Egypt's Coptic Christians Face An Uncertain Future -- William Dalrymple, The Guardian
The army's violent suppression of a Christian protest in Cairo reflects the growing threat to Egypt's Coptic minority
Yesterday's violence in Cairo marks an ominous development in the story of Egypt's unfinished revolution. It is very bad news for several reasons. First, it demonstrates more starkly than ever the dubious role being played by the army. Eyewitness reports are clear that it was firing by the army, followed by the repeated crushing of unarmed demonstrators by an armoured car, that turned a peaceful demonstration for justice into a violent altercation that left 24 people dead. Twitter and Facebook networks are alive with conspiracy theorists speculating whether this is the army looking for excuses to delay the elections, or just clumsy crowd control by heavy-handed officers, but it marks a more direct face-off between army and demonstrators than we have seen for several months
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Commentaries, Opinions, And Editorials
Assad's Alawites: The guardians of the throne -- Nir Rosen, Al Jazeera
Enabling Mr. Assad -- New York Times editorial
Egypt’s delaying tactic -- Washington Post editorial
So what’s the goal of our being in Iraq again? -- Walter Pincus, Washington Post
What Putin wants from China -- Fred Weir, Christian Science Monitor
Burma Announces a Mass Prisoner Amnesty— Is Real Reform Next? -- Hannah Beech, Time
Who signed Anwar al-Awlaki’s death warrant? -- Richard Cohen, Washington Post
Debts, downturns and demonstrations. How much more can Greeks take? -- The Economist
Bond Insurance Could Contain the Debt Crisis -- Walther Otremba, Spiegel Online
China Facing Subprime Crisis? -- Mu Chunshan, The Diplomat