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

http://i53.tinypic.com/epq7g2.jpg

http://c2771442.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/EgyptMuseum-09.png

;_;

pictures of some of the vandalism of the egyptian museum by looters:

http://hyperallergic.com/17815/egyptian-museum-damage/

:(((

next thing you know they'll be tearing down those pyramids.

The Egyptian Protests: Phase II

http://www.latinoreview.com/images/stories/rotf-dev_on_pyramid.jpg

that museum vandalism is a real piss off!

Re questions about how spontaneous the current demos are, I've seen a few mentions of Wiki-leaked cables from 2009 (I think), saying that Mubarak intended that his son Gamal (spelling?) as successor, but the army wasn't pleased. Today: reports of demonstrators riding around on tanks decorated with pro-demo graffiti, etc. But: army(replacing cops, in a laidback way) not stopping looters, while new prime minister is retired general and vice pres. is the aforementioned hardass security director/general Sulieman

This video's getting a lot of traffic. Questionable soundtrack, very propagandist vibe, but some amazing footage to be seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThvBJMzmSZI

In this conflict I really feel a sense of being doomed to either get new filtered through the liberal western media lens ("yay, peaceful democratic protest that will probably bring in a moderate, freedom-loving leader!") or the conservative western media lens ("uh oh instability this makes me really nervous guys better to have the monster we know")

i think the above is just in your head. this is a broad-based (middle-class, working class, students, practicing muslims), non-extremist uprising against a repressive govt in the most populous state in the middle east - something to be excited about imo. for years everyone's assumed the only alternatives were between tyranny and religious extremism. as one of the guests on last night's newsnight said, "if tunisia, a tiny state, could inspire this in egypt, the biggest state in the middle east, imagine what THIS could inspire"

btw the protests haven't been exactly peaceful

http://i53.tinypic.com/epq7g2.jpg

― cozen, Saturday, January 29, 2011 4:17 PM (1 hour ago)

is this for real

A mob is still a mob.

oh man al-j anchorlady has got the DSL beaucoup

blogger being interviewd on al-j says tunisia was inspired by labor uprisings in egypt over the past year - i would like to read a bit about that. anyone?

capitalist pigdogs are leaving in droves by private plane

Hurting i share your frustration at relying on TV for this though - it feels so thin and inadequate

http://i54.tinypic.com/2aaloqb.jpg

attack strategy based on the hopeful premise that the policeman will have his face-shield up.

is this for real

Yeah, it's not recent though.

lol@me reposting the fifth post in this topic

capitalist pigdogs are leaving in droves by private plane

― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Saturday, January 29, 2011 11:21 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

i love this post so many diff ways

up against the wall the lot of you!

lol no c u *boards g5*

pig see u

Oh Im in love
With Egypt.

Banks and markets apparently to stay closed Sun,, first day of working week, But if Mubarak wants everything to go back to normal, how can banks, markets and much else do that without the internet? Maybe it'll be back on selectively?

evanchill State TV announces Al Jazeera's broadcasting license and press cards are being revoked. Our bureau is packing up. #jan25

But if Mubarak wants everything to go back to normal, how can banks, markets and much else do that without the internet?

Things are obviously a far way from normal, and the internet is the least of it. It sounds like law and order is fundamentally breaking down. The state is ceasing to function beyond the military. My guess is that Mubarak will be gone within 72 hours.

Protests continue across Egypt this morning after five days of civil unrest, clashes with police and looting. But rumours are circulating that President Hosni Mubarak has left the capital to practise his stroke in the safety of a luxury golf resort.

Locals in Sharm-el-Sheikh told reporters they are convinced the autocratic ruler is holed up in his winter residence inside the sprawling complex of the Maritim Jolie Ville Golf Hotel. Mubarak's official plane is said to have been spotted at Sharm's airport.

Unconfirmed reports have also emerged that Egypt's ruling elite are fleeing the country altogether. An unnamed "official" at Cairo airport is reported to have said 19 private jets have left so far, taking the country's plutocracy to the safety of Dubai and other friendly nations.

Among the exodus are said to have been Naguib Sawiris, executive chairman of Orascom Telecom, and Hussein Salem – a close friend of Mubarak's who owns the Maritim Jolie Ville Golf Hotel.

eh 3/5

http://grab.by/8FAX

el-baradei in tahrir square, says "the mubarak regime must stand down"

I thought he was under house arrest? I thought you'd be glued to the football?

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/01/30/world/30egyptch_1/30egyptch_1-custom15.jpg

ElBaradei with the protesters.

the thing about elbaradei is that this protest movement wasn't sparked by him, and it never called for his arrival. this movement is genuinely anarchic (so far) in that it seems people don't want a "figure" to step in and assume the reins. it doesn't really know what it wants other than mubarak to step down. but it's not baying for s savior.

it's also a little disappointing - though understandable realpolitik - that elbaradei has already enlisted the support of the muslim brotherhood. one of the exciting things about all this so far is its secularism and youthfulness

and elbaradei = old

I think you can still have a youth movement with an older person at the top; an establishment type who understands the wants and needs of the youth. I'm still trying to understand how Ayman Nour fits into all of this. He was the main opposition leader prior to the protests, right? Where is he?

Also, Hillary Clinton used the phrase "orderly transition" today. Possibly an indication of Washington's waning support for Mubarak.

it seems people don't want a "figure" to step in and assume the reins

but you gotta have one, right? reins have to be assumed. i thought the idea was, best case scenario, elbaradei leads interim govt until free and fair elections are held.

I'm gathering that Ayman Nour supports ElBaradei as interim leader:

AJ quoted Nour saying, "We have formed an opposition committee for change that involves 10 members, represented by El Baradei."

so i guess the protesters have fallen in behind elbaradei and the army, so far, behind mubarak. the generals were the guys he really had to appease i guess.

lotta paranoiac types suggesting the media/internet blackout + mooby out of the city + tanks guarding the square = there is abt to be a massacre

^^^ not endorsing this theory btw

yeah that seems incredibly unlikely given that the only card mubarak even owns is the "i am pretty reasonable as far as it goes" card, and closing the al jazeera office doesn't mean the world's stopped watching.

the world was watching tiananmen square too!

i mean... werent they?

sure but the chinese communist party wasn't clinging to power by its fingernails hoping it could make something out of its decent relationship with the u.s. state department.

like, i guess mubarak could decide that he has the army in his pocket and can institute a military dictatorship and fuck the world, but he's gotten pretty used to good international standing not to mention u.s. money over the years, and the revolt has now progressed so far that i think the time to crush them and say it was for the good of the country and come out of it looking like he cares even remotely about anything except the preservation of his personal power is long gone.

I am also skeptical. China in 1989 was a far more insular society than Egypt (or China today). The Chinese leadership didn't give a shit about the international reaction, or cared little compared to internal stability. Given that, the CCP still needed to truck in troops from the hinterlands to propagate a massacre. Would the Egyptian military even carry out that order?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjFs9CPGhts

mubarak could easily reach a point where he feels like massacring or stepping down are his only options

Would the Egyptian military even carry out that order?

oh yeah this too--the guy just got a skeptical and oats-feeling army back on his side and saying OKAY COOL NOW KILL EVERYONE WHO DOESN'T LIKE ME probably isn't the best way to start them off.