A very cautiously written, but important column by Rami Khouri: When Arab security chiefs conduct foreign policy
Two intriguing meetings took place this past week in the Arab world. In Egypt, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with the intelligence services directors of four Arab states – Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab [...]

An intriguing op-ed by a young Muslim Brother:
Egypt’s Two-Faced Regime: Not Secular, Not Islamic, Authoritarian
There is an increasing realization amongst Egypt’s opposition political factions that the regime has no ideology to defend, least of all a secular one. The regime’s crackdowns on the Muslim Brotherhood are not part of a sincere attempt to uphold [...]

There’s been some very interesting developments at the 5th Cairo Conference against Imperialism and Zionism. Hossam reports that it held an anti-torture forum featuring Abu Omar, the Alexandria imam kidnapped in Italy by the CIA in 2003:
Abu Omar–the Alexandrian cleric kidnapped 2003 by the CIA in Milan and rendered to Egypt where he was brutally [...]

Maria Golia, author of Cairo: City of Sand, sent me her latest Daily Star column:
Referendum Blues

Egypt’s ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) should be congratulated for its expeditious handling of the March 26th referendum. Well-scripted, timed, and executed, it also fulfilled the public’s expectations. Everyone knew the yes-no vote would favor the institution of 34 [...]

The royal family: His Excellency Abu Gamal, Umm Gamal and the Little Bey
Abu Gamal’s village, a little rural paradise nestling in the Egyptian countryside, governed and guided by village headman Mohammed Hosni (Al-Hagg Abu Gamal) and ably assisted by Al-Hagg Fathi Shurour and Kamal Al-Shatamouni (Fathi Evils and Kamal They-abused-me… ho ho). Things are [...]

It is probably a sign of my terrible dietary habits, but I am rather happy about this: Burger King to Expand in Egypt.
They make tasty burgers. Not Ne’maa in Agouza greasy egg-and-cheese burger tasty, but still tasty.

The Daily Star – Opinion Articles – Rice’s show: Is it comedy or horror?:
The most galling thing about Rice’s and Washington’s approach is its fundamental dishonesty. The Bush administration spent its first six years avoiding any serious engagement in the Arab-Israeli conflict, or decisively siding with the Israelis on most key contested points, like refugees, [...]

After sorting out some technical problems (and coping with traffic much higher then expected), horytna.net is now on air! The internet youth radio aims to promote tolerance in Egyptian society, by discussing topics such as human rights, women issues, education and others.
Good luck with that, of course, but at the very minimum the site [...]

I’ve been skeptical myself about the incredibly high figures for mortality in Iraq since the invasion quoted by the Lancet study — they are after all several times higher than other sources — but the BBC has obtained (through a freedom of information request) a formerly confidential report from the UK’s top government scientist who [...]

The plot thickens:
Egypt’s president wants military appeals courtWed 28 Mar 2007, 12:41 GMT
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has proposed a law to set up an appeals court for suspects tried before military tribunals, known for their tough and swift verdicts, a cabinet statement said on Wednesday.
Mubarak has sent the draft bill to both [...]

Interesting to be on the outside looking back into Egypt at the moment. BBC is still airing that great Egypt tourism ad—the one with the scantily clad babes emerging from the pristine sea and the romantic (I suspect CGI) shots of Cairo, while at the same time the news is of another rigged referendum and [...]

Via Sandmonkey, although I think they were originally posted by Wael Abbas.

Read this hilarious right-wing blog post where every non-Muslim who interacts with Muslims (or is not right-wing) is called a dhimmi, Muslims are plotting to Islamize America by starting Arabic language schools, Canada and Europe are pretty much lost because of the cowardly dhimmis not fighting Islamofascism, and a whole lot more.

From artist Sandow Birk. Click on pic for full size.

The strongest statement thus far?
Statement on Egyptian Referendum Vote
Yesterday Egypt concluded a popular referendum on a package of amendments to its constitution. While the approval of these amendments is a question for the Egyptian people to decide, it is evident that the vast majority of Egyptians did not choose to participate. Many voices in [...]

The June 2006 of the Arab Reform Bulletin contained an excellent short essay by Amr Hamzawy urging for a closer look at the role of security services as a barrier to democratic change in the Arab world. I have been working on similar issues myself and think his point is highly relevant to explaining, for [...]

The final schedule for the Conference and Forum meetings is now available in Arabic and English. Click on the poster below to download it…

I’ll be speaking in two meetings. The first is on the fight against police torture in Egypt…
Sorry, some last-minute rearrangements… I won’t be speaking at the anti-torture forum. Blogojournalist and friend Abdel [...]

Late last night, friends and I engaged in post-referendum relaxation by watching “300,” the film about the epic battle between Sparta and the Persian Empire. While the fight scenes are admittedly cool, the movie as a whole is a rather ridiculous fascist ode to Western supremacy against the barbarian hordes. I am sure that a [...]

Surprise, surprise: the amendments passed, officials say.
CAIRO, March 27 (Xinhua) — Egyptian Justice Minister Mamdouh Mohieddin Marai announced on Tuesday that 75.9 percent of voters in Monday’s national referendum said yes to constitutional amendments, the official news agency MENA reported.
Marai said the turnout reached 27.1 percent, which meant that some 9.6 million of Egypt’s 35.4 [...]

Full thing after the jump.

Egypt: Don’t Enshrine Emergency Rule in Constitution
Protesters, Journalists Assaulted on Eve of Referendum
(Cairo, March 26, 2007) – Proposed constitutional amendments approved by the Egyptian parliament on March 21 effectively remove basic protections against violations of Egyptians’ rights to privacy, individual freedom, security of person and home and due process, Human Rights [...]

Below is a press release from a woman’s NGO whose monitors witnessed fraud in today’s referendum. Those with access to al-Jazeera English may also want to look at their coverage, in which an Egyptian-American reporter working for the channel got to vote despite not having the appropriate ID by merely telling staff at voting booths [...]

Our friends Joel Beinin and Hossam el-Hamalawy have a MERIP piece on the recent strikes in Egypt, looking at some of the biggest strikes of recent months, the workers’ fight against union bureaucracy, and the historical context of the Egyptian labor movement. It’s a long piece with many interesting subsections, so I will just post [...]

Click on the thumbnail below to read a letter of support to Egyptians against the amendments from the School of Oriental and African Studies’ Student Union.

Ever since the Washington Post started its campaign against the Mubarak regime three years ago, it has been the leading critic of Cairo and of Washington’s stance towards Cairo. Strange that its erstwhile rival, the Washington Times (once a bastion of conservative critics of Egypt), has turned into a Mubarak defender. Just see the two [...]

Late last night al-Jazeera reported that it had obtained a signed official memo from Damietta governorate ordering government employees to go vote “yes” in today’s referendum on the constitution. It has been circulating by email quite rapidly.

Alain Gresh has a post on his blog about how French presidential candidate and tough guy Nicolas Sarkozy was asked whether Al Qaeda was Sunni or Shia and could not answer.
Cela m’avait échappé. Il ne me semble pas l’avoir lu dans les grands quotidiens et il a fallu une remarque en passant pour me lancer [...]

The Washington Post, the leading anti-Mubarak publication in the US, says:
The opposition and outside groups such as Amnesty International and Freedom House have rightly described the amendments as the greatest setback to freedom in Egypt in a quarter-century. Yet the Bush administration has barely reacted. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is visiting Egypt this [...]

Joshua Stacher and Samer Shehata have an op-ed in the Boston Globe about how the US should engage with the Muslim Brotherhood:
Opening a relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood would signal to ruling regimes and opposition groups in the region that the United States is committed to promoting democracy — not just to supporting those who [...]

Kefaya activists in Alexandria have called for a sit-in, to protest Mubarak’s dictatorial constitutional amendments, on Monday 26 March, at Manshiya Square, from 9am to 5pm.

Egyptian activists in New York City are organizing a demonstration against Mubarak’s dictatorial constitutional amendments, Monday 26 March, in front of the Egyptian Consulate, from 12:30pm to 1:30pm.

The Egyptian Consulate in NYC is located at 1110 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10022.
For more information, contact Shehab Fakhry: shehabfakhry [at] yahoo [dot] com,
917-392-9408

Completely ridiculous story — while Arab women fight to have such measures removed from their own legal system, a German judge refers to the Quran to justify domestic abuse:
German judge invokes Qur’an to deny abused wife a divorce
A German judge who refused a Moroccan woman a fast-track divorce on the grounds that domestic violence was [...]

From The Washington Note:
March 20, 2007
James Woolsey Should Lose Security Clearance
Booz Allen Vice President R. James Woolsey, former Director of Central Intelligence during the Clinton administration, still has his security clearance.
Woolsey’s advocacy of American Navy employee turned Israel spy Jonathan Pollard’s release though raises questions about the propriety of his continuing to have access to [...]

He was just too blond (well, platinum white) and blue-eyed, according to Japan’s foreign minister:
Japan Minister Raps “Blond” Diplomats in Mideast
By REUTERS
Filed at 8:22 a.m. ET
TOKYO, March 22 (Reuters) – Blond, blue-eyed Westerners probably can’t be as successful at Middle East diplomacy as Japanese with their “yellow faces,” Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso was quoted [...]

The child slaves of Saudi Arabia:
The child slaves of Saudi Arabia

On the wealthy streets of Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, thousands of young child-beggars, undr the auspices of ruthless gangmasters, are simply trying to survive.
Many hail from countries like Yemen which, despite bordering one of the Middle East’s richest states, is a world away in terms [...]

Egyptians in London will demonstrate in front of the Egyptian Embassy, Monday 26 March, from 12pm to 3pm, to protest Mubarak’s authoritarian constitutional amendments.

The Embassy is located: 26 South Street, London W1K 1DW

There will be a demonstration planned by Egyptians Against Mubarak(s), in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Washington DC, Monday 11am to 1pm.
Click on the banner below for more details….

State Security bans Kifaya leader from holding seminar on jokes:
In a serious precedent that reveals the Egyptian regime’s tightening grip on freedom of expression against intellectuals, the security forces canceled a seminar held by Dr. Abdul Wahab Al Meseiri about “the analysis of jokes”.
Attendants at Saqiet Abdul Moneim el-Sawi [a cultural center], Zamalek, were informed [...]

Activists from different political tendencies are calling for a demonstration in Tahrir Sq., Sunday 25 March, 6pm, to protest Mubarak’s dictatorial amendments to the constitution.

The organizers of the Fifth Cairo Conference Against Imperialism and Zionism invite you to attend their press conference, 22 March, 12 noon, at the Press Syndicate.
Representatives from the Muslim Brothers, Karama Party, The Revolutionary Socialists’ Organization, Labor Party will brief journalists and activists on the international gathering of anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist activists planned from 29 [...]

This is not looking good at all, the sky over Sayyeda Zeinab mosque keeps getting darker…I’ve also been hearing blasts with flames shooting up, as if gaz bottles inside that building blew up. Let’s hope that Cairo’s fire fighters are up to it, I start to hear their sirenes, finally.
Update: The smoke is gone.