Chemical Weapons, the Insanity of Eastern Ghouta and Eyes on the Assads
If the victimization of Syrian citizens are, in fact, the heinous act of the government, what we're looking at is profound and despicable blasphemy.
Continue Reading
Where Things are Pointed in Egypt (and Have Been Since the Coup)
To the extent photographs can foreshadow, these series of hands -- displayed as symbol of the martyr, as evidential stain, and as steadfast defiance -- constitute a deadly arc.
Continue Reading
The Machine and the Martyrs: The Quintessential Photo from the Maniacal Crackdown in Cairo Last Week
Though the week was filled with horrific and telling imagery, no photo struck me more than this.
Continue Reading
David Degner in Cairo: Putting Names and Faces to Morsi Supporters for a Change
Photographer David Degner has been living and working in Cairo for several years and covering the Arab Spring and its turbulent trajectory there and also in Libya and Syria. After the Egyptian army and police stormed the Muslim Brotherhood’s encampments protesting the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, David made...
Continue Reading
Those Egypt Military Propaganda Videos: The Look of Blowback?
After the latest large-scale killing of Islamist demonstrators in Cairo, it's hard not to think that the military's surveillance technology and the characteristic features of that video imagery, is minimizing its propaganda value, particularly with an international audience.
Continue ReadingOn That Viral Shot of the Syrian Refugee Camp in Jordan
Politicians come and go whereas images of the cost are more indelible.
Continue ReadingThe Shooting Death of Ahmed Samir Assem
Was there was ever a stronger scene screaming out for an international response to the endangerment of journalists?
Continue ReadingEgyptian Military vs Muslim Brotherhood: At the Battle of YouTube
It's not only (perversely) interesting how social media is evolving as an extension of the battleground but how everyday web metrics become a defacto measurement of who's up and who's down in the contest for hearts and minds.
Continue ReadingThat Giant Laser Messaging in Tahrir Square: It's Not a Coup
What I find interesting is how defensive this phrase is.
Continue ReadingDavid Degner in Cairo: Scenes from the Toppling of a Government (Once Again)
Cairo photographer David Degner provides key scenes and details preceding the removal of President Morsi from power by the military.
Continue Reading
Alexandria Sunset: A Metaphor
What's so fascinating about this Egyptian sunset that's gone viral over the past few days is how much the heavy-handed construction of reality mirrors the radical re-engineering that has just taken place in Egypt.
Continue Reading
You Too Can Become an Insta-War Photographer in Syria – GRAPHIC
This piece glorifies the "Bevis and Butthead" idea that any couple of fools can have a harrowing experience like this and live to (sell it to VICE and) tell the world about it.
Continue Reading
On that Powerful "Condolence for Boston" Photo Tweeted from Syria Today
I was going to call it a "double message" -- which it is, but to do so would detract from the very earnest and heartfelt quality to this.
Continue Reading
I Feel it Would be Wrong Not to Stop and Take Note of this Photo from Aleppo
Yesterday's scene from that Aleppo canal.
Continue Reading
The Aleppo University Bombing and the Banality of Good
A well functioning civil society is one in which you don’t have to worry about civil war. The university represented the last space where that was possible, and now that has been lost as well.
Continue Reading
That TIME Morsi Cover, Dictator-Size
Although the backstory by the editor-at-large ascribed all kinds of political mystique and geopolitical weight to Egypt's new president, TIME's choice to feature him on the cover in a super-closeup looks mighty awkward a couple weeks later.
Continue Reading
What’s in a Picture? — #IslamicRage Meets #OccupyWallStreet
So many people have emailed me this photo, I wanted to hear your thoughts about it. Here’s the caption: Egyptian protesters wearing Guy Fawkes masks pose for a photo graffiti on a wall of the U.S. embassy during a protest in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012. Egyptian protesters, largely...
Continue Reading