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From the somewhat guilt filled comforts of Greece, I have been thinking about what I learned from the recent Cairo SHTF experience. I am not putting myself forth as an expert of any sort and, frankly, many or even most items on the list below might be flat out wrong….who the hell knows. We were in Cairo from Jan 25th until late Feb 3rd when the neighborhood gunfire became full-auto and regularly occurring. At that point, we decided that Friday prayers (the next day) might not yield a pleasant experience. We had no way of knowing that we had already...

This ought to make Obama proud that he played a part in getting rid of that evil tyrant Mubarak. Let's go to the videotape. Here's an explanation of what you just saw for those who, like me, are Arabic challenged. But first, a picture: A picture of a female Egyptian protester who was stripped from her black abaya and allegedly abused by army men has met with angry tweets criticizing the country’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) on Saturday. The photos on social media shows a woman, clothed in just her denim pants, as army men hurl kicks...

<p>After being viciously beaten by a 10-strong mob of Egyptian male soldiers, this woman lies helplessly on the ground as her shirt is ripped from her body and a man kicks her with full force in her exposed chest.</p> <p>Moments earlier she had been struck countless times in the head and body with metal batons, not content with the brutal beating delivered by his fellow soldier, one man stamped on her head repeatedly.</p>

Israel's new ambassador to Egypt is expected to depart for Cairo on Monday, the Foreign Ministry announced Saturday evening. But because no secure embassy building yet exists for Israel in the Egyptian capital, Yaakov Amitai will temporarily operate from his residence. Foreign Ministry officials said they have not yet found a new building in which to place the Israeli embassy, which formally was located close to Cairo University, a hotbed of anti-Israeli sentiment. Former Ambassador to Egypt Yitzchak Levanon returned to Israel in September after escaping a mob that stormed the Cairo embassy and completely trashed the facility. The Egyptian...

Frances Martel, Mediaite: CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield got a bit of an unwelcome surprise this evening as an interview with who she thought was Gregory Porter, an American student recently arrested and released in Cairo, went awry. Porter described the fear of being arrested in a crowd in Tahrir Square, the happiness of hearing his mother’s voice after his first phone call… and then thanked “the North Shore Animal League and Baba Booey’s monkey nuts.” http://www.breitbart.tv/howard-stern-inspired-prank-caller-poses-as-student-arrested-in-cairo-thanks-baba-booeys-monkey-nuts-for-freedom/

Muslim Brotherhood holds venomous anti-Israel rally in Cairo mosque Friday; Islamic activists chant: Tel Aviv, judgment day has come Arab hate: A Muslim Brotherhood rally in Cairo's most prominent mosque Friday turned into a venomous anti-Israel protest, with attendants vowing to "one day kill all Jews." Some 5,000 people joined the rally, called to promote the "battle against Jerusalem's Judaization." The event coincided with the anniversary of the United Nations' partition plan in 1947, which called for the establishment of a Jewish state.

Egyptian media is reporting on the arrival of Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi in Cairo. According to a report on Youm7: Nov 24, 2011 – 00:11 Prominent Muslim Scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi arrived at Cairo Airport Wednesday to follow the incidents in Tahrir Square. Demonstrators have clashed with security forces for the past five days. Qaradawi was accompanied by the head of the Karama Organization for Human Rights, Abdel Rahman Naaniny. Qaradawi’s last known public appearance in Egypt was in February when he gave a sermon urging support for Hamas to a large crowd in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Qaradawi, a...

The United States is encouraging Egypt’s military rulers to stick to a schedule of elections set to kick off next week, despite continuing violence – and despite the likelihood that the electoral timetable favors the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist movements. The Obama administration is in essence caught between two unpalatable options: pressing ahead for elections that the Islamists are likely to win, and thereby sounding like a force for Egypt’s democratic transition; or recommending a postponement that a growing number of liberal Egyptians prefer, but which risks coming across as anti-democratic. Egypt’s transitional military rulers announced Wednesday that parliamentary...

Police burn protest tents to clear Cairo's TahrirBy MAGGIE MICHAEL and SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press Updated: Nov 20, 2011 4:19 PM EST CAIRO (AP) - Egyptian soldiers and police set fire to protest tents in Cairo's Tahrir Square and fired tear gas and rubber bullets in a major assault Sunday to drive out thousands demanding that the military rulers quickly transfer power to a civilian government. At least 11 protesters were killed and hundreds were injured. It was the second day of clashes marking a sharp escalation of tensions on Egypt's streets a week before the first elections since...

No Way Out: A campaign by Christian Solidarity Worldwide Egyptian Christians need your support now more than ever. After living with the threat of discrimination, harassment or violence for decades, they are highly vulnerable. This long-planned campaign has the chance to bring hope and change to Egypt's Christians as the vital reform process begins. Speak up for Egypt’s Coptic community As peaceful protests turned violent in Cairo this week, we need your help to speak up for Egyptian Christians in the face of increasing sectarian attacks. Peaceful demonstrations led to bloodshed on Sunday as a crowd of thousands of Coptic...

I am looking at a reproduction of an old engraving of Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It is in Bat Ye'or's book "The Dhimmi," which collects primary documents from history to chronicle the impact of Islamic law on non-Muslims through the centuries. What is notable about the image, which is based on an 1856 photograph, is that the church, said to be at the site of Jesus Christ's crucifixion and burial, has no cross and no belfry. Stripped of its Christian symbols, the church stood in compliance with the Islamic law and traditions of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire, which...

President Obama has responded to the Egyptian military’s massacre of Coptic Christian protestors in Cairo Sunday with a pointedly even-handed statement that calls equally on Christians and the military to show restraint. “The President is deeply concerned about the violence in Egypt that has led to a tragic loss of life among demonstrators and security forces,” Obama said in a statement released this week. ”Now is a time for restraint on all sides so that Egyptians can move forward together to forge a strong and united Egypt.”

CAIRO - Egypt's finance minister submitted his resignation Tuesday to protest the government's handling of protests that left 26 dead, most of them Coptic Christian demonstrators, but the ruling military council rejected it. Finance Minister Dr. Hazem El-Beblawi, in a letter to Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, said he was tendering his resignation over the "government's handling of Maspero," according to an aide. "I think the government should have allowed some kind of recognition of their responsibility and they should have taken a much more drastic stand to apologize for the failure in maintaining the security situation," El-Beblawi later told CBS...

Clashes erupted after a protest outside the state TV building in Cairo At least 17 people have been killed and scores injured after a protest in Cairo against an attack on a Coptic Christian church. Egyptian TV showed protesters throwing petrol bombs and army vehicles burning outside the state television building. Copts blame Muslim radicals for the partial demolition of a Coptic church in Aswan province last week. Sectarian tensions have increased since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular uprising in February. Egypt's Coptic Christians - who make up about 10% of the population - accuse the governing...

Egyptian state television says at least one soldier has been killed in riots that erupted in Cairo as Coptic Christians protesting a recent destruction of a church came under attack. The Coptic Christians were demonstrating outside the state television building in central Cairo on Sunday when they clashed with locals. A number of military vehicles were set on fire and thick black smoke rose along the Nile outside the state television building. During the protest, led by several bishops, the demonstrators burnt photos of Mustafa al-Sayed, the governor of Aswan who had said that the church in the village of...

Exiled in New York, stripped of everything he once owned, Leon Lagnado ached with nostalgia for the Cairo of the 1940s, the exciting and endlessly promising city of his youth. He was one of history's victims – in this case, the rancorous history of the Middle East. In Cairo last week, another stage in that story unfolded when gangs of thugs stormed the Israeli embassy while Egyptian soldiers stood by without interfering. Israel had to beg the United States to beg the Egyptians to rescue six Israeli security guards trapped by the mob. Finally, the Egyptian soldiers did their duty....

Relations between Israel and Egypt have become increasingly strained in recent weeks, and in the Egyptian capital there is a mounting sense of tension, including incidents of anti-Semitism. Suspicion is a feature of everyday life in Egypt, and a fondness for conspiracy theories is as much a part of the landscape here as the constant traffic jams and their accompanying symphony of blaring car horns. With the democratic certainties that greeted the immediate aftermath of January's revolution having faded, however, the climate of mistrust and unease about the hard-won gains of the revolution is becoming increasingly palpable. As disquiet sets...

CNN journalists described the Friday mob that attacked them during the riot at the Israeli embassy as “animals.” One other journalist was called a spy and was almost raped. The worldwide news site reported a scene that brought back ugly memories of the gang rape of CBS reporter Lara Logan earlier this year during the Arab spring uprising against the Mubarak regime. CNN reported that one person in the mob on Friday called Dina Amer, a woman member of another American crew, “a spy.” A CNN producer who is an Egyptian approached to rescue the woman from the rioters, but...

CNN journalists described the Friday mob that attacked them during the riot at the Israeli embassy as “animals.” One other journalist was called a spy and almost was raped. The worldwide news site reported a scene that brought back ugly memories of the gang rape of CBS reporter Lara Logan earlier this year during the Arab spring uprising against the Mubarak regime. CNN reported that one person in the mob on Friday called Dina Amer, a woman member of another American crew, “a spy.” A CNN producer who is an Egyptian approached to rescue the woman from the rioters, but...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke personally three times during the night to the security guards trapped in the besieged Israeli Embassy, in Cairo with only a metal door separating them from the mob that had destroyed the building's security barrier and managed to climb up to a waiting room. Channel 10 reported that one of those holed up in the building, the chief security officer in the embassy, had asked the prime minister to be sure that if the incident ends badly, his parents are informed in person and not by telephone. "You are an exceptional human being", answered Netanyahu....

Protesters broke into the Israeli Embassy in Cairo Friday and dumped documents out of the windows as hundreds more demonstrated outside, prompting the ambassador to rush to the airport to leave. The unrest was a further worsening of already deteriorating ties between Israel and post-Hosni Mubarak Egypt. Egyptian police made no attempt to intervene during the day as crowds of hundreds tore down an embassy security wall with sledgehammers and their bare hands or after nightfall when about 30 protesters stormed into the Nile-side high-rise building where the embassy is located. Just before midnight, the group of protesters reached a...

Hundreds of protesters in Cairo on Friday were tearing down a newly built wall around the building that houses the Israeli Embassy, a show of political rage on another tense day in Egypt's capital. CNN saw soldiers and police stand by as demonstrators tried to destroy the wall, built for the high-rise building's protection. The makeshift wall surrounds another wall around the building. Protesters cheered the demolition and chanted for the ouster of Israel's ambassador. State TV said some protesters tried to scale the inner wall after they worked to take down the outer wall.

Egyptian daily Al-Masry al-Youm reported Monday that Israel is behind a US bid to force Cairo to reduce tensions with Israel following a deadly border incident wherein at least three Egyptian soldiers were inadvertently killed by Israeli soldiers pursuing terrorists involved in a deadly terror attack that left 8 Israelis dead. According to the report Washington has threatened to reduce aid to Cairo - which it was planning to dramatically increase - unless it releases Ilan Grapel, an Israeli-American tourist in Egypt who has been accused of being a Mossad spy. Grapel was arrested at his downtown Cairo hotel by...

Shots were fired at the Israeli embassy in Cairo during Friday's anti-Israel demonstration, according to Lebanese newspaper a-Safir. The unconfirmed story is quoted by Dalit Halevi of Arutz Sheva's Hebrew-language service. The report names the suspect in the shooting as Muhammad Abu Ria, a doctor by profession. He allegedly fired 22 shots at the embassy and then escaped in a car, with the assistance of the crowd that shielded him. The story is not carried by any other news source and its veracity cannot be determined. Egyptian security forces in large numbers, supported by armored vehicles, protected the embassy from...

FULL TITLE: Islamic Spring...Egyptians Protest Outside Israeli Embassy With Swastika Sign Saying “The Gas Chambers Are Ready” Islamic Spring– Footage of Egyptians Demonstrating opposite Israeli Embassy in Cairo Showing Sign with Swastika Saying “The Gas Chambers Are Ready” Al-Jazeera TV. MEMRI TV reported: Footage of Egyptians Demonstrating opposite Israeli Embassy in Cairo Shows Sign with Swastika Saying “The Gas Chambers Are Ready” Al-Jazeera TV (Qatar) – August 21, 2011 – 01:14 Via Atlas Shrugs Hundreds of Egyptians shout anti-Israeli slogans as they look to Israel’s embassy floor on a building in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Aug.20, 2011, to protest the deaths...

A souvenir shop's owner displays a recently made metal plaque reading 'Obama, New Tutankhamun of the World' in Cairo, June 1, 2009. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh Then: "My dear sir, President Obama... We all hated America before you came, but now... an olive branch and a... 'Hamama' [dove]!"-Abbas Chechan, Iraqi poet And now: “When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse.” -Arab proverb Wasn't our standing in the world supposed to improve in the Age of Obama? Weren't we "hated" due to 8 years of oppressing Muslims under the evil, warmongering...

With mountains of rubbish towering over children and endless bin bags bulging from high-rise flats, these are the shocking images that show Cairo's 'Garbage City' - where thousands of Egyptians live amongst piles of stinking rubbish. Manshiyat naser, or Garbage city, as it is known by locals, is a slum on the outskirts of Cairo, just a short drive away from luxury five star resorts. But these shocking photos show a whole community which has been living in the slums for hundreds of years surrounded by rats and rotting rubbish.

Third Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Jonesboro, Illinois September 15, 1858 MR. DOUGLAS' SPEECH. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: I appear before you today in pursuance of a previous notice, and have made arrangements with Mr. Lincoln to divide time, and discuss with him the leading political topics that now agitate the country. Prior to 1854 this country was divided into two great political parties known as Whig and Democratic. These parties differed from each other on certain questions which were then deemed to be important to the best interests of the Republic. Whig and Democrats differed about a bank, the...

Christians have faced discrimination, particularly in the application of justice when they face sectarian attacks

CAIRO, May 7 (Reuters) - At least five people were killed in a sectarian clash in Egypt on Saturday over a Christian woman who allegedly had converted to Islam, according to officials. Interfaith relationships often cause tension in Egypt, where Christians make up about 10 percent of its 80 million people. The strife represents another challenge to Egypt's military rulers who are trying to restore law and order after President Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down in a popular uprising in February. Witnesses said some 500 conservative Islamists known as salafists gathered at the Saint Mina Church in the...

The Muslim Brotherhood opposition group in Egypt has called for a review of the 1978 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel and says it should be resubmitted to a “freely elected” parliament for approval. Regarded as the best-organised political group in Egypt, the Brotherhood is poised to play an influential role in politics in the country after the fall of the regime of Hosni Mubarak, the former president. Egypt is due to hold parliamentary elections in September and the group is likely to emerge with the largest bloc in the assembly. It said this week that its candidates would compete...

SIKESTON, Mo. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has decided to move forward with a plan to blast open a Mississippi River levee in an attempt to protect Cairo, IL from rising floodwaters. Actual demolition is expected to begin after 9:00pm Monday night and continue into Tuesday morning. Missouri officials oppose the move, saying it will inundate 130,000 acres of farmland, making it useless and causing the region's economy to suffer. The Corps and the state of Illinois say the demolition is crucial to relieving river pressure on the floodwall protecting Cairo, which sits at the confluence of the...

SNIPPET: "Total bail was set at $200,000, and as a condition of release, Mr. Hersi must be in the company of one of his sureties at all times, except during private consultations with his lawyer. He has also been banned from applying for a passport, possessing firearms and accessing the Internet."

Tiny downstate Cairo, already battling the still-rising Ohio and Mississippi rivers, has been drawn into a controversial flood-relief plan that could put thousands of acres of farmland in neighboring Missouri under water. The plan calls for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to burst a Mississippi River levee to provide relief to little Cairo, population 2,800, as well as relief for a series of pumping stations, flood walls and levees. But the relief action will trigger flooding in southeastern Missouri, as opening the levee will allow water to flow over some 130,000 acres of Missouri land, mostly farms. The state...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) - A federal judge is giving the go-ahead to the Army Corps of Engineers' plan to intentionally break a Mississippi River levee in southeastern Missouri. The break could happen as early as this weekend to spare a flood-threatened Illinois town just upriver. Friday's ruling in Cape Girardeau turns back Missouri's bid to block the corps from blasting a hole in the Birds Point levee in Mississippi County, just south of Cairo, Ill. Missouri argued the floodwaters would ruin farmland and damage about 100 homes.

The military junta ruling Egypt has announced that parliamentary elections will be held in September. Rather than spending the next five months complaining, those who aren’t supporting the Muslim Brotherhood better get started actually working and organizing. I’ll analyze this a lot more in the coming months but briefly the blocs are as follows: Islamists: The Muslim Brotherhood says it is aiming at getting 30 percent of the seats. I think they’ll succeed. A smaller, moderate Islamist party — whose members split from the Brotherhood because they say it is too extremist — would be lucky to get any seats....

The Egyptian Interior Ministry was on fire Tuesday in downtown Cairo following a protest earlier in the day. Flames could be seen on the roof of the multi-story building, and a dark plume of smoke loomed over the city. People could be seen fleeing the building as it burned.

CAIRO – Clashes that broke out when a Muslim mob attacked thousands of Christians protesting against the burning of a Cairo church killed at least 13 people and wounded about 140, security and hospital officials said Wednesday. The Muslims torched the church amid an escalation of tensions between the two religious groups over a love affair between a Muslim and a Christian that set off a violent feud between the couple's families. The officials said all 13 fatalities died of gunshot wounds.

There is hope that in revolutionary Egypt Christians and Muslims, who stood side by side in the struggle for regime change, will build a solid future together. Read this young woman's account from Cairo.

Video of interview on Neil Cavuto April 20, 2009 David Axelrod's comments at the beginning of this video are priceless, for they refuse to say this about Wisconson, but said it about the Tea Party!

From Cairo to Madison, some pizzaBy MEREDITH SHINER | 2/20/11 4:05 PM EST MADISON, Wis. — Someone in Egypt has been paying attention to what’s happening in Madison and wanted to send a message of solidarity from across the globe — so they ordered a pizza. It might seem like a small gesture, but it’s overwhelming to the staff at Ian’s on State Street — a campus staple mere blocks from the Capitol — where in the last few days, they’ve fielded calls from concerned citizens of 12 countries, and 38 out of 50 states looking to donate money to...

For the first time since he was banned from leading weekly friday prayers in Egypt 30 years ago, prominent Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi will lead thousands in the weekly prayers from Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday. Sources told Al Arabiya that a military force will accompany the head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars from his home to Tahrir Square, provide security for the prayers and accompany him back to his residence. Al-Qaradawi last delivered a Friday prayer sermon in Egypt in 1981 after the assassination of former President Anwar el-Sadat.

A Cairo teenager found a priceless statue of Pharaoh Akhenaton near a garbage bin after it was stolen from the Egyptian Museum during anti-regime protests, Egypt's antiquities chief said Thursday. The museum's world renowned collection was burgled and several artifacts went missing last month, including statues of King Tutankhamun and Pharaoh Akhenaton. A 16-year-old protester found the sculpture near a rubbish bin in Tahrir Square,

Since the announcement that Hosni Mubarak has stepped down, people have been celebrating across the world. But one group isn't joining the party: Israel's representatives in Cairo. The embassy here has been shut down indefinitely, and the Israeli flag was removed from the building's roof. Israel's diplomats and their families have allegedly been evacuated due to security concerns. Israel has long feared that the fall of the Mubarak could lead to a renunciation of their peace accord with Egypt. The Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces announced that they will support all current treaties. Following the 6 Day War...

President Barack Obama should win another Nobel Peace Prize for orchestrating an Islamic revolution from Jimmy Carter’s Iranian play book of indecisiveness. He has humiliated a Muslim ally who has fought terrorism for decades and has supported U.S. policies in the Middle East. So far, Hosni Mubarak has refused to flee Egypt, but left Cairo for his retreat in Sharm el-Sheikh. While he has apparently resigned as its leader, he above all men is haunted by the ghost of Persia. Egypt was the first nation to offer the Shah refuge when he fled Iran on January 16, 1979. It was...

In a press conference held on Monday afternoon in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit responded to criticism by Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday, saying that "They have practically declared war on Egypt via several satellite stations. The Egyptian people reject and opposes this declaration." "They want for there to be chaos in Egypt as there is in their country," Gheit said of Hizbullah. "I tell this man [Nasrallah]: No, no! Our armed forces can defend our homeland from people like you. Your interest in creating chaos is not in the best interest of...

Egyptian intelligence warned American officials about a week before Sept. 11 that Osama bin Laden's network was in the advance stages of executing a significant operation against an American target, it will be reported on Tuesday (in the NY TIMES)... MORE... A senior U.S. intelligence official denied the warning was received...

Demonstrations that began with quiet determination on the Internet more than three weeks ago erupted into riotous jubilation Friday evening, moments after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced he would step aside. Protesters swarmed army tanks that had been deployed to keep order, banged drums, blew whistles and frantically waved the Egyptian flag in celebration. They danced in circles and chanted. Two men dropped to their knees and began to pray as soon as the news was announced. "Freedom!" crowds chanted outside the white carved walls of the presidential palace. "God is great," they shouted in Tahrir Square. The reaction was...

For an organisation that claims a following of millions and is feared by most Arab leaders – and many in the West – it is a very discreet HQ. My path there takes me up the cramped and dusty staircase of an apartment block overlooking the Nile in the Giza district of Cairo. Only a small sticker, which someone has tried to tear off, tells me that I am in the right place.