On Thursday, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Al-Monitor hosted a discussion titled “Egyptian Elections, Round One.”  The event featured Michael Wahid Hanna, a fellow at the Century Foundation; Samer Shehata, a professor of comparative and Middle East politics and U.S. policy toward the Middle East at Georgetown University; and Marina Ottaway, a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Barbara Slavin, Washington correspondent for Al-Monitor, moderated ...

The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Mahdi Akef, released a statement charging Gamal Mubarak, the son of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, with leading the Policies Committe of the Egyptian parliament into "all forms of corruption." The MB initially had not contested Gamal's entry into politics, but now fear that he will be handed the presidency without a vote. On Sunday, Al-Masry al-Youm published an editorial from Ali El Sayed discussing a recent informal ...

Jayshree Bajoria at the Council on Foreign Relations analyzes the new leadership in Pakistani government that has intimated that "Washington will have to broaden its regular contacts within Pakistan beyond President Pervez Musharraf." The report notes that the U.S. concern over militant groups in Pakistan has driven its decisions and suggests that up to now "U.S. policy toward Pakistan has hinged on supporting Musharraf." Leading presidential candidates have called for ...