News and Analysis (4/24/12)

As the presidential campaign begins in Egypt, things start popping, with the banning of Jimmy Carter’s center from monitoring the elections for fairness, the proposed (but probably moot) ban of the Mubarak-era PM from the race, and a tacking to the right by the MB’s candidate seeking to attract supporters of the but disqualified Nour Party candidate:

“The gas pipeline had long drawn complaints of Mubarak-era corruption, popular anger at Israel, and the failure of commercial dealings to improve Egypt-Israel ties”:

“Iran claims it hacked into the data banks of a captured CIA stealth drone. US officials dismiss it as ‘bluster,’ but aviation and cyber experts say it’s possible”:

Prof. Zeenat Shaukat Ali, “the author of “Marriage and Divorce in Islam,” is among those “asking for codification of the legal system within the framework of Koranic law,” because, she says, “The Koran does not support a system that is controlled by the patriarchy, and the government has to treat this matter on a war footing if they truly mean to bring about gender justice,” but, she complains, “Politicians refuse to move ahead because some males have objected”:

In St. Louis, the city jail accommodates headscarves of Muslim inmates, but Amnesty International’s report  “‘Choice and Prejudice” criticizes European states for having “focused so much in recent years on the wearing of full-face veils, as if this practice were the most widespread and compelling form of inequality women in Europe have to face”:

The community differs from other Muslims in the Indian subcontinent in their practice of “‘Khatna’ (the excision of the clitoris)” which is strictly prohibited in Islam:

Egyptians are upset with Saudi suppression of free speech …

… but at home, a comedian is fined in a case brought by an Islamist lawyer “reportedly offended by the film Al-Irhabi (The Terrorist), in which Imam plays a radical Islamist; the play Al-Zaeem (The Leader), a comedy satirising Middle Eastern autocrats; and the film Morgan Ahmed Morgan, which sees a rich businessman stand for parliament”

“[P]erhaps the most revealing part of the” CBS 60 minutes program on Christian life under Israeli occupation “was Bob Simon sharing that” Ambassador Michael Oren, who tries to blame Israel’ persecution of Christians on the Muslims, had complained to CBS News head Jeff Fager before the segment had even been aired, calling it “a hatchet job”:

“The protesters clashed with police Tuesday as they attempted to march toward Pearl Square, the focal point of an uprising against the monarchy in its early weeks last year. The square is now heavily guarded and ringed by razor wire”:


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