Unnecessary military spending is a cancer on democracy, but it takes a case like Egypt to show the real damage that it can do.
Category: Middle East
Election roundup – loose ends edition
This week, updates from Mali, Czechia, Iran and Venezuela.
Electoral “reform” in Israel
Israel plans an electoral change that seems superficially fair but in context has a clearly discriminatory intent.
One weekend, four elections
The weekend's four elections, in Kuwait, Cambodia, Northern Cyprus and Mali, make an interesting set of contrasts.
Talking about talking about peace
John Kerry announces, rather warily, the start of a new round of Israel-Palestine negotiations. Getting to this point has been hard; getting the current Israeli government to actually make peace will be much harder.
Chomsky on Syria
Words of wisdom on Syria from veteran anti-war intellectual Noam Chomsky.
The Egyptian road back to democracy
Egypt has the makings of a civilian government again, but it's going to be hard work to reassure the Islamists that they will be allowed to play an important role.
Egypt: reads and reactions
A selection of analysis and commentary on this week's events in Egypt. They convey the comforting message that I'm not the only one sitting on the fence.
A good coup, as coups go
Egypt's military seizes power – not usually the best of strategies for establishing democracy. But sometimes it's the only way, and so far the public seems to be behind it.
Egyptians rally for preferential voting (well, almost)
Demonstrations against Egypt's president reflect a variety of sources of discontent, but a large part of the problem goes back to the system that elected him.
