The Week of February 4, 2026

Chokri Belaid, head of the Democratic Patriots' Movement Party, speaking at a rally. Photo credit to Amine Ghrabi.

Care:

1. Tunisian Opposition Leader Assassinated

The small country of Tunisia is where the Arab Spring started, yet it has stayed out
of the Western media’s attention as the rest of the Arab world followed its lead. But,
with the assassination of the main opposition leader, Chokri Belaid, on Wednesday on Wednesday, Tunisia found itself back in the spotlight again. Many have begun pointing fingers at the Salafists for the assassination; not only were they against the secularist Belaid but they also have been at the root of disruption in Tunisia after the fall of Ben Ali.

Belaid was the leader of the secular movement in Tunisia and had been very
critical of the ruling Ennahda Party and Prime Minister Hamadi Jabali. The Ennahda
Party has a more traditional and Islamic view on politics, and was accused by Belaid of
giving a green light to political violence. The country quickly erupted in protest after the killing; with the opposition calling for the current government to step down and for new elections to occur. Instead, Prime Minister Jabali attempted to form a unity government of technocrats until elections in June, but was rejected by his own party members who were loath to concede their electoral victory.

Tunisia is not the only place where opposition leaders in Arab spring countries are feeling the
heat. In Egypt, clerics supporting President Morsi called for the death to all the
opposition leaders against him, in particular former UN diplomat Mohammad El Baradei.
Time will only tell how these newly formed democracies handle having many
different political factions compared to one party rule.

2. Drone Memo from Dept. of Justice Leaked

On Monday, NBC News released a leaked Justice Department memo that reinforces the legality of America’s controversial drone program. The leaked document justifies the killing of suspected Al Qaeda operatives—US citizens included. This comes two months after the Washington Post published a detailed series of articles revealing the President’s “disposition matrix,” a working list of terrorism suspects that officials are working to track and kill. Because the United States is engaged in a war against Al Qaeda, its suspected operatives can be treated as belligerents. In short, there is no expectation of due process when it comes to terrorism, even if it concerns American citizens. The memo is based on fairly predictable grounds, that those working with Al Qaeda on plans to directly harm the United States are to be treated as enemy combatants, much as they would if they fought against the US in a uniformed military.

Responding to Congressional outcry, President Obama approved the official release of the memo to Congress on Wednesday. This is just one day before the Senate confirmation of John O. Brennen as the new CIA director. On Thursday, Brennan faced a tough hearing addressing the militarization of the CIA, the CIA’s mission and its controversial interrogation techniques.  The hearing, which was interrupted by rowdy protesters, also focused on Brennan’s association with the drone program. While his appointment will likely be approved, senators looking forward called for increasing transparency and communication between the Justice Department and Congress.

3. British House of Commons Passes Gay Marriage

Earlier this week, MPs in the United Kingdom voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new bill which proposes to legalize gay marriage. The final tally was 400 for and 175 against. Tories (the ruling conservative party in the UK) were split fairly evenly between in favor and opposed, with 127 voting for and 136 against, while 40 abstained from voting. On the left, support was widespread, with only 22 Labour MPs voting in opposition. Unlike many votes in Parliament, this proposal was a free vote, so MPs were encouraged to vote according to their conscience, and not just along party lines. This vote clearly demonstrates the erosion of Prime Minister David Cameron’s control over his party, with a majority of Tories voting against a measure he pushed for.

Up for re-election in 2015, Cameron has been attempting to consolidate his base of support, on both the left and right. He has threatened withdrawal from the EU for his right-leaning supporters in addition to currying favor with liberals by advocating social reforms like an equal marriage bill. If Cameron fails to tow the line in this delicate balancing act, he could lose support from both sides. The passage of this law would make the UK the 9th country in Europe (12th in the world) to have marriage equality. On the Continent, a similar debate rages in France, where both sides have rallied recently over this issue. Support for reform in France, however, is lower than it is in the UK. In parliament, conservative MPs have proposed over 5,300 amendments to the bill, like providing the same freedoms for incestuous and polygamous marriages, most of which are specifically designed for filibustering purposes.

4. US Postal Service Ceases Mail on Saturday

In a blow to everybody from Congress to Amazon, the United States Postal Service decided on Wednesday that it would no longer be delivering mail on Saturday. Although this resolves the long dispute over what exactly constitutes a “business day”, this move will also help keep the USPS financially stable. Long criticized for both their irrelevance in a digital world and their supposedly inefficient practices, the postal service actually runs a tight ship, especially by government standards. It doesn’t receive money from Washington, but still requires Congressional approval on any substantive changes. This has proven challenging for the USPS, who has overly stringent regulations placed on them by a potentially politically motivated Congress. Some of these demands include pre-funding their pension fund for the next 75 years, a mandate not required by any other public or private body in America. This amounts to a required annual payment of $5.5 billion for health benefits for employees that may not even be hired yet. While the postal service has now defaulted twice on these deposits, the government has provided insignificant aid. To many, the position of the USPS highlights the problem of government trying to run a business.

The reduction in service is part of the USPS’s plan to become self-reliant, but this scheme also involves broad layoffs. This is troubling for a number of reasons, but the decision hits African-American populations the hardest, especially in cities. Long an ardent employer of minorities, African-Americans make up 20 percent of postal service workers, and almost 80 percent of mail carriers in Chicago are black. The true effect of the USPS’s new policy is yet unknown. Some say it represents necessary shrinkage to the bloated government apparatus, but it will be one of many spending cuts to prove dire for public service employees in the United States.

5. Iranian Leader Visits Egypt, Contends with Religious Divide

President Ahmadinejad of Iran was in Egypt this week to attend a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Far from being an ordinary summit trip, this was the first time in three decades that an Iranian leader had visited the country. Relations between the two states broke down after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and have only recently begun to improve since the election of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. The Muslim Brotherhood affiliated Morsi visited Iran in August to begin the process of reconciliation. During this week’s visit, however, Ahmadinejad had a difficult trip. He was confronted several times about the sectarian divide between Shia and Sunni Muslims, despite his hope of presenting Islamic unity. He also had a shoe thrown at him, reportedly by a Syrian upset with his continued support for the embattled Assad regime.

Iranian leaders presumably hope to use the meeting as a way to expand their influence in the region. Currently they are opposed regionally by Sunni gulf states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who are supporting the rebels in Syria. Although Egypt is majority Sunni, it does not have a sizable Shia population and the revolution has ended the state's political dedication to secularism, so friendly relations are possible between the two states. Ahmadinejad must have hoped that the trip had gone better, but it signals that Iran's political isolation in the region might be easing. This Thursday, Ahmadinejad announced that his ally Assad should negotiate with the Syrian rebels, a move which may appease his Arab detractors, but which will be seen as purely diplomatic if Iran continues its material support of the regime. Ahmadinejad himself only has months left in his presidency, so his successor may be in a much better position to reach out to Iran's Arab neighbors.

Don’t Care:
 

0. Debt will be Stabilized, says Congressional Budget Office

A recent update released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that the US will stabilize the debt-to-GDP ratio over the next ten years with a series of slightly smaller (but still bulky) deficits. This ratio is one of the traditional macroeconomic indicators of a healthy economy and has been a major part of the national debate on economic policy. The ongoing conversation on the debt ceiling has provided a forum in which many legislators have indicated their profound concerns about US debt levels. To most, stabilizing the debt at approximately 100% of GDP doesn’t seem like an accomplishment.

The implications of this report and others are regularly contested. For one, some economists have argued that concerns over the debt are exaggerated. A common analogy is drawn between debt today and significantly larger debt post-WWII—the debt the US incurred during the war didn’t lead to the kind of crisis that many predict with our current debt, and in fact the postwar generation enjoyed one of the most economically prosperous times in US history. This perspective is disputed, but it calls into question the “common sense” idea that debt is a problem. Perhaps a more relevant concern is the deficit. The post World War II period was prosperous because the budget was balanced in spite of the large debt; interest payments were low, debt-to-GDP ratio shrank, and deficits didn’t crowd out private investment. A second reason why the CBO report is not all that important is because the projected growth in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid remains unsolved. CBO projections estimate that by 2022, these three programs will increase to over 12% of the GDP, translating to 55% of overall federal spending. Without building in more efficient ways to deal with these programs, a ten-year stabilized deficit will do nothing to mitigate the long-term problems associated with the currently expanding costs of government.