Month: January 2011

The above photo is from the Egyptian protests this week. Hat tip to Robert A. Wicks. (I am not sure if he made the poster. If someone knows the author of this photo/poster, please advise and will give fuller credit).

Here is a link to a great two-minute video produced by Tamer Shaaban. It is gripping. (Thanks to LawHobbit for the link).

For a dissenting view on the Egyptian revolution, check out Daniel McAdams’s comment at the Lew Rockwell blog. Daniel has followed foreign policy very closely for many years.

Forty minutes after the start of the official curfew — 4 pm — tens of thousands of Egyptians are gathering in Cairo’s  Liberation Square, while the army — which, according to this eyewitness account, has a rather sparse presence — is simply standing by. One tank commander said the tanks in the streets are not equipped with shells: only small arms. The tanks are spray-painted with anti-Mubarak slogans, while the conscripts mingle freely with the protesters, who embrace them.  A sea of people chanting, holding banners aloft, has taken possession of the square, with more streaming in constantly. Fear  is banished: the government’s pronouncements are irrelevent. The dreaded “anarchy” has taken hold — and the world is a better place.

There are reports that protesters have overrun police stations all around the country, with the security forces  — Mubarak’s dreaded secret police — have “melted away,” in the words of an Al Jazeera reporter. There are also reports of four dead protesters who were killed while trying to storm the Interior Ministry: the body of one was carried aloft by the crowd as a roar of defiance went up.

Stay tuned …

It is great to see so many people with the courage to risk all defying a corrupt, oppressive government.

It is great to see the party headquarters of a corrupt regime going up in flames.

And it is great to see American politicians squirming as the authoritarian tool they have bankrolled for 30 years totters and looks heading for a fall.

This is one of Al Jazeera’s finest hours. Their English-language coverage is superb.

While much of the American government has derided Al Jazeera for years, that network has actually been more forthright against oppression than has the U.S. government. Ahmed Mansour, the journalist who interviewed me for an hour (in Arabic) back in 2006 was beaten by Egyptian security forces while reporting in that country. But he never backed down.

Neocon Marc Ginsberg, former US ambassador to Morocco, appeared on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” the Chris Matthews show masquerading as an “expert” — as Matthews called him — descrying theEgyptian  uprising as a plaything in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.

This is not at all surprising: Ginsberg is the same guy who described the Tunisian uprising as representing Al Jazeera’s “penchant for regional anarchy” — the people’s desire for freedom apparently had nothing to do with it.  Gisberg is a longtime warmonger and outspoken supporter of Israel whose views are so far from removed from reality — never mind “expertise” — that the distance can only be measured in light-years. “It doesn’t matter what the people in the streets want,” Ginsberg intone: “The Brotherhood is the largest most organized political organization in the country.” But why doesn’t it matter what the tens of thousands in the streets want? Are they just pawns?

I suppose the Israel Lobby had to get its two cents in, but the brazenness of this kind of nonsense is astonishing. Matthews just sat there and failed to challenge the “expert.”

The reality is that the Brotherhood is practically invisible in these protests: there are no leaders, no organizations, no party programs — just the people, outraged, rising up against a tyrant. The Brotherhood, as even the War Street Journal recognized, “was taken by surprise by the protests.” This revolution was organized by young people, both secular and religious, both Muslim and Christian, who are united by one thing: a hatred of tyranny.

Shame on Chris Matthews and MSNBC for giving a platform for Ginsberg the slanderer.

The “President” of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, has finally made a public statement broadcast by state-controlled television. The transcription is by me, so it’s not letter-perfect, but you get the general idea:

Hosni speaks:

We need to stand and take a pose [?] with conscience. I have heard the demands cried and voiced by the people[ and gave] my instructions to the govternment not to supress the people’s demands. I monitored the attempts by some to jump on t he bankwagon and “monger.” {!} I instructed the police, respecting their right of peaceful demonstrations before these demonstrations turned into acts of riots and impairing the efforts to keep order. These demonstrationis woud not have taken place without the “reforms” undertaken by the goverment. In my capacity as President I always stressed that sovereignty will be to the people and I will always adhere as exercising the rights of freedom. There is a fine line separating freedom from chaos. And while I take the side of the people {and their] right to express their views, I also uphold Egypt’s security and any threat to Egypt. Egypt is the biggest population in the region, governed by the rule of law, and we shold be warned of the exampales around us where chaos reigned.

NOTE: He then said he is fighting corruption, poverty, and unemployment, continuing:

I am aware of the people’s sufferings. However, the problems facing us cannot be achieved through violence and chaos. Only national dialogue. The people must steal away from those who lure us into chaos. We will continue our reforms for a free and democratic society embracing the modern principles. I have taken their side and have always taken the side of the poor people. The economy is too dangeorus to be left to economists. Reforms must be expedited. Our plans to combat unemployment, healthcare, and many others will remain conditional on our ability to maintain security. We will go above the arsons and looting which may indicate further plots to undermine our country.

NOTE: He makes a direct appeal to “the youth,” continuing:

I address you today in not only as the president but also as a citizen: I have exhausted myself for the good of the country. The cause of reform which we have embraced has[reached the point]  point of no return. We will continue them. New steps towards more democracy more freedoms to citizens, new steps to reduce unumployment, develop services, suppport for the poor. Our options and goals will define the shape of our future.

NOTE: More blah blah blad bromides, and continuing:

The events have left the majority of the people fearful of the future: chaos and further destruction. My first respoinsibility is homeland security [and I] cannot allow this fear to grip our people. I have requested the government to step down today and I will appoint a new goernmentt tomorrow. I will not be lax or tolerant. i will take all the steps to safeguard the security of our people. May god save Egypt,  and peace be with you.

Shorter version: I ain’t going anywhere.

Hillary Clinton speaks: “We will continue to partner with the Egyptian government and the Egyptian people.” Translation: Mubarak’s our buddy.

Neocon blog “The American Thinker” gets it wrong: “Mubarak Resigns.” Looks like their thinking cap is on backwards.

So, let’s see: According to Mubarak, it’s all the fault of the former government, which is now sacked, while he, Hosni, has been for “freedom of expression” all along. Gee, is that why opposition parties were ruthlessly repressed? Is that why bloggers were arrested and tortured? Is that why his police have been shooting people down in the streets?

What’s interesting to note is how much Mubarak sounds like — and consciously echoes — his American patrons: the appeal to “non-violence” (when his police are the source of the violence), the harping on “dialogue” (a meaningless bromide: how does one “dialogue” with a cop about to bash your head in, if not kill you?), and most telling of all the use of the phrase “homeland security.”

This is not going to tamp down the rebellion: instead, it will enrage the protesters. And it is likely to enrage the Army, which has just seen its commander, the Defense Minister, Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, given his pink slip. But methinks Mubarak has it backwards, because it looks to me like he, Mubarak, is about to be handed a pink slip by the Army.

Via Al Jazeera: The Egyptian army is coalescing around Cairo’s NDP headquarters, as well as the adjoining Museum of Antiquities: with the former practically razed to the ground, a burning shell, the latter is apparently now being threatened. It’s interesting to note that there was a complete lack of fire trucks for many hours around the Museum. Did the regime let the fire in the surrounding area burn on purpose — in order to depict the protesters as destroyers?

The Emir of Kuwait has announced that the government is giving every citizen the equivalent of 1,000 Kuwaiti dinars and free distribution of food staples. How’s that for buying off trouble?

As the tumultuous events of “Freedom Friday” draw to a close, it looks like Egyptians will wake up on Saturday to a country with no government. And  the world is a better place.

The Speaker of the Egyptian “parliament” is slated to make an announcement. We’ll keep you posted.