Submitted by Douglas Bloomfield on Fri, 05/25/2012 - 17:01
The biggest mystery about Egypt's first democratically elected president isn't whether he will be an Islamist from the powerful Muslim Brotherhood or a secular leftover from the Mubarak regime. It is: How much will the army let him do?
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which has ruled since Mubarak fled, has promised to turn over power to the civilian government July 1. But how much power will the generals be wiling to surrender? And under what circumstances?
Submitted by Adam Dickter on Fri, 05/25/2012 - 11:21
After years of seeing our reporting poached by The New York Times, it was a pleasant surprise to see the public editor, Arthur Brisbane, devote his Sunday column this week to that very topic.
Submitted by Douglas Bloomfield on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 21:00
The 2011 Country Reports On Human Rights Practices issued by the State Department on Thursday found many improvements in the Arab world and a "yearning for change," particularly in Tunisia where the Arab awakening began, and in Egypt, where the first-ever contested elections for president began this week, but also considerable deterioration, most notably in Syria with its brutal assault against its own people.
Submitted by Helen Chernikoff on Thu, 05/24/2012 - 13:28
It’s easy to venerate our prophets, harder to relate to them. They were noble, and they were also cranky, dirty and solitary; strange things to be in our scrubbed, relentlessly social world. This seeming eccentricity gives us reason, if we want it, to avoid their message. Let’s be honest, who doesn’t want it? Even thinking about them too much, much less emulating them, is uncomfortable.
Submitted by Julie Wiener on Wed, 05/23/2012 - 11:56
I’ve held back so far on addressing this year’s Big Intermarriage: the wedding of Facebook Impresario Mark Zuckerberg and longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan.
Submitted by Douglas Bloomfield on Mon, 05/21/2012 - 12:35
Egyptians, whose only choices in presidential elections have been voting for the dictator or staying home, now have a dozen presidential candidates to choose from in the country’s first-ever contested election, which begins this week, and interest is running high.
A new Gallup poll shows the Islamists, who scored decisive victories in the parliamentary elections six months ago, “appear to be losing steam.”
Submitted by Douglas Bloomfield on Sun, 05/20/2012 - 16:24
The Vatican has branded as "criminal" the publication this weekend of confidential papal documents exposing the internal power struggles surrounding possible corruption and mismanagement involving international money laundering, the Associated Press reported.
Already dubbed "Vatileaks," the scandal had been brewing for months and was further inflamed with Saturday's publication of "His Holiness," a book by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, that included a trove of Pope Benedict XVI's correspondence.
Submitted by Douglas Bloomfield on Sun, 05/20/2012 - 02:23
It seems that Syrian President Bashar Assad and his enemies have finally found something they can agree on: Both blame Israel for their problems and accuse it of aiding the other side.
Assad has long said the uprising against his brutal regime has been instigated by foreign forces, saboteurs and a long list of enemies topped by the Zionists.
