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Russian lawmakers are encouraging National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden to accept asylum in Venezuela after an offer by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Speaking to a military parade on Friday, Maduro contrasted his asylum offer to Edward Snowden with the…

By Eric Walberg* The removal of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, by the army threatens to open a Pandora’s box. Al-Qaeda’s post-Bin Laden leader, (Egyptian) Ayman Zawahiri, has always been focused on combating local regimes and Arab rulers,…

By Ismail Serageldin* Egypt is once more doing things its own unique way. After millions of people went into the streets and in 18 days that shook the world succeeded in toppling the regime of Hosny Mubarak after 30 years…

Freedom and democracy. How I have come to loathe this phrase. Two-lofty-words-and-a-conjunction bandied around by handmaidens of Empire: verbal grenades that can gut entire nations. When I hear “freedom and democracy” I instinctively look for cover – just as “Allahu…

More than 160 years ago, the greatest abolitionist in U.S. history, the escaped slave Frederick Douglass, addressed the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. Douglass asked those gathered, “What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?” His words bear repeating…

Success in free elections held after the “Arab Spring” protests in Tunisia and Egypt has brought Islamists to power through democratic means, and Islamist influence is on the rise throughout the Arab world. Much of the debate about liberal democracy’s…

[divide] http://www.democracynow.org/2013/7/4/nsa_leaker_edward_snowden_in_his We begin today’s special on whistleblowers with Edward Snowden, who came forward in June as the man who leaked details about the National Security Agency secret programs to spy on Americans, foreign governments and individuals around the world.…

Over 100,000 demonstrators filed along the streets of Hong Kong 1 July this year in the annual protest march that is on every activist’s agenda in this vibrant city. The march marks the handover of the British colony to Beijing…

Follow Democracy Now! Live Updates “The head of Egypt’s armed forces has announced the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi and the suspension of the constitution. Backers of Morsi have described the move as a “military coup.” For minute-by-minute coverage of…

U.S. government prosecutors have begun wrapping up their case against Army whistleblower Bradley Manning as his court-martial entered its fifth week at Fort Meade, Maryland. On Monday, prosecutors sought to firm up claims Manning “aided the enemy” by knowingly and…