Since the month of June is about to end in a few hours, and I’ve seen little anywhere about it, I’d like to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of Jorge Luis Borges, my favorite writer, who died on 14 June 1986.

Does anyone find it weird that Pope Shenouda III was scheduled to Germany this week for an emergency spinal cord operation — the exact same pretext that Mubarak went to Germany last summer for? The pope’s kidneys are also in bad shape, apparently, and he might be heading to the US for treatment.
Nahdet Misr’s leading [...]

As I’m blogging now, 3alaa is speaking on MBC, about the bloggers community in Egypt, human rights abuses, prospects for activism in Egypt, and his encounter with the Muslim Brothers youth in detention.
Two released detainees are also to appear on Dream2 TV, Saturday 8pm (Cairo time), together with two Mubrak’s National Democratic Party MPs.
Kefaya [...]

I came across an interesting article on Marxism and Terrorism. I recommend reading all of it. I couldn’t help but drawing parallels between the behavior of some of the 1800s European anarchists (discussed by the author in the beginning of the article) and the current Islamist Takfiri groups, especially in their justification of civilian casualties [...]

This kind of takes you back to history class, Russia’s perennial search for a warm-water port, the Crimean War and all that:
In early June, the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported Moscow’s decision to establish naval bases in the Syrian ports of Tartus and Latakia. The Russian Defense Ministry officially denied the report, even though more than [...]

Al-Jazeera reported 10,000 took part in a Muslim Brothers-led demo at Al-Azhar Mosque today, denouncing the Israeli military operations in the Palestinian Occupied Territories. Dr. Mohamed Habib, the Supreme Guide’s deputy, spoke to protestors denouncing US support for Israel.

TODAY, FRIDAY, JUNE 30 (CAIRO)
The Muslim Brothers have called for a demo following the Friday prayers at Al-Azhar, to protest the Israeli invasion of Gaza, and the kidnapping of 64 Palestinians–including 21 elected Palestinian members of parliament and eight cabinet ministers–by Israeli occupation troops.
SATURDAY, 1 JULY (CAIRO)
-The Press Syndicate’s Council has called for a [...]

The US supreme court directed a blow to Bush’s “war on terror,” ruling today against the administration’s plans to prosecute Gitmo detainees in military courts. Already, the US president is in terrible unease about the island’s gulag, which has been denounced by virtually all rights groups across the globe as well as well as America’s [...]

The Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Professional (lovingly known by its user-friendly acronym ACIJLP) has sent out its critique of Egypt’s new judicial authority law approved by parliament on Monday, saying that while an improvement in some respects it is still lacking in 12 ways. These criticisms echo what [...]

In which he discusses (with editor Ghassan Charbel and Damascus bureau chief Ibrahim Hamidi)Syria’s relationship with Jordan, Egypt’s negotiation of behalf of mini-Hariri, Arab fears of Iran’s growing regional role, growing sectarianism in Lebanon, his willingness to deal with anyone in Lebanon (Aoun, mini-Hariri, Seniora, etc.) except Walid Jumblatt and maybe Jacques Chirac. Although the [...]

The lawyer of the Yemen Observer was threatened by extremists while he defended his client for publishing the Danish cartoons of Prophet Muhammad:
Two young bearded men threatened the defense lawyer of Yemen Observer in the court room that they would have killed him if they have power.
Khalid Al-Anesi, who defends Mohammed Al-Asaadi, editor-in-chief of the [...]

The Committee to Protect Journalists has issued a rare report on the state of the Saudi press:
Although newspapers are privately owned, the state exerts tremendous influence over what is reported. The government approves the appointments of editors-in-chief, a process that journalists say is done behind closed doors with the oversight of Prince Nayef bin Abdel [...]

Praktike points out that Rose Al Youssef, a recently started pro-government daily, is trying to tarnish Kifaya leader George Ishak’s reputation by alleging he met with Israelis during a conference last April.
Al-Masry Al-Youm reported yesterday on Ishaq’s denial that he met with Israelis at the Fourth Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy in Istanbul [...]

HRW, which has recently gotten unprecedented access into Libya, is calling for full disclosure on the 1996 massacre that took place at the Abu Salim prison:
In the summer of 1996, stories began to filter out of Libya about a mass killing in Tripoli’s Abu Salim prison. The details remained scarce, and the government initially denied [...]

Hugh Miles, who wrote a book on Al Jazeera, has a “Think Again” piece in Foreign Policy debunking various myths about the channel. Nothing much new in it, but it’s a good overview of the facts many get wrong.
One interesting issue is about Al Jazeera International, the English-language channel that should launch later this year. [...]

The Nation has a long look at the unusual Zionist that is Vladimir Jabotinsky. Some interesting stuff in there, such as Jabotinsky uncanny honesty to Arabs that the Zionist intended to carve out a state of their own from mandate Palestine, or contradictory positions on “transfer,” and the self-doubt that seems to be lacking on [...]

Unfortunate beginning to this NYT story on Algeria:
ALGIERS — In the 1990’s, Algeria was the Iraq of the Arab world, ripping out its own heart in a bloodbath that pitted a rising Islamist movement against military death squads, killing more than 100,000 people. It was a model of hell on earth.
Er… in the 1990s, Iraq [...]

For a while now, I’ve been somewhat uneasy about the presence of pro-Israel ads on this site. I don’t choose them, the near-sentient megacomputer at Google does. (In the future, it will send a robot back in time to kill me.) While I don’t think many of this site’s readers want to send flowers to [...]

Brian Whitaker posted on the Guardian’s blog an article on Alaa Farag Megahed, the high school student who failed her exam because of a composition she wrote critical of Bush.
How to pass your exams in Egypt
Brian Whitaker, June 27, 2006 11:13 AM
“Blessed with abundant supplies of water, fertile soil and a flourishing tourism sector, Egypt [...]

The Muslim Brothers’ website ran a feature on torture in Egypt, which included allegations that “torture machines” are imported from Western countries.