North Africa

Shut Up ISIS

By Nancy Messieh

Hashtag activism rarely serves a purpose. It is easy to sit in the comfort of a quiet home, thousands of miles away from any real conflict, and click a link, or share a thought, and be left with the sensation that something has been accomplished.

Sisi’s Security Dilemma

By Tarek Radwan

Since the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi from office in July 2013 by now-President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, extremist attacks on civilians, state institutions, and security personnel have increased within Egypt’s borders. While more than half of the attacks occurred in the Sinai Peninsula (56 percent of the total 599 reported in the press […]

Has ISIS Reached Egypt?

The Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has demonstrated its intolerance of a pluralistic society and barbarity towards those countless it perceives as an enemy long before the beheading of journalist James Foley.

ISIS at Egypt’s Door

By Khaled Dawoud

In the many Egyptian talk shows, known for their anti-Muslim Brotherhood rhetoric, shocking videos of Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) fighters are displayed on a near daily basis. The videos show a woman stoned to death after she was convicted of adultery, mass executions, beheadings, or even show people being thrown off a […]

In Egypt, Religion Remains a Vital Political Tool

By Johannes A. Makar

It was a familiar sight: the Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayyeb, and the Coptic Pope, Tawadros II, side-by-side as General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced the ousting of Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013. Front seats were granted to the two grey-bearded clerics who had donned their customary robes for the occasion. Since the founding […]

On the Three Types of Arabs: The Evil, the Good, and the Harmless

By Amr Hamzawy

Since the summer of 2013, the public and private media outlets in Egypt has fashioned a trio of Arab profiles: the good Arab, the evil Arab, and the useless, yet harmless, Arab.  These three classifications have been heavily used in an attempt to manipulate public awareness, to legitimize the network of alliances supporting the current […]

The Week in Egypt [August 18, 2014]

By Elissa Miller

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