White House Wobbles on Egyptian Tightrope

Washington needs a friendly regime in Cairo more than it needs a democratic government

by Simon Tisdall

"in the final analysis, the US needs a friendly government in Cairo more than it needs a democratic one. Whether the issue is Israel-Palestine, Hamas and Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, security for Gulf oil supplies, Sudan, or the spread of Islamist fundamentalist ideas, Washington wants Egypt, the Arab world's most populous and influential country, in its corner. That's the political and geostrategic bottom line. In this sense, Egypt's demonstrators are not just fighting the regime. They are fighting Washington, too."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/29-2

Are We Witnessing the Start of a Global Revolution?

North Africa and the Global Political Awakening, Part 1

by Andrew Gavin Marshall

 

"To put it bluntly: in earlier times, it was easier to control one million people than to physically kill one million people; today, it is infinitely easier to kill one million people than to control one million people.[1]"

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=22963

Egypt at the tipping point? by Joel Beinin | The Middle East Channel

Egypt at the tipping point? by Joel Beinin | The Middle East Channel

Egypt’s Class Conflict

Egypt’s Class Conflict

Joshua Sperber: Another Professor Fired for Views on Middle East

Joshua Sperber: Another Professor Fired for Views on Middle East

Gramsci on Education

"The relationship between teacher and pupil is active and reciprocal so that every teacher is always a pupil and every pupil a teacher."
— Antonio Gramsci, The Prison Notebooks, p. 350

Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, Pentagon, Inc. | TomDispatch

Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, Pentagon, Inc. | TomDispatch

"With Vietnam, things became more complicated. The war’s supporters argued that the World War II tradition still applied: patriotism required deference to the commands of the state. Opponents of the war, especially those facing the prospect of conscription, insisted otherwise. They revived the distinction, formulated a generation earlier by the radical journalist Randolph Bourne, that distinguished between the country and the state. Real patriots, the ones who most truly loved their country, were those who opposed state policies they regarded as misguided, illegal, or immoral."

...

"The duopoly of American politics no longer allows for a principled anti-interventionist position. Both parties are war parties. They differ mainly in the rationale they devise to argue for interventionism. The Republicans tout liberty; the Democrats emphasize human rights. The results tend to be the same: a penchant for activism that sustains a never-ending demand for high levels of military outlays."