Live: Al Jazeera coverage of Egypt’s growing revolution

[nathan28]

I agree with this article, and say that my gut tells me this isn't "some secret CIA plot to destabilize and topple Mubarak".

In fact these uprisings are happening right now, all over the globe...be it a few thousand in the street or millions taking the street. But it's happening everywhere
from Algeria and Lebanon to Chile and Thailand:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php? ... &aid=22963

Perhaps though, perhaps...there are forces above merely "Western powers" that feed off of chaos and want to see a galvanized transformative period, especially as we head into "2012".

Or, people have finally had enough...and the elite are having an "oh shit" moment.

Also, when will these Sunni militant groups realize they are extremely beneficial to(if not the outright pawns of) the very "corrupt corporate" powers they claim to be fighting.

ACTUALLY READ THE GODDAMN FUCKING CABLES

While my ears listened to Mubarak on AJ, my eyes were skimming this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ising.html

Egypt protests: America's secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising

[bald-faced editorializing]...The disclosures, contained in previously secret US diplomatic dispatches released by the WikiLeaks website...[bald-faced editorializing]

http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2008/12/08CAIRO2572.html

XXXXXXXXXXXX contended that the GOE will never
undertake significant reform, and therefore, Egyptians
need to replace the current regime with a parliamentary
democracy. He alleged that several opposition parties and
movements have accepted an unwritten plan for democratic
transition by 2011; we are doubtful of this claim. XXXXXXXXXXXX
said that although SSIS recently released two April 6
activists, it also arrested three additional group members.
We have pressed the MFA for the release of these April 6
activists. April 6's stated goal of replacing the current
regime with a parliamentary democracy prior to the 2011
presidential elections is highly unrealistic, and is not
supported by the mainstream opposition. End summary and
comment.

Let's try that again:

"we are doubtful... highly unrealistic"

So what was the State Dep't's reason for protecting this character, then? What did they do three weeks later?

They sent a bunch of Egyptian cops to "human" (i.e., civil) rights boot camp. Wait, that must just have been planted by the CIA to mislead me, along with the dozens of lines in the cables which seem preeminently concerned with police abuses, Iran, Gaza and not too interested about much else.

http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/01/09CAIRO37.html

SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VETTING APPROVAL FOR GOE
PARTICIPATION IN COESPU TRAINING

¶1. (U) This is an action request.

¶2. (U) Post requests the Department's assistance in vetting
the following security officials from the Egyptian Central
Security Force and Special Operations Force, who have been
selected to participate in COESPU training courses in
Vicenza, Italy January 12 - February 13 and January 19 -
February 13, pursuant to the Leahy Amendment and Foreign
Assistance Act. Post has no derogatory information.

¶3. (U) Middle Management Course, January 12 - February 13
[list of cops]

CAIRO REQUEST FOR LEAHY HUMAN RIGHTS VETTING - 99423 2010-01-20
A/S POSNER PRESSES GOE ON POLICE BRUTALITY, NGO 2010-01-31
CAIRO REQUEST FOR LEAHY HUMAN RIGHTS VETTING - 99488 THRU 2010-02-02
CAIRO REQUEST FOR LEAHY HUMAN RIGHTS VETTING - 99533 THRU 2010-02-08
INFORMATION ON CHILD LABOR AND FORCED LABOR 2010-02-16
DEMARCHE DELIVERED: MARCH UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL SESSION 2010-02-25

http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/01/09CAIRO79.html

¶1. (C) Summary and comment: Police brutality in Egypt against common criminals is routine and pervasive...The GOE has not yet made a serious effort to transform the police from an instrument of regime power into a public service institution. We want to continue a USG-funded police training program (ref F), and to look for other ways to help the GOE address police brutality. End summary and comment...

...contacts believe that the Interior Ministry lacks the political will to take substantive action to change the culture of police brutality...

http://wikileaks.ch/cable/2010/02/10CAIRO213.html

-- (C) Human rights activist XXXXXXXXXXXX told us February 10 he
believes the top USG human rights priority in Egypt should be
diplomatic approaches to urge the GOE to combat torture. He
recommended quiet diplomacy over public statements...

...XXXXXXXXXXX's suggestions, which focus on trying to change
the GOE's political will through diplomacy, differ from
other activists' recommendations for legislative changes to broaden
the definition of torture (the law defines torture only in the
context of extracting confessions) and increase the penalties. In
response to USG approaches on specific torture cases, the Interior
Ministry has been defensive and has claimed that police brutality
is highly unusual (reftels). In the MOI's authoritarian power
structure, an order from senior officials regarding police
brutality could have a significant impact. End comment.

¶3. (C) On February 10, XXXXXXXXXXXX urged the U.S. to focus on quiet diplomatic approaches to the GOE on combating torture as our top human rights priority. XXXXXXXXXXXX believed such diplomacy would be more successful than efforts on other human rights issues...

Well, you could keep looking and find that the US had "contacts" among the dissidents in Egypt--but what is the pressing issue that's so important it's stamped SECRET? It's that the US recruited contacts to have inside information on human rights issues, i.e., police abuses.

So, keep up your nightmare parade of OMGCIA if you want, but it's just that, a nightmare.

[23]

An interesting development.

Looters were caught with central security ID on their person.

Who would've thought, eh?

[Jeff]

It's the Nobody moves or the mummies get it gambit.

23, is there a link for that report yet?

[23]

That assertion is repeatedly being made by some interviewees on AJ.

Didn't take their names down. I have AJ constantly on in the background in my home, as I attend to errands.

Does this help, though?

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/ ... t-protests

(excerpted)

7:38pm Ayman Mohyeldin reports that eyewitnesses have said "party thugs" associated with the Egyptian regime's Central Security Services - in plainclothes but bearing government-issued weapons - have been looting in Cairo. Ayman says the reports started off as isolated accounts but are now growing in number.

[nathan28]

By the grace of Joseph Stalin, it looks like a fellow-traveller has the same thing to say:

Saturday, January 29, 2011
In the insultingly bad propaganda category... posted by lenin


This in the Daily Telegraph, more for the spin than the unremarkable 'disclosure’:

Here is the secret document sent from the US Embassy in Cairo to Washington disclosing the extent of American support for the protesters behind the Egypt uprising...

As you'll discover upon looking at the document, the 'extent of American support' for these protesters is nil. The document is a State Department memo describing, in terms dripping with condescension and contempt, the claims of a coopted member of a pro-US 'April 6' group who is obviously on the outside of the opposition mainstream and who they regard as a bit of a Walter Mitty. The US supplied Mubarak and his security forces with at least $1.5bn last year. Egypt is the second largest recipient of US overseas aid, not only in the region but in the world. This is mostly military aid, used primarily for internal security. The weapons being used against protesters, which have killed dozens – an estimated 95 people - so far, are produced in and supplied by the United States. Even today, when the protests are on, the US is not claiming to support the overthrow of the man whom they have so lavishly spoiled. Anyone – and I do mean anyone - who believes the Telegraph’s propaganda is a pure sap.

http://leninology.blogspot.com/2011/01/in-insultingly-bad-propaganda-category.html

[alwyn]

from amnesty international today: Thirty years of repression is spilling out onto the streets of Egypt in the forms of tear-gas, blood and bitter demonstrations.

For four days, Egyptian protestors have suffered at the hands of President Mubarak's security forces.

At least 14 protestors have been killed and scores more have been injured. The crackdown on freedoms is intensifying as authorities have cut all Internet and phone communications.

There's no telling how long the violence will continue or how many people will suffer in the end.

The number one request we're hearing from our fellow Egyptian activists is to have their voices heard at various Egyptian embassies and consulates.

We intend to do all we can to make that happen, but Egyptian authorities are making it very difficult.


Our emails are not getting through and it will take far too long for our letters to reach anyone who can make a difference.

That is why we're asking you to place an urgent call to the Egyptian embassy (202) 895-5400 and dial "1" to speak to a real person about the State of Emergency in Egypt.

Ask the person who answers the call to pass on this important message – and don't take "no" for an answer:

"Please urge the Egyptian government to respect human rights, rein in the security forces, and restore access to all communications in Egypt."

Help us make the Egyptian embassy's phone ring off the hook!

[nathan28]

China blocks "Egypt" from all search engines under its auspices, according to Falun Gong's Epoch Times.

CNN's live coverage is reporting that police are withdrawing from the streets.

[nathan28]

It's the Nobody moves or the mummies get it gambit.

23, is there a link for that report yet?

Let the dead bury the dead.

[23]

The ole problem > reaction > solution ploy is afoot, me thinks.

Remove police (maintainers of order) > havoc and chaos ensues > return with strong force to re-establish "stability".

Familiar ploy, with some degree of success.

[nathan28]

No.

How can "chaos and havoc ensue[]"? The effort to deploy the military yesterday appears to have faltered, and mistaken the sympathies of the enlisted. The police were the ones engaging in violence, not the protesters. Dimes to donuts says the crowds in Cairo are pinnacles of anarchist-style spontaneous organization ATM. I'd be surprised if they don't have people handing out water and prepping food and tending to the wounded. Call that "chaos and havoc", but nobody said ousting Mubarek was going to be a restrained tea party.

[Gnomad]

They do organize water and food and care, according to what I listened on Al Jazeera yesterday, and some reports I read (don't remember where). The police were the violence, and apparently fielding the army was a two-edged sword, for many of them side with the protesters.

[vanlose kid]

Locating the Protests in Cairo
A map of some of the places where protesters rioted and clashed with the police on Friday.

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/flash/n ... index.html

*



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[vanlose kid]

11.24pm: AFP says the death toll from five days of protests has reached 102.

10.58pm: AP and Al Jazeera report that 19 private jets carrying families of wealthy businessmen have left Cairo for Dubai.

...

10.16pm: Reuters has a Q&A on what might happen next:

Will the appointment of a vice-president end the unrest?
Mubarak's decision to pick Suleiman gave a clear indication that the Egyptian leader understands the magnitude of the social and political upheaval that has gripped his country.
Five days of unrest have forced Mubarak to make the long-delayed move of picking a deputy, signalling that his days in power may be numbered and that he may not run in a presidential election scheduled for September.
With protests keeping the momentum and his army and police failing to quell running battles in the streets, the pressure seems to have grown on the 82-old president from allies and aides to prepare for a transition.
Mubarak's legitimacy has all but evaporated under the overwhelming unrest in which 74 people have been killed and more than 2,000 injured.
It has also diminished the probability that he or his son Gamal, who has been lined up as a possible contender, would run in this year's presidential election.
"Mubarak has been damaged. I can't see how this is not the beginning of the end of Mubarak's presidency," said Jon Alterman, Director of the Middle East Programme for the Center of International Studies.
"It seems that his task now is to try and manage the transition past his leadership. I have a hard time believing that he will be the president in a year."
So far protesters responded to the announcement by stepping up anti-government demonstrators.
Witnesses reported seeing looters ransacking and setting public buildings on fire. Nothing less than Mubarak stepping down can quell the unrest, some said.
"The story of Gamal and Mubarak is over. Now, the regime is looking for who will rescue it. Mubarak, Omar Suleiman and Ahmed Shafiq know each other on a personal level," said Safwat Zayat, a military analyst.
"Their task in the coming months would be to ensure Mubarak's safety until the end of his reign. They will reorganise the regime's internal affairs."

What might happen on the streets?
The army has deployed tanks and troops alongside police forces but has so far refrained from using force.
Security forces however have warned that they could resort to tougher measures to impose order.
They said that those arrested carrying out acts of vandalism would be tried in military court.

Is this the beginning of the end for Mubarak?
The revolt is the most serious challenge to the Egyptian government since the 1952 coup that ended monarchy and inaugurated a procession of military strongmen.
It has shaken the government to its core, sent shock waves across the Middle East and alarmed Western and regional allies.
Mubarak's nomination of an influential military figure with strong diplomatic credentials as his possible successor speaks volumes about the authorities' resolve to ensure that power stays in the hands of military and security institutions.
Mubarak also secured the much-needed support from the army.
"Mubarak is gone, because of his illness, because of his age and because of what happened now in Egypt," said Bassma Kodmani, the head of Arab Reform initiative.
"This man will be gone by September 2011. He is not an option and everyone knows that and his inner circle knows that.
"Mubarak is buying time. He needs to buy time to provide the needed minimum stability and control of the country to allow for an orderly transition."

What did he learn from Tunisia?
Neither Mubarak nor his close aides, including Suleiman, want to see a Tunisia-style exit.
When Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali appeared on television after weeks of rioting, those watching the address said fear appeared to be his dominant emotion.
When Mubarak appeared on TV on Friday, the contrast could not be greater. His was a poised and confident performance. Yet, it did little to calm tens of thousands of protesters.
Seeking to avoid appearing weak, Mubarak delivered a tough message and showed his resolve to stay in power.
The message involved giving the military full control and acknowledging people's economic frustrations, as well as promises to help the poor and introduce political reform.
"Ben Ali made concessions and a day later he was out of the country. He didn't want to make the same mistakes. The regime has broader support than Ben Ali had in the last days," said Alterman.
"The military in Tunisia not only didn't defend the president but they helped push him out of the country. In Egypt, the military rather than push Mubarak is his next line of defence," he said.
"The appointment of Omar Suleiman is intended to send a message that if Hosni Mubarak leaves, the regime remains in place. It is not intended to mollify (the protesters). It is intended to show resolve."

9.46pm: Reuters reports that police shot dead 17 people trying to attack two police stations in Beni Suef governorate, according to witnesses and medical sources. Twelve of those shot were attempting to attack a police station in Biba while five others were trying to attack another in Nasser city. Dozens of others were injured in the exchanges.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/ja ... -live-blog

*

[vanlose kid]

Fearless protesters challenge regimes around Middle East
The toppling of Tunisia's president is having a ricochet effect across the Arab world with demonstrators trading fear for solidarity.


By Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times
January 30, 2011

Reporting from Tunis, Tunisia — A wall of fear has come down.

Across the Arab world, people living under the thumb of repressive leaders are rising up against the rulers who once seemed omnipotent.

They are using the Internet to network and spread the word. They are watching themselves on satellite television. They are drawing strength from the hyperactive energy of the frustrated young people dismissed and discarded by their governments.
It is a contagious spirit.

"I lost all the fear when I saw people killed by cops during the demonstrations," said Ahmad Chibel, a 30-year-old technology consultant who took part in the protests that overthrew Tunisian strongman Zine el Abidine ben Ali. "I had courage when I saw people on the streets. I lost all the fear because I felt the rage of the people and saw the brutality of the police."

They are not quite sure what they want. But from North Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, they know they want change. And their wrath and their courage are creating a new form of Arab unity.

"It's like a transition moment in the Arab world," said Mohammed Abu Rumman, a political researcher at the University of Jordan, in Amman, where protests erupted Friday. "It's the influence of the Tunisian domino, and it will not stop. It will go to other Arab states."

The uprisings are having a ricochet effect across the Arab world. People are watching the events unfolding on television and Facebook and identifying with the people in the streets.

"I was with my friends on Facebook, and we encouraged each other," said Dali ben Salem, a 25-year-old intern at a pharmacy in Tunis. "The solidarity helped me to face the fear."

And whether or not Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak manages to survive what one analyst called a political "tsunami" that is enveloping the Arab world, things will never return to normal, analysts said.

"It's political challenge to autocratic systems that have degraded and dehumanized people and humiliated them to the point where they just can't take it anymore and they finally started to erupt," said Rami Khouri, a commentator and analyst affiliated with the American University of Beirut. "That's combined with intense social and economic pressures and disparities which are accentuated by the lavish lifestyles of the rich who made their money by being close to the regime."

Opposition activists, human rights advocates and international bodies such as the United Nations have for years warned that the continued social and political stagnation in the Arab world would create the conditions for a social explosion. Prodded by the U.S. and the European Union, some of the regimes have made halfhearted efforts at reform.

But many consider it all too little too late. They are already comparing 2011 to 1989, the year authoritarian regimes of the former Soviet Union began to collapse. The wall has come down. Like the youths who braved the truncheons of the Stasi henchmen in Dresden and Leipzig more than 20 years ago, they are making a stand with generational repercussions.

"It's a revolution, a democratic revolution that we were supposed to have experienced 20 years ago," said Abdullah Faqih, a political scientist in Sana, the capital of Yemen, where large and mostly peaceful protests have broken out against the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Perplexing some analysts, the uprisings are unfolding in a region that has in recent years experienced broad economic improvements and rising standards of living, at least as far as official numbers. But in countries such as Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria, many have long complained that the growth has been uneven, benefiting a select few while leaving many behind.

But most see in the uprisings something more than just worries about material gain. There's the perception of injustice and mistreatment.

"It isn't just about the economy," said Charles Dunbar, a former U.S. diplomat to the Middle East. "It's just general anger."

The anger is now threatening to overwhelm Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt for nearly 30 years and remains one of Washington's strongest allies in the region.

Analysts say the regimes have risked it all by ignoring the warning cries of their reformers, who have long beseeched them to change their ways before it was too late. They were ignored. Even after the Tunisia uprising ousted Ben Ali, and observers began speculating about the possibility of uprisings in other countries, Egyptian officials insisted it wouldn't happen in their country. They were wrong.

"They have strongly underestimated the anger and frustration on the true Arab street," said Firas Atraqchi, an Egyptian Canadian journalist and a professor at the American University in Cairo. "This is the silent majority that are no longer silent."

As in Tunisia, the traditional opposition groups are playing a secondary role in the uprisings, even rushing to catch up. Tunis' Nahda, an Islamist party, appears to have played absolutely no role in the uprisings. Muslim Brotherhood branches in Egypt and Jordan appear to be at least two steps behind the protesters.

And young people, long derided as apolitical and apathetic, are racing ahead, redefining themselves, creating a new political consciousness built around Facebook instead of a political leader or ideology and demanding nothing short of a toppling of the regime and the downfall of the ruling elite.

Western officials reflexively fear Middle East revolutions, in part because of Iran's 1979 uprising that established the Islamic Republic, a source of extremist ideology throughout the region. But many of the Arab world's Islamists don't tout the Iranian model.

Instead, they point to Turkey's example, where a moderately Islamist political party untainted by corruption has improved the economy and increased the country's international influence while expanding democratic participation.

Popular uprisings aren't guaranteed victory. Hungarians chafing against Soviet rule in 1956 and Iranians protesting political repression in 2009 lost their fear, only to be beaten back into submission by repressive regimes that gave no ground.

But observers in the Arab world say the Tunisian role model did not inspire just because it led to Ben Ali's departure, but because it also provided a potential road map toward real democracy.

Abu Rumman explained: "The Arabs began to understand that they could reach democracy by going to the street."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... full.story

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[Joe Hillshoist]

The ole problem > reaction > solution ploy is afoot, me thinks.

Remove police (maintainers of order) > havoc and chaos ensues > return with strong force to re-establish "stability".

Familiar ploy, with some degree of success.

'cept it seems that in Egypt the crowds are organising neighbourhood watch committees in shifts and street patrols to stop that sort of thing.

There seems less chaos and havoc now the coppers have left the streets.

Just noticed your post vanlose, from what i have seen this morning on twatter the appointment of a VP means abvsolutely sweet FA to the people on the street. the only thing thats gonna bring them off the street is an end to Mubarak's rule.

Honestly I get the impression he's already gone (not literally left Egypt yet). It just seems to me that something changed in the vibe from twitter and a couple of other feeds overnight. Mubarak is finished whether he realises it or not I reckon. It still might take some time, but he is gone.

What happens next will probably be a battle between international interests and Egyptian ones.