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MENASource

Aug 9, 2013

This Week in Egypt – August 9, 2013

By Amira Mikhail

Catch up on the latest out of Egypt every week, with analysis, news updates, photos, videos, and more.

North Africa

MENASource

Aug 9, 2013

Top News: Salafi Party to Reconsider Roadmap if Egypt’s Islamic Identity is Compromised

By EgyptSource

Salafist Nour Party spokesperson Nader Bakkar said in a televised interview with CNN on Thursday that his party will reconsider the new political roadmap if the “Islamic identity of the state” in Egypt’s constitution is amended. 

North Africa

MENASource

Aug 8, 2013

Syria: What Idris Says is Needed to Turn the Tide

By Fred C. Hof

While Bashar al-Assad, his supporters, and his apologists seem to have good reasons to radiate optimism these days, General Salim Idris, a career military educator who defected from Syria in reaction to the regime’s crime wave, believes that the regime’s newfound confidence is unjustified.

Syria

MENASource

Aug 8, 2013

The United States Needs to Communicate a Clear, Consistent Stance on Democracy and Rights in Egypt

By David Johnson

Considerable criticism of President Barack Obama’s administration emerged following the White House’s conclusion that “the law does not require [the administration] to make a formal determination as to whether a coup took place” in Egypt. In a press conference following the Thursday announcement, asked as to whether the administration would ever render a judgment on […]

MENASource

Aug 8, 2013

Top News: Presidency Outlines Selection Criteria for Fifty Member Constitutional Committee

By EgyptSource

The presidency issued a decree on Wednesday outlining the criteria that will be used to select the fifty members of the committee charged with drawing up amendments to the 2012 constitution.

MENASource

Aug 7, 2013

Under Mubarak, Morsi or Sisi, Sinai Remains a Victim

By Mohannad Sabry

In mid-June, I got into a worn-down, eight-seater Mercedes that has been racing between Cairo and the Rafah Crossing Terminal for decades. The Egyptian capital was simmering in preparation for June 30, and Sinai was anxiously waiting for what could plunge the whole country into chaos. Several days before my trip, tribal chiefs had successfully […]

North Africa

MENASource

Aug 7, 2013

Jordan Ignores Domestic Discontent at its Own Peril

By Danya Greenfield and Brian Braun

Angry protestors in the Jordanian city of Karak and further south in Tafileh on August 2 denounced the government for the miserable conditions facing ordinary Jordanians: high unemployment, rising prices, corruption, and increased social violence across the kingdom. Despite the fact that the debate about political reform in Jordan has largely fallen off the radar, […]

MENASource

Aug 5, 2013

Dying for the Sake of Democracy

By Mohammad Tolba

The conservative political movement has always had a fundamental dilemma in defining democracy: that is the people’s self-rule, which does not pertain to Sharia’s guidelines and divine provisions. Their fatwas repelled political participation, particularly in legislative elections, due to what they called violations of Sharia in legislative councils. During the 2005 elections, a fatwa was […]

MENASource

Jul 31, 2013

Part II: Can the Transitional Government Turn the Egyptian Economy Around?

By Mohsin Khan

Transitional governments can be very weak, since they have no popular mandate, or very strong, since they do not have to face the electorate when their term ends. To arrest the decline of the economy and put it on a trajectory of high growth and job creation, Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi’s government will have to […]

Economy & Business North Africa

MENASource

Jul 31, 2013

What the Third Square Represents

By Mai El-Sadany

Colored by General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s call to fight terrorism through a popular mandate that brought millions to the streets, Egypt is witnessing a deepened polarization of the political scene. The increasingly-armed and charged Muslim Brotherhood sit-in that is now solidly going into its second month has added to this tension, contributing to the emergence […]

North Africa