Live: Al Jazeera coverage of Egypt’s growing revolution

[Joe Hillshoist]

^^

you might like this then:



from here:

http://coldestmonster.com/2011/01/justi ... wer-part1/

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edit to fix link.

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I found that the other day actually. The pricks - stealing my url...

Can't seem to contact them tho, or comment on their website.

[82_28]

I will tell you this, the US media tonight has shifted into a slightly higher and smoother gear as they are now merging onto the appearance freeway probably intending to drive very fast with this. They have have people in the field now talking to possible protesters (some seemed planted -- I was wondering who the guys were who were seemingly crowded around Katie Couric as she strolled through the protests explaining to us idiots what was going on) and then juxtaposing it with American tourists with their gift shop ankh and cartouche necklaces and wild eyed, crawling all over each other Egyptian men screaming like savages. The media is getting a handle on the narrative guys. They're beginning to personalize it with cute girls with names, engineers from Switzerland and following that up with an expert from the state department. Total fucking bullshit and the smell is beginning to become noticable. Shit is getting rebranded, reapportioned and reinvented from what I am able to tell so far for the American audience.

I don't know thing one about any of this, but I truly fear this probably will not wind up well.

Where the hell is Alice?!?! Yes, yes, I understand the Internet got turned off and she's probably got a lot on her plate. Hope she and hers are well, but we could sure use her. Thanks to everybody here as well, 'specially Vanlose for the awesome "live blogging".

[DrVolin]

The message on CNN tonight is that Mubarak's 'concession' should allow the country to 'get back to work'.

[82_28]

The message on CNN tonight is that Mubarak's 'concession' should allow the country to 'get back to work'.

LOL

[barracuda]

This seems worth keeping in mind:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_ ... Succession

Succession
In the case of temporary incapacitation of the president, the constitution provides the president to relinquish his powers to a vice-president. If there is no Vice President in-office, the prime minister takes office. However the person who takes office is limited in power as the new president can not dissolve the parliament, propose constitutional amendments or remove the cabinet from office.

In case of the vacancy of the Presidential office or the permanent incapacitation of the President, the Speaker of the People’s Assembly shall temporarily assume the Presidency. In case the People’s Assembly is dissolved at such a time the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court shall take over the Presidency on condition that neither shall nominate himself for the Presidency. Both are also limited in power as in they can not dissolve the parliament, remove the cabinet, propose constitutional amendments.

The People’s Assembly shall then proclaim the vacancy of the office of President, and a new president shall be chosen within a maximum period of sixty days form the date of the vacancy of the office.

Although, the constitution does not directly stipulate any role for the Vice-President in the process of Presidential succession, It had become a tradition for the People's Assembly to nominate the Vice-President for the vacant office of the President. Both Sadat and Mubarak served as Vice-Presidents at the time the Presidential office became vacant. Mubarak has not appointed anyone for the position of the Vice-President, although many intellectuals and activists have called for an active Vice-Presidency.

The Vice President does not automatically succeed to the presidency in case of Mubarak vacating the office.

[23]

Post Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 10:39 pm
Re: Live: Al Jazeera coverage of Egypt’s growing revolution
The message on CNN tonight is that Mubarak's 'concession' should allow the country to 'get back to work'.

Every once in a while, a piece of the truth slips out amongst the contrived.

Herein lies the key, IMO, to forcing Mubarak out within a week or so: don't go back to work.

Don't patronize any business or conduct yourself in any commerce.

In short, paralyze the economy... until the moneychangers are the ones to force Mubarak out so that they can collect their pounds without significant inconvenience.

A general strike of business, labor, and commerce will succeed where other efforts will only give Mubarak more reason to entrench himself.

Appearing in huge numbers at a given location won't accomplish as much as disappearing from the economy.

Caveat: your mileage may vary, of course.

*credits the above strategy, and bows , to *

[vanlose kid]

... Cairo's reminding me more of Barcelona than anything has in my lifetime.

in more ways than one:


Soccer clubs central to ending Egypt's 'Dictatorship of Fear'


Over the decades that have marked the tenure of Egypt's "President for Life" Hosni Mubarak, there has been one consistent nexus for anger, organization, and practical experience in the ancient art of street fighting: the country's soccer clubs. Over the past week, the most organized, militant fan clubs, also known as the "ultras," have put those years of experience to ample use.

Last Thursday, the Egyptian Soccer Federation announced that they would be suspending all league games throughout the country in an effort to keep the soccer clubs from congregating. Clearly this was a case of too little, too late. Even without games, the football fan associations have been front and center organizing everything from the neighborhood committees that have been providing security for residents, to direct confrontation with the state police. In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Alaa Abd El Fattah, a prominent Egyptian blogger said, "The ultras -- have played a more significant role than any political group on the ground at this moment." Alaa then joked, "Maybe we should get the ultras to rule the country."

The involvement of the clubs has signaled more than just the intervention of sports fans. The soccer clubs' entry into the political struggle also means the entry of the poor, the disenfranchised, and the mass of young people in Egypt for whom soccer was their only outlet.

As soccer writer James Dorsey wrote this week, "The involvement of organized soccer fans in Egypt's anti-government protests constitutes every Arab government's worst nightmare. Soccer, alongside Islam, offers a rare platform in the Middle East, a region populated by authoritarian regimes that control all public spaces, for the venting of pent-up anger and frustration."

Dorsey's statement proved prophetic on Sunday when it was announced that Libya's government had instructed the Libyan Football Federation to ban soccer matches for the foreseeable future. Sources in the government said that this was done to head off the mere possibility that Egypt's demonstrations could spill over the border. The fear was that soccer could be the artery that would connect the challenge to Mubarak to a challenge to former U.S. foe turned ally Moammar Gadhafi.

The critical role of Egypt's soccer clubs may surprise us, but only if we don't know the history that soccer clubs have played in the country. For more than a century, the clubs have been a place where cheering and anti-government organizing have walked together in comfort. Egypt's most prominent team, Al Ahly, started its club in 1907 as a place to organize national resistance against British colonial rule. The word Al Ahly translated into English means "the national," to mark their unapologetically political stance against colonialism. Al Ahly has always been the team with the most political fans. It's also a team that's allowed its players to make political statements on the pitch even though this is in direct violation of FIFA dictates. It's no coincidence that it was Al Ahly's star player Mohamed Aboutrika, aka "the Smiling Assassin," who in 2008 famously raised his jersey revealing the T-shirt, which read "Sympathize with Gaza."

Of course there are thousands in the streets of Egypt that have no connection to the Ultras of Al Ahly or any of the clubs in Egypt. But soccer clubs, whether in Europe, Africa, Asia, or the Middle East, have a long history as a place where anger, frustration and dissent been channeled.

Sometimes it's been channeled toward ill-ends like racist hooliganism or even as instruments of ethnic cleansing during the breakup of Yugoslavia. Other times, as in the Ivory Coast, it's been a tool for unity during civil war. Even more than either of those options, the soccer clubs have been a safety valve where people have just let off steam.

Today in Egypt they're at the heart of a rich mosaic of resistance. They stand as a remarkable example of the capacity that sports has to bring people together. An anonymous member of Mubarak's ruling national party said to the government newspaper, Al Ahram, last Wednesday, "What we saw on the streets ... are not just Muslim Brotherhood members or sympathizers but Egyptians at large; those are the Egyptians that you would see supporting the football national team -- and their show of frustration was genuine and it had to be accommodated." Pity the government official with the sense to realize the enormity [sic] of the challenge in the streets and the naiveté to think it can be accommodated. The great author of Soccer in Sun and Shadow, Eduardo Galeano, in a different time and different context once wrote, "The Dictatorship of Fear is Over." Truer words about Egypt could never be spoken.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/w ... z1CmMNtQRM

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[barracuda]

No disrespect intended, but I have to say that I've been glad to see Ghida Fakhry anchoring today. I mean, damn.

[stefano]

Washington isn't the only place where they're trying to align this thing with their interests. Excerpts.

Iran says Egypt events herald Islamic Middle East

Iran said on Monday it hopes mass anti-government protests in Egypt will lead to the emergence of a more Islamic Middle East that will stand up to its enemies, Israel and the United States.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, setting out Iran's official stance, said the people of Egypt and Tunisia had left foreign powers "bewildered" by rising up against U.S.-backed governments.

"With (the region) assuming a new shape and the developments under way, (we hope) we would be able to see a Middle East that is Islamic and powerful and also that withstands the Zionist occupiers," he told a weekly news conference, using Iran's term for Israel, which it does not recognise.

Iran, the only country in the region with no diplomatic ties with Egypt, hopes that fall of the Egyptian government will lead to an Islamist takeover and boost its political power in the region, analysts say.

Attempts to restore relations between the two countries have long been stymied by Iran's refusal to change the name of a Tehran street renamed in honour of an Islamist miliant who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said protests in Egypt and the overthrow of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali "proved that the global arrogance's era of domination and control of the region has come to an end", state television reported on Monday. "Global arrogance" is Iran's term for the United States.

[Searcher08]

Ireland says Egypt events herald Celtic Middle East

Ireland said on Monday it hopes mass anti-government protests in Egypt will lead to the emergence of a more Celtic Middle East that will stand up to its enemies, the World Bank and The Goldman Sachs.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Father Dougal, setting out Ireand's official stance, said the people of Egypt and Tunisia had left foreign powers "bewildered" by rising up against World Bank-backed governments.

"With (the region) assuming a new shape and the developments under way, (we hope) we would be able to see a Middle East that is Celtic and powerful and also that withstands the IMF occupiers," he told a weekly news conference, using Ireland's term for The Ben Bernanke, which it does not recognise.

Ireland, the only country in the region with diplomatic ties with Egypt, hopes that fall of the Egyptian government will lead to an Celtic takeover and boost its political power in the region, analysts say.

Iranian Foreign Minister Father Dougal said protests in Egypt and the overthrow of Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali "proved that the global arrogance's era of domination and control of the region has come to an end", RTE state television reported on Monday. "Global arrogance" is Ireland's term for the IMF.

[Jeff]

Israel, call your brand managers, the whole world sees your claim to being "only democracy in ME" relies on supporting dictatorship

[vanlose kid]

Yemen’s Leader Pledges Not to Seek Re-election
By NADA BAKRI
Published: February 2, 2011


Khaled Abdullah/Reuters
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh addressed the parliament in Sanaa on Wednesday and said he will not extend his presidency
beyond 2013.

Mr. Saleh, an American ally who has been in office for 32 years, also said that his eldest son, Ahmed, who heads the elite Republican
Guard, would not seek the presidency, as government opponents had feared.

The Yemeni leader made the announcement a day before planned protests in Sana, the capital, and other districts in Yemen. Last week, the
country witnessed the largest demonstrations of Mr. Saleh’s tenure, and organizers said they expected a higher turnout on Thursday.
The president’s announcement came a day after President Hosni Mubarak, in the face of a protest that gathered hundreds of thousands
in downtown Cairo, declared that he would step down in September after finishing his term.

“No extension, no inheritance, no resetting the clock,” Mr. Saleh said on Wednesday, during a joint session of Parliament
and another legislative body that was boycotted by the opposition. “I present these concessions in the interests of the country. The interests
of the country come before our personal interests.”

The president also urged the opposition to cancel their planned demonstrations and invited them to resume a dialogue
that collapsed last October when authorities announced plans to hold parliamentary elections in April before opposing political camps finished
their deliberations.

In another concession, Mr. Saleh said he would delay these elections until better voter records were compiled, an opposition demand.

The concessions were met with skepticism by opposition lawmakers, an eclectic bloc dominated by Islamists. Several said they would go ahead
with their plans for protests, voicing fears that the promises might never materialize.

In 2005, Mr. Saleh announced that he would not run for another term, only to change his mind a year later. He was elected in 2006 to a seven-year
term.

“We lost confidence in the president,” said Zaid al-Shami, a lawmaker and opposition figure. “It is not the first time he promises something that he ends
up not honoring.”

Unlike Tunisia and Egypt, where protesters were calling for the ouster of their leaders, Yemenis are asking for reforms and a smooth transition of
power through elections. But the concession itself marked another acceleration in the momentum that has gathered across North Africa and the
Middle East for deep, even radical change in a longstanding regional order backed by the United States.

The Arab world’s poorest country, Yemen is troubled by a rebellion in the north and a struggle for secession in the south. And in recent years, an
affiliate of Al Qaeda has turned parts of the country into a refuge beyond the state’s reach. A remarkably high proportion of citizens are armed.

In another gesture that he portrayed as an act of good will, Mr. Saleh ordered the creation of a fund to employ university graduates and to extend
social security coverage. He also increased wages and lowered income taxes.

Though most were wary of his statements, some in the opposition called them positive and said that if they are realized, they would allow for a
peaceful change of power.

“As long as we have started, we are on the right track for democracy,” said Sheikh Mohammed Abulahoum a prominent tribal leader and politician.
“This way it will be a safe, secure and permanent transition of power without casualties and a low cost.”

The country’s stability has been of increasing concern to the United States, which has provided $250 million in military aid in the past five years.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a visit to Sana in January, urged Mr. Saleh to establish a new dialogue with the opposition, saying
it would help to stabilize the country.

Previously, Mr. Saleh had offered some political concessions and promised to raise salaries for civil servants and the military in a country where
many people live on less than $2 a day.

On Tuesday, for instance, the state news agency, Saba, reported that the president had ordered retailers to stop charging the military and security
forces for food and gasoline.

Both Jordan and Yemen share desert borders with Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich United States ally that has so far shown no sign of the pressure
sweeping through other less prosperous lands.

The Yemeni opposition had promised to call a demonstration every Thursday until March, when it will evaluate whether its demands have been
met.

In Syria, calls for a “day of rage” this weekend against the government of President Bashar al-Assad were spreading on Facebook,
which is formally banned in the country, and on Twitter.

Alan Cowell contributed reporting from Paris.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/world ... ss&emc=rss

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[vanlose kid]

Mubarak's Exit to Upend Decades of Predictable U.S. Policy in Arab World
By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Glen Carey and Massoud A. Derhally - Feb 2, 2011 5:51 AM GMT+0100


Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s announcement that he won’t seek reelection sets in motion a perilous period in Egypt and
across the Arab world after decades of predictability under U.S.-allied strongmen.

The dilemma for the U.S. as popular protests sweep the Middle East and North Africa is to back away from repressive leaders without
encouraging Islamic radicalism, analysts say. The White House will have to maneuver deftly, they add, to help allies transition to new
leadership that won’t threaten key U.S. interests in the region: security for Israel and the world’s energy supply.

In Egypt, the U.S. will want “to ensure that a successor government is neither virulently anti-American nor openly hostile to Israel. This
requires a delicate touch,” said Stephen M. Walt, a professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. “We should be quietly advising other leaders in the region to take steps to alleviate discontent” and “avoid the same
fate that Mubarak is now experiencing.”

So far, the Obama administration “is 10 steps behind not just Egypt’s events, but the radically changing dynamics of the entire region --
the fact that the region’s youth population is defining its future in defiant and unprecedented and unexpected ways,” said Dina Guirguis,
an Egyptian-American human rights activist and fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Months of Uncertainty

Even if protesters accept Mubarak’s offer to leave after elections, the coming months will bring great uncertainty in Egypt, said Marina
Ottaway, director of the Middle East program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

Still unclear is whether the Muslim Brotherhood will be influential players in the transition and how a change in leadership will affect
Egypt’s relations with Israel, she said.

Egypt’s culture minister, Gaber Asfour, said yesterday that the “revolution” by the country’s youth was spontaneous and served as a
wake-up call for the government.

“This is a very significant sign that we are witnessing the end of the old Middle East,” Khalil al-Anani, a Middle East analyst at the
University of Birmingham in England, said by telephone. “Now, the people have the upper hand over regimes.”

Young people demonstrating in Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Yemen and Algeria over the last month began by demanding more jobs and
lower prices. As Arab presidents and kings increase salaries and welfare payments in an effort to address discontent fueling the unrest,
disgruntled citizens are demanding revolution rather than piecemeal economic and political changes.

‘Demand for Political Participation’

“We are beyond the bread riots,” said Malika Zeghal, the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal professor of contemporary Islamic thought and life at
Harvard University. These uprisings are “really a demand for political participation.”

The sheer volume of protesters in Egypt and the speed with which demonstrations have mounted across the region pose a unique test for
the organizers -- and also for the Obama administration, which is formulating new policy as the ground in the Mideast shifts beneath its
feet, analysts said.

“The pace of change will not be the same everywhere, but there will be change across the board,” said Khalid al-Dakhil, Saudi columnist at
the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat. “People want genuine, real reforms, not cosmetic changes. These regimes have proven
that they are incapable of reform, so they have to go.”

‘Fate of Mubarak’

“Arab Gulf monarchies which have wealth and no strong opposition may have the leisure of changing gradually, without undermining their
regimes, but they have to be serious about it or they will eventually meet the fate of Mubarak,” added al- Dakhil, a former political science
professor at King Saud University in Riyadh.

The immediate problem in Egypt is that protesters have no one who can deliver what they want -- jobs, lower prices and a better life, said
Edward S. Walker, a former U.S. ambassador to both Israel and Egypt.

“It’s very difficult to see how democracy will work to answer the questions the demonstrators have,” Walker said. “It doesn’t create jobs, it
doesn’t lower the price of food” or eliminate the gap between rich and poor.

In Jordan, the regime is far less threatened than in Egypt, because King Abdullah is a popular leader who holds the allegiance of many tribes
and can trace his lineage back to the prophet Mohammed, Walker said.

Ahead of the Situation

Governments throughout the region are watching what is happening in Egypt and Tunisia and drawing their own conclusions, said an Obama
administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The official said the U.S. is pleased that Jordan’s king has decided to get ahead of
the situation by taking steps today.

It’s risky, the official warned, to draw sweeping lessons from the events so far; how the protests unfold will be determined by unique dynamics
within each country.

“Most regimes are not addressing the underlying tough issues and are doing superficial things -- and very poorly in most cases,” said Rami Khouri,
director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. “There is absolutely no doubt that
every single Arab country, without exception, is watching the events, concerned about the implications for their own countries.”

In Egypt, the most populous Arab nation, the economic growth rate has dropped below the 7 percent the government estimates is necessary to create
enough jobs for a growing working-age population. The official inflation rate last dipped below 10 percent in August 2009.

Strain in Syria

In Syria, where street protests and social networking websites are banned, economic progress has been slow. Syria ranks 140 out of 179 countries in
2011 in terms of economic freedom, according to the Heritage Foundation, a public policy center in Washington.

President Bashar al-Assad, 45, doubled the heating allowance for state workers, the official Syrian Arab News Agency reported Jan. 16. The government
spent more than 140 billion Syrian pounds ($3 billion) to subsidize prices for home heating oil and other petroleum products last year, 10 times more than
what was spent in 2009, Ath Thawra newspaper reported Jan. 3.

The government also plans to provide between 500 pounds and 3,500 pounds a month to low-income families, Al-Watan newspaper reported two days later.

‘Hard Truth’

“He has promised political reforms in the past,” Josh Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, said of Assad. “The
hard truth is that Syria has a rapidly growing population, a bad education system, too little water -- and world food prices are going up rapidly.”

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said he would raise the salaries of the armed forces and security forces by 5,000 Yemeni rials ($23) a month, the
state-owned Saba news agency reported Jan. 22. That came after more than a week of protests against the 68-year-old leader.

In Jordan, the government announced an increase in public salaries and subsidies to counter protests over falling living standards. The package includes a
20-dinar ($28) monthly increase for state employees and pensioners, which will cost the treasury 160 million dinars a year, Petra news agency reported Jan.
21, citing then-Prime Minister Samir Rifai.

An additional 140 million dinars will be spent on subsidies for natural gas and livestock feed, Petra said. Rifai, 44, was dismissed yesterday after a little over
a year in power.

‘New Arab World’

King Abdullah, 49, told new premier Marouf Bakhit that he should put the country on the path “to strengthen democracy,” and provide Jordanians with the
“dignified life they deserve,” the Royal Court said in an e-mailed statement.

While his 86-year-old counterpart in Saudi Arabia, also King Abdullah, backed the Egyptian government and condemned the protesters, he also has been
trying to address imbalances in the largest Arab economy, albeit the world’s largest oil exporter. The government announced in August a $385 billion,
five-year spending plan as the kingdom tries to reduce a jobless rate of as high as 43 percent for Saudis between the ages of 20 and 24.

“We are today in a new Arab world,” said Mohammed al- Qahtan, head of the political department of Islamic Reform Party in Yemen. “The young Arabs of
today are the generation of the Internet and satellite television and are seeing what is happening around the world.”


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-0 ... world.html
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[vanlose kid]

violent clashes in Tahrir square; army standing by, saying they cannot intervene since both parties are civilians; pro Mubarak supporters
let in to the square; undercover police among them; many injured; demonstrators interviewed say this is Mubarak's doing, shows how low
he is. – AJ reporters call it complete mayhem; smoke; knives, stones, sticks.

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[vanlose kid]

reposting this from last night.

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Mubarak Says Egyptians Have to Choose Between "Chaos" and Him ... Then Sends In His Thugs to Stir Up Chaos
Submitted by George Washington on 02/01/2011 18:20 -0500


In order to justify staying in power until elections are held in September, President Mubarak said on tv that the people had to choose between him and "chaos".

As NBC notes:

President Hosni Mubarak announced late Tuesday that he would not run for another term in office, but whether Egyptians would allow him to remain in office until elections in the fall was uncertain.


In a 5-minunte pre-recorded televised address to Egypt that was translated into English, Mubarak said it had never been his intention to run for re-election in September.



***

Mubarak said the protests that erupted Jan. 25 "force us to choose between stability and chaos."

Soon after Mubarak's speech was broadcast, clashes broke out between pro- and anti-Mubarak forces in Alexandria.

Reports on the ground say that the pro-Mubarak protesters tried to break into the peaceful protest to start a riot, chanting "We want Mubarak!".

But the anti-Mubarak protesters did not take the bait.

The army broke up the clash and ensured peace by firing a couple of shots into the air above everyone's head.

As Al Jazeera blogs:

Clashes between anti-government and pro-Mubarak protesters in Alexandria. Shots are fired in the air.

Once again, thanks to President Mubarak for educating the world about agents provocateur and false flag shenanigans.

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/mubara ... stir-chaos

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