When Iran proposed a few weeks back that a meeting with world powers to discuss its nuclear programme should take place in Baghdad, US and British diplomats were not exactly thrilled by the idea.
Supporters of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi at an election rally. John Moore/Getty Images
On Wednesday and Thursday, Egyptians will go to the polls to vote in the first democratic presidential election in their country’s history.
Coming some 15 months after the ousting of Hosni Mubarak, the vote is a pivotal step for Egypt; a moment that the demonstrators in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir square could only have dreamed of when they first called for the overthrow of Mubarak in early 2011.
The result remains impossible to predict. There are twelve candidates, of whom five are considered the main contenders, but polls vary wildly as to their chances, and many voters are undecided. Unless one candidate gets more than 50% of the vote – which seems unlikely – a second round between the top two candidates will be held on June 16 and 17. Meanwhile the actual role and powers of the President have yet to be spelled out. Here’s your background reading:
Austerity backlash in Europe and UN monitors in Syria
As the Dutch government falls, a socialist wins the first round of the French presidential election, and the UK slides back into recession, Brussels bureau chief Peter Spiegel and Europe editor Ben Hall discuss the backlash against Europe’s austerity politics.
Michael Peel reports from Syria on the progress of UN monitors in the country, and diplomatic editor James Blitz looks at how the West’s intervention could be made more effective.
What should we make of those leaked e-mails from the Assads? Writing about them in today’s paper, Roula Khalaf, suggests that they are an example of the “banality of evil”. That was the same phrase that struck me, reading about Bashar’s request for a copy of the latest Harry Potter film and I-tunes purchases (“Right Said Fred”?); or pf Asma’s suggestions that a friend take advantage of the Harrods sale. Could these be the same people who are presiding over the brutal and deadly repression of an insurgency? Apparently so.
By Gideon Rachman
“No one can here understand how the international community can let this happen.” So said Marie Colvin, in an interview given from Homs, just a day before she herself was killed by a Syrian bombardment.
Outside reaction to the crises in Syria and Iran
Gideon Rachman is joined by FT diplomatic editor James Blitz, commodities editor Javier Blas and US diplomatic correspondent Geoff Dyer to discuss the outside world’s reaction to the crises in Syria and Iran.
Marie Colvin spent much of her career as a journalist telling the stories of ordinary people whose lives had been devastated by war. But her death in Homs today, may actually do more to bring home the horrors of the Syrian conflict to a western audience, than the thousands of reports that have been filed on the suffering of ordinary Syrian civilians.
The heroic war correspondent is a staple character in western films – and somebody that western audiences easily identify with. Colvin, who was killed alongside Remi Ochlik, an award-winning French photographer, certainly fitted the mould. She had bravely covered conflicts all over the globe.
By Shawn Donnan, FT World News Editor
Anthony Shadid (C) as he interviews residents of Cairo's impoverished Imbaba neighborhood, during the Egyptian revolution. AFP PHOTO/ED OU FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
The Middle East and its conflicts have generated plenty of great works of journalism. However, the reporting produced by Anthony Shadid, the New York Times correspondent who died on assignment in Syria on Thursday, was exceptional.
While many others have found a calling in grand analysis of the region’s geopolitics, his was in the often heartwrenching stories of its people.
For more than a decade, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner gave the Middle East’s citizens a compelling voice in a western media often more prone to stereotype and cliché.
The Russians and the Chinese are getting a frightful ear-bashing over their decision to veto the UN resolution on Syria. My colleague, Philip Stephens, puts the case against the Russians eloquently today. But, if you listen to what western governments are saying about Syria, their position is a lot more equivocal than you might imagine. There is no love lost for Bashar al-Assad – and there is genuine horror at the bloodshed. But, equally, there is deep foreboding about what might follow the current regime.
By Gideon Rachman
A banner at the protests in Moscow on Saturday carried a stark message: “Mubarak, Gaddafi, Putin”. Mingling with the crowds, it was clear that what began in December as protests against rigged elections has become much more personal. The diverse group of liberals, nationalists and communists that tramped through the frozen streets is united by its loathing for Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister and would-be president.
| About this blog | About Gideon | Blog guide |
FT latest world news
For views and opinions on the European Union from Peter Spiegel, Joshua Chaffin, Alex Barker and Stanley Pignal, follow the FT's Brussels blog here.
The FT's Global Insight column
Older entries