Egypt Archives - Foreign Policy In Focus

Regime Change Redux

by Abena Ampofoa Asare | Feb 2, 2011

The lesson of Tunis, Sanaa, and Cairo is that democracy rhetoric is more than a strategy for the assertion of American dominance. On the contrary, it is a language that fuses moral and political power into a radical claim that every human being deserves a voice in the decisions that affect their daily lives. The United States tried to promote democracy through the barrel of a gun. It’s time now for Washington to support democracy in the Middle East by pressing its authoritarian allies to put their guns away.

Why Washington Clings to a Failed Middle-East Strategy

by Gareth Porter | Feb 1, 2011

We face the distinct possibility that the U.S. national security bureaucracy will continue to deny the disastrous consequences of our client-regime national-security strategy.

Two Cheers for the Brotherhood

by John Feffer | Feb 1, 2011

In the latest news out of Egypt, where people power is confronting regime rigidity, President-for-life Hosni Mubarak is doing what he can to maintain his perch. He has named a new cabinet, deployed more troops in the cities, and blocked al-Jazeera broadcasts. The opposition, meanwhile, hopes to bring a million people into Cairo’s streets to give the regime a final boot.

Tunisia’s Spark and Egypt’s Flame: the Middle East is Rising

by Phyllis Bennis | Jan 31, 2011

The breadth and depth of the spreading protests, the helplessness of the U.S.-backed governments to stop them, and the rapidly diminishing ability of the United States to protect its long-time clients, are resulting in a level of revolutionary fervor not visible in the Middle East in a generation.

U.S. Policy Exposed by Mid-East Protests

by Rob Prince | Jan 31, 2011

For Washington, London, Paris and Berlin, the current upsurge of region-wide protests in the Middle East falls somewhere between a setback and a debacle.

On the Wrong Side of History in the Middle East

by Adil E. Shamoo | Jan 31, 2011

Granting sovereignty to Middle Eastern countries is the last thing on the minds of Western leaders.

As Egypt Protesters Look to U.S. in Vain, Remembering Another Lost Opportunity

by Hannah Gurman | Jan 30, 2011

U.S. support for an authoritarian regime is by no means a new phenomenon nor is it peculiar to the Middle East.

Egypt Protests Shine Light on How U.S. Profits From Foreign Aid

by Mark Engler | Jan 29, 2011

Even though it is notoriously undemocratic, the Mubarak regime has for decades received a massive amount of U.S. aid, both military and non-military.

Islamists Bite the Ballot

by Saif Shahin | Dec 23, 2010

Recent elections in Bahrain and Egypt are being criticized for all the usual reasons. Authoritarian regimes — one a monarchy, the other a quasi-military dictatorship — cracked down on the media and the small opposition forces that challenged them in the run-up to the polls, eventually holding ballots with little or no monitoring.

Fraudulent Egyptian Election

by Stephen Zunes | Dec 7, 2010

The November 28 Egyptian parliamentary elections were a farce. The vast majority of Egyptians boycotted the charade. But even those who did try to vote witnessed massive ballot-stuffing, vote-buying, intimidation, multiple voting in pro-government precincts, interminable delays in pro-opposition precincts, and mass arrests of opposition supporters.