Month: February 2011

by Patrick Appel

That's Kristof's headline today. Larison pushes back:

When the conflict is an internal political struggle between two groups of people of the same nation, as it is in Egypt, it is even harder to argue that “we are all Egyptians.” The thugs attacking the protesters earlier this week are Egyptians, as are the people who gave them the orders to attack. Those obviously aren’t the Egyptians with whom Kristof wants us to identify. Kristof doesn’t want to be that sort of Egyptian, as they are the ones trying to help Mubarak hang on a little longer, and the purpose of these expressions of solidarity is to declare a side in an ongoing conflict.

Certainly, Kristof must assume that the protesters represent the broad majority, and that the supporters of the regime are unrepresentative, but he can’t possibly know that. When both sides in the struggle are Egyptian and they are divided by political goals and interests, it doesn’t tell us very much to declare solidarity with Egyptians. In the end, these expressions of solidarity are sentimental or ideological, and they tend not to mean very much in terms of lending other people anything more than a little moral support, and they are driven by some incessant need to take sides in other nations’ affairs.

by Chris Bodenner

A fantastic new innovation in wound repair (and not for the squeamish):

by Patrick Appel

Issandr El Amrani doesn't buy this estimate:

Egypt's GDP in 2009 was around $180bn. The Mubaraks are not worth a third of Egypt's GDP, OK? Besides, Mubarak operated through front-men (such as the one handling the Israel gas deal) so I don't see how this accounting can be so easily done. But no way he's richer than Bill Gates. Don't believe the hype.

by Patrick Appel

I asked why eyeglasses are associated with intelligence. A reader's answer:

Sitting here wearing metal-framed glasses. Diagnosed with myopia at age 7, long before undergrad or grad school, never mind reading blog posts. High IQ (150+), early reader (age 3). My parents (a child psychologist and a teacher/author) figured that my nearsightedness may have promoted early reading because I was more comfortable focusing on a page than on the horizon.

Another reader:

There is some research suggesting it may be some kind of genetic of developmental issue. For instance, the study "IQ and the Association with Myopia in Children" at  found that nonverbal IQ was more closely correlated with myopia than number of books read per week, the paper "Myopia, Intelligence and the Expanding Neocortex" at  hypothesizes that there might be some change in gene expression which both increases the amount of gray matter and increases the likelihood of myopia (along with allergies), and the paper "Myopia as a latent phenotype of a pleiotropic gene positively selected for facilitating neurocognitive development, and the effects of environmental factors in its expression" similarly suggests that there may be genes which affect both brain development and eye growth.

Another:

I've often heard that in poor performing schools one of the biggest problems turns out to be that many of the children who need glasses don't have them.  It's possible that people with glasses were able to go farther in their education than their equally capable but less fortunate counterparts.

by Chris Bodenner

Death-by-puppy wouldn't be a bad way to go:

by Zoe Pollock

Josh Dzieza reports on the poetic tradition throughout the Middle East, and how phrases have been transformed into chants:

One chant in particular has become widespread, showing up on signs and graffiti: “The people want the regime to fall.” Though it has a regular meter, this chant is unrhymed and not in colloquial Egyptian—it’s in modern classical Arabic. Colloquial Egyptian is as different from modern classical Arabic as contemporary English is from Shakespearian English, but unlike colloquial Egyptian, modern classical Arabic is understandable to Arabic speakers who hear it on Al Jazeera. “That tells you who they think their audience is,” says [Elliot Colla, chair of the Arabic and Islamic Studies department at Georgetown University].

It’s also important to note that the chant doesn’t mention which people want which regime to fall: “A Yemeni could say that, a Jordanian could say that—and I suspect they already are.” It’s a slogan designed to spread.

by Conor Friedersdorf

The first story that I came across from Rupert Murdoch's new iPad publication, is quite interesting:

Samuel is part of a shadowy community of outlaw Amish and Mennonite dairy farmers who risk fines, loss of equipment and product, and even imprisonment to transport raw milk across state lines and satisfy a burgeoning appetite for illegal raw milk in places like New York.

Says  Mark Frauenfelder: "Two people have died in the last 10 years from drinking unpasteurized milk. Twelve states have banned it. By comparison, between two and twelve children die every year playing high school football. When will high school football be banned?"

by Chris Bodenner

Earlier Dish coverage here. The most recent political developments via the Guardian:

5.10pm: Very interesting news being reported on Reuters that Mohamed ElBaradei has said he will not run for president. It comes via an Austrian newspaper (ElBaradei was living in Vienna before he returned for the protests).

5.47pm: In an interview with al-Jazeera Arabic, Mohamed ElBaradei has apparently denied telling an Austrian newspaper that he would not stand for president (5.10pm).

Reuters:

Al Arabiya is reporting that Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq says it is unlikely President Hosni Mubarak will hand presidential powers to his newly appointed vice president, Omar Suleiman.

Also from Reuters:

Egypt's vice president will meet a group of prominent independent figures on Saturday promoting a solution to the country's crisis in which he would assume the president's powers for an interim period, one of the group said.

Tahrir Square, where an estimated 100,000 people assembled, was relatively free of violence today. An indicative scene:

The Guardian's Mustafa Khalili is stationed beside Tahrir Square, amid 2,000-3,000 anti-Mubarak protesters who are facing off against some 50 pro-Mubarak demonstrators. He says there is a mere five metres between the groups, but as yet there has been no violence, just chanting from both sides. Mustafa reports, however, that at the back of the anti-Mubarak group are 300-400 protesters armed with stones.

Protesters were hardly confined to the capital:

1230 GMT: Al Jazeera English's correspondent is estimating "a million" on the streets of Alexandria. He says that it is "really peaceful", despite some Al Jazeera footage of scuffles. Al Jazeera reports 250,000 protesting in El Arish in the Sinai.

1255 GMT: More than 100,000 protesters in Damanhour, 100 miles northwest of Cairo, are reportedly marching to demand the immediate departure of President Mubarak. It is now reporting 500,000 protesting in Mansoura in northeastern Egypt. About 20,000 are reported to be on the streets in Aswan in southern Egypt.

Al Jazeera has more on the vibe in Cairo:

11:28am: Protester Aida El-Kashes, on the phone from Tahrir Square, describes the situation there as calm and safe. … The thousands of protesters who have been through the past days violence together now have bounds to each other "as a big family", she says..

6:53pm Al Jazeera's reporter says that pro-democracy protesters have set up several layers of barricades between themselves and the Mubarak-loyalists. They are apparently using a code, which involves banging on the metal barricades, when they notice trouble heading their way – others then gather and form a human cordon behind the barricade.

 The Guardian has great pictures of protesters putting on makeshift helmets during yesterday's clashes. Cardboard, buckets and plastic soda bottles were used to deflect the stones.

The WaPo provides a great series of photos. EA:

1600 GMT: There have been reports that there was a Coptic Christian mass and prayer held in Tahrir Square today for Christian Egyptians. Christians make up 10% of the country's protests and thousands of Christians have taken part along with the majority Muslim population in anti-Mubarak protests.

Guardian:

1.10pm: … [T]he Catholic cardinal in Egypt reportedly linked hands with a Muslim cleric. Al-Jazeera English now reports that Christians in Alexandria formed a security cordon around the Muslims while they knelt for Friday prayers.

EA:

1405 GMT: Al Jazeera English just humiliated Egyptian State TV by showing its footage and translating the broadcast: the state outlet, over shots of a few dozen people gently strolling on a bridge across the Nile, says "10,000" supporters of the Government demonstrated today after Friday Prayer, while opposition protests never materialised. The anchorwoman explains, "We are here to correct the false information reported by foreign media."

Of course, Al Jazeera English juxtaposes this next to a shot of the mass gathering in Tahrir Square in Cairo.

AP:

Al-Jazeera's offices in Cairo were stormed and torched and its Website hacked Friday, says the Pan-Arab broadcaster, while the top U.N. human rights official complained that media covering Egyptian pro-democracy protests are being arrested "in a blatant attempt to stifle news."

Guardian:

6.05pm: Some sad news. Al Ahram journalist Ahmed Mahmoud who was shot during protests on January 29 has reportedly died.

12.35pm: I've just spoken to Peter Beaumont, whose efforts to get into Tahrir Square have been frustrated by both the army and armed vigilantes. He and Jack Shenker were picked up by the army, made to kneel facing a wall and interrogated. They then had to deal with machete-wielding vigilantes. Although the square itself is calm, he says, things around the periphery are very different.

EA:

1050 GMT: Australian television reporter Hamish Macdonald sends the message, "Just got detained by military behind Egypt TV building. Captives there cable tied and being tasered. Not clear if the captive demonstrators were pro or anti mubarek. tasers were loud and fast. screams were horrific."

Mackey:

As The Lede reported, witnesses in Cairo said Egyptian military police officers had detained and beaten [as many as 30] human rights advocates after raiding their offices on Thursday. My colleague David Goodman reports that the rights advocates are still missing.

by Chris Bodenner

Yglesias yawns at Ayaan Hirsi Ali's grave warning against the Muslim Brotherhood and Islam in general:

Maybe in 50 or 100 years, folks like Ali and I who don’t believe in God will persuade Egyptians that we’re right. But in the short to medium term, there’s no real alternative to Egypt being governed predominantly by avowed Muslims. And if Islam as such is “the new fascism” then what’s the point in worrying about the Muslim Brotherhood in particular?

by Conor Friedersdorf

In Politico, Mike Allen reports on President Obama's ambassador to China, who was always slated to serve two years, and is now pondering a run for president:

If Huntsman won the GOP nomination, he would be challenging the reelection of his former boss. White House officials are furious at what they consider an audacious betrayal, but know that any public criticism would be likely to benefit Huntsman if he enters the primaries.

Daniel Larison has more.