Struggling to Make Sense of Syria and Egypt

A man prepares the bodies of those killed in last Wednesday's attack east of Damascus, Syria. [Credit: NY Daily News]

A man pre­pares the bod­ies of those killed in last Wednes­day’s attack east of Dam­as­cus, Syr­ia. [Cred­it: NY Dai­ly News]

Sarin vic­tims often first feel its tox­ic effects in their eyes.  They water and ache. Vision is blurred. Pupils con­tract to a pin­point. The nox­ious gas also affects the lungs, with chest tight­ness, cough and rapid breath­ing among the com­mon symp­toms. Then there are the car­dio­vas­cu­lar effects. The heart may race or sud­den­ly slow down. Blood pres­sure can spike or pre­cip­i­tous­ly drop. Nau­sea, vom­it­ing and abdom­i­nal pain are among its gas­troin­testi­nal con­se­quences. Its effects on the cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem include con­fu­sion, drowsi­ness and headache. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Egypt: It’s Not About Democracy

Protesters crowded Tahrir Square in Cairo earlier this month to call for their President's ouster.  The military obliged them. [Credit: Washington Times]

Pro­test­ers crowd­ed Tahrir Square in Cairo ear­li­er this month to call for their Pres­i­den­t’s ouster. The mil­i­tary oblig­ed them.  Is that the tri­umph of democ­ra­cy or just a mil­i­tary coup?  [Cred­it: Wash­ing­ton Times]

The Oba­ma pres­i­den­cy, now well into its fifth year, seems as flum­moxed by glob­al devel­op­ments as it did in its first. Egypt pro­vides the most recent exam­ple. Con­tin­ue read­ing →