If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Wael Ghonim's honor and honesty stands in stark contrast to the callow smear campaign escalated this week by the Mubarak regime against Tahrir Square's democracy protesters.
Since the Tunisian and Egyptian democracy uprisings, there's little doubt that Middle Eastern leaders have been scrambling. From Damascus to Tripoli, ...
Cairo. Midnight. The Presidential Palace. Good evening, Mr. President. Who are you? How did you get in here? And why are you on fire? The name's Jo...
In part, Egyptians have been inspired by our democratic movements. And no, much like them, we too can be inspired by their courage -- and look past the non-issues which divide our people.
If Mubarak were to resign in the coming week, his departure would pave the way for an interim caretaker presidency in Omar Suleiman, who has developed strong relations with the United States and Israel.
Despite the massive protests and glorification of the democracy activists by the western media, a core aspect of sea-change is missing: leadership.
To contemplate these events, to conceive of them in their singularity and help them, especially, to produce the best part of themselves, one must get rid of preconceived ideas, beginning with that of a unique "Arab revolution."
The Egyptian president has failed to bottle the public anger and has started seeing the end of his thirty year iron-fist rule. This all looks like the perfect formula for the victory of the public and a revolution that is knocking at the doors. It is not.
Is Egypt's rebellion a coincidence, or is there something in Muslim culture that all too often perpetuates a vicious cycle? As an Arab raised in the Muslim faith, I believe it's the latter.
The Obama administration, and the rest of the world, must get used to the idea that there is a new Egypt and a new Middle East. The old order that was so comforting to Washington is over.
the reality is that the Egyptian regime has managed to prevent genuine leadership from emerging anywhere outside the mosques and its own controlled institutions.
Mohamed ElBaradei is the Muslim Brotherhood's perfect stalking horse -- well respected, moderate and compliant. He will put together a government in which the Brotherhood begins as kingmaker and ends up as king.
The Muslim Brotherhood brings a lot to the table in its potential to help peacefully establish a consensus government that could supervise elections that the majority of Egyptians would see as legitimate.
The majority of the 80 million people of Egypt live in abject poverty. They go to kiosks to make calls. A substantial number have never used the internet. They are not twittering -- they are out on the streets giving vent to three decades of anger.
What we are seeing now in the Middle East is a generation of young people who learned how to love themselves, believe in themselves, change themselves. Now, they are changing the world.
What does it say that a Nobel Prize winner, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, a former assistant to the Egyptian Foreign Minister, not to mention a 68-year-old man -- is not allowed to peacefully raise his voice in protest?
