia gave birth to the Arab Spring in 2011. Therefore, it speaks volumes that Tunisians voted this week to return to a form of government that makes the dictatorship they revolted against back then look positively Jeffersonian. More than 94 percent of the votes backed the new constitution, which will see sweeping executive powers… Read more.
Egypt’s former dictator Hosni Mubarak has left the Cairo military hospital where he had been held in custody for much of the past six years, and returned to his home in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis, his lawyer said. Mubarak, 88, was acquitted by Egypt’s highest appeals court on 2 March of conspiring to kill… Read more.
Anyone who insists that it’s bad form to say, “I told you so,” has probably never had a real cause to say so. Accordingly, I hope you’ll forgive me for juxtaposing news reports on the bloody turmoil now spiraling out of control in Egypt with my commentaries dating back to the germinating days of the… Read more.
No doubt you recall reports last month that had deposed Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak being rushed to hospital either in critical condition or “clinically dead.” In fact, here is how no less a news organization than the BBC jumped on the bandwagon of those reporting what seemed like his imminent death: Former Egyptian President Hosni… Read more.
The following excerpts from two of the many commentaries I’ve written on the Egyptian revolution should explain what is unfolding there now. The first is from Army Pledges No Force Against Protesters, The iPINIONS Journal, February 1, 2011: With all due respect to the protesters, the issue is not whether Mubarak will go, for he… Read more.
Won’t these brutal dictators ever learn? Think what you will of the cowardly path Tunisia’s Ben Ali took by fleeing into exile. At least he was smart enough to avoid the humiliation Egypt’s Mubarak is now suffering. Mubarak’s being wheeled into court on his deathbed to face trial, which will surely end in his Saddam-like… Read more.
The Egyptian military sparked dizzying expectations worldwide this morning when it announced that it was taking “steps to protect the nation [and to ensure that] the legitimate demands of the people are met.” Those expectations were soon anchored when word got out that President Mubarak would be addressing the nation later this evening. For everyone… Read more.
[Author’s note: This commentary was originally published on Friday at 8:50 pm. The crisis in Egypt remains acute: Mubarak is ignoring persistent and defiant calls to step down, over 100 protesters have been killed yet tens of thousands continue to ignore increasingly rigid curfews, burning and looting are now widespread, and the initially accommodating military… Read more.
