MER Article From the Editors (Spring 2011) Revolution is a weighty word, one as freighted with past disappointments as with hopes for the future. In the Arab world, where the first spontaneous popular revolutions of the twenty-first century have begun, cabals of colonels long expropriated the term to glorify their coups d’état. It is an acc The Editors • 6 min read
Current Analysis Seeking "Stability" Stability is the least understood and most derided of the trio of strategic interests pursued by the United States in the Middle East since it became the region’s sole superpower. Vexing, because it is patently obvious code for coziness with kings, presidents-for-life and other unsavory autocrats. P Chris Toensing • 3 min read
Current Analysis Revolution and Counter-Revolution in the Egyptian Media It took 18 days of mass mobilization, the deaths of hundreds and the wounding of thousands, the crippling of Egypt’s tourism industry and the crash of its stock market, to bring an end to the 30-year presidency of Husni Mubarak. And almost every minute of the revolution was televised. Ursula Lindsey • 15 min read
Current Analysis Red-White-and-Black Valentine There are moments in world affairs that call for the suspension of disbelief. At these junctures, caution ought to be suppressed and cynicism forgotten to let joy and wonderment resound. Across the globe, everyone, at least everyone with a heart, knows that the Egyptian revolution of 2011 is such a The Editors • 8 min read
Current Analysis No More Mr. Nice Autocracy Egyptian current events prove one point for good: Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, US presidents wish their favored Arab states would forever remain nice, docile autocracies. Of course, the Obama administration protests loudly to the contrary. President Barack Obama has gone on nati Chris Toensing • 3 min read
Current Analysis Into Egypt's Uncharted Territory Amidst the monumental Egyptian popular uprising of 2011, Plan A for the Egyptian regime and the Obama administration was for Husni Mubarak to remain president of Egypt indefinitely. They have now moved on to Plan B. Hesham Sallam, Joshua Stacher, Chris Toensing • 12 min read
Current Analysis Dead-Enders on the Potomac Every US administration has its mouthpiece in Washington’s think tank world, its courtier that will slavishly praise its every utterance. For the blessedly bygone Bush administration, that echo chamber was the American Enterprise Institute and the neo-conservative broadsheets in its orbit. For the O The Editors • 7 min read
Current Analysis The Fake Moderation of America's Moderate Middle East Allies As the Mubarak regime turns to violence in a vain attempt to repress the peaceful protests that have swept Egypt’s streets for over ten days, the risks associated with current US strategy for Egypt and the wider region continue to grow. In its response to the events, the Obama administration has sub Aziz Rana, Aslı Bâli • 6 min read
MER Article Kholoussy, For Better, For Worse Hanan Kholoussy, For Better, For Worse: The Marriage Crisis That Made Modern Egypt (Stanford, 2010). Ziba Mir-Hosseini • 4 min read
Current Analysis A State of Sectarian Denial On the afternoon of January 6, a number of youths found a suspicious-looking cardboard box inside the Church of St. Antonious in the Upper Egyptian city of Minya. From its appearance, the box seemed to contain explosives, so the youths slowly removed it from the church, placing it in the middle of t Mariz Tadros • 15 min read
Current Analysis The Liquidation of Egypt's Illiberal Experiment The Egyptian parliamentary elections that ended on December 5 defied expectations, not because the ruling National Democratic Party again dominates Parliament but because of the lengths to which it proved willing to go to engineer its monopoly. Official and unofficial ruling-party candidates garnere Mona El-Ghobashy • 14 min read
Current Analysis The Fiction (and Non-Fiction) of Egypt's Marriage Crisis In August 2006, a 27-year old pharmacist started blogging anonymously about her futile hunt for a husband in Mahalla al-Kubra, an industrial city 60 miles north of Cairo in the Nile Delta. Steeped in satirical humor, the blog of this “wannabe bride” turned into a powerful critique of everything that Hanan Kholoussy • 17 min read
