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

jimsciuttoABC. Egypt death toll now tops toll for Iran protests, which US and West widely condemned as an atrocity

tweeted about 30 minutes ago.

the parents of someone i know are trapped in cairo at the moment, and another girl's husband who was visiting his family is also stuck over there, and for now he's just helping out dudes from the neighborhood attempt to keep looters out of their area.

andersoncooper. Its getting really bad in front of egyptian museum
48 minutes ago

destruction of egyptian antiquities would be a tragic footnote to this bloodbath.

I thought the army had tanks in front of the Egyptian Museum, no?

searching for that now. . .

meanwhile, is this the video that began the uprising?

(apologies if it's been posted before)

more tragic would be if it took the destruction of antiquities to get the attn of an apathetic western viewing audience

the army is guarding "buildings of national importance" but there hasn't been any significant protester-army violence as far as i can tell. dunno what happens if you try to damage the egyptian museum but the army is being really really reserved; honestly still unclear which way they're breaking, probably to them as well.

(xp) this story hasn't already captured the attention of the western viewing audience?

(i'm late to it, i admit, but not for general lack of engagement with world news)

Btw,

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/67347/steven-a-cook/the-us-egyptian-breakup

i think all the westerners who are interested in stuff like this (i.e. things happening in other countries) are following it.

Anderson Cooper was reportedly punched 10 times in the head by the pro-Mubarak mob earlier this morning.

wow this went from near-best-case to near-worst-case in about 24 hours

(i'm late to it, i admit, but not for general lack of engagement with world news)

― Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, February 2, 2011 10:43 AM (22 seconds ago) Bookmark

not a jab at you, daniel! i just have the impression (perhaps unfounded) that the US man on the street doesn't really know or care much about egypt at the moment, and will likely have stronger opinions about the destruction of antiquities than the actual political situation

destruction of egyptian antiquities would be a tragic footnote to this bloodbath.

I wouldn't put it past Mubarak and his thugs to press the anti-M demonstrators right in front of the Museum just to show that he and HE alone is on the side of stability and protecting Egypt's patrimony.

understood, gbx.

I'm not really sure about gbx's premise - the news is FULL of Egypt right now, including the financial news, but when I went to Egypt, I was amazed that people (fellow Americans) who had shelled out serious bucks to go see the pyramids, etc..., had no idea the Greeks were ever there, were unclear about the Romans involvement, had no chronological idea of Islam's age and were shocked to find out that Napoleon was ever there. I can clearly see in my mind's eye one lady from near Vegas as her eyes glassed over at the mention of the Fatimids.

i could be totally wrong, granted.

Americans ignorant of world history shockah

MSNBC live video stream is very unsettling.

Americans ignorant of world history shockah

My in-depth knowledge of Thailand ain't great either but I would brush up on it if I went.

don't really know what the attraction is of going anywhere if you don't know the history. like, just buy a ViewMaster if all you want to do is look at some pyramids.

Let's be frank, too; you can go to Thailand and do nothing but lay on the beach, visit brothels and eat cheap food. Most ppl don't really go to Egypt for anything BUT history.

Red sea resorts denizens would disagree.

@waelabbas Eyewitness:Tank commander put pistol in his mouth to commit suicide, soldiers stopped him & burst out crying #egypt

as if complaining about ignorant americans touring abroad is not as narrow + self-centered as those americans themselves. can we talk about egypt without it being about how educated and classy we are compared to other americans?

Yes. Sorry for derail.

Tho, to respond to gbx original point, I doubt the destruction of antiquities wld really cause many more ppl to pay attention to this.

also, destruction of antiquities WOULD be really tragic - i don't know if people will become more upset if it happens but they should. i wouldn't say that these artifacts are worth more than human lives, but i also wouldn't say that they're worth less. they're our connection to shared human histories and it would be nice if we could preserve them for future generations.

one report i heard was that the looting of antiquities has been overblown, so far. one museum was broken into, but only the giftshop got cleaned out

Amazingly poor coverage on Sky News of current events, which can be summarised as "crazy foreigners lay into each other". CNN has this ongoing header "Egypt's Protests Turn Violent", as though it was the protesters rather than pro-regime thugs who were instigating violence.

watch Aljazeera

AJE has been excellent, imo

yup. don't bother with western media imho

one report i heard was that the looting of antiquities has been overblown, so far. one museum was broken into, but only the giftshop got cleaned out

yeah I saw this too. was a relief to read.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/02/02/article-1352848-0D046D36000005DC-983_634x848.jpg

poor camel

The crowds need ropes for those guys. 'Cavalry' very susceptible to being clotheslined.

Mubarak relying on professional thugs to do his dirty work isn't really a tactic that's going to reinforce his legitimacy imho

will be sad if this devolves into full-scale street-fighting with the army just standing by to protect various buildings

The crowds need ropes for those guys. 'Cavalry' very susceptible to being clotheslined.

― Le mépris vient de la tête, la haine vient du cœur (Michael White), Wednesday, February 2, 2011 12:38 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Pikemen, dude. Pikemen.

reprehensible, etc. but that takes some guts to be the first wading in there on a fucking camel

It takes guts to protest against a brutal dictatorship.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/02/02/article-1352848-0D046F8B000005DC-911_634x443.jpg

I'm worried about that horse. :(

sure, but I imagine the guy would be trying to hit the other guy.

anyway, animals get killed in abattoirs all the time, so feh.

It takes guts to protest against a brutal dictatorship.

Plus they're doing it for free.

was said upthread, but the purposely neutral pro- and anti-Mubarak language being used on the news is v irritating

I half expect to see this next

http://www.theancientweb.com/images/explore/Tunisia_Hannibals_Elephant.jpg

Camel dudes are pro-Mubarak thugs.

1811: BBC world affairs editor John Simpson, in Cairo, says: "Within the last half hour, the heavy battle outside the Egyptian museum between pro- and anti-government demonstrators has ended. Rather unexpectedly, the confrontation seems to have been won by the pro-democracy protesters. All through the day they have been under attack by supporters of President Mubarak, and this represents an important turnaround in the situation. The opposition has now regained control of Tahrir Square, the centre of the last nine days of protests."

something to be said for sheer strength of numbers. I mean, really how many pro-Mubarak supporters can there be