Category: Arab Spring

Putin calls Harper a "Trotskyite" and other post-Arab Spring reflections

Picture of Prime Minister Stephen Harper at APEC 2012
RUSSKY ISLAND, Russia – Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaks to reporters on Sept. 9, 2012 after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the APEC 2102 summit. (David Akin)

Last weekend in Vladivostok, Russia, at the annual summit of the Pacific nation leaders who are part of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation organization, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper met Russian President Vladimir Putin for 50 minutes. The two men, flanked by half a dozen officials on either side, met for about 50 minutes. They talked about a range of issues. Harper questioned free speech rights in Putin’s Russia. In defending free speech rights, Putin used the phrase “gang bang”. I found that odd enough that I wrote about it here. 

The two men also talked about the situation in Syria. Continue reading Putin calls Harper a "Trotskyite" and other post-Arab Spring reflections

From Egypt: "If you are a revolutionary, show us your capabilities."

No Mubarak
It wasn't a dream. And, as Sandmonkey says in his blog post, it's becoming real. This is a picture I took at the south end of Tahrir Square, Cairo on Feb. 2, 2011.

I am so cheering for voices like Mahmoud Salem, a popular Egyptian blogger who has this to say at his blog Rantings of a Sandmonkey:

If you are a revolutionary, show us your capabilities. Start something. Join a party. Build an institution. Solve a real problem. Do something except running around from demonstration to marsh to sit-in. This is not street work: real street work means moving the street, not moving in the street. Real street work means that the street you live in knows you and trusts you, and will move with you , because you help them and care for them, not because you want to achieve some lofty notions you read about in a book without any real understanding on how to apply it on Egyptian soil. You have done nothing of the kind so far, and it’s the only way you will get ahead.

Continue reading From Egypt: "If you are a revolutionary, show us your capabilities."

In Egypt, will it be a military dictatorship or an Islamist dictatorship?

Danger signs. David Kirkpatrick reports from a village outside of Cairo in today’s New York Times:

In the aftermath of the vote, Egyptian liberals, Israelis and some Western officials have raised alarms that the revolution may unfold as a slow-motion version of the 1979 overthrow of the shah of Iran: a popular uprising that ushered in a conservative theocracy. With two rounds of voting to go, Egypt’s military rulers have already sought to use the specter of a Salafi takeover to justify extending their power over the drafting of a new constitution. And at least a few liberals say they might prefer military rule to a hard-line Islamist government. Continue reading In Egypt, will it be a military dictatorship or an Islamist dictatorship?