Sounder wrote:I don't know lupercal, Jack made some commonsense observations as to how these events don't show the typical marks of western operations.
Now your response is some boisterous blather about being in another league?
Hell that bit about green wearing Iranians having any relevance to the Tunisian events is laughable, -not even bush league quality propaganda.
Get a grip.
"Commonsense" like New Republic "commonsense," no argument there. As to the rest I figured I'd get the usual "you didn't start from square one and explain the whole damn thing complete with links and illustrations on this particular page so I guess you got nothin', now where'd I leave that remote" comment so I made up a whole Sparknotes page just for you:
Funny than an organisation with an apparent pro western bias and a reputation for supporting western geo political interests would defend Tunisia's record on corruption in the face of the evidence.
Well not really, but anyway. Certainly T I may be a useful organisation at times and may help people in certain situations, tho I couldn't really say. I'm a bit sus on it (specifically wrt the Phillipines) but its more a feeling than anything I could point to with certainty.
You seem so certain about some media/leaking organisations but then use others with a more obvious history of susness to support your view. That is a little funny.
Mad dawg, you freaking cite Newsweek's glowing review of Ben Ali's regime to prove that the Tunisian revolution can't not be a CIA op. Newsweek, *the* leading middlebrow propaganda rag in the United States, famed as a Mockingbird nest utterly indistinguishable from the publication it was cloned from, Henry "God, America and the Republican Party" Luce's Time.
Also color-coded.
„MAN MUSS BEFUERCHTEN, DASS DAS GANZE IN GOTTES HAND IST"
Egypt Proactively Preparing For Tunisian-Style Rioting: Airport Intercepts 59 Outbound Gold Shipments Worth Tens Of Millions Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/22/2011 14:41 -0500
After a week ago we learned that the central bank of Tunisia had parted with 23% of its gold stash courtesy of now deposed president who fled the country with a 1.5 ton shipment of gold, it appears that Egypt is preparing for a comparable spike in revolutionary activity. Only unlike the now former Tunisian president whose gold sequestering actions were retroactive and thus, quite lucky to succeed, Egypt has taken proactive measures. According to Egypt News, the country's airport has intercepted 59 shipments of gold directed for the Netherlands "worth tens of millions." The gold, as well as an indeterminate amount of foreign currencies, was hidden in pillow cases: uh, cotton may not show up on X-Rays, but gold sure does. We eagerly await to learn how big the decline in the country's official holdings 75.6 tonnes of gold will be after this most recent episode confirming that gold is precisely money. And all this happening despite gold's complete and thorough inedibility.
Authority announced today the state of emergency to re-examine the expulsion of 59 gold and foreign currencies was on its way out of Egypt on the path of smuggling after the discovery of tearing some pillow cases before they are shipped to the Netherlands.
The workers were shipping on the plane heading to Amsterdam, the Netherlands were surprised to tear bags under the 59 parcels containing large quantities of gold and foreign currencies worth tens of millions were reported to officials.
Committee was formed headed by one official of the Egyptian banks have been re-examine the packages and parcels to make sure that shortages and supervise the shipment on the plane.
Sad but typical that the "state of emergency" was to ensure that all 59 bags of smuggled gold (why else would they be in pillowcases) got onto the planes.
This news was very curtly reported on the online version of the Egyptian state-owned Ahram newspaper, but was not published in the print version. The report neglected to say who the gold belonged to, under whose authorization it was being smuggled out of the country, or where it was being sent.
The silver lining, as it were, is that this would seem to indicate that the Egyptian regime is genuinely scared, contrary to its public pose.
"If you're not careful the newspapers will have you hating the oppressed and loving the people doing the oppressing." - Malcolm X
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/25/2011 10:31 -0500
We have received a disturbing update on the situation in Egypt (one of Africa's most populous countries will just under 90 million): "Twitter is now blocked in Egypt, and apparently many phone lines have had data services disabled." What happens next is anyone's guess.
Rioting Breaks Out In Egypt Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/25/2011 07:46 -0500
When we reported three days ago that 59 outbound shipments of gold were intercepted at the Egypt airport, we predicted that the country's oligarchs were proactively preparing precisely for what they knew is coming imminently. It has arrived. From Al-Jazeera: "Hundreds of protesters have begun to take to the streets in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, chanting slogans against the police, the interior minister and the government, in scenes that the capital has not seen since the 1970s, Al Jazeera's correspondent reported. Downtown Cairo has come to a standstill, and protesters are now marching towards the headquarters of the ruling National Democracy Party. "It is unprecedented for security forces to let people march like this without trying to stop them," Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reported from the site of the protest."
And the government is panicking:
The Egyptian government had earlier warned activists hoping to emulate Tunisian pro-democracy protesters that they face arrest if they go ahead with Tuesday's mass demonstrations, which some have labelled as the "Day of wrath".
The protesters are gathering outside Cairo's largest courthouse, and are marching across downtown Cairo.
The rallies have been promoted online by groups saying they speak for young Egyptians frustrated by the kind of poverty and oppression which triggered the overthrow of Tunisia's president.
Black-clad riot police, backed by armoured vehicles and fire engines, have been deployed in a massive security operation in Cairo, with the biggest concentrations at likely flashpoints, including: the Cairo University campus, the central Tahrir Square and the courthouse where protesters are said to be gathering.
Coinciding with a national holiday in honour of the police, a key force in keeping president Hosni Mubarak in power for 30 years, the outcome in Egypt on Tuesday is seen as a test of whether vibrant Web activism can translate into street action.
Organisers have called for a "day of revolution against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment".
"Activists said they wanted to use this particular day to highlight the irony of celebrating Egypt's police at a time when police brutality is making headlines," reported Rawya Rageh, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Cairo.
"In fact, the call originated from a Facebook page initially set up to honour a 28-year-old man from Alexandria who activists say was tortured to death by police.
"Witnesses are telling us that there are hundreds on the streets. This is an indication that the protests seem so far to be larger than the usual protests that have taken place here in Egypt over the past few years."
Turns out that not banning the internet (on time) was not such a good idea.
"Our protest on the 25th is the beginning of the end," wrote organisers of a Facebook group with 87,000 followers.
"It is the end of silence, acquiescence and submission to what is happening in our country. It will be the start of a new page in Egypt's history, one of activism and demanding our rights."
Rights watchdog Amnesty International has urged Egypt's authorities "to allow peaceful protests".
Protests in Egypt, the biggest Arab state and a keystone Western ally in the Middle East, tend to be poorly attended and are often quashed swiftly by the police, who prevent marching.
The banned Muslim Brotherhood, seen as having Egypt's biggest grassroots opposition network, has not called on members to take part but said some would join in a personal capacity.
Organisers have called for protesters to not display political or religious affiliations at demonstrations. The Facebook page says: "Today is for all Egyptians."
Commenting on the wave of public unrest in Tunisia, Adli, the interior minister, said talk that the "Tunisian model" could work in other Arab countries was "propaganda" and had been dismissed by politicians as "intellectual immaturity".
"Young people are very excited, and this time there will be much more than any other time," Ahmed Maher, one of the founders of the opposition youth movement said.
"This is going to be a real test of whether online activism in Egypt can translate into real action," Al Jazeera's Rageh reported.
"Anger has been on the rise in Egypt for the past couple of years, but we have seen similar calls fizzle out. The main difference now is that these calls are coming after what happened in Tunisia, which seems to have not only inspired activists, but actually ordinary Egyptians, a dozen of whom we have seen set themselves on fire in copycat self-immolations similar to the one that had sparked the uprising in Tunisia."
Elsewhere, it is not at all surprising that the UNWFR just released a program promoting food subisidies to eliminate the risk of rioting:
Risks of global instability are rising as governments cut subsidies that help the poor cope with surging food and fuel costs to ease budget crunches, the head of the United Nations’ World Food Program said.
“We’re in an era where the world and nations ignore the food issue at their peril,” Josette Sheeran said in an interview yesterday at the agency’s Rome headquarters.
The global recession has eroded government aid that helped people in poorer countries afford bread, cooking oils and other staples. The trend raises the odds of unrest even though prices have improved in many nations from 2007-2009, Sheeran said. During that period, more than 60 food riots occurred worldwide, according to the U.S. State Department.
And so the central planning that brought to us the inflation-driven rioting, which Zero Hedge first predicted in 2011, is about to lead to even more central planning, as governments everywhere jump to provide food subsidies and price caps, as was just announced in Russia overnight.
Below are two videos of events transpiring right now in Egypt which is what will soon move out of Africa and into Asia (remember: rice bubble) unless central planning2 promptly becomes the next major paradigm.
CAIRO—Thousands of Egyptians descended on downtown Cairo's main square Tuesday night in the largest antiregime protest in recent memory.
In Egypt's capital and in cities throughout the country, demonstrators challenged police to employ the same heavy-handed tactics that were the ultimate undoing of the autocratic regime in neighboring Tunisia two weeks ago.
For many Egyptians, the fall of Tunisia's dictator broke a psychological barrier by exposing the inherent weakness of even the most entrenched Arab regimes.
The energy of the demonstrators and the sheer numbers that gathered across the country were evidence that Egyptians—long frustrated by mounting economic woes and a seemingly unmovable leadership—were capable of uniting to challenge the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak.
"This is an historic day in Egypt's history because we have started to say 'no'," said Mohammed Saleh, who had joined protesters Tuesday night. "I'll tell my children someday that I was standing here in Tahrir Square."
Demonstrators were met by an almost equal number of state security officials, who used clubs, water cannons and tear gas to subdue a crowd that, by late afternoon, had devolved into a riot.
Scores of young men clashed with police in the Tahrir Square, the Egyptian capital's main interchange.
In a series of back-and-forth attacks that lasted more than an hour, hundreds of stone-throwing youth forced police to retreat several blocks. At various intervals, the baton-wielding officers charged back, beating demonstrators and also throwing stones.
"Hey Hosni! Hey Gamal! Saudi Arabia is waiting for you!" some demonstrators chanted, in reference to the president and his son, long considered a possible successor to the presidency, and the country that offered exile for Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the Tunisian dictator who fled his country amid popular protests on January 14.
"The people want the system to go down!" they shouted in unison as dusk descended on the capital.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. is monitoring events in the key Arab ally, and expressed confidence in its regime. "Our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people," she told reporters.
Throughout the afternoon in Cairo, demonstrators marched through Cairo chanting antigovernment slogans. The protests, organized over Facebook by opposition political groups, fell on Police Day—an annual holiday meant to commemorate a police-led uprising against British colonialists in 1952.
The police were a major source of the demonstrators' anger. While the toppling of Tunisia's regime might have served as inspiration to protesters here, many of Tuesday's organizers also had convened demonstrations last year following the death of a young Alexandrian businessman who they say was killed by police officers.
The protesters had other goals as well. Many shouted for an end to Egypt's emergency law, which grants extensive powers to security services. Others called for an increase in Egypt's minimum wage.
But the clearest demand from Tuesday was an echo of the one heard on the streets of Tunis: That Mubarak, his son Gamal and the rest of the ruling regime should pack up and leave.
"I think it's a success. Standing here in Tahrir is a pressure card. We have our demands and we're not leaving here until our demands are satisfied," said Shadi Taha, the assistant chief of Al Ghad [Tomorrow] Party, one of the groups that organized the demonstration. "We've been ruled by Mubarak for 30 years. It's time for him to leave to allow us to push for the real reforms we've been fighting for for years."
Some of Egypt's most prominent opposition groups had resisted joining Tuesday's demonstrations. The Muslim Brotherhood, an illegal Islamist group that is Egypt's most powerful political opposition, allowed its members to participate but stopped short of calling its legion of members onto the streets.
"I think it's a good thing that there are a humble number of Brotherhood members in the demonstration," said Saad Aboud, a leader of the leftist Karamah Party and former member of Parliament. "That way, this day belongs to the Egyptian people, not any one organization."
The media are presenting this as a sequel to the Tunisian unpleasantness. If true, it makes it a tiny bit harder to see those events as orchestrated by the Usual Suspects. At the very least, one would have to say that it resulted in some foreseeable but somehow unforeseen consequences. Call me unimaginative, but I can see no scenario in which the PTB would regard the precipitous fall of Hosni Mubarak's regime as a good thing, or even having a perceptible upside. Am I wrong? Horribly naive? Hopelessly besotted with Too Much Western Thought?
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst that justice prevail.
If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.
Part of downtown Cairo this evening, hours after the demonstrations began:
There have been large demonstrations all over Egypt, especially in Cairo and Alexandria. Most have been peaceful and proceeded without any major problems, but the police have used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators, and in Suez some deaths (one demonstrator confirmed dead) among both demonstrators and police have been reported.
The situation in downtown Cairo is very tense, especially as the Ministry of Interior has announced that the police will deal very differently with the daytime demonstrations and those that will continue at night (including the one in the photograph above). Cell-phone communications have been scrambled downtown and I've heard that Arabic Facebook and Twitter have been blocked.
"If you're not careful the newspapers will have you hating the oppressed and loving the people doing the oppressing." - Malcolm X
Demonstrators in downtown Cairo calling for an end to the Mubarak regime (literal translation: "The people /want/ the regime to fall!" (around 20 minutes ago).
Thanks, Joe. Those are good kids, they just might save Egypt yet.
"If you're not careful the newspapers will have you hating the oppressed and loving the people doing the oppressing." - Malcolm X
The Guardian: Protests in Egypt and unrest in Middle East – live updates
10.19pm: My colleague Jack Shenker is still on the ground in Cairo, but reports that his phone access has been blocked, as has internet access in many areas. Here's his latest file from the Egyptian capital:
As midnight approaches in Cairo thousands of protesters are still occupying the Tahrir Square, vowing to remain in place until the government falls. News has reached Egyptians here of deaths in Suez and the capital, as well as unconfirmed reports that Gamal Mubarak – the president's wildly unpopular son and presumed heir apparent – has fled to London, and they appear more determined than ever to hold their ground.
"We will stay here all night, all week if necessary," said Youssef Hisham, a 25 year old filmmaker. "There are too many people on the streets for the police to charge – if they did, it would be a massacre. I came here today not as the representative of any political party, but simply in the name of Egypt. We have liberated the heart of the country, and Mubarak now knows that his people want him gone."
As fresh waves of protesters broke through police cordons to join the throng in Tahrir, a festival atmosphere took hold – groups were cheered as they arrived carrying blankets and food, and demonstrators pooled money together to buy water and other supplies. "The atmosphere is simply amazing – everyone is so friendly, there's no anger, no harassment, just solidarity and remarkable energy," added Hisham.
Drums were banged and fires started as night moved in; having established their lines, hundreds of security forces stayed put and kept their distance, although alarmingly police snipers were seen to be taking up position on nearby buildings. "They are waiting for numbers to dwindle, and then they will switch off the street lights and charge," warned Ahmed Salah, a veteran activist.
"We must hold Tahrir through the night and tomorrow, so that every corner of Egypt can take us as an inspiration and rise up in revolt," claimed Salah. "It's a matter of life and death now – what happens over the next 24 hours will be vital to the history of this country. It's a very emotional moment for me."
Pamphlets widely distributed amongst protesters declared that 'the spark of intifada' had been launched in Egypt. "We have started an uprising with the will of the people, the people who have suffered for thirty years under oppression, injustice and poverty," read the Arabic-language texts. "Egyptians have proven today that they are capable of taking freedom by force and destroying despotism."
They went on to call for the immediate removal of President Mubarak and his government, and urged Egyptians nationwide to begin a wave of strikes, sit-ins and demonstrations across the country until these demands were met. "Long live the struggle of the Egyptian people," the pamphlets ended.
