CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so fast

Moderators: Elvis, DrVolin, Jeff

Re: CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so f

Postby Joe Hillshoist » Sat Feb 12, 2011 10:42 am

wordspeak2 wrote:From Netanyahu, huh? Even though he said it benefits the IDF? Oh, OK.

Joe, what on earth are you smoking? No one said that the people are the streets are all on the CIA's payroll, or that any of them are. It has nothing to do with that.


I'm smoking the best weed in the world man, I live in the hills behind Nimbin and just went to a 50th.

That's obviously not how these things work. Intelligence agencies work with key movement leaders, on the internet, influence the media, and in various ways light the sparks for an instant mass-movement such as this. They're good at it; they've done it a few times before.


And the whole point of this thing is there are no leaders everytime the western media or loopy mention a leader there's hundreds of twitter feeds saying "we have no leaders just these demands".

FFS WE all know hard outside influences work to co opt these things, the point is every time they have tried something (and Lupercal has parroted it, the answer from "#Egypt" seems to be "Nah, well maybe if he does what we want other wise no fucking way".

Do you know why Wael Ghonim was called a "leader" by the crowd? Cos the regime was asking for someone to negotiate with and he had disappeared off the street and the event was photographed (and yes some of what he says is sus, but not everyone is treating him as the voice of the people either, cept in the western media",) and they said he was the leader now cos he was in custody when he was released someone else in custody became the negotiater. That was the idea behind him being called a "leader".

A week ago.



Look how the Murdoch media covered it. The street battles were always framed as "Mubarak army attacks protesters," rather than "Violent protesters incite riots," which is the MSM's slant when they don't like the protest movement. I was in the streets in Seattle protesting the WTO in 1999, and at follow-up protests to that (the energy of which 9/11 destroyed), and I can tell you a lot about how these things are framed. Not that it's not patently obvious. This was not one of those. Quite the contrary.

Lupercal, what did Mubarak do in opposition towards Israel's aggressive intentions towards Gaza?
I think that nexus is the key to understanding this thing. Should probably read the Israeli press right now, as well.


WTF Murdoch in Australia didn't start saying any of that stuff you reckon he said till the rest of us had been banging on about govt paid protesters etc, security dudes being busted with their security IDs in plain clothes doing shit etc etc. Most people in Australia, which right now is dominated by Murdoch in a way it wasn't 2 years ago, don't know half of the stuff thats happened in Egypt and only started going on about the peaceful protesters in the last few days. FFS For the first week it was all violent protesters trashing the joint and no one had a clue what was going on.


I'll tell you how things were framed then, at Melb a year later (till 9/11 damaged it I agree), at Richmond High in 93, at AIDEX or Pine Gap in the 80s and early 90s or any number of places. The people working for the "CIA" or the "Govt" basically the provacateurs did the damage and blamed the protesters. they tried that in Egypt and got busted.

What did Mubarak do wrt to Gaza?

Shut the tunnels, closed the borders and did sweet FA to help the people of Gaza.

So fucking nothing.

There you have it, I can sit after smoking weed that would probably kill you, drinking home made rum that certainly would and still keep it together enough to show this CIA inspired revolution bullshit to be bullshit.

You want to stop the CIA?

Support the people on the street in Egypt. (Whenever you hear someone touted as a leader of the movement, then its some western dickhead pushing it.)

Remember there are no leaders to this movement, there is an entire nation making a series of demands one of which has been met. They have no leaders now cos they are waiting for a free and fair election to choose them.

Anyway I'm going to bed.
Joe Hillshoist
 
Posts: 10616
Joined: Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:45 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so f

Postby lupercal » Sat Feb 12, 2011 12:29 pm

Joe Hillshoist wrote:
wordspeak2 wrote:From Netanyahu, huh? Even though he said it benefits the IDF? Oh, OK.

Joe, what on earth are you smoking? No one said that the people are the streets are all on the CIA's payroll, or that any of them are. It has nothing to do with that.


I'm smoking the best weed in the world man, I live in the hills behind Nimbin and just went to a 50th.

Well you have plausible deniability, I'll give you that. :lol:

Joe Hillshoist wrote:
That's obviously not how these things work. Intelligence agencies work with key movement leaders, on the internet, influence the media, and in various ways light the sparks for an instant mass-movement such as this. They're good at it; they've done it a few times before.


And the whole point of this thing is there are no leaders everytime the western media or loopy mention a leader there's hundreds of twitter feeds saying "we have no leaders just these demands".

No doubt, but somebody has to coordinate these things on massive scale and they're obviously not going to run a credit roll on CNN any more than they did after 9/11, Mumbai or any other spook job. We wouldn't know the operational details of Ajax even now if it weren't for those Wilber docs supposedly destroyed in the 60s that came to light in the last decade, and that was nearly 60 years ago.

Joe Hillshoist wrote:FFS WE all know hard outside influences work to co opt these things, the point is every time they have tried something (and Lupercal has parroted it, the answer from "#Egypt" seems to be "Nah, well maybe if he does what we want other wise no fucking way".

Do you know why Wael Ghonim was called a "leader" by the crowd? Cos the regime was asking for someone to negotiate with and he had disappeared off the street and the event was photographed (and yes some of what he says is sus, but not everyone is treating him as the voice of the people either, cept in the western media",) and they said he was the leader now cos he was in custody when he was released someone else in custody became the negotiater. That was the idea behind him being called a "leader".

A week ago.

Hard to follow. Try again after a nap?

Joe Hillshoist wrote:
Look how the Murdoch media covered it. The street battles were always framed as "Mubarak army attacks protesters," rather than "Violent protesters incite riots," which is the MSM's slant when they don't like the protest movement. I was in the streets in Seattle protesting the WTO in 1999, and at follow-up protests to that (the energy of which 9/11 destroyed), and I can tell you a lot about how these things are framed. Not that it's not patently obvious. This was not one of those. Quite the contrary.

Lupercal, what did Mubarak do in opposition towards Israel's aggressive intentions towards Gaza?
I think that nexus is the key to understanding this thing. Should probably read the Israeli press right now, as well.


WTF Murdoch in Australia didn't start saying any of that stuff you reckon he said till the rest of us had been banging on about govt paid protesters etc, security dudes being busted with their security IDs in plain clothes doing shit etc etc. Most people in Australia, which right now is dominated by Murdoch in a way it wasn't 2 years ago, don't know half of the stuff thats happened in Egypt and only started going on about the peaceful protesters in the last few days. FFS For the first week it was all violent protesters trashing the joint and no one had a clue what was going on.

Oh come on. Even if Aussie print media are some kind of anomaly you've got an internet connection so you can't pretend to be oblivious to AJ, the BBC, the NYT, CNN, MSNBC and every other media source including the foreign press who have been all about showing "pro-democracy protesters" getting repressed by Mubarak's "corrupt government thugs" from the get-go, just like in Tunisia.

Joe Hillshoist wrote:I'll tell you how things were framed then, at Melb a year later (till 9/11 damaged it I agree), at Richmond High in 93, at AIDEX or Pine Gap in the 80s and early 90s or any number of places. The people working for the "CIA" or the "Govt" basically the provacateurs did the damage and blamed the protesters. they tried that in Egypt and got busted.

Don't follow.

Joe Hillshoist wrote:What did Mubarak do wrt to Gaza?

Shut the tunnels, closed the borders and did sweet FA to help the people of Gaza.

So fucking nothing.

Wrong again. He warned Bibi to keep his paws off of Gaza and permanently re-opened the Gaza border crossing at Rafah. I've posted this before but it doesn't seem to have sunk in so here ya go:
lupercal wrote:Egypt's Mubarak warns Israel against new Gaza war
AFP, Jan 6 11:47 AM US/Eastern

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday warned Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu against launching a new war on Gaza, as they met in a bid to break the impasse in Middle East peace negotiations.

Mubarak's remarks were made during joint talks in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, which came after several weeks of rising tensions and clashes along Israel's border with the Palestinian enclave.

At the meeting, the Egyptian leader warned of the "danger of the latest Israeli threats and their repercussions on the stability and security of the region and the cause of Middle East peace," the official MENA news agency reported.

"Mubarak affirmed Egypt's rejection of any new offensive on Gaza," it said.

Senior Israeli officials have warned in recent weeks that Israel could launch another strike on Gaza, like the devastating 22-day war that ended in January 2009.

That offensive killed some 1,400 Palestinians, around half of them civilians, and 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers.

Following the war, the number of rocket attacks dropped significantly, although 230 rockets and mortar rounds were fired into Israel last year, the army said.

Israel's vice prime minister Silvan Shalom said last month that Israel would be forced to "respond with all our force" if Gaza militants kept firing rockets into the Jewish state.

The warnings were made against the backdrop of almost daily rocket attacks and retaliatory Israeli air strikes on Gaza.

Late on Wednesday, Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinians who were apparently trying to breach the border fence after a day in which militants fired seven projectiles, most of them mortar rounds, into southern Israel without causing casualties or damage.

Mubarak also warned the Israeli leader about the impact of a surge in violence on the deadlocked peace talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.


Direct talks between Netanyahu and Abbas stalled in September last year when Israel refused to renew a moratorium on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.

The Palestinians have refused to continue talking while Israel builds on land they want for a future state.

The Egyptian leader stressed the need for Israel "to revisit its stances and policies, and to take tangible steps to build trust" with the Palestinians, MENA said.

A statement from Netanyahu's office described the meeting as "friendly and comprehensive."

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... _article=1
......................................
So Netanyahu's current "friendly and comprehensive" support of Mubarak might be not all the Twitters have been tweeting. As for Egypt's blockade of Gaza:
Rafah crossing to remain open indefinitely
Palestine Note, 9 Jun 2010

Washington - Egypt has opened its border crossing with the Gaza Strip indefinitely in the wake of Israel's deadly high-seas raid of a convoy of aid vessels bound for Gaza May 31.

Image
Palestinians wait to cross at the Rafah border crossing in an undated photo.

An Egyptian terminal official for Rafah, Salama Baraka, told Ma'an News Agency on Wednesday the government has no plans to close the crossing in the near future.

Baraka said he is hopeful that the crossing will remain open and Cairo will re-exaimine its policy regarding the Palestinian territory. Baraka said six buses carrying some 500 passengers pass through the Rafah crossing each day.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... 09c02a78ca

And finally:
Joe Hillshoist wrote:There you have it, I can sit after smoking weed that would probably kill you, drinking home made rum that certainly would and still keep it together enough to show this CIA inspired revolution bullshit to be bullshit.

You want to stop the CIA?

Support the people on the street in Egypt. (Whenever you hear someone touted as a leader of the movement, then its some western dickhead pushing it.)

Remember there are no leaders to this movement, there is an entire nation making a series of demands one of which has been met. They have no leaders now cos they are waiting for a free and fair election to choose them.

So what if the military decides it doesn't have time for "a free and fair election," like if there's an "emergency" of the sort that so conveniently occurs that requires their attention? Military dictatorships are less accountable than Mubarak's government ever was and have even less interest in running fair elections. But dream on.

Joe Hillshoist wrote:Anyway I'm going to bed.

Nighty nite.
User avatar
lupercal
 
Posts: 1439
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 8:06 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so f

Postby DoYouEverWonder » Sat Feb 12, 2011 12:40 pm

Hey Joe,

I think some our friends are afraid they might be collecting unemployment soon. :twisted:
Image
User avatar
DoYouEverWonder
 
Posts: 962
Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2007 9:24 am
Location: Within you and without you
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so f

Postby lupercal » Sat Feb 12, 2011 1:00 pm

^ This may come as a surprise DYEW but some of us don't get paid to post. :wave:
User avatar
lupercal
 
Posts: 1439
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2009 8:06 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so f

Postby wordspeak2 » Sat Feb 12, 2011 1:34 pm

That is compelling, about the opening of the crossing at Rafah. And there were a lot of signs of increasing schisms between Israel and Egypt, such as numerous Mossad spy rings being uncovered in Egypt very recently.
http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/ye ... lationship
...and the denial of Nile water, which is huge.
However, wasn't Mubarak also complicit in the shutting down of a lot of tunnels used by Hamas to smuggle weapons?

I've been reading today's "Haaretz." Very mixed reaction in Israel. But higher-up people, such as military officials, don't seem concerned, even about the Muslim Brotherhood taking power.

Yeah, Joe, I don't know what media you were watching, but in the most major press it was clearly framed as, "Pro-democracy Facebook generation demonstrators take on dictatorship, get savagely beaten by military" from the get-go.
wordspeak2
 
Posts: 1209
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:20 pm
Location: Massachusetts
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so f

Postby DoYouEverWonder » Sat Feb 12, 2011 1:50 pm

lupercal wrote:^ This may come as a surprise DYEW but some of us don't get paid to post. :wave:

Like my friend Tin who worked for Gilead, she didn't get paid to post either.
Image
User avatar
DoYouEverWonder
 
Posts: 962
Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2007 9:24 am
Location: Within you and without you
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so f

Postby winsomecowboy2 » Sat Feb 12, 2011 3:03 pm

Support the people of Egypt ? Sounds a little grandiose . How exactly would you go about that?

I think you forget that this screen you stare ats purpose is to render you inert.

Do they eat milkbiscuits? What's their address?

I think the only way to truly support them would be to mirror their behavior .

Unless you can think of something safer that doesn't cut into your Internet time. Perhaps post something in the " fuck Obama" thread.
winsomecowboy2
 
Posts: 83
Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2009 7:04 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so f

Postby JackRiddler » Sat Feb 12, 2011 4:06 pm

winsomecowboy2 wrote:Support the people of Egypt ? Sounds a little grandiose . How exactly would you go about that?

I think you forget that this screen you stare ats purpose is to render you inert.

Do they eat milkbiscuits? What's their address?

I think the only way to truly support them would be to mirror their behavior .

Unless you can think of something safer that doesn't cut into your Internet time. Perhaps post something in the " fuck Obama" thread.


As with most clever Internet screeds about how Internet screeds are pointless, I don't see how you can justify posting that. It's self-discrediting. Unless you were typing it with your toes while waging a pitched street battle with the Man.

Oh, and the Egyptians who used the Web, including even Facebook, to help organize their protests may disagree about whether the purpose of the screen you stare at is as fully predetermined as you suggest.

.
We meet at the borders of our being, we dream something of each others reality. - Harvey of R.I.

To Justice my maker from on high did incline:
I am by virtue of its might divine,
The highest Wisdom and the first Love.

TopSecret WallSt. Iraq & more
User avatar
JackRiddler
 
Posts: 16007
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2008 2:59 pm
Location: New York City
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so f

Postby ninakat » Sat Feb 12, 2011 4:19 pm

lupercal, thanks for this thread. I'm reading with much interest. Your points are well made and quite compelling. Sadly. I didn't cry tears of joy at the "success" of what's going in Egypt any more than I did when the people of the United States voted for HopeTM and ChangeTM and the first minority president was elected, and the evil Bush/Cheney cabal was "gone." That's not to say that I don't genuinely salute the people's efforts, especially in Egypt.
User avatar
ninakat
 
Posts: 2904
Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2006 1:38 pm
Location: "Nothing he's got he really needs."
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so f

Postby Nordic » Sat Feb 12, 2011 4:23 pm

It's the end of Act 1. Act 2 is where the Powers That Be try to get Egypt back under their thumbs. Act 3 is where it's all decided for good.

Evil is patient.
"He who wounds the ecosphere literally wounds God" -- Philip K. Dick
Nordic
 
Posts: 14230
Joined: Fri Nov 10, 2006 3:36 am
Location: California USA
Blog: View Blog (6)

Re: CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so f

Postby Searcher08 » Sat Feb 12, 2011 5:19 pm

Joe Hillshoist wrote:
lupercal wrote:Please explain how ditching a civilian government for military dictatorship advances "democracy" or any other benefit to Egyptians. How it benefits BP, Boeing, Wall Street, and the IDF is manifestly clear.


Civilian govt?

Man I thought I was smoking the best gear on the planet, but obviously not.


Hell man, I'm off my tree just putting my nose to the screen and inhaling the posts!!' :mrgreen:
User avatar
Searcher08
 
Posts: 5887
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:21 am
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so f

Postby Searcher08 » Sat Feb 12, 2011 5:42 pm

lupercal wrote: As for Al Jazeera English it's literally difficult to distinguish it from the BBC. .


This is nonsense spoken by someone who wasnt watching even AJ - and probably not watching the BBC either.
Ergo, you have no basis of comparison.

1 The average Egyptian is much more pro Palestinian than the Mubarek policy would indicate.
2 Israel's response to Mubarek going is cold, verging on the icy.
3 Most UK and US TV has been two steps out of sync with what's happening.
4 BBC reporting from John Simpson and Jeremy Bowen has been excellent.
5 AJ's reporting was like BEING THERE, the BBC's like listening to someone who is there.
6 There has been no similarity to the Soros driven Colour 'revolutions' at all.
7 While all this has been happening in Egypt, the Tunisians are still kicking ass.
8 The money supplied from the US was for bribes and American security stuff - and an order of magnitude less than the Mubarek family stole.
9 Your view of the capabilities of the CIA is utter utter mythologising bollox.
User avatar
Searcher08
 
Posts: 5887
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:21 am
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so f

Postby Searcher08 » Sat Feb 12, 2011 6:07 pm

ninakat wrote:lupercal, thanks for this thread. I'm reading with much interest. Your points are well made and quite compelling. Sadly. I didn't cry tears of joy at the "success" of what's going in Egypt any more than I did when the people of the United States voted for HopeTM and ChangeTM and the first minority president was elected, and the evil Bush/Cheney cabal was "gone." That's not to say that I don't genuinely salute the people's efforts, especially in Egypt.


I think tears of joy were worth it because tens of thousands of Egyptians had the crap kicked out of them; innocent Americans were sent there to be tortured.

The Eqyptians were not voting for someone to do it to them - they were out there creating it.

If they have to go against the army (I think this is very very unlikely), they will. They are not going back.

Compare this with how the US people have been out in the streets in the millions fighting against being royally reamed by Wall Street.
User avatar
Searcher08
 
Posts: 5887
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:21 am
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so f

Postby compared2what? » Sat Feb 12, 2011 6:08 pm

lupercal wrote:As for Egypt's blockade of Gaza:
Rafah crossing to remain open indefinitely
Palestine Note, 9 Jun 2010

Washington - Egypt has opened its border crossing with the Gaza Strip indefinitely in the wake of Israel's deadly high-seas raid of a convoy of aid vessels bound for Gaza May 31.

Image
Palestinians wait to cross at the Rafah border crossing in an undated photo.

An Egyptian terminal official for Rafah, Salama Baraka, told Ma'an News Agency on Wednesday the government has no plans to close the crossing in the near future.

Baraka said he is hopeful that the crossing will remain open and Cairo will re-exaimine its policy regarding the Palestinian territory. Baraka said six buses carrying some 500 passengers pass through the Rafah crossing each day.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... 09c02a78ca


Dude, that was just propaganda.

    Egypt's unfulfilled promise to open the Rafah Crossing

    By Omar Radwan

    Following Israel's attack on the Freedom Flotilla at the end of last month, the siege of Gaza has come under the spotlight. In Europe and the United States there is a growing realisation in official circles that the siege is unacceptable and untenable. With this realisation, attention has, quite naturally, fallen on Egypt's role in the siege. Following the attack on the flotilla, Egypt announced that it had opened the Rafah Crossing, the only point of entry to Gaza not under Israel's direct control, indefinitely. Prior to that the Rafah Crossing had been kept completely closed to the movement of goods, and was only opened intermittently to the movement of people. This made Egypt a collaborator with Israel in its siege of the Gaza Strip. The Egyptian government had refused to allow aid into Gaza. In December last year it began building a steel wall designed to cut off Gaza's only lifeline to the outside world - the smuggling tunnels built underneath the border between Gaza and Egypt. 156 Palestinians have died in these tunnels, which are prone to collapse, over the past two years. Some of these deaths were due to deliberate action by the Egyptian security forces.

    The Egyptian government is now beginning to feel the consequences of this policy. It is deeply unpopular both at home and in the wider Arab and Muslim world. Collaboration with the Israelis has highlighted Egypt's current position as a subservient client state of the United States; unable to defy it or Israel in any way and completely dependent on American aid. Egypt's role and standing in the region have diminished. Today, as the siege of Gaza is becoming increasingly unacceptable in world opinion, the Egyptian government will not be able to continue with its role as an enforcer of the Gaza blockade without serious consequences. At the same time, the standing of other powers in the Middle East has increased. Turkey has gained widespread respect and admiration in the Arab and Muslim world for its role in organising the Freedom Flotilla and the tough line it took with Israel. The recent Turkish-Arab Cooperation Forum meeting in Istanbul underscored Turkey's growing influence in the Arab world.

    The Egyptian government announced that it had opened the Rafah Crossing in order to avoid the negative repercussions of being associated with the siege of Gaza. The announcement is more about public relations than anything else. This is not the first time that the Egyptian government has employed this tactic. Egypt made a similar announcement when Israel launched its war on Gaza in December 2008. A limited amount of aid was allowed in and some wounded Palestinians were allowed to travel to Egypt for medical treatment, but aside from this the crossing remained closed. The people of Gaza were trapped during the war, unable to flee the Israeli bombardment and the siege stayed in force. The recent announcement is similarly deceptive. The deputy chairman of the Borders and Crossings Administration Authority in Gaza, Khalid Abul-Naja says that the Egyptian announcement is devoid of any meaning, because Egypt is only allowing the same categories of people to cross the border as it did before (students, those in need of medical treatment, holders of foreign passports, and those who already have visas allowing them to enter Egypt) and the Egyptian authorities are dealing with the Palestinians in the same way they did before, forcing them to wait hours before allowing them to cross the border and arbitrarily turning back roughly 25 % of those who wish to enter. The only thing that has changed, according to Abul-Naja, is that the crossing is operational for more days a week - but for fewer hours each day - than it was before. As for aid, very little is going through Rafah. An aid convoy was organised by Egyptian opposition MPs but it was not allowed through. Later, permission was given for the MPs themselves to enter Gaza, but they had to leave behind the aid, which consisted of construction materials. An Algerian convoy was also prohibited from entering Gaza before being allowed in.

    Despite this, the idea that Rafah should become Gaza's only operational crossing is gaining ground in Israel. Transport Minister Yisrael Katz has said that the Israeli siege of Gaza is wrong, and instead Israel should disengage from the territory entirely, permanently closing its crossings to Gaza. Egypt will become responsible for supplying Gaza with the goods it needs. The Egyptian government, however, has rejected this proposal, saying that Israel wants to evade its responsibility for Gaza and dump it onto Egypt. Such a plan would also exacerbate the separation between the West Bank and Gaza, ending any inter-communication between the two and thus forestalling the possibility of the creation of a Palestinian state. While it is unlikely that Katz's plan will be put into effect, his statement illustrates the pressure that Egypt is under.

    Egypt's strategy of collaborating with Israel in the siege has not paid off. This policy has meant that it, quite rightly, shares the blame with Israel for the suffering of the people of Gaza. Following the attack on the convoy, the siege of Gaza re-entered the global spotlight and Egypt was in a very uncomfortable position. While global public opinion is demanding that the siege be lifted, what is being proposed instead is a "humanisation" of the siege - an easing which would allow more goods to be imported into Gaza while still preventing the entry of some essential materials - and therefore preventing Gaza from developing - on the pretext that they could be used for military purposes. This may mean that, because of its faithful collaboration, Egypt may now be asked to assume more responsibility for Gaza - a burden it does not want and feels it cannot handle.

(Link)
____________

Furthermore, it was widely reported as such (ie -- propaganda) in just about every story following the ones obediently publicizing Mubarak's announcement for him the week it was made. For example, as one story on the US-Israeli talks that ended up failing about a month after Mubarak's little PR stunt so very concisely puts it:

    This situation was made worse by the general closure of the Rafah crossing (Gaza’s single crossing point with Egypt) to daily use by the Egyptian authorities. After 2007 Rafah was opened only intermittently to allow some occasional movement.

    Following Israel’s military action on 31 May against the aid flotilla in international waters outside Gaza, the Egyptian authorities announced they were opening the Rafah crossing point “indefinitely”.

    However, Egypt has yet to permit fully free passage of Palestinians into its territory, allowing entry only to Palestinians with specially obtained permits.

I mean, even the Washington Post couldn't put a better spin on the matter than they could get by just recurring to numbers out of context and hoping for the best:

    Egypt has said it favors lifting the blockade, but has balked at fully opening the crossing under its control. Unlike Turkey, which sees no cost in strengthening Hamas, Egypt's Mubarak is deeply reluctant to embrace the group. At the same time, appearing insensitive to the Palestinians and cooperative with Israel carries its own political risks for Mubarak, who at 82 and in poor health may be trying to pave the way for his son Gamal to succeed him, especially with elections coming up next year.

    Amid domestic outrage following the flotilla deaths, Egypt announced it was indefinitely opening its crossing with Gaza at Rafah. But of the 8,000 Gazans who tried to cross through Rafah in the past two weeks, 1,500 were turned back. Seven trucks of goods have crossed into Gaza via Rafah, said Ghazi Hamad, the Palestinian coordinator of all crossings into and out of Gaza. In the same period, hundreds have entered from Israel. The only Gazans who can travel via Rafah are those seeking medical care, students and holders of international visas or passports. Hamas leaders are prohibited from leaving via Rafah, and several were denied passage in the past two weeks, Hamad said.

    Meanwhile, Egypt continues to construct an underground wall to block tunnels used for smuggling, which is a mainstay of the Gazan economy. An Egyptian diplomat said it will be completed by the end of the summer.

________________

I don't mean this in a hostile way (in fact, I'm trying to be helpful), but you might want to ask yourself whether any unexamined assumptions were clouding your judgment when you read and believed the story you posted. Because really, common sense alone should have been enough to call it into question, given that you're sensitive to the suffering of the Palestinians:

Gaza has been effectively completely blockaded since 2007. If there had really been free passage in and out of it for the last nine months via the Rafah Crossing, the changes would have been much too major to overlook.

And not just in Gaza. Israel would have been in kosher-hog-substitute-heaven over it, for one thing. I mean, they'd love it if they could just make the Gaza Palestinians Egypt's responsibility. That's exactly the resolution they've been aiming for in one form or another since....Well, for the sake of convenience, I guess I'll say "1948." But, as I'm sure you know, that aim actually existed in a general form well before Israel did.

In any event. Mubarak did not open the Rafah Crossing indefinitely. Or for that matter, at all. Please make a note of it for your records.
“If someone comes out of a liquor store with a weapon and 50 dollars in cash I don’t care if a Drone kills him or a policeman kills him.” -- Rand Paul
User avatar
compared2what?
 
Posts: 8383
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 6:31 am
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: CIA declares Mission Accomplished, Mubarak says not so f

Postby barracuda » Sat Feb 12, 2011 6:12 pm

First of all, this thread is about a theory. There has been no evidence presented here which shows that the CIA has been working with the "organisers" of the protests to create this situation. None. Not that there has to be - I understand that. But realistically, there's plenty of evidence available for agency involvement in various other wars and revolutions, so I don't consider it too much to ask that some be forthcoming before I consider the arguments put forth here as meritorious in some way. At this point, all we have are a series of assertions, few of which really hold water, and most of which follow point for point the Hannity/Limbaugh/Levin line of thinking.

wordspeak2 wrote:That is compelling, about the opening of the crossing at Rafah.


You might look more closely at what the Rafah crossing ever really consisted of before you become compelled. At it's peak, Rafah was open for two days a week, and allowed a few hundred to come through while thousands stood wishing. Rafah was nothing but pure P.R. by Mubarak, and even that scant effort was probably forced upon him politically by the Brotherhood and other domestic opponents. And as you noticed:

wordspeak2 wrote:However, wasn't Mubarak also complicit in the shutting down of a lot of tunnels used by Hamas to smuggle weapons?


"Shutting down" is a nice way to put it. Dozens, if not hundreds of Palestinians were killed by Mubarak's men while attempting to reach Egypt through those tunnels. It's absurd and hilarious to create the image of Mubarak as an opposing force to Israel, it really is.

Image

Image

Image

Gimme a break. The only reason we don't have pictures of them tongue-kissing is because photographers weren't allowed.

Mubarak hasn't done jack for the Palestinians, and has never shown any real sign of caring about them at all. He's been well paid not to.

lupercal wrote:Oh come on. Even if Aussie print media are some kind of anomaly you've got an internet connection so you can't pretend to be oblivious to AJ, the BBC, the NYT, CNN, MSNBC and every other media source including the foreign press who have been all about showing "pro-democracy protesters" getting repressed by Mubarak's "corrupt government thugs" from the get-go, just like in Tunisia.


Uh, that's funny, 'cause the way I remember it, the media on all sides was calling the thugs "pro-Mubarak protesters" (About 533,000 results), relentlessly.

The only imaginable motivation for CIA involvement I can see my way clear to even considering is a scheme in which factions in the government or the intelligence agencies have grown so weary of the thankless task of supporting Israel that they've been looking for a way to cut the cord for ages, and possibly this is part of that way. I fail to see how Israel will come out of these circumstances stonger or more secure, despite what bluster they are putting out at the moment. Realistically, their days are looking numbered now.

Anyway, thankfully I haven't really had to trust the media for details on this uprising. You may have noticed that we have a forum member who actually lives in Egypt, and who has apparently been following events on the ground quite avidly via communication with her fellows there. First-hand information has some value, I think. I notice she has decided against wasting her energies on lupercal.

This is another troll thread, although with comments like these from the "pro-Mubarak protestors" here...

better get a sandwich before the next exciting episode begins somewhere and you can forget all about Egypt and its troubles.


Have you done much else besides watch tv and eat deficate and sleep?


Looks like you're the putz singing Murdoch's tune, Joe. As usual.


...this should hardly require pointing out. I'm just sorry I had to waste my beautiful mind even reading that kind of crap here.

EDIT: Okay, I see that c2w and I cross-posted concerning Rafah, which isn't surprising. You'd sort of have to not care at all about the situation in order to think something more than nothing was happening there.
The most dangerous traps are the ones you set for yourself. - Phillip Marlowe
User avatar
barracuda
 
Posts: 12890
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 5:58 pm
Location: Niles, California
Blog: View Blog (0)

PreviousNext

Return to General Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 160 guests