Reuters Islamic State's Egypt wing claims deadliest attacks in months: official Twitter Islamic State's Egypt wing claimed a series of attacks that killed at least 27 security personnel on Thursday in some of the worst anti-government violence in months, after commemorations around the anniversary of the 2011 uprising turned deadly in the past week. A series of tweets from the Sinai Province's Twitter account claimed responsibility for each of the four attacks that took place in North Sinai and Suez provinces within hours of one another on Thursday night. Thursday's first attack was a bombing targeting a military headquarters, base and hotel in the capital of North Sinai province that killed 25 and wounded at least 58, including nine civilians, security and medical sources said. The military said in a statement on its Facebook page that the attacks were the result of a successful campaign to pressure the militants. Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/30/us-egypt-violence-sinai-idUSKBN0L22J920150130 Voice of America Egyptian Prosperity, Not Protests, Could Define Sissi Rule A crackdown on protests in Egypt is not expected to provoke widespread unrest that threatens President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi's rule, as most Egyptians crave an end to years of political turmoil that have hammered their hopes of prosperity. More than 25 people were killed at the weekend when security forces quelled protesters angered by what many perceive as a police state and a disregard for free speech and human rights, as well as the government's crushing of the Muslim Brotherhood. But the unrest is unlikely to escalate dramatically as most Egyptians back Sissi's efforts to stabilize a nation roiled by upheaval since the toppling of Hosni Mubarak in 2011, say diplomats and analysts. Sissi's long-term political survival may hinge instead on his efforts to stimulate the economy and create jobs in the Arab world's most populous country, where the unemployment rate has climbed from 8.9 percent to 13 percent since Mubarak's rule. But the tactics used to put down the protests on the anniversary of the 2011 uprising on Sunday - with witnesses saying police opened fire with birdshot and live rounds - reminded some Egyptians of the decades of Mubarak's iron-fisted rule. Read more: http://www.voanews.com/content/reu-egyptian-prosperty-not-protests-could-define-sissi-rule/2618444.html The Washington Post Brotherhood activism and regime consolidation in Egypt The Egyptian military's July 3, 2013 deposition of President Mohamed Morsi triggered a wave of Muslim Brotherhood mobilization, and in these spaces a multifaceted internal debate over the future of Islamist activism has sprung up. However, the Brotherhood's subsequent strategy of street protest also intertwines with larger processes of regime formation and consolidation that are currently underway in Egypt. Ironically, both the regime and the Brotherhood seem to judge the protests useful to help resolve issues that stretch beyond the specific regime-Brotherhood confrontation. On the one hand, the Brotherhood's tight focus on protests demanding the reinstatement of Morsi helps the group maintain unity and forestall difficult internal debates. On the other, the regime exploits the Brotherhood's street mobilization and civil society activism to justify a series of more and less violent interventions in Egyptian life. In practice, these efforts are serving to embed a more invasive police state than the one the Arab Spring protests so recently displaced. Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/01/29/brotherhood-activism-and-regime-consolidation-in-egypt/ Foreign Policy Egypt's War on Charity For more than 100 years, El Gameya El Shareya has worked to compensate for the government's failure to supply the needs of Egypt's poorest citizens. At its peak, it had over 1,000 branches, operated 30 medical centers, and provided for 450,000 fatherless children, according to its Facebook page. The organization played an especially crucial role in villages like Abou Rawash, where state social services are sorely lacking — a problem aggravated by the political turmoil of post-Mubarak Egypt. El Gameya El Shareya works alongside two other major charities, Resala and Sonaa Hayat, and between the three of them, they cover nearly every village in rural Egypt as well as the slums of Cairo and Alexandria. El Gameya El Shareya and Sonaa Hayat were both founded by well-known religious leaders, and the organizations' dedication to the poor is rooted in their Islamic character — Egypt's version of the "faith-based" community organizations common in the United States. But in the wake of the 2013 uprising that deposed Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohammed Morsi and returned Egypt to secular authoritarian rule, such organizations have been caught up in an anti-Islamic backlash. Though the government is unable to take care of its poor itself, it is deeply suspicious of organizations that try to fill in the gaps, particularly those that have an Islamic character. Egypt's leaders have long memories: they know only too well that the Muslim Brotherhood built a massive network of supporters through its anti-poverty work during the long years of the Mubarak regime. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is eager to ensure such activity is no longer possible. "Some political organizations have made use of poverty for political gains," Egyptian Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Waly said in a recent televised statement. "We are trying to make sure that this doesn't happen in the future." Read more: https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/29/egypts-war-on-charity-morsi-muslim-brotherhood/
