Latest Work

In Syria, the sectarian atrocities will commence shortly

Atrocities are tactical, deployed to shore up loyalty. Moments like this are when they are used

The Egyptian Angel of Darkness passes away

For the US, Omar Suleiman was ‘our man in Cairo.’ That only makes it worse

On the Egypt revolution and America’s War of 1812

A bad week in Egypt, but profound political change can take a very long time


Actually, in Egypt now it is Chirac vs Le Pen

Large parts of the political spectrum have no representation at all in the second round

In Egypt right now, it is practically Bush vs Gore

A Mohamed Morsy and Ahmed Shafiq runoff would crush those who believed in the revolution

On Egypt’s first (sort of) free and fair presidential election

For the first time ever in Egypt, no one knows in advance who will win the presidency


What will France do about the Far Right?

Ignore Marine Le Pen. The French were just fed up with Sarkozy, not mainstream right policies

Does this man look like a French President?

François Hollande seems inadequate to the challenge ahead but Sarkozy proved an unserious President

Photographing Cusco and the Sacred Valley in Peru

From Machu Picchu to the salt ponds of Salineras and the procession of the Virgen del Rosario


The new Le Monde d’Hermès looks at Inca stonemasonry

The Inca were an exceptionally advanced civilization yet, technologically, still in the Bronze Age

One hundred million acts of vanity

For #kony2012, Joseph Kony is just a MacGuffin; the real action is about us

The hidden sword behind the US-Egypt NGO debacle

The NGOs were operating illegally. The Egyptian regime likes it that way


One year on in Egypt: Art, Politics and Power

The Egyptian revolution happened in the middle of my Egypt novel and I didn’t know what to do about it

When Memphis cared

When Martin Luther King was killed, John T. Fisher showed that not only blacks in Memphis cared

Why Mubarak should not be hanged

The old man’s secrets about his odious regime are worth more to Egypt than vengeance


The official end of the Iraq debacle

A bad idea, but it will incubate like a latent virus in right-wing circles and return one day

What is going on with the Arab League?

They actually did something. Sanctions on Syria won’t work, but it’s a miracle all the same

The truth revealed, at last, in Tahrir Square

The military was always an obstacle to democracy. Now everyone can see that


Seif al-Islam captured in the Sahara

Last of the Gaddafi clan was found in the Libyan desert near Ubari, which I visited in 2004

The UN calls out the Iranian nuclear program

But what if Iran is just bluffing? Saddam did that and it worked for years

Tunisia votes, Islamists win

This is good news, actually


Saudi women given the right to vote, at last

Too bad that no one’s vote counts much in Saudi, so it’s mostly symbolic

Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh is back

As promised. That’s bad news. Now what happens?

The Yemeni government kills its children

After months of peaceful protests, the Yemeni government heads down the path of Libya and Syria