10 Years After the Coup: The Lawlessness of Counterrevolution in Egypt

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has still not relinquished his emergency powers a decade after the unrest which he claims justified them. Today, the military remains in complete control of the Egyptian state. Sisi and his military supporters have brought the judiciary under political control and use it to punish any dissent as “terrorism.”

within two days, even at the path to the military unit, not at the [exact] place … and a separate door with ‘Ministry of Interior’ written on it or something like that.” A voice interrupts saying: “Guys—we just have to build a building!”

The voices are attributed to military generals, leaked conversations that seemed to take place in the months after the military coup of July 3, 2013. The recordings surfaced and aired on December 4, 2014. The voices were authenticated by JP French Associates, a speech and acoustics laboratory.

A decade after military coup, Egyptians continue to struggle with authoritarian rule

Despite strong popular discontent, the regime of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been sustained in power by the US and its regional allies such as the Gulf monarchies as it is willing to play a the role of a proxy in the region 

On Monday, July 3, the latest military takeover of power in Egypt completed 10 years. On that day in 2013, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the military commander and then defense minister, led the coup against President Mohammed Morsi. Since then, the al-Sisi regime has led Egypt with an iron fist with utter contempt towards the wider needs of the common people. 

Egyptians have tried to resist al-Sisi’s policies although the protests have not reached the scale of the 2011 uprising that ousted long-term authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak. In doing so, they have faced severe repression, with thousands of activists, journalists, and politicians jailed. 

Today, Egypt is an economic mess. About a third of the country’s total population of 105 million is living in poverty. Food inflation is high while wages have been stagnant for years, creating starvation-like conditions. Meanwhile, al-Sisi’s economic mismanagement has pushed Egypt to the brink of bankruptcy. 

The Egyptian economy has been kept alive by loans provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and crucial economic support from its imperialist and regional backers like Saudi Arabia and the UAE

The US has provided billions of dollars in aid, both military and otherwise, every year to the Egyptian military since 1979 to keep its peace with Israel. While this aid has come under heavy criticism due to Egypt’s poor human rights record, successive US administrations have continued it, almost always without any conditions. 

Hmong New Year traditions in the U.S. recall ancestral spirits while teaching new generations

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — For the annual fall renewal of her shaman spirit, Mee Vang Yang will soon ritually redecorate the tall altar in her living room where she keeps her father’s ring-shaped shaman bells.

She carried them across the Mekong River as the family fled the Communist takeover of her native Laos four decades ago. Today, they facilitate the connection to the spiritual world she needs to help fellow refugees and their American-raised children who seek restoration of lost spirits.

“Like going to church, you’re giving beyond yourself to a greater power,” said the mother of six through a translator in Hmong.

It’s the language spoken for the most important spiritual celebration in the Hmong calendar, the “Noj Peb Caug” — translated as “new year,” but literally meaning “eat 30,” since the ceremonies traditionally were tied to the fall’s post-harvest abundance shared with the clan and offered to spirits.

During new year, which is celebrated mostly in November and December among Hmong Americans, shamans send off their spirit guides to regenerate their energy for another season of healing. Male heads of households who embrace traditional animist practices perform soul-calling ceremonies, venerate ancestor spirits and invoke the protection of good spirits.

“A traditional Hmong home is not just a home, but also a place of worship,” said Tzianeng Vang, Vang Yang’s nephew, who came to Minnesota as a teen and grew up a Christian. He’s among the community leaders trying to divulge knowledge of these animist traditions so they won’t be lost for his children’s generation.

“You preserve it here or you have nowhere,” he said.

Persecuted as an ethnic minority in their ancestral lands in China, the Hmong fled first to the mountains of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. There, tens of thousands fought for the United States in the Vietnam War. When Communist regimes swept the region, they escaped to refugee camps in neighboring Thailand and, starting in the mid-1970s, resettled largely in California farm country and Minnesota’s capital city.

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Happy new year

long topic I picked up this part

happy to share

something useful

Over 10,000 civilians killed in Ukraine since start of Russian war: UN

18,500 injured since hostilities erupted in February 2022, says senior UN official

WASHINGTON

More than 10,000 civilians have been killed and 18,500 have been injured since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine in February 2022, a senior UN official said Tuesday, citing figures from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Hundreds of children are among the victims, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas Miroslav Jenca said while addressing a UN Security Council meeting on the maintenance of peace and security in Ukraine.

“The full toll of this war is likely to be much greater, as there is no sign of an end to the violence,” he said. “Instead, there are indications that attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure may escalate further during the upcoming coldest season.”

The impact for millions of Ukrainians will be “dire” ahead of the second wartime winter, according to Jenca.

“We are also concerned about the disregard of international law in the regions of Ukraine currently under Russian control,” he said, citing the “so-called” elections by Russian officials.

“Policies aimed at forcefully changing or imposing institutions and identities have far-reaching consequences and are unacceptable,” he said, calling on the international community to “sustain its focus” on Ukraine and end the suffering caused by the war.​​​​​​​

I can’t confirm it

while reading some news say thousands killed in the last few weeks

UN ‘deeply concerned’ over conflict in Myanmar

Secretary-General calls on all parties to adhere to international humanitarian law, do their utmost to protect civilians, says his spokesman

WASHINGTON

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “deeply concerned” over the expansion of the conflict in Myanmar, including in Rakhine State, his spokesman said Wednesday.

“He calls on all parties to adhere to international humanitarian law and do their utmost to protect civilians,” Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Dujarric said Guterres remains committed to working with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and regional and international partners to end the violence in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2669.

Stressing that over 2 million people were displaced in Myanmar, Dujarric said: “The Secretary-General reaffirms that civilians should be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law and those responsible for violations must be held accountable.”

Highlighting the need for unhindered access for the delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance to the region, Dujarric said the UN chief also reiterated his solidarity with the people of Myanmar.

A new conflict in Myanmar’s northern Shan State has expanded to the country’s northwest and southeast regions and Rakhine State since late October, leaving over 200,000 people displaced, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Middle East crisis: UN engages parties as Security Council meets

8 October 2023Peace and Security

As the 15-member Council prepared to meet, UN agencies were reporting that hundreds of people have been killed and thousands injured following the early Saturday morning rocket fire into Israel by Palestinian militants.

The ensuing Israeli response to the Hamas attacks included airstrikes in Gaza, where the UN agency operating there, UNRWA, had reported massive damages alongside rising death tolls.

The UN agency is currently sheltering 73,538 internally displaced people in 64 of its schools in all areas in the Gaza Strip. An UNRWA school sheltering 225 people was “directly hit” and severely damaged, but no casualties were recorded, the agency said.  

New reports emerged of alarming food scarcity and clashes across the Israel-Lebanon border.

Men walk through a heavily damaged area of central Gaza.

UN News/Ziad Taleb

Men walk through a heavily damaged area of central Gaza.

Israel-Lebanon border: Rocket, artillery fire

Early Sunday, the UN peacekeeping operation in Lebanon, UNIFIL, “detected several rockets fired from southeast Lebanon toward Israeli-occupied territory in the general area of Kafr Chouba and artillery fire from Israel to Lebanon in response”, according to the mission.

The UN Security Council-mandated mission, operating along an area known as the “Blue Line”, was deployed in 1978 to restore peace between Israel and Lebanon.

“We are in contact with authorities on both sides of the Blue Line, at all levels, to contain the situation and avoid a more serious escalation,” UNIFIL said in a statement. “Our peacekeepers remain in their positions and on task.”

UNIFIL said peacekeepers continued to work, “some from shelters, for their safety”.

“We urge everyone to exercise restraint and make use of UNIFIL’s liaison and coordination mechanisms to de-escalate to prevent a fast deterioration of the security situation,” the mission said.

In ‘close contact’ with key actors

At the same time, the UN chief of the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, “is in close contact” with the United States, European Union, Qatar, Egypt, and Lebanon “to discuss the ongoing war” in Israel and Gaza, according to a social media post by his office, UNSCO.

“Priority now is to avoid further loss of civilian life and deliver much needed humanitarian aid to the Strip,” the UNSCO post said, adding that the “UN remains actively engaged to advance these efforts”.

Calls to protect civilians

Top UN officials have called for an immediate cessation of violence.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday condemned “in the strongest terms” the attack by Hamas against Israeli towns, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said, urging “maximum restraint” and that “all diplomatic efforts” are made “to avoid a wider conflagration”.

“Civilians must be respected and protected in accordance with international humanitarian law at all times,” the UN chief said in a statement.

Rescue workers in southern Israel.

© Magen David Adom Israel

Rescue workers in southern Israel.

UN agency raises alarm over food scarcity

As the conflict intensifies, civilians, including vulnerable children and families, face mounting challenges in accessing essential food supplies, with distribution networks disrupted and production severely hampered by hostilities, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).

“WFP urges safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to affected areas, calling on all parties to uphold the principles of humanitarian law, taking every necessary measure to safeguard the lives and well-being of civilians, including ensuring access to food,”

Sourece

UN website

The European Union deviates from human rights and signs an anti-immigration agreement with Tunisia

In an effort to curb migrants, the European Union struck a deal with Tunisia , in a development that once again shows the European Community’s willingness to turn a blind eye to human rights and migrants’ abuses.

The New York Times says, in a report by its correspondent in Brussels, Monica Bronchak, that after the ship disaster in the Mediterranean, European officials provided money to Tunisia in order to prevent migrants from boarding the sea.

This is happening amid intense debate among European officials over migration and its prevention, including the ship disaster off Greek shores, last month. The agreement reached on Sunday stipulates that the Tunisian government is committed to tightening control at the maritime borders, pursuing migrant smuggling gangs, and accelerating the return of Tunisians living illegally in Europe.

The European Union presented a broad package to support the country’s ailing economy. And the Tunisian capital is only 130 miles from the Italian island of Sicily, which is closer to the smaller Italian islands. This does not make Tunisia the source of immigrants in the first place, but rather makes it a transit point for immigrants from sub-Saharan African countries wishing to reach Europe.

The EU agreement comes amid criticism from human rights organizations of Tunisia, and its treatment and violations of migrants from the Sahel and Sahara countries, including rounding up hundreds of them and leaving them at the desert border with Libya without water or food.

On Sunday, the European Union provided 105 million euros for the purchase of monitoring devices, boats and marches, as well as training and technical support for the Tunisian border guards. These funds will cover the cost of returning migrants who want to return voluntarily to their countries.

In June, more than 600 migrants died when a ship full of migrants sank off the coast of Greece. This great loss, and the failure of European officials to help the sinking ship, was the cause of intense debate about the role of the European Community in the crisis.

“The sinking of the ship, in which so many people lost their lives, is yet another call to action,” said European Commission President Ursla von der Leyen. “We want to go after smugglers and human traffickers,” she added.

Besides the 105 million euros to combat illegal immigration, European officials have pledged an additional 150 million euros to support Tunisia, but without providing details on how the money will be spent.

The European Community said that there is an offer on the table of 900 million euros in the form of mini-financial assistance, conditional on Tunisia’s approval of the reforms of the International Monetary Fund.

Europe has tightened immigration policies after the arrival of more than a million Syrians to Germany between 2015-2016, which led to the rise of the far right in Europe, which considered them a threat to culture on the continent.

The European Union, along with public opinion, has expressed tendencies to adopt tougher policies towards immigrants, which traditional parties in the past considered anti-European values.

With more than a million Ukrainian refugees arriving in the past 18 months, European politicians are trying to reduce the number of new arrivals. The agreement signed by von der Leyen, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, and Tunisian President Kais Saied will not take effect unless all heads of state of the European Union agree, which is expected to happen.

Said criticized the organizations that should provide support to immigrants, claiming that they were content with data, compared to the Tunisian people who gave immigrants everything they had, and showed generosity and generosity.

Italy is the first arrival station for migrants, and from there to the rest of European countries. The Netherlands is a preferred arrival point for immigrants.

The Rutte government collapsed last week over immigration policy. The Dutch and Italian leaders praised the deal, and Meloni considered it a “model” for other agreements with North African countries.

European officials hope that funding and control over politics will give them leverage to prevent abuses of migrants by Tunisians. But human rights organizations, experts and analysts criticized the agreement, and spoke about the risks of financing and rewarding foreign governments for stemming the waves of migrants.

Over the past years, the European Union has funded the coast guard in Libya to prevent migrants, although the guard’s record of violations of migrants is documented, and the European Union is repeating the same mistake with Tunisia, according to the newspaper.

Saeed led a campaign of hatred against immigrants from the Sahara countries, accusing them of trying to change the demographic character of the country, and he is accused of canceling the democratic gains that Tunisians achieved during the past decade.

“The deal shows once again that the EU is willing to deviate from values ​​in favor of short-term solutions to the migration problem,” says Camille Le Coz, co-director of the Institute for Migration Policy in Brussels. “What is missing is the reference to protection issues and human rights abuses.” against immigrants.