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Staff of Access - a global movement premised on the belief that political participation and the realization of human rights in the 21st century - is currently in Cairo ahead of next week's parliamentary elections. They will be posting updates from the ground on the Access blog and on twitter. Here's the report from its third day in Egypt:

CAIRO, Egypt -- Crowds surged in even greater numbers tonight ahead of mass demonstrations tomorrow. It's hoped that a million people will fill the streets, sending the unmistakable message that Egypt will not stand to be ruled by an unaccountable military.

In response, the government forces appeared even more aggressive tonight -- and the crowd even more powerful. Many are saying that this is the last stand of the military and now a civilian transition is required. What that looks like is not clear, but a consensus is certainly forming: The revolutionary youth, political representatives, and civil society must lead the way for this new structure to take shape.

“As an opposition MP, I am not the enemy of the government, I am a Singaporean and a patriot.” – Chen Show Mao, Workers’ Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC.

Whenever the word “patriot” is mentioned, more often than not it is followed by a vow – “I will die for my country” – the ultimate vindication of one’s loyalty or love for one’s homeland.

But patriotism is something less lofty to me. One does not have to declare it, actually, or make pledges or promises that one would lay down one’s life for the country, or anything of that sort.

From the Foreign Desk

Myanmar has been rewarded diplomatically for its recent loosening up, but the gains for democracy remain fragile.

If there is anything certain about the pseudo-democratic regime of Myanmar, which took over in March 2011 from the military junta following the skewed elections of 2010 that marked the final step in the junta’s so-called transition to civilian rule, it is that it has developed quite the capacity to surprise.

Few days ago, there was this news that the authorities have decided to allow HDB flat owners to keep mongrels and bigger dogs to solve the problem of strays in the streets. This problem of strays is not new. In the past a constituent had approached a minister on the problem of stray cats. Even the prime minister had been approached to help a girl adopt a dog.