a thread about the civil unrest in egypt (& elsewhere in 'the region' if necessary)

thanks lex etc

has anyone made the "mubarak in de nile" joke yet?

Al Jazeera English: Live Stream http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

sorry for bungling the translation guys

― ex-heroin addict tricycle (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, January 28, 2011 5:33 PM (21 seconds ago)

haha it's okay, i was sort of tuning him out because it seemed like he wasn't saying much, then all of the sudden i heard "new government tomorrow" and read what you said

I'm sure he could find refuge somewhere, Saudi at least. If he does attempt this legalistic gambit, (and assuming he digs in and keeps hold of power - something I'm very sceptical about) will he run for re-election in September?

Ismael:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698
live coverage there

more coverage here > http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

has anyone made the "mubarak in de nile" joke yet?

More like 'who hasn't'

Yes, upthread. (re De Nile joke)

I wasn't really clear to me what "the government" meant in the context of the speech

xp

Got it now thanks xp - every time he looks up I expect to see that it's Berlusconi

Got it now thanks

The de Nile joke?

yeah is he dissolving parliament or just replacing his cabinet?

White House's maneuvering here is interesting - all the noise from the State Dept makes it seem like they'd all be more than happy to see Mubarak go, they're just worried about giving him an exit strategy that will preserve US interests

VVV

all the noise from the State Dept makes it seem like they'd all be more than happy to see Mubarak go

on that note, i'm not really sure what to make of this piece that seems to be trying to claim that the US was behind this - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8289686/Egypt-protests-Americas-secret-backing-for-rebel-leaders-behind-uprising.html - seems a stretch, to put it mildly, but:

The American Embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian state police.

On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011.

Shakey, given Egypt's history, that interest is likely to be 'stability'.

aljazeera isn't giving me anything atm but that could be where i am (work)

Dissolving Parliament would require new elections, no? So perhaps dissolving the cabinet and maybe a reshuffling of the Prime Minister etc. from within the NDP.

Most hilarious bit of that entire speech was the bit that claimed that the ONLY reason the protestors were able to express their grievances was due to Mubarak's own reforms. Which...yes, this is in some meaning of those words true, but LOL at the idea that ppl should be grateful for him "granting" them rights of free speech etc. Also, the idea that his magnanimity in not ordering the army to use violent means vs. protestors should be appreciated.

^^^yeah this was my thinking too. even if he has the authority to dissolve Parliament (okay, sure) that would mean new elections. He can't just appoint a new Parliament, even if he is head of the majority ruling party.

xp

and yes that was lol about the freedoms of the press/assembly being "granted" by the gov't

Will the cabinet actually resign? Does it even matter? Is this just Hitler moving imaginary divisions around in his bunker?

bbc crawl says mubarak is "trying to distance himself from the crack-down across the country"

that would be quite a feat

he's trying to buy some time

He looks like he's got all the time in the world - a very fresh-faced 83

Mmm. My mom's side of the family are Egyptian and the 76 year old great-aunts and great-uncles all look just as sprightly, if not moreso.

I bet they have the odd grey hair though.

How can he possibly hope this will work? The Queen could pull off that kind of line maybe, but not anyone who's actually been in power for thirty years. It surely depends only on whether or not force is used now.

SHOCKINGLY the protesters have rejected mubarak's statement.

i mean surely he can't possibly hope to hang on if he isn't controlling the army...

I'm waiting for a Sarah Palin video explaining that the seeds for all of this go back to some poor decisions made by King Tut.

Total LOLs at the notion of an undemocratic despot sacking his hand-picked government to be replaced by another hand-picked government. Yeah, that'll sate the protestors.

x-post Yeah, where is Palin on this? We need to hear from her!!!!!

Besides the point, but it's been good to see some different cities on the news recently. Alexandria seems nice, and Cairo looks pretty good too though noone I know has a good word to say about the place.

MB asking the army to remove him

@omarbaddar Joke of the day -- Obama: "Hosni, I think you need to write your goodbye letter to your people." Hosni Mubarak: "Why? Where are they going?"

Fox's coverage of this, according to Andrew Sullivan, has been minimal and exclusively of the "It seems as though Al-Qaeda-allied factions in Egypt might take over the Egyptian gov't"

**exclusively of that nature

Sullivan's great at times like this

Hasn't been Sullivan this time but his support crew etc.; Sullivan mentioned earlier in the week he's been laid low by bronchitis.

Well done team, anyway

yeah they are amazing

speaking of which, via them

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/.a/6a00d83451c45669e20148c81b5a88970c-550wi

Apropos of nothing, I once read that the noise level of Cairo is a constant 85 dBs, louder than a freight train 15 feet away. This doesn't take into account civil unrest, of course.

# Our administration is pushing for an Internet kill switch for POTUS while saying shutting down of tv and Internet is a "sign of dictators". 11 minutes ago via Twitterrific

# Egypt may be a tipping point. Yemen and Jordan also have smaller uprisings. Iran is smiling, the Saudis and Israelis are not. Pray4peace 14 minutes ago via Twitterrific

# Pray for peace. Egypt is run by a dictator, but Iran in 1979 started the same way. Legit outcry and then co-opted by religious radicals. 17 minutes ago via Twitterrific

glenn beck, ladies and gentlemen

Why is Palin silent!??! What is she afraid of!?!??!!!

mubarak speech was bizarre. i suspect (disagree w/ me pls) he spent the whole day holding out to see if the army would shut down the protest, hoping to make his public statement from a position of power, and when the army did nothing he was reduced to that weird tolerant-populist act. but yeah the government restructure is A) a total red herring and B) not the end of it; i don't really see how he can remain in power now.

Why is Palin silent!??! What is she afraid of!?!??!!!

She has other things on her mind now

Argh. The ideological incoherence makes me angry. EITHER you can think that the Dems are totally oppressive dictator nanny state OR you can think that state control of telecommunications is A-OK. Not both.

Like... "Pray 4 Peace"? So...Tea Party protests by radical Christianists are completely viable but Egyptian protests are DANGEROUS because some of them might be Muslims who don't like America?

Legit outcry and then co-opted by religious radicals.

lol irony

Mubarek should pull a judo move and join the protestors on the street in outrage over his rogue ministry. Perhaps their confusion will last long enough to allow him to flee before they hang him.