Egypt is preparing for a day of protests. Opponents and supporters of President Morsi are trying to demonstrate their views of President Morsi a year to the day after his election. The opponents of President Morsi call their movement “Tamarod” which is the Arabic word for rebellion, and they claim to have petitions calling for Morsi’s resignation signed by 22 million Egyptians. There has been a great deal of violence leading up to the protests, and Sunday promises to be a very difficult day for Egypt.
Der Spiegel is reporting that the US National Security Agency bugged the offices of the European Union. There is not much detail in the report, but is goes without saying that the public airing of these activities is highly embarrassing and damaging to the United States. The Germans, in particular, are quite sensitive to the issue of government surveillance given their histories under fascist and communist rule. THe internaitonal backlash against the US policies will certainly complicate any steps that the US may wish to take to prosecute Snowden.
I’ve noted in previous posts the dangerous new virus–called the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)–that has emerged with Saudi Arabia as its focal point. The death toll from the virus so far is quite small, although the death rate is exceedingly high. The situation has become quite acute as Saudi Arabia will host more than 6 million visitors for the annual Hajj. In effect, Saudi Arabia will serve as an incubator for one of the more lethal viruses to ever emerge. We can only hope that MERS does not prove to be highly contagious.
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