Alexandria-Had a very long day getting to Alexandria yesterday. Flying from Queens to Cairo on no sleep wasn’t so hot but then getting in a cramped microbus from Cairo to Alexandria did it. Then walking and haggling with taxis all…
Month: February 2011
To Shores of Benghazi
New York- Off to Libya tomorrow evening via Cairo and Alexandria. Can’t stop, won’t stop. My colleague at Jamestown, Andrew McGregor appeared on PBS Newshour with Jim Lehrer discussing the possible military strengths and weakness of Libya’s opposing forces.
Libyan-Egyptian Border ‘Open’
New York- An NBC News reporter is somehow texting (though he says there’s no cell service?) from the port city of Tobruk where an editor in London is posting the texts on Twitter. The border between Egypt’s Western desert and…
How China Views ‘Revolutions’
New York- I’m zipping through a book I borrowed from the shelves at the Jamestown Foundation by Zbigniew Brzezinski called Second Chance the other week which I’ve been reading to pass the time on various train trips. The book was…
Bahrain-The Pearl Revolution?
New York- The sustained uprising in the tiny Gulf Sheikhdom of Bahrain this week is very interesting to me for two reasons: the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia and the unrest unfolding in Yemen have been against stale autocracies, not…
The Rise of Twitter Can Lead to the Demise of a Career
New York- When I woke up this morning, as per usual, I scan the Google News headlines on my Blackberry to see what’s going on, or in the case of the Middle East and South Asia considerate of time zone…
To Catch an Unattainable Tatar
New York- So the Lotus revolution has come and gone (sort of ) and the story has moved on to the more mundane and TWD has to comment on more important matters, namely the new cover model of the Sports…
Suicide Bombing at Kabul Mall-Does Anyone Even Care?
New York- There was an under reported suicide attack at the entrance of the Kabul City Centre/Safi Landmark Hotel today where the attacker detonated at the semi-secure entrance killing himself and two guards. I used to frequent this mall complex…
A Spy, a Store, and a Revolution
New York- I have a new story out in today’s Asia Times Online about an alleged Chinese spy who was detained and deported from India in what seems to be a very curious case that has received no attention in…