War in Context

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• Russians positive on Venezuela’s offer to welcome Snowden
• ElBaradei installed as Egypt’s new prime minister
• How engineered was the crisis leading to Morsi’s fall?
• ElBaradei pushed for Morsi’s removal; Mubarak’s attorney general is reinstated
• Egypt: The future of the Muslim Brotherhood
• Obey conscience above law
• Syrian regime loyalists view events in Egypt as a victory for Assad
• Egypt’s shadow hangs over Syrian opposition
• Video: Mehdi Hasan debates Israeli settler leader Dani Dayan
• The rise of the Iranian moderates
• Music: Bebel Gilberto — ‘Cade Voce’
• Venezuela offers asylum to Snowden
• Edward Snowden is a whistleblower, not a spy — but do our leaders care?

Russians positive on Venezuela’s offer to welcome Snowden Posted: 06 Jul 2013 11:45 AM PDT The Washington Post reports: Venezuela’s offer of asylum for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden got a thumbs up from key members of the Russian parliament Saturday, even as the Kremlin and Foreign Ministry kept a studious silence. “Sanctuary for Snowden in Venezuela would be the best decision,” Alexei Pushkov, head of the foreign affairs committee of [...]

ElBaradei installed as Egypt’s new prime minister Posted: 06 Jul 2013 11:44 AM PDT Al Ahram reports: Prominent politician Mohamed ElBaradei is to be appointed Egypt’s new prime minister under interim President Adly Mansour, according to Constitution Party founder Khaled Daoud. According to Daoud, ElBaradei will be sworn in before Adly at 20:00 CMT. Nobel peace prize laureate ElBaradei had been a leading opposition figure since the 2011 revolution, [...]

How engineered was the crisis leading to Morsi’s fall? Posted: 06 Jul 2013 09:40 AM PDT Evan Hill writes: [T]here were signs in Friday’s protests that the coup, though it arrived on an unprecedented wave of popular support, had inspired anger beyond the insular Brotherhood and Islamist social networks. Some who came to the Republican Guards compound said that they were not Brotherhood members or committed Morsy partisans but simply angry [...]

ElBaradei pushed for Morsi’s removal; Mubarak’s attorney general is reinstated Posted: 06 Jul 2013 09:35 AM PDT The New York Times reports: Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Prize-winning diplomat and Egypt’s most prominent liberal, said Thursday that he had worked hard to convince Western powers of what he called the necessity of forcibly ousting President Mohamed Morsi, contending that Mr. Morsi had bungled the country’s transition to an inclusive democracy. In an interview, [...]

Egypt: The future of the Muslim Brotherhood Posted: 06 Jul 2013 09:30 AM PDT The Guardian reports: Egyptian cities were left strewn with rocks, glass and bullet casings on Saturday morning after almost 24 hours of violence which left 30 dead and more than 1,100 injured. Clashes erupted on Friday night between supporters and opponents of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in central Cairo and other cities across Egypt , [...]

Obey conscience above law Posted: 06 Jul 2013 09:25 AM PDT Shamai Leibowitz, one of the first victims in Barack Obama’s war on whistleblowers, writes: The Snowden saga is a great teaching moment for the Obama administration. It is now reaping the fruit of its vindictive behavior. Even in a democracy certain information needs to remain secret, and those with access to that information must honor [...]

Syrian regime loyalists view events in Egypt as a victory for Assad Posted: 06 Jul 2013 09:20 AM PDT Al-Akhbar reports: Syrian officials had turned off their phones. After Bashar al-Assad’s interview on Egypt with the Syrian state-run daily Al-Thawra, they refused to comment on the situation. Assad had declared the end of political Islam, expressing confidence in the Egyptian people’s consciousness that led to the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood. Two other official [...]

Egypt’s shadow hangs over Syrian opposition Posted: 06 Jul 2013 09:15 AM PDT Reuters reports: Syria’s opposition hit deadlock on Friday in talks to elect a new leader, as the toppling of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood dealt a blow to its most influential faction. The stalemate is preventing the main players in the Syrian National Coalition from reaching a deal acceptable to their Saudi and Qatari backers, who want [...]

Video: Mehdi Hasan debates Israeli settler leader Dani Dayan Posted: 06 Jul 2013 09:10 AM PDT

The rise of the Iranian moderates Posted: 06 Jul 2013 09:05 AM PDT Seyed Hossein Mousavian, a former spokesman for Iran’s nuclear negotiators, writes: Political infighting and factionalism has become a cynical characteristic of Iranian politics since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, specifically in the last 16 years. This phenomenon escalated with the sweeping victory of the traditional left wing of the revolution relabeled as Islahtalaban, or “Reformists,” in [...]

Music: Bebel Gilberto — ‘Cade Voce’ Posted: 06 Jul 2013 09:01 AM PDT

Venezuela offers asylum to Snowden Posted: 05 Jul 2013 07:29 PM PDT The New York Times reports: President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela said Friday that he would offer asylum to the fugitive intelligence contractor Edward J. Snowden, who has been stranded in a Moscow airport searching for a safe haven. “I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American Edward Snowden,” Mr. Maduro said during [...]

Edward Snowden is a whistleblower, not a spy — but do our leaders care? Posted: 05 Jul 2013 07:27 PM PDT Spencer Ackerman writes: According to US legislators and journalists, the surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden actively aided America’s enemies. They are just missing one essential element for the meme to take flight: evidence. An op-ed by Representative Mike Pompeo (Republican, Kansas) proclaiming Snowden, who provided disclosed widespread surveillance on phone records and internet communications by the [...]