German Report That Israel’s NSA Affirms Syria Government Responsibility for Chemical Attacks 27 Aug 2013 | 11:17 am

Yediot report that Unit 8200 provided U.S. communications intercepts which showed Assad planned gas attacks I am as skeptical as the next guy about reports like this for obvious reasons.  But that do...

Should the Use of Chemical Weapons Prompt a US Attack in Syria? 27 Aug 2013 | 08:47 am

If it is Determined that the Assad Regime Used Chemical Weapons Against Civilians, Should the United States and its Allies Attack Syria? In answer to this question, Joshua Landis and Syria Comment...

‘Obama Just Can’t Say It’ 26 Aug 2013 | 05:32 pm

Thomas Friedman's piece in the Sunday New York Times was vintage Friedman: chatty, moderately insightful, and filled with quotations from his pal (and co-author) Michael Mandelbaum. The basic theme of...

In Syria, America Loses if Either Side Wins 26 Aug 2013 | 02:31 pm

You know those nightmarish images of chemical attack victims in Syria you saw (or if you are like me, glimpsed and then avoided looking at) last week? It should be our goal to keep that shit coming, s...

Egypt linkdump 23-25 August 2013 26 Aug 2013 | 01:58 pm

Various things clogging up the browser tab bar... ‘We are not in civil war, but catastrophe has many forms’ - Interview with Rabab al-Mahdi - Ahram Online Egypt's politics: Pyramids of power | The E...

Changes coming to this site 26 Aug 2013 | 01:00 pm

When I created this blog 10 years ago, shortly after the invasion of Iraq, I had no idea it would become so well-trafficked or that it would last so long. It was an experiment, one that had its up and...

Daw’an Mud Brick Foundation 26 Aug 2013 | 11:18 am

Et Tu Sonallah? 25 Aug 2013 | 10:05 pm

On the New Yorker's blog, Robyn Creswell lauds Sonallah Ibrahim (whose first novel That Smell he recently translated, to glowing reviews) as Egypt's "oracular novelist," arguing that his skepticism ov...

Cairo in 1910 25 Aug 2013 | 08:51 pm

The Qalawun Mosque in Cairo, built in the early 14th century These color photographs of Cairo from 1910 are truly amazing and have been circulating the Internet. You can see them all here. Beggars a...

Back to Basics 25 Aug 2013 | 01:27 pm

Our latest translation courtesy of the team at Industry Arabic is a column from former National Salvation Front spokesman Khaled Dawoud (he quit over his inability to continue dismissing the Rabaa mas...