Why Egypt’s popular rebellion is the greatest historical event in a decade, and how Barack Obama missed the boat. (español) ليس هناك جيش أقوي من فكرة حان وقتها (Above: No army is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.)
I’m writing this on January 28th, 2011, at 11:53 AM Cairo time, although I’m an ocean away from Cairo. But, as someone wrote the other day on Twitter, yesterday, we were all Tunisian; today, we are all Egyptian, and tomorrow, we will all be free. So today I am writing this on Cairo time. Three days ago, I read Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. What Egypt is like For readers who don’t know much about Egypt, like most Americans, here’s my attempt to sum up a country of 80 million people in three minutes. Egypt is not a republic, any more than the People’s Republic of China is. Egypt has gradually declined in influence and quality of life throughout Mubarak’s reign. Some opposition parties are now formally allowed. Egypt is desperately poor. The Egyptian police are famous for their lack of controls. However, as Steven A. The revolution in Tunisia The uprising in Egypt. Slap to a Man’s Pride Set Off Tumult in Tunisia. Photoblog - Mohamed Bouazizi, the fruit vendor whose death may have changed the Arab world.
AFP - Getty Images A handout picture released by the Tunisian Presidency shows President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, second left, visiting patient Mohamed Bouazizi at the Ben Arous hospital near Tunis on Dec. 28.
Bouazizi died in hospital on Jan. 4 and Ben Ali fled the country on Jan. 14. Fred Dufour / AFP - Getty Images Mohamed Bouazizi's cousin, Walid Bouazizi, prays on his cousin's grave in Sidi Bouzid on Jan. 20. Basma Bouazizi, sister of Mohamed Bouazizi, poses in her home in Sidi Bouzid on Jan. 20. Salah Habibi / AP Protesters demonstrate beneath a poster of Mohamed Bouazizi near the prime minister's office in Tunis on Jan. 28. By David R Arnott, NBC News It began with a minor dispute between a street vendor and a municipal inspector in the provincial Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid.
The man who inspired the people of Tunisia to rise up against their government was Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26 year old fruit vendor who set himself on fire in protest at his treatment by the local authorities. Mohamed ElBaradei: The Return of the Challenger to Egypt. The Lone Star State has led a surprisingly progressive overhaul of its incarceration system.
The story behind the bipartisan push that GOP contenders may be extolling come 2016. It appears Rick Perry is going to run for president again in 2016. Perry, 65, will leave the governor’s office next January after serving for 14 years, beginning in 2000, when George W. Bush resigned to prepare for the presidency. In recent months, Perry has appeared in both Iowa and South Carolina. As he creeps back onto the national stage, Perry—who has overseen the executions of 268 people—more executions than any other governor in United States history—has brought with him an unlikely Lone Star State success story: prison reform.