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the money is locked up for three years.

launch the complicated process of unfreezing the assets were “insufficient”.

in a post-9/11 world, any non-state actor caught throwing a stone, be it the first stone or the thousandth, risks total warfare under the guise of counterinsurgency

Mass, sustained civil disobedience at the corporate headquarters of insurance 'providers' and banks and petrol companies remains a long way off. Instead, Koch-funded campaigns continue to succeed at electing Republican governors who then refuse federal money to build high-speed rail networks . (See Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, and more to come. Special shoutout to New Jersey.) When Americans begin to thirst for health care, re-pedestrianised cities, and the return of usury laws with the same fervor that Egyptians have shown in clamouring for democracy and the rule of law, only then will we know the revolution is here.

The coming constitutional showdown between human law and divine law in the revolutionary Arab states may turn on the question of gay rights and sexual freedom generally

The U.S. does not currently have a country-based sanctions program for Egypt. Therefore, in order to freeze Mubarak’s assets by placing him on the SDN List, OFAC would have to designate him under one of the subject matter areas. Specifically, OFAC would have to designate Mubarak as a terrorist, narcotics trafficker, diamond trader or a proliferater of weapons of mass destruction, which seems extremely unlikely.

The Swiss are sending advisors to help the countries formulate their requests. 

Concretely, Egypt and Tunisia must provide Switzerland with examples of abuses of power or the theft of public funds and subsequent deposits into Swiss accounts. Bank account numbers and credit card details should also be shared. 

“an impenetrable wall of bureaucracy” for these countries, according to Hasni Abidi, director of the Geneva-based Study and Research Center for the Arab and Mediterranean World.