From Protests in Cairo turn violent:
Female anti-government protester telling Al Jazeera that they cannot leave the square even if she wanted to - she is crying on air and sounds very scared and emotional. Telling Al Jazeera not to refer to the pro-government group as "demonstrators" because they are actually "violent thugs".
The thuggery scenario
A Western correspondent in Cairo told me that Mubarak goons targeted many reporters and that they also sexually harassed female protesters. Those goons and criminals are the linchpin of Obama's Middle East policy. When the book is written about what he did to save Mubarak, it should be titled: it is all for you, o Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
More of the latest news from Egypt:
Obama to Mubarak: License to Murder the Egyptian people
As soon as I saw the defiant tone and substance of Mubarak's speech, I realized that he is not speaking for himself but for the US/Israeli sponsors. Israel erred before the Arab people by exposing her intense panic and fear from the prospect of an Arab democracy next door. Of course, Obama would take note and he consulted with his key adviser on the Middle East, Netanyahu. I just read the speech by Obama: it confirmed my suspicion, that basically Mubarak was permitted by the US to do with the Egyptian people as he would like. Every drop of blood that is spilled in Egypt from this day onwards should be blamed on Obama because he has embraced this new strategy of letting Mubarak defy the popular will of the Egyptian people. I don't trust the Egyptian army: the top brass is hand picked by the US/Israel and can be easily bought off by a combination of bribes, gadgets, and perks. They could care less about the Egyptian people. This is part of the ruling group of this tyrant. The speech by Obama was a not-so-coded language that let Mubarak do what he wish: the talk about transition means that he was basically told to stay in power, because Israel really freaked out at the prospect of Egypt without Mubarak. How dare Obama talk about technology for the Egyptian youth when his speech did not utter one word about how Mubarak is silencing and restricting the technology of the youth of people. Make no mistake about it: this could be like the 1953 Operation Ajax in Iran. The US is now arranging for a coup against the will of the Egyptian people. It requires utmost vigilance and steadfastness and thus far those qualities have been abundant among the Egyptian people. This move by Obama towards Egypt can be described as criminal because it will lead to blood on the streets. I wonder if Obama during his talk with Mubarak discussed numbers like: just don't kill more than 50 or 60 a day, or something like that. His unprincipled cynicism reminds me of the conspiracies of the 1950s. I am so glad that I resisted all efforts by my liberal and leftist friends who were urging me to vote for this personification of the Bush Doctrine.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Bloodbath
When the pro-Mubarak protestors appeared on the streets yesterday they were a comical sight. The small crowd near the Egyptian TV building (so obviously a propaganda set-up) were surrounded and outnumbered by police. It was as if they were trying to remind Egyptians what a traditional demonstration should look like. It was a vision from a previous age, but not quite authentic because the police didn’t break any heads.
link to pulsemedia.org
Clashes break out in Tahrir Square
More than 100 injured as pro-Mubarak supporters attack protesters seeking president's ouster in Egyptian capital.
link to english.aljazeera.net
Anderson Cooper ‘punched in the head’ 10 times by pro-Mubarak thugs
CNN's Anderson Cooper said Wednesday that he and his crew were violently attacked by pro-Mubarak forces as they tried to make their way through the streets of Cairo. "Anderson Cooper punched 10 times in the head as pro-Mubarak mob surrounds him and his crew at Cairo rally," Maan News Agency's George Hale tweeted.
link to www.rawstory.com
Egypt army urges end to protests
Egypt's army calls for protesters to return to their homes and allow the country to return to normal after nine days of huge anti-government protests.
link to www.bbc.co.uk
Mubarak 'holed up' in Sharm el Sheikh ready to be airlifted out of Egypt
".... A worker walking home from the hotel said: “You are not safe here.Everyone says he is here and so they are watching for people taking photographs.“I think he is there because otherwise in Cairo he will be killed.“The crowds will not get him in Sharm because the roads all the way from Cairo are heavily guarded by roadblocks. “There are not enough people here to cause him harm, and too many police.” A tourist shuttle bus driver claimed to have seen Mubarak’s entourage arrive on Wednesday, and that his official plane was at Sharm-el-Sheikh airport but nobody at the airport would confirm if this was true. A number of military aircraft were visible from the perimeter fence, but the airport is frequently used by the armed forces for operations and for public airshows.
link to friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com
Politics pervade Cairo's streets
Egyptians air different views on their hopes for the future but all of them agree it is time for Mubarak to go.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2011/02/20112112719651683.html
Mubarak concessions 'insufficient'
Egypt protesters continue to demand president's immediate ouster, as US calls for urgent transition and reforms plan.
link to english.aljazeera.net
Egypt Protesters Deride Mubarak's Speech As Not Enough
CAIRO - President Hosni Mubarak defied a quarter-million protesters demanding he step down immediately, announcing Tuesday he would serve out the last months of his term and "die on Egyptian soil." He promised not to seek re-election, but that did not calm public fury as clashes erupted between his opponents and supporters.
link to www.huffingtonpost.com
Unmoved by Mubarak's speech, Egyptian protesters insist: 'He must leave.'
Responding to Egyptian President Mubarak's offer to not run for reelection in September, one protester in Cairo's Tahrir Square said: 'Thirty years of injustice is enough. We don’t need eight more months.'
link to rss.csmonitor.com .
Egyptian Activist's Rebuttal of Mubarak's Speech
link to thelede.blogs.nytimes.com
Egyptians vow to oust Mubarak
Hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million people gathered at the Tahrir Square on Tuesday, chanting insults to a leader they lived in fear of for much of the past 30 years. Tuesday attracted the largest and the most diverse crowd of a week of demonstrations, men and women, young and old, workers and unemployed, all camped in the heart of the city demanding the ouster of Husni Mubarak. Al Jazeera's Dan Nolan reports from Tahrir Square.
link to www.youtube.com
Army chief candidate for Egypt president
A member of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said Tuesday the armed forces chief of staff could be an acceptable successor to President Hosni Mubarak while a coalition of opposition groups said they would only begin talks with the military on a transition to democracy once the president stands down. Kamel al-Helbawy, a prominent overseas cleric from Egypt’s main opposition movement, told Reuters that armed forces chief of staff Sami Enan, who has good ties with Washington, was a liberal who could be seen as suitable by the coalition.
link to www.dailystar.com.lb
ElBaradei calls Mubarak move a trick to retain power
WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Long-time Egyptian diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei does not believe President Hosni Mubarak went far enough to meet the demands of protesters on Tuesday, calling his moves "a trick" to try to remain in power, CNN reported. CNN, which interviewed ElBaradei but did not immediately air his comments, said the former head of the U.N. arms control agency indicated he would consider running for president in Egyptian elections in September but added that was not currently his main focus. CNN said ElBaradei told an interviewer he preferred that Mubarak step down immediately and hand over power to a caretaker government until elections can be held.
link to www.trust.org
U.S. ambassador meets with Egypt pro-democracy leader ElBaradei
U.S. state department spokesman says the meet is part of U.S. outreach to convey support for an 'orderly transition in Egypt.'
link to www.haaretz.com
'Talks only after Mubarak leaves'
Opposition coalition says they will hold talks with military on transition only after president stands down.
link to english.aljazeera.net
Mubarak promise comes after private Obama message
* Special envoy for Obama urged transition in power
* Analysts question if Mubarak vow will satisfy clamor
* Influential U.S. lawmakers added to pressure on Mubarak (New throughout with more details)
link to www.trust.org
Copts say Egypt regime change trumps Islamist fears
* Mubarak has portrayed self as bulwark against Islamism
* Some Copts still worry Islamists could gain more power
link to www.trust.org
Obama: Change in Egypt ‘must begin now’
President Barack Obama called in a televised address Tuesday night for an "orderly transition" in Egypt to "begin now," signaling the administration's acceptance that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's days are numbered. The president's call for immediate change may have been a challenge to Mubarak, who announced in a speech several hours earlier that he would not seek another term in office, but would remain as president until the election in September.
link to www.rawstory.com
Josh Rogin, "Top House Appropriator: U.S. Aid to Egypt Not Stopping Any Time Soon"
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton walked that back on Jan. 30, telling ABC News, "There is no discussion as of this time about cutting off any aid. We always are looking and reviewing our aid." And on Monday, House Appropriations State and Foreign Ops subcommittee chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX) also indicated that aid to Egypt would not be cut off anytime soon. "While there are calls for eliminating Egypt's economic and military aid, I urge caution when deciding what the U.S. response will be," she said. "It is critical that we are deliberate about the actions we take. Egypt has been a moderate influence in the Middle East and has a peace agreement with Israel."
link to bit.ly
WikiLeaks: U.S. Concerned For Years Over Power Succession In Egypt After Mubarak
WASHINGTON The protests rocking Egypt could change the political landscape of the entire Arab world and beyond. Possible outcomes range all the way from pro-democracy forces taking charge in Cairo to in a worst case an all-out war bringing in Israel and Iran. In between, there could be a long period of instability that could breed economic chaos across the region and derail economic recoveries in the U.S. and Europe.
link to www.huffingtonpost.com
Turkish PM calls for Mubarak to stand down
Recep Erdoğan, the Turkish prime minister, has called on Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president, to listen to the calls for change from Egyptian people. Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught in Istanbul speaks about the Turkish PM's forceful remarks.
link to www.youtube.com
Egypt protests: Five world leaders jump into the fray
Concerned about ending up on the wrong side of history, world leaders have appeared hesitant to vocally support either the Egyptian government or the growing number of protesters in Cairo. Below are the reactions from five regional and world players to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, his government, and the protests.
link to rss.csmonitor.com
Mitt Romney calls for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down
Sounding more like a potential GOP presidential contender, Mitt Romney says Hosni Mubarak 'needs to move on.' WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney became, on Tuesday, the first of the potential 2012 GOP presidential contenders to call for the exit of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak.
link to feeds.latimes.com
Palestinians join Egyptians to defend properties
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) -- Palestinians in Egypt say they have been forced to join vigilante groups to protect their property as huge anti-government protests rage for an eighth day. "We, like everyone, are holding sticks and defending our homes here," said Marcell Lahham, a first year student in Cairo.
link to www.maannews.net
Thousands escape Egypt prisons
Egypt's anti-government uprising has also seen lawlessness and looting in several cities. As the police abandoned their posts, thousands of prisoners were set free across the country, in a series of mass jailbreaks. More in this report from the Abu Zaabal prison, on the outskirts of Cairo.
link to www.youtube.com
Egyptians feel the economic pinch of protest
CAIRO: There is no money at the banks. Fuel is scarce. Tourism is evaporating. As a popular uprising to oust President Hosni Mubarak enters its second week, Egyptians are feeling the economic pinch. Banks have been shut since Sunday, and they remained so Tuesday, the day that protesters hope will see a million-strong demonstration in Cairo to demand an end to Mubarak’s regime.
link to www.dailystar.com.lb
EGYPT: Cairo residents grapple with food shortages, security threats
CAIRO 02 February 2011 (IRIN) - It is 6.00am and Rida Mansur feels she is running late. The 57-year-old mother of five has to get to the vegetable market early to buy food for her family before things run out. But she was not lucky today: All she could get were a few expensive tomatoes and cucumbers.
link to www.irinnews.org
The Protests
A million Egyptians united against Mubarak
CAIRO (IPS) - Organizers called it Egypt's "million man march." Whether they achieved that targeted head count is unclear, but their message was unequivocal.
link to electronicintifada.net
Egypt: A New Spirit of National Pride
While Egyptians battle for their political future, social change is already sweeping the country.
link to www.youtube.com
Khalid Nasser supports the protesters in Egypt
The son of the former Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser joins the protesters in Tahrir Square.
link to www.youtube.com
Cairo protesters to march on the presidential palace
Anti-government protesters in Egypt say they will stage a march from the focus point of the recent demonstrations, Tahrir Square. They will head to the presidential palace, and some are even threatening to storm it. Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher reports.
link to www.youtube.com
Scenes from Tahrir Square
Video from the massive protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
link to www.youtube.com
Scenes from Tahrir Square, part 2
Another round of images from Tuesday's historic protest in Tahrir Square.
link to www.youtube.com
Millions rally to oust Mubarak
More than a million protesters flooded into central Cairo, turning Tahrir Square in the Egyptian capital, into a sea of humanity as massive protests against President Hosni Mubarak swept across Middle East's most populous nation. Packed shoulder to shoulder in and around the famed Tahrir Square, the mass of people on Tuesday held aloft posters denouncing the president, and chanted slogans "Go Mubarak Go" and "Leave! Leave! Leave!" Similar demonstrations calling on Mubarak to step down were also witnessed across other cities, including Sinai, Alexandria, Suez, Mansoura, Damnhour, Arish, Tanta and El-Mahalla el-Kubra. For the latest on Egypt go to: http://english.aljazeera.net
link to www.youtube.com
Alexandria protest attracts more than 100,000
Jubilant crowds form a mile-long procession. A small counter-demonstration shows support for President Hosni Mubarak. In the ancient seaside city of Alexandria, more than 100,000 people took to the streets Tuesday in protest, so many that there was no place large enough in Egypt's second-largest city to accommodate the crowds.
link to feeds.latimes.com
The Foreign policy connotations of the Egyptian Uprising: a message to Netanyahu
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Photos Courtesy of Arabs48.com
link to palestinianpundit.blogspot.com
In Pictures: Revolt on the Nile
Images of the thousands of Egyptian protesters that defied a curfew in the capital Cairo and other cities taken throughout the week.
link to www.youtube.com
Revolution spreads to Egypt's deprived Sinai
SINAI (IPS) - A Bedouin youth casually spreads out a piece of cloth before a police headquarters in Sheikh Zwayyed town in Sinai, the vast desert area to the east of Cairo across the Suez. "I will leave when Mubarak leaves," he says.
link to electronicintifada.net
Egyptian actor supports the protesters
Khalid Abo al-Naga, an Egyptian actor and pro-democracy activist, told Al Jazeera "I decided to be part of this years ago when young Egyptian in twitter said that they can't live like this, they [Mubarak regime] are trying to hijack the country.
link to www.youtube.com
Millions Against Mubarak: Democracy Now!'s Sharif Abdel Kouddous Reports Live from Tahrir Amid Massive Protest
One week after the unprecedented popular uprising began in Egypt, more than two million people descend on Tahrir Square in Cairo, defying the military curfew, to demand regime change in the country. The Egyptian army has declared they will not use force and have recognized the "legitimate grievances" of the people. We speak to Sharif Abdel Kouddous, senior producer at Democracy Now!, live from Tahrir Square. "I am standing in an ocean of people... They are demanding with one voice for the President Mubarak to step down," Kouddous says. [includes rush transcript]
link to www.democracynow.org
Ahmed Moor from Cairo: ‘The people here are determined and have reached the point of no return’
I just spoke with Ahmed Moor who has been reporting from Cairo since the beginning of the protests last week. He was in Tahrir Square today for the "march of a million people" and has this update.
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/02/ahmed-moor-from-cairo-the-people-here-are-determined-and-have-reached-the-point-of-no-return.html
Egypt’s youth ready for the future, protester says in moving interview
A young female protester at Cairo's Tahrir Square told filmmakers that the widespread rallies against President Mubarak show the Egyptian people "can take this country forward." The interview was part of the upcoming documentary "Zero Silence" by filmmakers Jonny von Wallström and Alexandra Sandels.
link to www.rawstory.com
Quiet Acts of Protest on a Noisy Day
CAIRO — The retired general in the blue suit walked alone, with a cane, as hundreds of Egyptian protesters surged past him, chanting and holding signs. He stopped to catch his breath, grabbing the railing of a bridge so he could look out at the Nile.
link to www.nytimes.com
Egyptian-Americans hold rallies
Standing in solidarity with those back home, people across the US organise protests against the Egyptian president.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2011/02/20112119402452716.html
Witness - Blogging on the Nile
All over Egypt thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest against Hosni Mubarak's government. Blogs, twitter, Facebook and mobile phone footage have all played some part in mobilising the crowds and getting messages to the wider world. And this despite a draconian crackdown on media and an unprecedented blackout of the internet by the authorities. In today's Witness we look back at a film made four years ago, when bloggers were relatively few and new in Egypt. They claimed the Egyptian government was nothing better than a dictatorship, using torture, intimidation and corruption to maintain its hold on power, and they were attracting a growing audience. Back then they were already making waves - and paying a high price. But they were sewing the seeds of today's multi-media uprising. We are also joined in the studio by two guests who have been following the development of media in Egypt - Sharif Nashashibi from Arab Media Watch and researcher Ramy Aly who experienced blogging in Egypt in 2006 and 2007.
link to www.youtube.com
Scenes from Egypt's uprising
For years, Egyptians fearful of their country's pervasive secret police apparatus would reflexively lower their voices and glance around before daring to speak a word against President Hosni Mubarak. During these heady days in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square, they've felt free to speak their minds, and vent their anger.
link to feeds.latimes.com
Egypt: "The People / Demand / the Fall of the Regime" -- Eyewitness Account
It was a new slogan. I don't recall ever hearing it before in a demonstration. It is rhythmic, in proper Arabic in fact, but most of all -- it is a slogan that started with "the people demand." One that all could agree on.
link to www.huffingtonpost.com
In Tahrir Square, Egyptians sense they are part of a turning point in history
CAIRO - As thousands upon thousands of demonstrators converged Tuesday on Tahrir Square, and spilled over onto the streets that flow into it, the chants and signs were about their desire to be rid of President Hosni Mubarak. But the mood at times seemed to be one of surprise as much as anything ...
link to feeds.washingtonpost.com
Robert Fisk: Secular and devout. Rich and poor. They marched together with one goal
It was a victory parade which started without the victory. They came in their hundreds of thousands, joyful, singing, praying, a great packed mass of Egypt, suburb by suburb, village by village, waiting patiently to pass through the "people's security" checkpoints, draped in the Egyptian flag of red, white and black, its governess eagle a bright gold in the sunlight. Were there a million? Perhaps. Across the country there certainly were. It was, we all agreed, the largest political demonstration in the history of Egypt, the latest heave to rid this country of its least-loved dictator. Its only flaw was that by dusk – and who knew what the night would bring – Hosni Mubarak was still calling himself "President" of Egypt.
link to www.independent.co.uk
Media & Repression
Internet service restored in Egypt
Partial service back up after unprecedented five-day blackout aimed at stymieing savvy, anti-Mubarak protesters.
link to english.aljazeera.net
Google searching for executive missing in Egypt
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Google Inc <GOOG.O> on Tuesday began a public search for an executive missing in Cairo, where the Internet company has offered tools to help Egyptians communicate amid chaotic protests. Google, which launched a way for Twitter users to communicate without Internet access, said on Tuesday that Wael Ghonim, head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa, has not been seen since late Thursday in central Cairo.
link to www.trust.org
Al-Jadeed yields after NileSat threatens action
BEIRUT: Lebanese television station Al-Jadeed faced being taken off the air in Egypt Tuesday after Egypt’s second biggest satellite provider, NileSat, threatened to cut off coverage. NileSat made the warning after Al-Jadeed suspended regular broadcasting Tuesday, replacing its programs by Al-Jazeera coverage of the Egyptian protests. Live feeds from Al-Jazeera first appeared on air at around 5 p.m. with Al-Jadeed announcing it was interrupting its scheduled programming out of “solidarity with Al-Jazeera television and the Egyptian revolution.”
link to www.dailystar.com.lb
Egypt: Al Jazeera Signal Disrupted, Arab Channels Band Together In Support
Al Jazeera's signal is being disrupted in "unprecedented ways" as it covers the Egyptian revolution, the New York Times' Brian Stelter reports. "We have been working round the clock to make sure we are broadcasting on alternative frequencies," an Al Jazeera spokesman said in a statement to the Times. "Clearly there are powers that do not want our important images pushing for democracy and reform to be seen by the public."
link to www.huffingtonpost.com
Egypt's Internet shutdown, visualized
Google Transparency Report's traffic numbers provide a stark illustration of the impact of the Egyptian government's Internet shutdown that began last week.
link to rss.csmonitor.com
Media Blackout in Egypt and the U.S.: Al Jazeera Forced Off the Air by Mubarak, Telecommunications Companies Block Its Expansion in the United States
Reporters from Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language news network, have been arrested and forced off the air by President Hosni Mubarak. "This regime, which couldn’t find the time to protect Egypt’s priceless relics in the National Museum in Cairo, found the time to drag journalists through the streets ... and found time to shut down Al Jazeera," says Mohamed Abdel Dayem of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera English is broadcast to more than 200 million homes around the world, but it’s hardly available in the United States. Critics have called it a media blackout by U.S. cable and satellite providers. We speak to Tony Burman of Al Jazeera English.
link to www.democracynow.org
Digital Darkness: U.S., U.K. Companies Help Egyptian Regime Shut Down Telecommunications and Identify Dissident Voices
Doing the regime’s bidding, British-based Vodafone shut down Egypt’s phone and internet service. The American company called Narus — owned by Boeing — sold Egypt the surveillance technology that helped identify dissident voices. We are joined by Tim Karr of Free Press and CUNY Professor C.W. Anderson. Karr outlines how communications was shut down in Egypt and discusses the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, a proposed Senate bill that could lay the foundation for blocking communications in the United States in the case of a "national threat." Anderson traces the activist roots of Twitter to U.S. protests at the 2004 Republican and Democratic conventions. [includes rush transcript]
link to www.democracynow.org
Egypt's State TV Reacts To Uprising
CAIRO -- As hundreds of Egyptian protesters filled Tahrir Square on Monday, many calling for their president to go into exile, one of the two state-owned television stations had its cameras focused elsewhere, capturing the steady flow of traffic on a Cairo bridge. It was one of two scenes Nile News has favored over the last few days. The other was a static shot of the street below the offices of the station, empty except for some tanks. The channel's viewers did not see the thousands of people fleeing the country or the hundreds of thousands of protesters, including one in the square on Monday holding up a sign saying "No to the lying Egyptian media."
link to www.huffingtonpost.com
Washington Embraces Al Jazeera
Cowardly US cable providers refuse to grant the channel a distribution platform, largely for fear of being perceived as supporting or enabling a network that for years has been portrayed negatively by US officials.
link to www.thenation.com
Witness - A multi-media uprising?
From Tahrir Square in Cairo to the corniche in Alexandria, all over Egypt thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest against Hosni Mubarak's government. Blogs, twitter, Facebook and mobile phone footage have all played some part in mobilising the crowds and getting messages to the wider world. And this despite a draconian crackdown on media and an unprecedented blackout of the internet by the authorities. Witness presenter Samah El-Shahat is joined by two guests who have been following media developments in Egypt. Sharif Nashashibi is the chairman and co-founder of Arab Media Watch, an independent, non-profit watchdog, set up in 2000 to strive for objective coverage of Arab issues in the British media. And Ramy Aly is a researcher who has written about social networking in Egypt.
link to www.youtube.com
An Egyptian revolution, unplugged
WASHINGTON (IPS) - Despite the Hosni Mubarak regime's attempts at muzzling communication and dissent, and the reportedly government-sanctioned shutdown of Egypt's last standing Internet service provider to individual users Monday, Egyptians are still managing to get their voices heard and mobilize -- both through advanced technical workarounds and older, traditional technologies.
link to electronicintifada.net
'Egypt state TV anchor resigns'
President Hosni Mubarak speaking to the nation in Cairo. Mubarak said he will
CAIRO (Ma'an) -- An Egyptian news anchor has resigned from state television after 20 years for what she said was a "lack of ethical standards" in its coverage of Egypt's mass protests, news reports said. Soha El-Nakash told Reuters she presented five programs for state news channel Nile News on Jan 26, the second day of the protests, and was dismayed the streets of Cairo were portrayed as calm when in fact thousands of people were demonstrating.
link to www.maannews.net
As`ad Abukhalil's Commentary
The Egyptian Army
Of course, the primarily responsibility for the blood in Tahrir Square is that of cynical Obama who decided to heed Israel's advice regarding what is happening in Egypt. The imperial power that is the US requires the existence of one region--the Middle East--ruled largely like colonial settlements of the 19th century. Obama has given license to Mubarak and the Egyptian Army is executing the plan. The dumbest view by the Egyptian protesters is to regard the Army as their protectors or even as being neutral. The Army was a tool for Mubarak and will remain his tool to the last day, unless ordered otherwise by the US. This is not the same Army that overthrew Faruq--and many in that Army were with Faruq which explained the secrecy that Nasser required for his plan prior to the revolution.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Mubarak's propagandist
`Imad Ad-Din Ad-Dib, the chief propagandist for Mubarak, is on Al-Arabiyyah TV (the news station of King Fahd's brother-in-law), and he is saying that the lousy Egyptian Army (famous for its humiliating defeats at the hands of Israel) will now issue a statement to ban demonstrations altogether. They sent goons to the square and now they will say that the clashes in the square require the intervention of the Army. We have seen those scenarios in 1960s CIA coups in Latin America. I did not enjoy the film the first time around, and doubt that Arabs will enjoy it now in 2011.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Israel is freaking out
"According to the media, Israel engaged in backstage efforts to get the West to tone down rhetoric against Mubarak, whose regime it credits with keeping stability and peace. On Tuesday, the U.S. dispatched an envoy to Egypt, Frank G. Wisner, veteran diplomat and former ambassador to Cairo in the 1980s. Israeli media described his mission as negotiating a "dignified way out" for Mubarak with Vice President Omar Suleiman, whose appointment was "too little but mostly too late," according to one commentator. There was little negotiation and the U.S. proposal was rejected. Israel's having -- or thinks it is -- one of those "told you so" moments, which it's trying to be rather mature about. But these are short-lived and one can't bask -- or wallow -- in them for long. Sooner or later, you need to get back to work."
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Another Zionist is freaking out: the dictatorship of Mubarak as the model
"For Israel, then, peace with Egypt has been not only strategically but also psychologically essential. Israelis understand that the end of their conflict with the Arab world depends in large part on the durability of the peace with Egypt — for all its limitations, it is the only successful model of a land-for-peace agreement...Israelis now worry that this fragile opening to the Arab world is about to close." Oh, yeah. It was a great opening. The Egyptian people never accepted peace with Israel and it required the preservation of a bloody dictatorship to maintain it. Opening? Did you see the Arab people "opening up" to Israel? And notice how this writer basically flippantly justified all of Israeli wars, massacres, and murders from 1982 to now: "Since then all of Israel’s military conflicts — from the first Lebanon war in 1982 to the Gaza war of 2009 — have been asymmetrical confrontations against terrorists."
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Bastille in Egypt
The Egyptian protesters now need the equivalent of the storming of the Bastille.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Mubarak defiant: it is Israel (and US), stupid
He has just given his speech. He is bizarrely defiant. Says that he won't seek another term, as if this was the issue. He hit hard against the protesters and even addressed the "peasants and workers of Egypt" (like when Trotsky gave his first speech in New York City and addressed the crowd in the Bronx as "workers and peasants of the Bronx"). He is so weird: he talks like he is still in control and talks about a process that will last for months. The man is going to leave but with Egypt in flames behind them. The situation only got more tense and more potentially explosive. But I will say this: this defiance does not come out of nowhere. I can't believe that this is the same leader who is rejected by his own people before TV cameras. He even reminded us of his military role: yes brag of the defeats of 1967 and 1973. But I speculate this: Israel so freaked out, and it was so clear and blatant. They realized that peace with Egypt won't survive. So the US scrambled: sent an envoy to Cairo: realized that there is no US puppet to lead the country so the scenario of defiance was adopted. His tone and stance of defiance is matched by the rhetoric of the Obama administration which is clear in its avoidance of the issues of democracy in Egypt. And don't forget that many racists lead the US policy making in the Middle East (people like Feltman at State and Shapiro at NSC) and they concur with Kaplan's racist dictum about the Arabs and democracy. US is digging itself in a bigger hole, as we speak. Aljazeera is now silent: in the sense it is showing the protesters at Tahriri Square and they are in a state of rage that is even scary from my living room. The man is asking for trouble: they will physically push him out if he does not leave. Israel wants him to fight to the last Egyptian. But that won't work.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Two scenarios
1) people would storm that the presidential palaces and TV station and government headquarters; 2) the Army would take over and oust him. He clearly adopted the Netanyahu-Obama option of disregarding the will of the Egyptian people and staying in power at all cost. It is all for you, Israel. I want to see Arab public opinion vis-a-vis the US after this. The US is cooking a dirty plot reminiscent of the 1950s plot, but this time it is much more clumsy.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Frank Wisner
This will be mocked for a long time: that the Obama administration chose this guy to negotiate with Mubarak. This is akin to Ernst Hanfstaengl being sent by the US to negotiate with Hitler. (Of the course, the Nazi Hanfstaengl later worked for the US government as expert on Germany).
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Obama's envoy to Egypt: Frank Wisner
I received this: "I'd like to remain anonymous on this one. In addition to being close to Mubarak as mentioned in the piece you linked to, Frank Wisner is very close to many of Egypt's oligarchs and his brother Graham, a lawyer, has represented the business interests of several of them. Which is why I chuckled when I read that the State department had said that Wisner "will meet Egyptian officials to urge them to embrace broad economic and political changes that can pave the way for free and fair elections."
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
John Kerry's priorities in Egypt: from 2004
"On Egypt, Kerry said that he would not tie foreign aid to greater openness and reform. "I would first want to link it to the warmth of the relationship with Israel and the effort to secure general stability in Middle East," he said. "You have to put your priorities first."
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Sen. John Kerry on Mubarak
Nothing in the piece, of course. What do you expect from Kerry. But one thing stood out: Israel was not mentioned. Not once. That is the impact of the Egyptian uprising already. But lest John Kerry thinks of himself as a champion of the Egyptian uprising, I would like to ask my readers to send me past praise by Kerry for Husni Mubarak. Oh, and I want them NOW. NOW.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
They are fleeing Egypt
Lebanese News Agency is report that a member of Mubarak's puppet parliament has fled Egypt with his family on a private jet and has just arrived in Beirut.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Randa Abu Al-`Azm (III)
Randa Abu Al-`Azm (a chief but competent propagandist for the Mubarak regime) covered extensively a small demonstration by Mubarak goons. If you watch it on Mubarak state TV, you can even see a guy leading the goons before the cameras and choreographing the affair. So Abu Al-`Azm covered that and then the goons started cheering to Al-Arabiyya TV and said that they love it. I bet they do. I bet. I just worry about the safety of Al-Arabiyyah TV correspondents once the regime is overthrown.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
the journalists of the new Egypt
Write down those two names. You will hear about them. Hamdi Qandil is a principled long time Arab nationalist. He has been close to Baradi`i and served as the spokesperson of this movement. Has been banned by Egyptian State TV and Saudi TV. I met him once in Beirut: he is married to famed Egyptian actress, Najla' Fathi (I only mention that because I had a strong adolescent crush on her). Also, write down the name of `Abdul-Halim Qandil, a secular Arab nationalist. This man is a hero. Has been the most vociferous critic of Mubarak. Once, Mubarak goons kidnapped him, beat him up, and then left him naked near the pyramids.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
This fanatic Zionist who leads the Inter Rel committee in the House tells Arabs who can qualify to lead them
“The U.S. should learn from past mistakes and support a process which only includes candidates who meet basic standards for leaders of responsible nations – candidates who have publicly renounced terrorism, uphold the rule of law, recognize Egypt's international commitments including its nonproliferation obligations and its peace agreement with the Jewish state of Israel, and who ensure security and peace with its neighbors,” she said in a statement."
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Here is another Zionist freaking out
"The ugly facts are that the two peace treaties that Israel concluded so far - the one with Egypt and the other with Jordan - were both signed with dictators: Anwar Sadat and King Hussein."
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Another Zionist is freaking out
"A truly worst-case outcome of the unrest in Egypt is frightening to contemplate. It might go something like this: The current situation leads, through a process of resignations, external pressures and interim governments to free elections in which the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest and best-organized opposition group, wins the day. The Brotherhood, which opposes Israel’s very existence, cancels Egypt’s peace treaty with the Jewish state, declares Hamas (an offshoot of the Brotherhood) an ally, denounces the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, demands that international forces leave the Sinai Peninsula and asserts Egypt’s right to send heavy forces into the presently demilitarized territory. The Suez Canal is abruptly closed to passage of Israeli naval ships that have been disrupting Iranian-Hezbollah-Sudanese arms smuggling in the Red Sea." Le me think. For Israel, I cant think of far worse scenarios than this one. Oh, ha ha ha.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Jamal and `Ala' Mubarak have blood on their hands
Those two are not innocent. For me, they committed a terrible crime last year when they both incited the Egyptian people along racist lines against the Algerian people following a defeat by Egypt in a soccer match. Their racist incitement resulted in the death of injury of people, in Egypt and in Algeria.
link to angryarab.blogspot.com
Palestinian Reaction
The people: Egypt's revolution inspires Gaza's youth
The revolution underway in Egypt is being closely watched by Gaza's youth who see it as a source of empowerment and inspiration. It has stirred our sentiments and has moved us to take to the streets to show our solidarity with our neighbors in Egypt. We attempt to absorb every minute event so as to carry it through the years when we will be able to tell our children how proud we were to have lived through one of the greatest and most inspirational events in the history of the Arab world.
link to electronicintifada.net
Hamas: Gaza Strip: Police Prevent Egypt Solidarity Demonstration
(Jerusalem) - Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip prevented Gazans from demonstrating in solidarity with protesters in Egypt, according to witnesses who spoke to Human Rights Watch.
link to www.hrw.org
Palestinian Authority: Disrupts Egypt Solidarity Protest in Ramallah
(Ramallah) - Palestinian Authority security forces shut down a demonstration on January 30, 2011, in front of the Egyptian embassy in Ramallah, after calling in one of the organizers for questioning multiple times on January 29 and ordering him to cancel the event notice that he had created on Facebook. Human Rights Watch monitored the demonstration and spoke with participants.
link to www.hrw.org
Zionist Reactions
Anxious Israel
Egypt's neighbour fears what might follow Mubarak.
link to www.bbc.co.uk
Israel places resources at Suleiman's disposal "to protect the Egyptian regime"
Well-placed Israeli sources have disclosed that the Zionist state has offered to place "all its capabilities" at the disposal of General Omar Suleiman, the recently appointed Vice President of Egypt, for the "protection of the regime in Egypt". This offer includes the implementation of "various operations to end the popular revolution". Israel has also asked Suleiman to work on preventing arms being smuggled into the Gaza Strip.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk
Bolton: Mubarak's downfall would mean we'd have to bomb Iran ...quick
HANNITY: Do you think that the Israelis are going to have to strike — they are going to have to take action. … As you pointed out, El Baradei, you know, ran cover for the Iranians for all those years that he was with the IAEA. And, I just don’t think the Israelis have much longer to wait…they’re going to have to act in fairly short order. BOLTON: I think that’s right. I don’t think there’s much time to act. And I think the fall of a Egyptian government committed to the peace agreement will almost certainly speed that timetable up.
link to friday-lunch-club.blogspot.com
When Egypt shakes, it should be no surprise that Israel trembles | Jonathan Freedland
Given the region's history, Israelis are bound to fear democracy in the Arab world. But that alone can bring real peace. They fear they've seen this movie before. In the first reel, the world watches with awe as the streets of a distant capital fill with the young and the angry, brave enough to shake their fist at a hated dictator. In the second, the statues fall, the tyrant flees and all hail a triumph for democracy. But in the final reel there's a twist: the original street rebels are pushed aside, replaced by a tyranny just as ruthless as the one it toppled – and much more menacing to its neighbours.
link to www.guardian.co.uk
Analysis/Op-ed
A look at Mubarak's rule of Egypt
Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian president has announced that he will not run for a new term in office but for the moment he has refused to stand down. After running the country for three decades he is one of the region's longest ruling leaders. Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher reports on Mubarak's political career.
link to www.youtube.com
Everybody Loves Loved Hosni
For 30 years the world welcomed Egypt's president -- they shook his hand and looked the other way. But the time for photo ops is likely over.
link to www.foreignpolicy.com
Susan Abulhawa: Mubarak: Destroying Egypt to Stay in Power
Mubarak's latest cynical tactic is to send in armed gangs, mostly from his notorious police force, to ignite riots, thus making his hold on power all the more necessary for the sake of restoring security and order.
link to www.huffingtonpost.com
By switching on the internet and rocks, Mubarak seeks to make violence the face of the revolution
Everyone is now running from Tahrir, so something major is happening there, Tighe Barry reports from north of Tahrir Square. He is watching a dozen Mubarak thugs beating a kid with a metal pole. Now going after a man who tried to protect him. How can he survive? More people piling on all the time. The human shields of Tahrir Square have given up and are now defending themselves with stones as well. Barry: One guy here has been shooting video through a tiny crack in the steel shutter. We see five or six men beating a boy lying on the ground.
link to mondoweiss.net
Suburban demonstrations and handmade signs show that democracy movement is organic
The internet has come back up, largely I think so that financial transactions can be processed. People are lined up at ATMs everywhere. Also out are pro-Mubarak forces, vastly smaller than the anti-Mubarak forces. The first rally I saw this morning was about 200 people in Talat Harb Sq. about 1/4 mi. from Tahrir Square. All men and very threatening. They had nothing to say other than, "We love Mubarak. He gives Egypt everything."
link to mondoweiss.net
Mubarak Exit: Egypt President Misses Chance For Dignified Departure
WASHINGTON — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak missed his cue for a dignified exit from 30 years of iron-fisted rule. By saying he would leave later instead of now, Mubarak infuriated the crowds numbering hundreds of thousands massed to demand his immediate resignation. Mubarak promised Tuesday not to run again for the presidency in September, but the crowds want him out immediately.
link to www.huffingtonpost.com
Egyptian Labor Unions Lead the Way, DAVID MACARAY
Let’s give Egypt’s labor unions some credit. According to a report presented at a symposium hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in February, 2010, there have been more than 3,000 labor protests by Egyptian workers since 2004. That’s an astounding number. The report declared that this figure “[dwarfs] Egyptian political protests in both scale and consequence.”
link to www.counterpunch.com
Inside Story - New faces, same old policies?
After 30 years of resistance, why has Hosni Mubarak , the Egyptian president, chosen to appoint a vice president now? Is this appointment and the appearance of other new members of the cabinet a sign for real change? And what is the West looking for if Mubarak falls?
link to www.youtube.com
Every Square is a Tahir Square, AHMAD BARQAWI
Amman, Jordan. For thirty years; generations of Arab people were deliberately spoon-fed a fallacious reality about themselves; a reality of passiveness, instinctive capitulation and quiet submission; a reality that seemed to contradict –and indeed often wrestled with- their true identity, their heritage and honorable history of rising against social injustices, rule of force and corruption; from the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottoman rule to the 1936 Palestinian Revolution against the British, from the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 to the two blessed Intifadas in Palestine in 1987 and 2000, still oddly enough; for thirty years we've found ourselves admiring the history of the French revolution instead, romanticizing the American War of Independence and cheering –from afar- for the fall of the Berlin wall.
link to www.counterpunch.com
Egypt on the Brink: The Arab World at a Tipping Point?
Hosni Mubarak is still President of Egypt but his days in power are numbered. There will be no Mubarak dynasty either. The authoritarian order in Egypt and throughout the Arab world has been profoundly shaken. The ousting of Ben Ali in Tunisia, a remarkable event in itself, now appears to have been the trigger for a far broader upheaval that is shaking regimes across the region. Since Muhammad Bouazizi set himself alight in Tunisia on December 17, self-immolations have taken place in Egypt, Algeria, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Unprecedented demonstrations have since spread to Algeria, Jordan, and Yemen. Remember too that all this was taking place against the backdrop of a tense regional environment: the dangerous paralysis in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, a simmering crisis in Lebanon, continuing uncertainties over Iraq, and the Iranian nuclear issue.
link to www.jadaliyya.com
Why Mubarak is Out
The “March of Millions” in Cairo marks the spectacular emergence of a new political society in Egypt. This uprising brings together a new coalition of forces, uniting reconfigured elements of the security state with prominent business people, internationalist leaders, and relatively new (or newly reconfigured ) mass movements of youth, labor, women’s and religious groups. President Hosni Mubarak lost his political power on Friday, 28 January. On that night the Egyptian military let Mubarak’s ruling party headquarters burn down and ordered the police brigades attacking protesters to return to their barracks. When the evening call to prayer rang out and no one heeded Mubarak’s curfew order, it was clear that the old president been reduced to a phantom authority. In order to understand where Egypt is going, and what shape democracy might take there, we need to set the extraordinarily successful popular mobilizations into their military, economic and social context. What other forces were behind this sudden fall of Mubarak from power? And how will this transitional military-centered government get along with this millions-strong protest movement?
link to www.jadaliyya.com
Hicham Safieddine, "Tomorrow's Tunisia and Egypt: Reform or Revolution?"
On the economic front, high rates of growth and prosperity in both countries reported by the World Bank and other so-called world bodies masked the ugly truth of unequal development and unproductive capital. In Tunisia, unemployment soared to an 18 per cent (reaching a whopping 32 per cent in Sidi Bouzid, the site of the first protests in Tunisia). Uneven investment in tourism and other global-market-oriented industries along the narrow coastal strip captured over 80 per cent of total investment. In Egypt, close to 40 per cent of Egyptians are estimated to live under the poverty line.
link to mrzine.monthlyreview.org
Rami G. Khouri: Tunisia Was the Trigger, Egypt Is the Prize
Five important developments Sunday combined to mark the beginning of the end of the Mubarak era.
link to www.huffingtonpost.com
Tunisia’s spark and Egypt’s flame: The Middle East is rising, Phyllis Bennis
Is this how empires end, with people flooding the streets, demanding the resignation of their leaders and forcing local dictators out? Maybe not entirely, but the breadth and depth of the spreading protests, the helplessness of the U.S.-backed governments to stop them, and the rapidly diminishing ability of the United States to protect its long-time clients, are certainly resulting in a level of revolutionary fervor not visible in the Middle East in a generation. The legacy of U.S.-dominated governments across the region will never be the same. The U.S. empire's reach in the resource-rich and strategically vital Middle East has been shaken to its core.
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/02/tunisias-spark-and-egypts-flame-the-middle-east-is-rising.html
Raffi: Cairo Sunshine All Around -- Reflecting on the Rebirth of My Birthplace
Egypt's revolution is humanity's. And as a revolution enhanced by social media before the state silenced them, the Cairo scenario begs a question.
link to www.huffingtonpost.com
Mona Eltahawy Should Be Careful What She Wishes For
Mona Eltahawy has been touring the media circuit as the champion of freedom and democracy in Egypt and the Arab world, but what would a free and democratic Arab world look like? And what would it mean for those few who share Eltahawy’s views. Now that Mona Eltahawy is posing as the voice of the oppressed Arab masses, and an advocate of democracy, we think it would be helpful to compare her political outlook to the well-known, and repeatedly verified views held by a vast majority of the Arab public.
link to ikhras.com
Mubarak gives go-ahead to his goons
This afternoon (U.S. Eastern time) we were waiting anxiously for the statement that, Egyptian state TV promised, was coming "shortly" from-- or on behalf of-- Pres. Mubarak. Would it contain notice of his resignation or his departure from the country? In the end, no. He promised only that he "would not run again" in the presidential elections scheduled for September... And he vowed that...
link to justworldnews.org
The Making of Egypt's Revolution, ESAM AL-AMIN
On April 21, 2008, an assistant high school principal placed an advertisement in Al-Ahram, the largest daily newspaper in Egypt, pleading disparately with President Hosni Mubarak and his wife to intervene and release her daughter from prison. It turned out that her 27 year-old daughter, Israa’ Abd el-Fattah, was arrested 10 days earlier because of her role in placing a page on Facebook encouraging Egyptians to support a strike in the industrial city of al-Mahalla that had taken place on April 6.
link to www.counterpunch.com
The ugly American: ‘This is an American grenade. American! American!’, Alex Kane
The Obama administration has not taken a strong and unequivocal stand against Hosni Mubarak’s regime yet, and has instead opted for calling for an “orderly transition” to a new government. The latest news on the administration’s reactions to the Egyptian uprising is that the U.S. ambassador to Egypt “spoke today with Mohammed El-Baradei.”
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/02/the-ugly-american-%e2%80%98this-is-an-american-grenade-american-american%e2%80%99.html
The Egyptian revolution is coming– to the U.S.A., Philip Weiss
The Egyptian revolution is sure to have a great victory within days: the ouster of Mubarak. But a greater victory even than that will be the liberation of American thinking from the crude paradigms about the Middle East that have held our political imagination in such thrall for 50 years. I speak as someone who for all my liberalism was also captured by those paradigms, who so doubted the Arab world I would never have dared to imagine what is happening in Cairo.
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/02/the-egyptian-revolution-is-coming-to-the-u-s.html
Obama and Egypt: Some History
The recent remarkable and revolutionary unrest in the Arab world and particularly in Egypt has created an awkward dilemma for the Obama administration. Despite his campaign rhetoric of “change,” Barack Obama has continued the basic George W. Bush policy of encouraging an anti-Iran alliance between Israel and so-called moderate Arab states. These “moderate” states include Egypt’s atrocious police-state dictatorship and Saudi Arabia’s misogynist theocracy, which is perhaps the most reactionary government on earth. All of these states have continued to be lavishly funded by the United States under Obama—ironically enough given Obama’s following comment in his (not-so) anti-Iraq war speech in Chicago in the fall of 2002: “You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to make sure our so-called allies in the Middle East, the Saudis and the Egyptians, stop oppressing their own people, and suppressing dissent, and tolerating corruption and inequality and mismanaging their economies so that their youth grow up without education, without prospects, without hope…” Six and a half years later, Obama as U.S. president refused even to call Egypt’s dictator Hosni Mubarak “authoritarian” (much less a dictator). He praised the Egyptian government as “a force for stability and good in the region.” He claimed to have been “struck” by the “wisdom and graciousness” of Saudi king Abdullah, the head of state in a nation that regularly practiced public beheadings. These comments amounted to a clear endorsement of torture, martial law, secret police, and worse in the Middle East.
link to dissidentvoice.org
Hosni Before Bros:Tony Blair's Unapologetic Policy of Wretchedness, Nima Shirazi
Former British Prime Minister and current unpunished war criminal Tony Blair has been on a roll lately. On January 21, 2011, Blair revealed to the Iraq Inquiry, led by Sir John Chilcot, that he felt no personal responsibility for the millions of lives affected and destroyed by the 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. "I regret deeply and profoundly the loss of life, whether from our own armed forces, those of other nations, the civilians who helped people in Iraq or the Iraqis themselves," Blair told the panel, as if the majority of the dead had lost their lives due to a smallpox outbreak or polar bear attack rather than an unprovoked, illegal, calculated, and devastating military assault.
link to www.wideasleepinamerica.com
Time for another Obama “envoy” to Egypt?
Following Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's announcement he will not run for president again and the Egyptian protesters' apparent rejection of that concession, it's clear is that even if "envoy" Frank Wisner's mission to Cairo was a success, the Obama administration isn't out of the woods yet on this crisis.
link to thecable.foreignpolicy.com
Whose Side Are We On?
The current crisis in Egypt represents a profound dilemma for the United States, as Brookings Fellow, Shadi Hamid, notes in The Atlantic. For thirty years, the U.S. has been the largest supporter of the Mubarak dictatorship. The United States has struck that same devil’s bargain repeatedly all over the world, supporting regimes which abuse the human rights of their own citizens, but which offer regional “stability.” We pay governments to support American political and economic interests over and against the popular will of their own people.
link to dissidentvoice.org
Obama and the Despots of the Middle East, CORINNA MULLIN
Karl Marx, in his famous treatise on Louis Bonaparte's 1851 coup d'état, which shared much in common with the late 18th century coup undertaken by his uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte, remarked that history has the tendency to repeat itself, 'the first [time] as tragedy, then as farce'. As with many other aspects of the dramatic developments unfolding in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region in recent weeks, Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak's midnight 28 January speech, and the various White House statements that preceded it, prove just how relevant the ideas of the German political theorist and revolutionary are today.
link to www.counterpunch.com
American Hypocrisy in the Middle East, PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
The hypocrisy of the US government is yet again demonstrated in full bore force. The US government invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, laid waste to much of the countries including entire villages and towns, and massacred untold numbers of civilians in order "to bring democracy" to Iraq and Afghanistan. Now after days of Egyptians in the streets demanding "Mubarak must go," the US government remains aligned with its puppet Egyptian ruler, even suggesting that Mubarak, after running a police state for three decades, is the appropriate person to implement democracy in Egypt.
link to www.counterpunch.com
Why Washington Clings to a Failed Middle East Strategy, GARETH PORTER
The death throes of the Mubarak regime in Egypt signal a new level of crisis for a U.S. Middle East strategy that has shown itself over and over again in recent years to be based on nothing more than the illusion of power. The incipient loss of the U.S. client regime in Egypt is an obvious moment for a fundamental adjustment in that strategy.
link to www.counterpunch.com
Seham, I’m not sure this was greenlighted by Obama. I had initially suspected that, but then I re-evaluated Israel’s official reaction to events in Egypt, including the statements made by Israeli officials and I’m now leaning toward Israel as the culprit. It seems that Obama’s role was secondary in this instance.
It’s obvious Israel is the culprit behind this, but Obama is the spineless jellyfish that enabled it.
Israel – Mubarak, what’s the diff?
The US has leverage over both and failed to use it effectively. Once again Barack Obama is demonstrating he’s too spineless (or evil) to do anything about it. Egypt is a golden opportunity if he really wanted to change the Middle East.
Avi, there is no difference between the U.S. and Israel. I blame Obama until the content of the conversation between him and Mubarak is leaked.
Seham’s got a point. Who wears the pants in the US-Israeli axis? Clearly, it isn’t Obama.
“Avi, there is no difference between the U.S. and Israel. I blame Obama until the content of the conversation between him and Mubarak is leaked.”
When you have no facts, but a theory, go with the theory.
I’ve got new for the US administration, the same thing is going to come to your doorstep you subservient bastard. None of your “homeland security” is going to save you, participatory government by the people is going to be forced on the USA by the people. So you better get ready because it is coming, we are going to defang this joke of a government, and it is going to spread to governments all over the world – Egypt is just the beginning.
WHAT TIME IS IT?
reported to homeland security
Snicheroo with dual citizenship.
LOL, VR is talking about a violent over throw of our government and my loyalties are being questioned.
You guys are too much.
“VR is talking about a violent over throw of our government…”
Where did VR talk about violence? “[P]articipatory government by the people” sounds a lot like getting apathetic people active in what is supposed to be a democratic process in a republic, both words suggesting that the government should serve the people, and not be a slave to money and special interests, especially foreign special interests.
Ever heard of ‘freedom of Speech’?
Ever heard of the ‘right to dissent’ without some bully or ‘rat’ intimidating you and snitching on you?
You like the Gestapo tactic agent yonira?
Do tell.
Taxi, there is a difference between freedom of speech and talking about over throwing MY government.
When some anarchist starts to threaten my way of life, I take it personally and act accordingly.
Yonira, you mistake self-defense for violence. If the people demand participatory government, and the government rises up to stop them violently – yes, that is the definition of violence, not self defense. You think you can use the over weened definition of violence as you have repeatedly been fed, in a propagandist fashion. If necessary, in the face of repression I say -
MARK MY WORDS
“Taxi, there is a difference between freedom of speech and talking about over throwing MY government.”
Where, exactly, did VR talk about “over throwing” any government??
While you’re on to homeland security Yonira tell them that this weekend’s dead American soldiers are dying in Israel’s war. And that Israel while having some fantastic products to help the US Army can’t bring dead GIs back to life.
I still don’t see the connection behind the war in Afghanistan and Israel. I mean I know that everything bad that happens in the world is the fault of the Israelis, but I don’t see the specific connection there.
What will you guys do when your favorite scapegoat is gone?
And I reported you here for this threat.
What for – supporting what has been a 99% non-violent movement trying to topple a 30 year dictator?
What a joke you are yonira.
Sumud, what on earth are you talking about? I was responding to VR. He was talking about overthrowing my government. This is a threat to my stability and to the stability of my fellow countrymen.
His calling for the de-fanging of MY government has zero to do with Egypt.
Where did VR say the government was going to be “overthrown”? And let’s hope this country — which spends more than 2x as much as the rest of the world on arms, could be defanged and that money could be spend on roads and schools and health care for poor sick folks.
yonira ~ Read what VR wrote:
…and what have we seen in Egypt? “a 99% non-violent movement”.
VR’s aims:
WTF is wrong that? Please, tell me yonira!
We are a democracy with elections. Some sort of revolution like Egypt would be detrimental to the United States. the 99% non-violent thing seems to be out the window in Egypt. Just imagine the same sort of revolution the US.
yonira ~ where does VR say revolution?
And anybody who has been following events knows Mubarak unleashed his thugs today – the violence came from them not the pro-democracy protestors. Multiple accounts of the thugs carry security force IDs and multiple accounts of them admitting they had been paid.
If it pleases you, go on, do what you normally do with Palestinians: blame the victims of the violence when they fight back in self-defence.
Yeah, this in no way resembles the Gestapo. Not reminded of Nazi Germany at all by this.
Other than the lack of deaths by gunfire, how is this different than the crackdown in Iran that you all supported? When an autocratic regime encounters an attempt to over throw it’s government they respond with secret police and gestapo like tactics.
The only real chance for this work is for the protesters to back down and give Mubarak his six months or hopefully the Army takes control of the situation and ousts Mubarak sooner.
It doesn’t seem like his senile ass is going to leave peacefully like Ben-Ali. That is why he sent his family away, he knows he is done, but he won’t go down without a fight.
just what is needed, yoneeera’s reflexive genuflecting before autocratic power. when peaceful demonstrations are met with state violence, then demonstrators should ‘back down’ and wait for the police state to sort things out. democracy is safe in your hands, certainly.
This is a threat to my stability and to the stability of my fellow countrymen.
no, we wouldn’t your hair to get mussed up with all these notions of a participatory democracy floating about.
Oh so now we supported the crackdown in Iran?
Buzz off. All you’re doing is throwing slander and apologism. Maybe that’s bread and water on the right wing blogs you came from, but here that’s just ugly and idiotic.
yonira :
* giggle *
No need to, my dutiful friend, someone is surely monitoring this all anyway. (Israel/Palestine…) I hope they learn something along the way.
link to secure.wikimedia.org
Maybe you can instead make suggestions for drafting a bogus National Security Letter :
link to eff.org
Better yet, contact the NSA directly just in case :
link to sewerage.org
Ho, you’re killing me
(softly with his song… )
quit the disinformation Avi.
The blame Israel game is getting old. Didn’t you blame Israel for Iranian protests too?
No. I blamed the extinction of the dinosaurs on Israel. Get some integrity, already.
Integrity Avi? You are using Egypt’s revolution and now the deaths of countless people to further your anti-Israel agenda. Don’t lecture me about integrity.
Yes, my darn agenda. So nefarious. My agenda is to bring about a state in which everyone is equal and everyone is treated like a human being.
Or, as you would label it, “self-loathing, anti-Semitic” agenda.
All the mud that was brought into this conversation to sling was brought in by yonira. I hope the moderators are paying attention to this.
Once again, thanks, Seham, for all your work in helping us to stay on top of this story.
I absolutely agree with James North, Seham. You do such a great job.
Gunfire is now being heard on the streets near Tahrir Square in Cairo.
… an Israeli angle on internet kill-switches … I’m shocked. Really.
Killing the Internet Not Just a Problem in Egypt
anderson cooper punched in the head? dark cloud. silver lining.
Anderson Cooper prior to that was pretending that the violence was coming from the anti-Mubarak camp, and ended up getting thumped on the head by the pro-Mubarak camp.
Perhaps, karma knocked some sense into him and made him see the light.
I’d love to know if Anderson Cooper reported on the execution by Israel of US citizen Furkan Dogan on the Free Gaza Flotilla. Just like Dogan, Cooper copped it from thugs ultimately protecting Israeli interests.
My guess is that Anderson Cooper referred to the event as “a lynch,” as the hasbara bureau has yet to discover that gerunds are used in English to convert verbs, such as “lynch,” into nouns.
Obama has aligned himself on the WRONG SIDE of history. After Mubarak and Obama’s “coordinated” speeches ” last night, pro-Mubaraks” immediately surfaced minutes later instigating violence. Obama gave Mubarak a pretext to hang on and sowed division by depriving the Egyptian people of a history-making event, the ouster of this dictator, and in essence squashing the revolution with a carrot (the announcement Mubarak wouldn’t run in elections) and a stick to be wielded against these people by Mubarak should they persist in wanting to get rid of him.
In essence, by unleashing thugs in plain clothes on horses, camels and trucks wielding whips and sticks, and others in the crowd, Mubarak can commit murder with impunity by alleging that he’s not responsible for the actions of these people.
I honestly hope no one is fooled by what is going on here. This was carefully choreographed between Mubarak and the Obama Administration. Zionists are even using the term “benevolent dictators exist”. They actually view Mubarak as a “BENEVOLENT DICTATOR”.
Zionists are behind Obama’s spinelessness in this situation. This man is a spineless jellyfish and solely responsible for this heartbreaking outcome, the fleecing of Egyptians, and for depriving them of writing a significant chapter in their history! He’s an abject, toothless coward.
agents provacateur:
(Alexandria, January 29, 2011) – Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director [HRW]:The most touching moment today was when one of the youth leaders in Alexandria asked us to help him send an observer team to elections in Tunis: “We will pay for ourselves, but we want to see how a real election happens.”
——————————————————————————–
2 looters were just caught in Muharram Beyh neighborhood of Alexandria who had police ID cards and were members of undercover plainclothes force.
——————————————————————————–
Mubarak is going whatever happens.
Sorry, but it strikes me as a naive, and altogether rather strange view of the world encapsulated in the headline and the accompanying rant, suggesting that Barack Obama is in a position as world dictator or super-boss to order or permit Mubarak to do one thing or another – as though Obama, who’s been on the world scene for around two years, can just fire Mubarak and his millions of clients and hangers-on accumulated over three decades in power, tell them all from from several thousand miles away to clean out their desks and hand in their files. Why would anyone assume that the whole kleptocracy and henchmen would just “go quietly” – regardless of what Uncle Sam decided yesterday or the day before? Why would they believe that if they just quit, they’d remain forever free from retribution while they scrounged around looking for new lines of work or safe passage to exile? Why do you think that the vast majority of revolutions, however just their cause, sometimes all the more in direct relation to their justice, end up violent?
Obama gave Mubarak the seed to sow this violence, get it??? If you don’t see this, you’re either blind or pretending to be so!
You thought Obama could just tell Hosni to get out – or else what? Or for that matter that Obama could tell him to stay, or what exactly to say? What would have happened after Mr. Barack fired Hosni? Everything would have calmed down, peace and love and jobs for everyone forever and ever? Everyone who’s been taking a pay-check from Mubarak (co-signed or not by Uncle Sam) to inform on enemies, write propaganda, run the prisons and staff the torture chambers would have just crawled away or maybe started a small business selling commemorative t-shirts?
It’s a fantasy mentality, much like the mentality that got BHO elected in the first place.
A coalition interim government is ready to step up to the plate and ensure stability and security. So please spare me your hasbara moment.
Other countries have deposed leaders and carried on. The world will only come to an end if Egyptians depose Mubarak in the paranoia-filled world of Zionists.
‘You thought Obama could just tell Hosni to get out – or else what?”
Or else $1.3 billion in military aid gets suspended — that’s what.
Obama didn’t even allude to ‘reviewing’ US aid, which he could temporarily suspend on his own authority.
Blunt fact is that Obama continues to subsidize the dictator. Mubarak remains on Obama’s payroll.
Cut off the $1.3 BN to the protectors of order in Egypt? The same people that the protesters were feeding and are hoping will protect them? Who are the main potential guarantors of order?
That threat has already been made, implicitly, to the people it matters to, the military, and the deal is they don’t go Tiananmen on the demonstrators, making the alliance with Egypt, still of value to the U.S. and to the military, morally and politically impossible.
The issue is at what point and whether Mubarak can be separated from the military and other security forces. Mubarak himself, on the other hand, is said to be fabulously wealthy. It is also of symbolic value, not just to him.
There is a difference between having responsibility, and even having cards to play, and having control. As for the card-playing part, you have to understand what the cards are really worth, and what might happen after you play them.
‘The issue is at what point and whether Mubarak can be separated from the military and other security forces.’
According to reports today, the military waved through Mubarak’s provocateurs on horses and camels into the square, where they started cracking heads.
Though the Egyptian military hasn’t ‘gone Tiananmen,’ they’re standing aside while Mubarak’s goon squads resume their regularly-scheduled activities. It’s a judgment call, but I would think that amping up the pressure by putting aid ‘under review’ is the minimum the U.S. should be doing. Instead Gibbs is just holding the fort with blah-blah … ‘we hope what happened today won’t happen tomorrow.’
You clearly have an information gap pertaining to the history of the region, U.S. involvement in the region and how international relations work. It would be quite the feat to bring you up to speed on such basics, notwithstanding the events of last 60 years.
If I were you, I’d stick to quoting Jefferson on religion.
Of course, the US is involved and co-responsible. The idea that BHO is in a position to give orders to his Egyptian underling and all of the underling’s millions of under-underlings is what’s childish.
You seem to be under the impression that when commenters criticize Obama, they are stating that he is personally responsible for the machinations that take place. Obama is merely a figurehead and using the name of the president as a symbol of the government is merely a figure of speech; it is quite common in both journalism and literature. To play a game of semantics is ludicrous.
The United States, and therefore by extension Obama, is in a position to tell Mubarak what to do, or else. And from there, the domino effect is supposed to take over as underlings put pressure on those below them.
I can’t believe I’m having this debate.
We should cut him some slack; Zionist settlers aren’t up to speed.
Believe whatever you want, including that symbols make decisions.
Or else what? And to what effect? “Go in the corner and die!” Why should he? Quit or you don’t get the $1.3 B in aid – like he’s going to “get it” if he quits? There is a much more complex negotiation going on, not just between “Obama” – whatever the symbol means to you – and “Mubarak.”
But having people screaming “Obama this” and “Obama that” and indulging in fantasy politics serves a purpose, too.
Yes, fantasy politics. You’re the realist, aren’t you? I’m moving on. This debate is banal.
Or else what? And to what effect? “Go in the corner and die!” Why should he? Quit or you don’t get the $1.3 B in aid – like he’s going to “get it” if he quits? There is a much more complex negotiation going on, not just between “Obama” – whatever the symbol means to you – and “Mubarak.”
What did the US do with Saddam when he outgrew his utility to American interests?
You are a settler CK? which settlement?
It is funny, this guys trying to argue that Obama isn’t to blame for the bloodshed and by making that argument he is a zionist settler.
Jesus man!!!?!?!?!?!?
You’re suggesting – what? The U.S. has a viable option of militarily invading Egypt to produce “regime change”? That’s nonsensical.
The U.S. – via Gibbs/Obama – has made its preferences rather clear – transition starting “now” – but there are literally millions of other people who have “votes,” and no one is in a position of absolute control.
As soon as any force makes a move, someone is in a position to make a counter-move or otherwise take advantage. Anyone who thinks he can fully control events is deluded.
The military mind waits for opportunity, and understands that as soon as anyone acts, he’s vulnerable. You can’t take back a word or a bullet. If the military or some other force or configuration of forces is going to assert itself, they’ll benefit from a pretext. The more the pretext is provided by someone else – protesters, “pro-Mubarak” forces, Islamists, whoever – the better. ElBaradei is already calling on the military to establish order by crushing the “pro-Mubarak” forces, but the very call demonstrates that the appearance of disorder serves any would-be Bonaparte’s interests up to a point. The call for intervention probably has to be deafening – and may depend on the protesters having been seen to have shot their own wad, or being split between kalithea types and ElBaradei types.
You can be sure only that everyone is struggling with uncertainty and looking for clear signals through the haze. Because the other side of the danger of acting is the danger of not seizing the moment – and it may not be clear until the dust has settled who made the right decisions.
One hopes that no one in the US Administration is deluded enough to believe that they or any other actor can truly control events, or that today’s word or decision will truly determinel tomorrow’s outcomes. That’s for conspiracy-mongers and other amateurs.
I have no idea where that settler comment came from. In other venues, people assume that I’m a leftist radical or maybe an Islamist, or maybe an Islamo-leftist, or who knows what… People seem to be used to arguing on the basis of assumptions of where other people must be coming from.
You know, I’d flag yonira for his rather transparent trolling but we all know he’s got carte blanche, so.
ck for what is worth I tend to agree with what you are saying here. There is practically nothing that Obama (ie US) can do other than issue meaningless statements. I am also glad to here that you are not a WB settler. Your cold realism seemed at odds with settler fanatics.
Having said that my preference in meaningless statements would be those tending to give support to Baredei.
No one ever confused you with a leftist radical. You’re an historian manque who head is full of lofty sentiments from famous generals.
Thank you, syvanen. Don’t mean to be cold, and, as I was saying yesterday, maybe it’s a lot more cold, or inhuman, to think that anyone can just wrap things up in a bow. As for the Obami coming out and backing anyone too explicitly, like ElBaradei as you say, a week from now, or sooner, or later and worse – that open U.S. backing might do both the U.S. and ElBaradei more harm than good.
If Obama could just openly order Mubarak to step aside, then whoever took his place would be labeled, probably within minutes, and by many of the very same people who are right now attacking Obama, as the new U.S. stooge. In fact, that will probably happen anyway.
Off the top of my head: Obama can cut off HM’s funds, his escape, his support in the Army…
cut off HM’s funds? I heard that he has billions salted away. His escape? Why would they threaten to cut off his escape if their objective, under your scenario, is to get him to leave? His support in the army is majorly at issue, but the army includes numerous people put in place by HM and to greater and lesser extents implicated in HM’s government. So they have to dispose of HM, but also Soleiman… and so on… then there are figures like Lt Gen Enan… then the rest of the command… then the younger officers… then the question of just how bad things could get if the military split…
The theory is that the military needs HM to get out sooner rather than later, but who precisely is going to be left standing… or holding the bag? How to tell the difference – if you’re Egyptian General A, B, or C?
kapok, there’s no point in debating Obama’s groupies.
All the facts are staring them in the face, but they pretend as though this violence is contained in Egypt, for Egypt, by Egypt’s rulers.
This thread has two types of trolls, those who seek to deflect blame placed on Israel and those who seek to deflect blame from Obama and the US. Both have yet to explain WHY they think Mubarak is to blame for it all, despite the fact evidence shows otherwise.
Now, where did I hide my list of Jefferson quotes?
Why the need to personalize this discussion, Avi, or to label people, or for that matter to assign blame? Your empty assertions and assumptions are pointless static that mainly underline your unwillingness to think matters through or read carefully. Anyway, I thought you were going to “move on” to superior, less “banal” discussion.
This is the exact result the Zionists wanted. Wherever they impose their influence they sow, division, mistrust and violence. They did this in Lebanon, Mossad stirred the pot in Iran, they provoked division after the elections in the Palestinian Territories and prior to that by tacitly supporting Hamas at the beginning and now, they’re doing it in Egypt too.
Zionism is a curse on our prospects for peace in this world.
Right on, I personally sold them the camels for the charge on the square and then donated the profits to Saban to buy the Democratic Party.
I don’t think Saban needs your shekels. He trades in dollars and political capital.
Every cent helps. The camel trade is the secret Zionist weapon.
Oh, so you invented the camel too? Nice.
Obama’s speech last night featured the unusual spectacle of the US president bestowing lavish complements on the Egyptian armed forces for their ‘professionalism and patriotism.’ He invoked images of a love-in:
Afterward, I wondered about the direct military-to-military contacts which the US government had confirmed. Did Obama offer to keep the military aid flowing if the Egyptian armed forces would refrain from violence? Was Obama even softly hinting, without being able to say so explicitly, that the Egyptian military would step in to depose Mubarak and run a transition regime?
Even if one gives Obama the benefit of the doubt, today’s violence featuring old-school, unreconstructed thuggery by hooligans paid 100 Egyptian pounds to bust heads shows that Mubarak is an animal; an inveterate tyrant who governs solely by brute force state terror.
At this point, Obama can no longer hide behind euphemisms and statements of airy principle. Mubarak is an incorrigible violent criminal. A transition to democracy cannot be managed with his goon squads in the streets, cracking skulls and beating up the press.
If you don’t repudiate him, Barack, then you OWN him. He’s your despot, and those are your violent thugs.
Who needs to hint? That’s the elephant in the room and the implicit direction of events anyway – right down to the intensive fraternization between the protesters and the tank crews.
The main question is how far in front the military will have to be, but whether Mubarak hangs on for weeks, or is replaced by a “transitional” regime, the military will likely be the main institution holding Egypt together. Events like those today may provide a pretext for a coup or silent coup.
According to StratFor Lt. Gen. Enan, rumored so far mainly on the American right to be a potential strong-man successor acceptable to the MB and other actors, was in intensive discussions with his American counterparts prior to these events. Conspiracy-minded types will no doubt in future years assume that this whole thing was scripted. In some sense, it’s merely the actual character of the regime coming to the fore. And, given the lack of an identified leadership on the protester’s side, it’s difficult to imagine how else things will develop other than a complete breakdown of the state.
The Egyptian military appears to be trapped between incompatible objectives of not attacking protesters, but not interfering with the lawless Mubarak regime either. For example –
link to facebook.com
Aren’t almost all our contemporary dictatorships essentially forms of military rule with different kinds of front men – Dear Leaders, Presidents for Life, sacred monarchs, people elected on pretend ballots?
It is sometimes possible to ditch the front man and carry on, which I think is what has happened – or all that has happened so far – in Tunisia. The generals get very, very rich and intend to stay that way.
Hmm no wonder I tend to agree with you, I posted a similar analysis in the comments at walt.foreignpolicy today.
Don’t take the attacks here personally but your cool calculations tend to stir up feelings here — these threads tend to be more emotional (or as the hard headed reds of yesterday would say ‘idealistic’) taking their cue from the more emotive Phil Weiss.
gah! You two need to get a room. CK’s just another dweeb who read a glossy magazine at the dentist and now figures he’s an expert.
syvanen,
I don’t suppose you’ve ever worked with an international organization to realize the type of backroom wheeling and dealing that goes on behind the scenes between the representatives of one government or another, have you? I didn’t think so.
Your “analysis” is as credible as that offered by CNN’s various “experts”. I’ll be sure to link to this thread in the coming days when journalistic sources start to provide detailed accounts into what transpired this week. And like Kapok said, get a room. It’s nauseating.
Avi Actually my analysis failed to post over at the walt blog, my error above. What analysis are you talking about?
In any case there did occur here some weird kind of pack attack on CK Macleod for simply disagreeing with the attacks on Obama for not more forcefully denouncing Mubarak. And then accusing him of being a settler. And these were people that otherwise seem quite sensible.
Bully for you! You don’t need to brag to me even with sarcasm about your Zionist aspirations. You’re a blogging billboard for Zionism on this site.
The irony is that Zionists (thru Mossad) can whip up a revolution in Iran, and then with Obama and Hillary doing their dirty work, turn around and crush a revolution in Egypt.
You guys need to make up your mind. Either the “Zionists” are terrified from what is happening in Egypt or control it. Why can’t you keep an even keel? The uprising was not a done deal yesterday and is not over today. This is just the beginning. Be patient.
Are you completely unaware that Iran and Egypt are two separate countries, eee?
eee, when Sandy Tolan’s therapist returns to mondoweiss maybe he can diagnose Israel better, but I do believe fear and control go hand in hand. think about persons with anxiety and OCD, they go hand in hand.
I don’t trust Obama, but I don’t see anything in his speech – the one that is linked to at the start of this thread – that appears to support Mubarak or the status quo of his régime. In fact, the following comments appear to indicate entirely the opposite – that the status quo is non-functional and that transition to a democratic order mus begin immediately.
—————————————
… I want to commend the Egyptian military for the professionalism and patriotism that it has shown thus far in allowing peaceful protests while protecting the Egyptian people. … And going forward, I urge the military to continue its efforts to help ensure that this time of change is peaceful.
Second, we stand for universal values, including the rights of the Egyptian people to freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and the freedom to access information. … And going forward, the United States will continue to stand up for democracy and the universal rights that all human beings deserve, in Egypt and around the world.
Third, we have spoken out on behalf of the need for change. … The voices of the Egyptian people tell us that this is one of those moments; this is one of those times.
Now, it is not the role of any other country to determine Egypt’s leaders. Only the Egyptian people can do that. What is clear — and what I indicated tonight to President Mubarak — is my belief that an orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now.
Furthermore, the process must include a broad spectrum of Egyptian voices and opposition parties. It should lead to elections that are free and fair. And it should result in a government that’s not only grounded in democratic principles, but is also responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people.
—————————————
i agree eljay. i do not put it past mubarak to pull this off sans US support. it could very well be this is the dictators response to not getting the back up he wants. it seems to me a transition is inevitable and it makes more sense to me the US would position itself to have more influence in the future government than less. if the brutality was more widespread w/a larger force i might think differently but i don’t think there are enough thugs to control this revolution.
doesn’t mean there are not other actors involved/private security whatever. just not so clear this particular thuggery is fueled by the US.
sorry to be a party pooper.
I suspect the Obama Administration would have liked to support a replacement strongman, but things got out of their control. We don’t know what goes on behind the scenes–I would guess both sides are in a position to do a little bit of blackmail. For instance, the Egyptian security forces could reveal to what extent the US was directly involved in any torture they did on our behalf. Though in practice that’s a weapon they probably don’t want to use.
I think the Obama people are into Plan B –to pose as advocates of democracy, while hoping to be able to influence or pressure whoever does come into power to do what we tell them to do in foreign affairs.
This is all just my speculation. We’ll know the truth, maybe, several decades from now when documents are declassified.
Just to add to my speculating–it’s not that I think that the US is pro-democracy in any real sense. I just don’t think they can spin or handle what’s happening in Egypt the way they’ve been able to spin what they’ve done to the Palestinians. If they could they would.
Mubarak has gone rogue, THAT’S what’s happening behind the scenes.
And there’s not much the west can do about it cuz he’s got them by the balls with the Suez Canal keys dangling in front of them.
A couple of days ago, Obama warned Mubarak not to use force against peaceful demonstrators. Isn’t it time for him to speak out about the current violence? Or is it O.K. to hire thugs–just so long as the army isn’t involved…? Come on, Obama, man up!
“Netanyahu said that Israel expects any new government in Egypt to respect the peace treaty with Israel, and warned that Iran wants Egypt to turn into Gaza. He also stressed that Israel supports forces which advance freedom and peace, and opposes forces who promote terror and war.”
It was Israeli Jews who turned Gaza into Gaza. It was Israeli Jews who bombed it with white phosphorous. It is Israeli Jews who have driven 80% of the people onto a dependency on food aid. The hasbara is sickening.
Delusional ramblings, truly
Israel and freedom is a sick joke.
Israel and peace is another one
Netanyahu…… warned that Iran wants Egypt to turn into Gaza
??? i fail to see the logic in this statement. has iran been supporting mubarak all these years suppressing egyptians? is he saying the revolution was fueled by iran?
annie,
Netanyahu is placing the blame on Muslims, Al-Qaeda, radicalism, and Hamas. He is saying, if Egypt falls in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood, then Egypt along with the Egyptian people, will suffer the consequences of propping up such a government. C’mon, annie. ;)
Netanyahu is placing the blame on Muslims, Al-Qaeda, radicalism, and Hamas.
it sounded like an ‘all roads lead to iran statement’. like iran is lusting after egypt to fail. are people this gullible? sorry, i still find it to be a fantastical statement as if every bit of information goes thru contortions and comes out ‘ iran’.
Annie,
That is the exact same thing you guys do with Israel on here. If you can’t see the parallels your ideology has truly blinded you.
yonira, bib wants to bomb iran. there’s a tremendous amount of energy and money and hasbara fixated on bombing and demonizing iran.
israel on the other hand has been running a brutal occupation for decades. it’s lobbiests and supporters have been engaged in supporting a foreign policy of designed to prop up regimes surrounding it. i fail to see how one equates the other.
besides i’m sure you must know what we say here doesn’t have the impact of the PM blathering it all over the press.
so what do you think i have said that compares? that israel wants the regime to stay in place? whoa, conspiracy theory huh? or no brainer.
yonira, bib wants to bomb iran. there’s a tremendous amount of energy and money and hasbara fixated on bombing and demonizing iran.
Then he is a complete idiot, bombing Iran would be more detrimental to Israel than all of it’s wars combined.
Don’t you know? This is a VEILED threat. Although, on the surface he’s stating that Egypt’s new government may become radicalized, he’s really insinuating that if Egypt’s new government doesn’t tow the Israel line, Israel will turn Egypt into a “Gaza-like” state or another concentration camp. (Actually, Israel has already turned a vast majority of egypt into a ghetto, by propping up a dictator who has ruined his people.)
In other words, he’s telling the Egyptian people “be careful what you wish for…even if it’s freedom and democracy, ’cause we call the shots around here, and we’ll punish you for your choices”, while at the same time taking a shot at Iran, or killing two birds with one stone.
You have to know how the Zionist mind works. They like to be 2 steps ahead in the manipulation game.
The fixation with Iran is a joke. Without Iran thousands more American soldiers would be dead in Afghanistan and Iraq.
AIPAC needs to get a grip.
The Jewish people have no interest in picking a fight with Shia Islam.
Iran is responsible for the death of thousands of US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan seafoid.
Of course, because everybody knows that the Afghanis and the Iraqis just naturally love the US and don’t mind at all that we’ve invaded their countries and killed hundreds of thousands of them. They all greet us with flowers. Its only the evil Iranians who are doing the shooting. For someone who pretends to dislike conspiracy theories you’d think you wouldn’t fall for one so completely.
Bullshit, yonira. And frankly it’s insulting of you to capitalize on the deaths of American soldiers. Do you even know anyone in the military? You’ve already told us your circle of friends fled to join the IDF.
Iran has been remarkably reserved, considering the US army has been encircling their nation. They’ve actually offered to help, and it was your man Bush the Lesser who cut them out of the process.
Your beloved wiki-leaks proved the revolutionary guards meddling in in Iraq and Afghanistan. You are quite naive if you believe they aren’t responsible for any of the violence there.
Wait a minute. So now you swing from “They killed thousands of American soldiers!” to “You are quite naive if you believe they aren’t responsible for any of the violence there.”
Intellectual honesty. Look it up.
Please see the link below (just in case my reply with it to Chaos gets censored)
link to khaleejtimes.com
The US State Department also has documents claiming that Iraq purchased Nigerian uranium. I take it you still believe that too, yonira?
Your beloved wiki-leaks proved the revolutionary guards meddling in in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Proves nothing. Only proves someone wrote it.
Iran offered to help the US with Afghanistan in 2003, which Bush rebuffed. There is no love lost between Iran and Afghanistan. Iran doesn’t like their drug lords crossing its borders.
>> “Netanyahu … warned that Iran wants Egypt to turn into Gaza.”
It seems odd for ol’ Bibi to suggest that Iran wants Egypt to become a victim of Israeli aggression, oppression, land theft, colonization, destruction and murder.
Maybe the comment is just meant to distract from his burning desire to make Egypt just that. ;-)
The people in Tahrir Sq. say they captured 6 undercover policemen and 2 of them are being shown along with their ID cards on Jazeera Arabic. The fire that was started at the Cairo museum must have been put out because they stopped talking about it on TV. The stone throwing between the 2 groups at Tahrir is still ongoing.
Walid, how’s Lebanese TV treating the events in Egypt? Do you notice a difference in the way Christian-owned stations are handling the event compared with how Hizbollah or other stations are?
Avi, there are the pro-US stations that are practically ignoring the events in Egypt except during their newscasts and the not-so-pro-US stations that are providing almost 24-hour coverage and both categories of stations are made up of Christians and Muslims. Most of the time those providing the coverage are taking their feed from Jazeera and yesterday one of them, New-TV, was re-broadcasting Jazeera’s feed into Egypt out of solidarity with it because the Egyptian authorities had revoked Jazeera’s license and blamed it for having stirred up this demonstration. New-TV got a call from NileSat to quit this Jazeera re-broadcasting business into Egypt otherwise its own license would be revoked.
The Saudi-owned al-Arabia has also been providing 24-hour coverage but its focus has been on the pro-Mubarak point of view, of course. Most TV broadcasting from Egypt is pro-Mubarak and CNN International is busy trying to show a positive image of the US in all this mess. Al-Arabia is now saying that the pro-Mubarak group is occupying the center of Tahrir Sq. It depends which group you want to believe.
The repetitive Israel bashing does not serve much purpose, that failed experiment is rather insignificant, revulsive true, but insignificant.
Like an annoying hairball it will puked it out, one day.
The source of the misery should be searched among the thugs behind Mobama.
Not necessarily among ChristoZio srewheads, but wider rings of thugs.
We live yet, not during the mayhem of war, destruction, despotism and fear, but still able and free in democratic societies.
It is quite easy to find the culprits; information has never been so abundant.
This time for sure No One in the western world can rightfully excuse themselve with,
“Ich habe es nicht gewust”
We are totally responsible.
Don’t lecture me about Israel-bashing. That nonsenses is old. Israel is not untouchable. And as an Israeli, I think I’ve earned the right to say whatever the f**** I want about it, verstehen?
White House press conference:
Q: Does the President think Mubarak is a dictator?
Gibbs: We think President Mubarak has a chance to show the world who he is by beginning this transition to democracy now.
————
Absolutely damning. ABC, CNN, NYT correspondents are all calling today’s violence a brutal siege by government-sponsored thugs … while Obama’s spokesman says Mubarak can lead a transition to democracy.
Absolutely damning. Our regime is not that different than Egypt’s; just better disguised behind the facade of ‘stable’ managed duopoly.
Anyone who was protesting Bush’s Iraq invasion in Feb. 2003 knows this. Snarling NYC cops herded us into ‘protest pens,’ while Bloomberg’s black-clad snipers aimed automatic weapons at us from Manhattan rooftops.
Free country? Think twice. Watch Obama’s actions in real time. The handwriting is on the wall. It reads, ‘Prison planet.’
Do you really think Obama gave Mubarak a green light? Do you think thati is what Wizner was set over to say? I think Mubarak basically said “you do not own me” Although Israel has to be tickled pink with his VP pick and his middle finger up in the air.
Some observatios from watching CNN, MSNBC, Fox, Cspan for four days.
Jamie Rubin seems to the appointed spokesperson for Israel. Everytime he speaks he brings up bad bad bad Iran. Also keeps repeatig that El Baradei does not have the name on the Egyptian streets. Undermining El Baradei.
Richard Engel also seems to be undermining El Baradei.
Zbiniew Bryzinski (sp?) was on Morning Joe the other day. As is almost always the case he made so much sense. Talked about Mubarak’s history. How there needed to be a round table, a respectful way for Mubarak to step down. Wish we heard from him more often on the evening programs.
The MSM keeps bringing up protest in Yemen, Algeria, Jordan, etc but absolutely NO MENTION NOT EVEN A WHISPER ABOUT THE PROTEST THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE AND CONTINUE TO TAKE PLACE IN PALESTINE.
No mention of how Mubarak’s support for Israel and the U.S. has PROVIDED COVER FOR ISRAELS ONGOING ILLEGAL EXPANSION OF ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS. NOTHING
Andrea Mitchell, Richard Haas, Engel, others bringing up the Gaza. NOTHING ABOUT THE WEST BANK AND ILLEGAL SETTTLEMENTS.
The other day Andrea Mitchell said this about the Egyptian protest “all they want is freedom and accessibility” She is incabalble of extending that stance to Palestinians
If only Rachel Maddow were really committed to what she says she is about on her adds for her program “devotion to facts that borders on obsession” except when it comes to Iran and the Palestinians.
The other day Washington Journal put up the map of the middle east with Israel and their map of the West Bank. Not the reallity the West Bank with all illegal settlements breaking up the continuity of the West Bank. So manipulative. So dishonest
Cenk at the 6;00 p.m. MSNBC spot is getting the closest to the truth. He did an amazing segmet on the now VP of Egypt. Torture, rendition. Mentioned Jane Mayer’s new piece in the New Yorker about Suliman (sp?)
So clear that there is one issue that is not covered by all stations Fox, MSNBC, Fox, CNN including CSPAN. Do not mention Palestinian protest. Silence
Rachel Maddow is a waste of space. Gaza lesbians depend on international food aid.
Hey all you twitter folks. Anyway to start a mass chant coming from the international crowd just repeating PEACEFUL PEACEFUL PEACEFUL
Should be music to Police ears troubled by the prospect of civilians fighting back.
This was a Mubarak/Suleiman-inspired AMBUSH perpetrated by armed to the teeth thugs on horses, camels and vehicles upon protesters who to this date were protesting peacefully.
And we have our spineless, Lobby-inspired government to thank for it.
The camels are innocent
My advice to the protesters. You tried it peacefully and that’s real admirable, but in a real revolution you have to storm the palace, grab the tyrant and drag him through the streets by his dyed hair.
Here’s the thing, the American Revolution would never yield the results it yielded without bloodshed.
Revolutions are not pretty. They require courage, persistence and strength. We can profess our undying allegiance to non-violent protest, but just look at the Palestinian situation, they are being injured, killed and thrown in prison for protesting peacefully.
In the real world freedom from oppression will never come through peaceful protest especially if the thugs are nuclear-armed Zionists who have the world cowering and groveling at their feet while they oppress and imprison the Palestinians, Egyptians and make war on Lebanon repeatedly and threaten Iran with nuclear war.
I just want to say that I’ve been anti-violence all my life, but I see no way out of this but to fight fire with fire now, when world leaders just sit around and give people who are suffering for decades nothing but lip-service.
Before you judge me, answer this: If Clinton hadn’t b0mbed the chit out of Serbia, would they have stopped their cleansing and genocide, and would Kosovo be an independent state today?
The problem is not with us, but with our Leaders who wait and do nothing while rampant injustice is being perpetrated and then the only remaining solution becomes violence and war. Sorry.
NYT’s lede paragraph in an article posted this afternoon:
link to nytimes.com
It goes on to state:
Events have overtaken Obama’s stance. It’s no longer tenable to fantasize that Mubarak can manage a transition to democracy, while his thugs are cracking skulls and state TV is pumping out propaganda smearing protesters as criminals, traitors and foreign agents.
How can a free election take place under a regime which is still employing heavy-handed intimidation to crush popular resistance?
Obama needs to say plainly that Mubarak is unqualified to manage a free and fair election. If Obama can’t or won’t do so, it will send a powerful and unmistakable message about the nature of the US government.
Gallery of the camel raids in Meydan Tahrir:
link to repubblica.it
Any Italian speakers see a way to make that gallery full-screen?
I don’t see what the point of this is. Mubarak will be gone by the end of Feb.
Obama’s Cairo speech seems so far away now.
I think of him now in that clip from VR’s Pacifying Resistance video.
The camel raid again; youtube of the CNN coverage:
link to youtube.com
Sorry, Sumud. What you see is what you get.
Thanks Shmuel.
William Hague, UK foreign secretary, gives the dithering Obama administration a lesson in plain speaking:
link to guardian.co.uk
Obviously there has been state-sponsored violence on a grand scale. So evidently the UK government is preparing to pull the plug on Mubarak, and denounce him as unsuitable to lead the transition.
David Cameron was even more unequivocal:
Also, I watched Anderson Cooper tonight – he repeated over and over that it was “pro-Mubarak thugs” who beat the crap out of him and his news team today.
Game’s up for Mubarak & crew — they overplayed their hand very, very crudely and stupidly.
i agree. everyone on the establishment news has no doubt about this
There was a time when I wanted Hague crushed (by Blair! O mi God) because of what seemed to me his highly illiberal views on immigration. But Hague does seem to be showing some signs of decency in respect of the ME. He used the word ‘disproportionate’ as I recall about the Gaza onslaught and was threatened with loss of donations to the Conservative Party. If he reacted to this with the scorn that Obama never shows I think I owe him an apology.
Obama’s emissary to Egypt yesterday to visit with Muburak —
Frank G. Wisner:
Wisner was until recently Vice Chairman of American International Group (AIG).
Check him out at wiki – a lifelong career diplomat…
Wisner is married to Christine de Ganay (former wife of Pal Sarkozy and former stepmother of French president Nicolas Sarkozy), and they have four children.
His father Frank Wisner was a founding figure and head of the Directorate of Plans of the Central Intelligence Agency during the 1950s. Committed suicide 10//19/1965.
link to en.wikipedia.org
His father’s info is at link to en.wikipedia.org
dots connected? Corrupt? Stinky? I dunno. What do you think?
1. July 2005
Egypt-Israel sign 15 year gas deal
.
2. Feb 7, 2010 Court decided Egypt must sell gas to Israel, despite protest of the people
:link to jpost.com
3. August 24, 2010
4. September 24 2010
amazing post pg
OT but important: to our American friends,
Comments from Link TV about a simulcasting for about 12 hours a day of live Al-Jazeera coverage to about 33 million of nearly 116 million homes with televisions in the USA. Al Jazeera coverage on its DirecTV satellite channel (owned by a Mr. Rupert Murdoch), which for those of you with DirecTV is on channel 375:
From their website:
ALERT (2/2/11) – Programming will be interrupted by a LIVE broadcast of Al Jazeera English during these times:
2:00pm – 2:30pm PT
4:00pm – 4:30pm PT
5:00pm – 7:30pm PT
DISH Ch. 9410 & DirecTV Ch. 375
thank you! i’ll go check it out now
from a blog in the above link to youm7.com
Run it through Google Translator. Fascinating read.
I doubt seriously if the US is behind this crackdown.
If anything, I would suspect that US policy at present is to get rid of Mubarak as quickly as possible and replace him with someone as pliant, yet with a more acceptable public face–perhaps akin to replacing Bush with Obama. The Mubarak brand is ruined and the US knows it.
It isn’t that the US behind it more so than the US is going to stand aside and let Mubarak do “whatever it takes” to restore status quo. I don’t think you should count out the notion that Obama and his cadre are just praying this whole democratic revolution thing just blows over and he can get back to business shipping more tear gas canisters and ammo, just like he did to replace Israel’s military stocks when they exhausted them leveling hospitals and setting fire to schools.
They paid for HM’s army. I doubt seriously they aren’t.
I would suspect that US policy at present is to get rid of Mubarak as quickly as possible and replace him with someone as pliant, yet with a more acceptable public face–perhaps akin to replacing Bush with Obama. The Mubarak brand is ruined and the US knows it.
well stated. i think they are still in denial. crowley keeps mentioning how hilary spoke w/VP suleiman about this and suleiman about that and again VP sulieman and no, it won’t be sulieman. the suleiman brand is ruined too and the US doesn’t know it yet, or at least that’s what they act like.
salve Avi
“Don’t lecture me about Israel-bashing. That nonsenses is old. Israel is not untouchable. And as an Israeli, I think I’ve earned the right to say whatever the f**** I want about it, verstehen?”
no specific interest in taking away any Godgiven right
Ergo, what makes you think you are the center of the universe? Who was lecturing whom? Or had specifically You in mind?
That changes all of a sudden now, German is not my mother tongue nor is English or Icelandic but show some respect when you use a foreign language, be it, if only for yourself.
“Verstehen?” (Understood? with questionmark, the inquiry into an accomplished process) should be “verstanden?” (short for “hast du” or Haben sie” verstanden?) past participle of the verb verstehen.
Only the French are allowed such sloppy arrogant boorishness, compris?
After lecture now, I use smoke-ware sparingly; preferably to enhance gesticulation, so please if possible don’t inhale.
You may ziocentrically have overlooked one or two interpretations of a message.
S.P.D.
So you’re a bigot, too? Who woulda thunk it? I’m shocked. Shocked.
יש מעט עברית למדתי מטלוויזיה
סתום את הפה
That first sentence was good, right?
Proposal to meet on horseback, somewhere between two continents, personal vendettas have no place here, not on this level anyway.
Holy sh*t — the NYT’s stenographers have just posted an article, evidently dictated directly from the White House, which casts today’s events in a totally different light. Avert your lying eyes and avail yourself of the occult truth:
————
WASHINGTON — After days of delicate public and private diplomacy, the United States openly broke with its most stalwart ally in the Arab world on Wednesday, as the Obama administration strongly condemned violence by allies of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt against protesters and called on him to speed up his exit from power.
The Obama administration seemed determined Wednesday to put as much daylight as possible between Mr. Obama and Mr. Mubarak, once considered an unshakable American supporter in a tumultuous region, with Mr. Gibbs once again raising the specter of a cutoff of American aid to the Mubarak government if the Egyptian president failed to bend.
The open rupture between the United States and Egypt illustrates how swift and dramatic changes in Cairo are altering the calculus of the entire region and the administration’s foreign policy agenda. As evidence of how far the rift has gone, a senior Egyptian official reached out to a reporter to criticize Mr. Obama’s remarks. For the Obama administration and the Egyptian government, the flip from allies to open confrontation has been fast.
After watching Mr. Mubarak’s statement — in which he fell far short of sweeping reform — Mr. Obama decided to toughen his own language further, demanding that change began immediately. “The language was crafted after he spoke,” a senior administration official said.
link to nytimes.com
————
How did we miss this, comrades? Evidently diplomatic exchanges are conducted in subtle, between-the-lines code which goes right over the heads of uninitiated observers.
Far from being a wimp or a collaborator, President Obama has been revealed as a tough-as-nails stalwart of Jeffersonian democracy, staring down one of the world’s toughest dictators.
This message has been brought to you by Operation Mockingbird, celebrating its 60th year of the nation’s press serving the interests of its people.
link to en.wikipedia.org
thank you jim, this was as i thought it was. i actually believed obama’s words.
caveat, let’s hope he’s not humping sulieman.
i think this could be an obama moment. payback time israel. you f’cked w/him he owes you nada.
I agree with Angry Arab that Obama is trying to play both sides.
ANNIE- Sorry to pierce your bubble, but as Noam Chomsky has indicated on multiple posts recently (Znet & Dandelion Salad), Obama is following a time worn script. The US supports its favored dictator for as long as possible, then when it becomes apparent that the said dictator has lost control, does a 180 degree turn, dumps the guy claiming the US supports human rights, democracy, etc, then seeks to install a clone regime. Obama is a corporate flack, nothing more and nothing less. Don’t delude yourself, this is a page out of the realpolitik playbook, pure and simple.
yeah, i’m not a cheap date
i agree w/seham, he’s playing both sides. nonetheless he’s not (imho) gonna make any moves exposing himself as a hypocrite. he made the speech to the ME in cairo, he humped freedom. he humped democracy in cairo.
this could be his legacy. he tried to make it i/p ‘peace process’ because thats the enchilada (don’t we all know) but this is out of his hands. the train left the station and it’s bigger than obama. chances are we may vey well have a palin clone in ’12. we’ve got 2 years. all we need is him to ride w/the tide while braver people ride the big wave. he’s not an idiot. the neocons (no, i don’t believe he is a neocon) want the caldron of fire. we’re not going to get everything we want but we can get mileage here if he rides the wave.
if this was cheney special forces from africa might be arriving in cairo en mass. they’re not. sometimes doing just a little is doing a lot. not impeding egyptian democracy is doing a lot. he’s balancing being israels ‘best friend’ while staying under the radar re israel.
did you read phyllis bennis’s mondo post yesterday?
move w/history, just stay w/the wave and don’t fall off, try to control, or ride against it. that would be quite an accomplishment for america.
Well just to clarify, I was laying the irony on thick. If this article can be taken at face value, then the joke’s on me. Looks like a case of using the NYT to do a little post facto, Congressional Record style editing, revision and reinforcement of remarks … as in,
‘I, too, oppose the discredited dictator.’
Don’t we all, Mr. President, don’t we all!
Maybe the White House read Colonel Lang’s claim that HM is leaving Friday, and are positioning themselves to take credit for it. It costs nothing to throw a string of spaghetti against the wall and see whether it sticks. Bush I was the liberator of Kuwait, so why shouldn’t Obama be the Liberator of Egypt?
FWIW – CNN/Peter King reporting that American messages are now going straight to the military saying cut loose Mubarak/stand down the thugs or lose everything.
Oops – John King not Peter King
sweeeet.
not so sweet necessarily… may just mean that the military consolidates power… and presumes that Obama et al and (enough of) the people will be grateful to it for whatever choreographed exit for Mubarak it achieves…
opposition entities that have to be included in the conversations as we move toward free and fair elections.”
breathe breathe breathe
AHHHHHHH
Due respect to gen S. A. McChrystal
For his brilliant personal exit strategy from an impossible situation
(the captain would otherwise not have been permitted to abandon the sinking ship).
Honour to the Tunesian General Rachid Ammar, who refused to obey the orders of Ben(thug)Ali to open fire at the Tunisian population.
Who is said to have hung his helicopter above snipers to dissuade them from shooting civilians
Was fortunate enough not to step into the aircraft that took the higher echelon down, and is not known for misuse of authority towards personal gain.
link to nato.int