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Is The Egyptian "Revolution Of Attrition" Ending?
As we noted yesterday, during what we called Cairo's D-Day demonstrations, Friday may well have been the last chance for Egypt to push through with a resolute attempt to finally overthrow Mubarak. Because now the doubts set in... and the desire to get back to a normal life. Sky News reports, "As anti-Mubarak demonstrators continue their protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square, away from the area there are signs of growing divisions among their ranks." In this revolution of attrition, Mobarak may have been well aware of the time value of liberation enthusiasm. And now, two weeks after the start, people have realized they also have to eat (even if wheat has gone up well over 20% in the meantime).
From Sky News:
One protester, Ahmed, fought the president's hated riot police a week ago but he has now stopped going to the square.
For him, Mr Mubarak's concessions, including stepping down at the next election and promising reforms, is enough.
He told Sky News that as the protests continue he "doesn't want chaos".
Ahmed and another man, Omar, helped with the online campaign which drummed up support against Mr Mubarak.
But Omar is not content with the president's concessions.
He says the leader is trying to divide and rule and he fears it is working.
He said: "We will lose some much if we stop now. These people are not to be trusted.
"These people have never kept their word, so why do we believe now they are going to keep their word."
After nearly two weeks of chaos and violence on their streets, many people in Cairo want their city back.
Whatever they think of Mr Mubarak, they have also got to get on with their lives.
It is becoming a war of attrition, each side grinding away support for the other as the Mubarak regime continues trying to weather this storm.
It is increasingly becoming apparent, at least for the time being, that Mobarak timed his strategy perfectly. It is up to the people now to show that the revolutionary attempt, which has so far claimed over 300 deaths and thousands wounded, will not stop at having achieved nothing of significance, but merely reinforcing the current administration's resolve to maintain its current course. Alas, the price of food since the start of the revolution has only gone up, so those seeking a prompt resolution from the key overarching theme, will have to wait much longer.
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They've got to be exhausted. I have a feeling someone else will step up to the plate. Or more like many many many elses. Plus that jackhole going to die anyway from bad health.
This has to be making our overlords heads explode. Pictures in link.
Christians Guarding Muslims During Prayerhttp://www.dailypaul.com/156122/christians-guarding-muslims-during-prayer
Bravo Michael!
Here is a post comparing Tony Blair (major tool) and George Galloway (consistent thorn in the side of Blair) speeches on Egypt, VIDEOS included:
http://fedupmontrealer.blogspot.com/2011/02/tell-what-politicians-really-think.html
New upload.
We are all Khaled Said Murder at 2:22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmFnY8bM6CE
Speechless...That is sickening, revolting, COWARDLY!!!
That guy George Galloway is great. We need to get people like that on American MSM.
But then, who would be watching? What's your point about burying this story?
;-) - Ned
FUCK RUPERT MURDOCH's Sky News!
Update;
Christian Coptic community will be holding services on Sunday in the square called, the day of Martyrs.
Houston, Texas
Cops Brutally Beat Teen Lying On Ground
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrDgfA19nEA&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pc5Dh3Oz4o
Unfortunately he's probably right.
Not after scenes like this. You can hear the bones crunching under the wheels of that US embassy van.
Egypt White Diplomatic Van Hits People In Crowd - RAW VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pif-tFpaVbk
The fucker driving that van needs to die.
As should all other agents provocateurs.
Great fricken' album:
http://www.google.com/images?q=%22agent+provocateur%22+foreigner&oe=utf-...
and, yes, both sides are nudging ... er ... pushing towards some solution.
Any word about the 'democratic' intent of the anti-Mubarak crowd? Just wondering.
- Ned
"Any word about the 'democratic' intent of the anti-Mubarak crowd? Just wondering."
No, no, no.
We mustn't think of what could be, we must think that evil opposed will bring forth skittle shitting unicorns.
I mean just about all muslim country's are a democr...oh, wait...never mind.
This is not even nearly over. Not by a long shot.
If anyone thought this would be quick and painless, they are delusional.
This is just the beginning.
I am Chumbawamba.
"Find the cost of freedom buried in the ground" CSNY ca. '70
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Saboteurs-blow-up-Egypt-gas-pipeline-to-Israel/articleshow/7430970.cms
http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2011/02/egypt-live-coverage.html
If it remains peaceful and non-violent, it's absolutely over. Despots laugh at non-violent appeals for democracy. The whole concept of marching and banging drums in an effort to overthrow a dictatorship would be funny if it wasn't so sad.
Revolutions typically have a "terror" phase for a reason.
The crowd needs to start killing elites, and/or seizing suez and pipeline infrastructure. That (and only that) will win the day.
Right now the elites are sitting in walled compounds and watching television while their servants bring them tea and dates.
When they smell smoke and learn that their relatives were dragged from their homes and slaughtered, then and only then will Mubarak get the Gulfstream prepped.
My bet is that this thing will end in some pseudo-resolution, which will result in a shuffling of chairs and a new puppet government.
Depending on how many elites enjoy having their bones broken will determine how long this conflict lasts.
Monkey wrenching the infrastructure is a great plan. The price to fix usually hurts the owners of it immediately.
Monitoring the web for intelligence on the ruling class strategy and using it against them is easy.
Davos must be a 'target-rich-environment' then.
This sort of geopolitical instability should be viewed by other organizations (superpowers, terrorist groups, etc.) as a great opportunity. I suspect much covert intelligence, from many different agencies, is being compiled and acted upon.
Control the petrodollar, or create the political means for its destruction.
What part of "blew up a pipeline" was ambiguous for you?
The ambiguous part.
The perpetrators.
I'll accept this answer (if only because I raised the false flag possibility elsewhere).
I completely agree. The pussies that claim peaceful revolutions work, always cite MLK and Gandhi. What they don't tell you is most peaceful revolutions fail horribly. These two events are exceptions, and they happened under governments that were already relatively free. The only thing that overthrows a hardcore tyranny is violence.
Once the new regime has the backing of the military, the palace guard are soon persuaded to join the revolution.
Just gotta gather everyone up, and I do mean everyone. Men, women and children are all led to a sufficiently-sized room, and summarily executed by mass firing squad.
It worked for the Bolshevics, it'll work for the Egyptians.
It's also useful to remember that both Gandhi & MLK got whacked.
If it remains peaceful and non-violent, it's absolutely over...
At this late stage, I would have to say that is a big if.....
My guess is that it will escalate.
Nonsense. This is about as wishful as thinking gets from our trusty little bourgeois scriveners.
When the Russian Revolution was finally launched in October of 1917, the masses were so behind the protestors that violence wasn't needed. The institutions had already crumbled, and the bureaucracy vanished.
This is an ECONOMIC war; that's why the US says the situation must end. When the main square in Cairo is shut down, where 7 major streets converge and into which 2 Nile River bridges feed.
The protest movement is getting stronger, not weaker. (Mu)Barak is showing himself to be more and more impotent, while at the same time refusing to address any of the real grievances held by those in Tahrir Square - as well as in Alexandria, Suez, Aswan, etc.
Well actually the Russian event in 1917 was not a revolution per se, but a putsch.
+1
Which is why it required no violence and carried with it overwhelming popular support?
The 1917 revolution was not only a hasty coup, but it was the SECOND ACT. Act I began 12 years earlier. The 1905 revolution was decidedly violent and was characterized by Russian peasants and serfs rising up and murdering their land-lords. Revolting workers seized the railroad infrastructure. Grand Duke Aleksandrovich, along with interior ministers, war ministers and other elites were assassinated.
Also, the vast majority of wars begin as "economic" wars.
A 'hasty' revolution that lasted 12 years? What would a 'deliberate' revolution look like?
The 1905 revolution was a general strike. The violence came from the Black Hundreds, principally, and of course the government who repressed the working masses with the tremendous repression characteristic of the Tsar.
+1000
It is Operation Avoid Justice. Mission Objective: Starve'em Out, Ride'em Down.
Why no mass food-aid to help the Egyptian people? It is painfully obvious.
Guys, Mubarak drove to power in a Darwinist state. He is a survivor. He played the situation like a maestro. Now the proles see the military as their protection.
Do not assume foreign leaders are as totally fuckin clueless as the Ivy League morons currently running the US.
The Egyptian bandwagon jumpers may be abandoning ship, but this is far from over.
Really it's good. There's going to be so many problems in the world in just a few short weeks. The assholes don't need another straw on their back. Almost time to anounce the big plan me thinks.
they are trying to isolate the people in the square as being some kind of hard liners and hard to deal with etc. If they attempt to clear the square one night with riot police and tear gas, while the cameras are off, it will only inflame the populace again. If I was the government I would just wait them out and try to ignore them as much as possible, which is what they have been doing , as far as state run media is concerned. The situation that occured Wednesday night was not a good idea under the circumstances and served to create martyrs for the resistance. As the old saying goes, sometimes you have to just go for it. I think that this is one of those times. Step it up a notch. They think you will remain in the square and be peaceful. Now is the time for the offensive, using stolen Army equipment that can be borrowed perhaps from the nice army soldiers standing around in the square area, stuff like tanks and APC's with 50 cal machine guns on them etc. You roll the dice and do what you have to do. That guy that is on the sky news film clip above is a fool for displaying that police gear he acquired from his confrontation. Now they know who he is and the other guy too, and they will be eliminated very soon.
thats why its best to overthrow and hang the leader right away
He, who hesitates, is lost.
.
They aren't using force.
The guy isn't just going to throw in the towel after 30 years of... whatever he was doing.
They need to hunt him down. The guys probably in some palace eating caviar or something, waiting for the storm to blow over. He's more worried about the embarrasement than losing power.
I get the feeling this guy doesn't do forgiveness very well.
Neither do starving masses.
It may appear so from the US, as this has held our fascination for longer than most normal crises. Who's up next on American Idol, an what is Snookie up to
This may have been covered but why are the protesters not gathering around the presidential palace, underneath his window, to put the direct heat on? I get the feeling that authorities are more than happy to let them gather in the square.
The square is a super-duper tourist attraction with enormous traffic that has been stopped entirely. The powers-that-be are not pleased. That's for sure.
It's simply that the protesters rightly concluded that if they split their forces or abandon the Square they'll not get it back from the military.
It took more than half a year in any of East Europe countries to get rid of communist regimes, more than 2 years in Soviet republics. I have been through it personally, its not a TV reality show which has to end in 2 weeks, its real power struggle in real lives of millions of people, who are ready to undergo immense economic hardships to achieve freedom.
Mubarek is doomed, there must be transition periods with meaningless figureheads trying to stop the process that, once people have lost their fear,which they are losing day by day, is unstoppable.
You Westeners have no idea how revolutions against totalitarian regimes happen internally and how determined people are and how every day only ADDS to their determination to get rid of the regime and of all of its reduced forms.
You're right that we americans don't know firsthand how revolutions work internally...............and I hope you are sooooooo right about it.
The people on this board have been clamoring for the fall of the Egyptian government along with CNN and thier so called experts , the likes of "Fraud" Ajami, never bothered to really ask the vast majority of the Egyptian people what they want. The demonstrations started as protest against inflation and unemployment all of the sudden the Islamists, Nasirist and everybody else jumped on the band wagon. These people do not represent the vast majority of the Egyptian people. This morning Fox news had phone interviews with an Egyptian business man and a freelance reporter who lives in Egypt. The business man pretty much told Obama to bug out. The reporter, who has been living among the Egyptians for years was asked how are his neighbors feeling about the coming democratic transformation. He laughed at the question and his answer was, people don't give a crap. All they want is to go to work, put food on the table and take care of thier familes.
Did they have the right country?
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/adventures-cartography-fox
The US media can find hundreds of turncoat reporters to spread their lies. If you think otherwise, you are surely mistaken. Rothschild owns Sky and almost every other news agency.
how quaint.
- Ned
This is funny - perhaps that's why 10% of the population came out on Tuesday, and nearly that many yesterday.
No doubt they WOULD like to work and put food on the table, but there are no jobs and food prices are too high.
That's why they came out in the first place, if you recall.
If you happen to see the interviews with some of these "startving" protesters you can clearly see they are not the starving type. They speak fluent english and carry iPhones and blackberries, and whats with all the signs in English? Mubarak can read Arabic very well. You can tell they are playing to the American and international media. ALso, if you say 10% were in the streets protesting (9 millions), which I really doubt but based on your theory we should demand Barak Obama and the US congerss immediately resign since 60%+ of the American people dispprove of thier policies.
Smart strategy on their part.
On Obama resigning;
Yes. Absolutely. As soon as possible. Maybe we can get him out on a technicality for the birth certificate issue.
Why not impeach for practicing un-constitutional law while holding a law degree, otherwise known as malfeseance ;-)
So the protests didn't start over a cut in rations and an increase in food prices? You evidently know more than the Revolutionaries themselves, spongebob.
I've read the figure of 8 million - not just in Cairo but in Suez, Alexandria, Aswan, and other protest sites - in a variety of mainstream sources (none of which come from the United States, which reported "tens of thousands" for most of the day).
It is over. Back to business as usual
You wish.
Nothing is over till we say it is. My favorite movie line.
Whussup with Omar, who has stopped going to protests:
I think he's being obtuse. I'd be more than willing to trust that "those people" are gonna clean house on the protesters. Information Ministry and Secret Police will shred your ass. As only they know how.
This is not a good time to throw in the towel, dude, with the boulder only half way up the hill. Not a good time at all.
They need a small organised core of revolutionaries to take control of the situation, as the Bolsheviks did in 1917. Right now they are rudderless. I think the decisive moment for any small group to take control might have been when the party headquarters were razed, before the army entered the city. That was when the Muslim Brotherhood or other organisations should have taken control of government buildings and proclaimed a new regime in Cairo.
Oh and as someone else said. Ideally the revolutionaries would have had plans for taking out the army top brass and Mubarak relatively quickly. This entire thing just seems to indicate the Muslim Brotherhood has horrible leadership, were taken by surprise due to the pace of events and had no plan for seizing power should they be given the chance.
I did read that a lot of their leaders escaped from prison during this violence. And I doubt they will make the same mistakes again when high food prices cause more violence.
But people are assuming that revolutions happen and within a week the government is gone. They are not that quick (all the time). The Russian Revolution certainly wasn't. People didn't just go outside, riot for a week and then sweep away the Romanov dynasty overnight.
THey're not rudderless. In a week, they've mounted a military defense of the encampment, provided security, checkpoints, food, water, and medical care. They are organized politically around a common program and seem determined to work together beyond the date of (Mu)Barak's departure.
Just because CNN hasn't told us the real story of the rebellion doesn't mean it's not there.
http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/
Free Egypt!
Fight the Power!
Fuck the FED!!
Free America Next!!!
QUESTION AUTHORITY
kill authority... if you can't afford to eat / feed your family!
Always question authority.
Why?
If they can't answer the question they have no authority.
y'know, among the misguided children, it is so different in "combat" vs. in "the rear".
Rear: "rules prevail."
Combat: intent and commander's plan.
don't cha know.
- Ned
LOL...I have always admired those in leadership positions who can think for themselves and vary from the commanders plan as conditions change on the ground.
I consider you one of these, don't cha know ;-)
Circulus vitiosus...
It applies.
Our officers are not robots (line officers, colonel down)...if it comes to domestic violent revolution (as the anarchists & leftists promulgate here daily) they won't by and large follow the "plan".
Why? Because they are us. Why not? Because they are trained & taught to not follow un-constitutional orders.
Even if it gets "out of hand" overseasthe uppers are fragged. It's documented. If uppers are not responsive to the conditions on the ground there are no prisoners for uppers to interrogate. Documented and don't ask.
There is balance JW...recognized, unspoken about or otherwise...but there is.
There has always been a questioning of authority...even in places you wouldn't suspect, as it should be.
The American Revolution was approximately 8 years (1775 - 1783)
Following numbers are only American casualties not including British.
7,200 deaths as a direct result of battle
8,200 wounded
with 10,000 others died in camps from disease/exposure.
In 1775 there were roughly 2,400,000 Americans in the 13 colonies.
Are we sure we were talking about a revolution in Egypt? If they wanted freedom, it doesn't seem like they fought very hard for it. Seems more like a CIA training mission....10 days 300 dead in a nation of 80,000,000, now they are giving up? Whatever....seems like a pretty chicken shit "revolution" particularly considering the opposing army didn't even resist.
Did England concede their complicity after a few days?
No it took 8 years...
Is Mubarek still the President? If he is than he is disinclined to acquiesce to anything IMHO. Seems like the people are conceding to prestidigitation.
There are 80M Egyptians, but they aren't nearly as well-armed as the colonists, receiving aid from France and mercenary Hessians, or businessmen (smugglers) incentivized to protect their 'turf'.
I wouldn't write them off just yet.
The expression "businessman" could also be used as effective cover for any of the various covert intelligence agencies who are no doubt quite preoccupied with ME politics right now.
I think four "businessmen" were killed in Northern Iraq this past week when their small engine plane went down.
You're thinking of "Company Men"...totally different set of cats.
No, I'm talking about an asset's official cover, the ambiguous expression "businessman" being the description behind a foreign national's presence in a hostile country.
For instance, when an agency's asset has been compromised (terminated), the official press release may describe the deceased asset as a "businessman".
IBM was selling training and supporting arithmetic calculating machinery in 70 countries during a time when US citizens could only travel to maybe 40 or 50 of those countries.
Thank IBM for the Holocaust.
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?isbn=9780609808993&x=97&y=8
Read Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. It's a well-written insider account of one of these ratfucking business gangsters doubling as an intelligence asset.
His job was to try and bribe the President of Panama in the 1970s over the canal. When he failed, the President went and smashed his plane into a mountain.
Big dummy.
Just watch Obama, the affirmative action president, and the State Dept handle this. If they call for Mubarack to get out then count on him staying. If they call for an orderly transition, Mubarack is warming up the Gulfstream.
The protesters have played many aspects of this very well so far. They have Obama calling for Mubarak to leave (essentially).
I think they are creative, and may risk more violence on themselves on purpose with more actions, as part of their strategy.
The massive protests all over Egypt may refute the idea that this is not a broadbased movement.
Unlike Tunisia, the dictator didn't cut and run.
Now US state department will seize the opportunity to put in another pro-US regime. Mubarak's card is burned and he knows it. His goal is not to stay in Egypt, he's cleverly negotiating his blackmail with the US. "I can go quietly, or I can make it cost you". US will pay him off and help him retire in comfort. El Babradei is still waiting in he wings and would be the perfect pro-US solution.
It's all about the oil. Politics is just a means to that end. And assuring stable pro-US politics within large countries in the Middle East is a top priority. Everything else is secondary including your precious democracy.
NO, as said earlier, El Baradei is not a good choice. CIA spook/asset/whatever.
Who does the Queen want? Well if any change it's obvious it's el baradei. If the Queen wants him, you don't. Nero wants him, so it's obvious who the banksters want.
El Baradei would make the situation 1000x worse. Why? Because imagine if someone from another country told you Karl Rove and Donald Rumsfeld was going to be your next President and Vp. Even republicans would shit their pants.
El Baradei is a known, failed, crony, who has failed the egyptian people. He isn't 'perfect' anything. Unless somehow you believe the U.S. can still put in cronies and not have anyone notice.
(actually we never could, some people...still haven't learned that...even though it should be fucking obvious...we are known worldwide for doing this)
Besides, NONE of this matters. Until the Queen of England's monetary system which currently rules the planet is overthrown, then the food prices of Egypt and everywhere else will continue to go hyperinflationary.
DOesn't matter who the fuck is president in Egypt, they buy food through the queen's system, and queen's system is fucking broken, and exactly how it is fucking broken is exactly how you get fucking expensive food.
Keep printing Big Ben, cooks up revolutions in just 2 years.
Pass Glass-Steagall or the world's fate IS egyptx1000....all completely unnecessary.
It's not all about the oil, jesus, some people really need to be able to tell lifes explorations about the difference in reality when it comes to Aristottle and Plato. Because 'all about the oil', is complete Aristottle BULLSHIT.
It's about our MONETARY system, versus what we should be in, credit system. It's about choosing between Keynesian or Austrian, instead of choosing neither forms of MONETARY system. We won't get any real answers out of Barack Paul, the keynesian austrian.
Oil, is just one commodity under our monetary system. (one that the system makes sure we don't fund alternatives such as nuclear and fusion)
It's sad, the Queen has gotten us to spend our renewable monies on boondoggle worthless Wind/Solar. We need nuclear and fusion.
Pro-us politics? Can't be achieved. U.S. can't control all strings, and won't. Only fools will try (like Brits) to do it.
There can be no pro-US solution.
Just pro-whoever the fuck it involves
THe best pro-us solution...is to let THAT happen.
THen engage the middle east with REAL HELP, not more cronyism, imperialism. Earn their trust by not fucking them over. America using the Queen's bullshit thinking has to come to an end.
You want mid-east peace? End Monetarism.
Or we can continue to practice the 'dark arts', and continue fucking everything up.
You want a chance at world peace? End Monetarism, enact worldwide suite of credit systems
You want armegeddon? Keep thinking like a hapsburg. Keep thinking like a dumbass Brit with a head so big he thinks he can control the world. Yeah let's continue to emulate the British at the dumbass worst. That's the Willy Wonka golden ticket.
There is a mental disease going around, it's called thinking like a British Imperialist Monetarist. It infects the world, regardless of racial or boundary lines. It must stop, or the whole world does because of its idiocy.
Wake up. Glass-Steagall will end the British Empire faster than Usain Bolt runs the 100.
Not to mention allow the world to progress past 1763
Your analysis is compelling, but I'm unclear as to why the queen of England is the prime mover, so-to-speak, of your analysis.
The problem with the monetary system is that it exists as the principal institution of our society. Movement towards a money system, and towards a system of capital accumulation and property 'ownership' - the path of that 5 centuries, - is the problem.
It leads to mass psychopathy. It leads to rapine destruction of the earth, the destruction of community, and greed and selfishness beyond comprehension.
All for the fucking Benjamins.
That's some sick shit.
I agree that derivatives merchants and other banker-gangsters, with their insane little global casino, are the world's biggest problem. They loot the world by any number of means - debt, commodity costs, land theft - and run the governments.
But the Wing-Tipped thugs have simply risen to the top of a system in which they are the concrete embodiment.
Whey they've got to go, they're the first of many, many rapists and exploiters out there.
I don't think it will have any effect on the credit of the Egyption government though, if it was bad before it will get worse. Expect trouble to continue.
Anyone heard about the Gaza situation? Is the border open with Egypt?
The pipeline hit yesterday was very close to the Rafah crossing, which connects Egypt to the Apartheid Israel-occupied Gaza Strip.
I agree completely with your implicit analysis. If the Egyptian Revolution forces open the crossing, the whole equation changes.
Apartheid Israel cannot allow free movement into and out of the strip.
So right the idea that this doesn't happen overnight. Not the norm. The French Revolution being yet another example of the great modern revolutions.
Protest leaders are to meet with vice-president Omar Suleiman to discuss their demands and a transition of power.
If things don't move forward, the people will be back out on the streets.
1st order of business - find employment for 1.7 million Egyptians employed by the Mukhabarat. Abolishing, diluting or castrating the secret police would be numero uno on my to do list...
How about we see how many of them can swim up the Nile, out of Egypt?
So... is the general strike over then?
To refute the view that things will fizzle with time, is the stance expressed by some US diplomats, I believe including Hillary, that "things need to get resolved soon--or we'll lose the process to the lurking radicals." I believe this fear is expressed by the Israelis too.
This sounds like an urgency by the Western powers to get some kind of transition going soon. This isn't a fizzle then.
Exactly: hence to propaganda from Uncle Sam, Sky News, and assorted corrupt 'businessmen'.
Stick a fork in it. It's done.
You wish, fool.
Not mentioned often enough:
35% of Egyptians are illiterate.
45% of Egyptian women are illiterate.
Food is over 50% of the Egyptian CPI.
Over 60% of Egyptians live on under US$2 a day.
Those poorest 60% spend much more than 50% of their money on food.
90%+ of women in Egypt suffer clitorectomies.
75% of clitorectomies in Egypt are performed by doctors.
Clitorectomies have been outlawed twice in Egypt. To no effect.
Mubarak's Wife is the most vocal public opponent/advocate for abolishing the clitorectomy upon Egyptian women. She has had almost no effect.
There are many many problems in traditional conservative Egyptian society, and this revolt is led in Cairo NOT by the poor and displaced, but the GenX/ Gen Y who had been robbed of opportunisty due to a failed education system in the country.
Most people have been focusing on lofty ideals where there are basic survival necessities missing from daily Egyptian life.
There are enough uneducated illiterate young men in Egypt to sweep in a new totalitarian regime based on some sort of Sharia, or even a secular totalitarian regime.
The onyl thing known is there will not be a democracy or a republic, or a socialist peoples' republic.
The choice is kleptocracy or plutarchy, run by Islamists or financial elites or internal police or the military, or some combination of all the pillars of Mubarak's regime.
Good luck with that.
Source of your data?
Not the stupid conclusions, mind you. Just the data.
Since the Mubarak family has a pile of wealth estimated at 40-70 billion dollars, levy a 50% tax on this windfall [that should leave them enough for basic living expenses with some left over to paint the garage] and invest the money in healthcare and education [mainly education]. Arabs are very bright and resourceful people, juice them up with a good dose of education and Egypt will literally take off...
Thank you for a positive vision. While I try to be realistic and not idealistic, this movement in Egypt makes my heart sing. And the creativity and brilliance of people everywhere is a fair balance to our darker aspects. I am calling my representatives every day, expressing my support. I will go to my town square today in support of the Egyptian people.
What can we do but take positive action and pray for the best?
india's CAD IS UNSUSTAINABLE...INFLATION IS TOO HIGH....
http://markettechnicals-jonak.blogspot.com/
http://markettechnicals-jonak.blogspot.com/
Shut down the Suez. That will show them.
shutting down the suez will show us, not them.
All the ruling party did to take the attention away from the revolt is to beam into the Egyptian home reruns of the Girls Next Door, Dancing With The Stars, Desperate Housewives, and Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader. The same thing that our government does to keep us from revolting.
Conflicting reports but half of them are encouraging...
Top leadership resigns from Egypt's ruling party
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mubarak's son, Gamal among those who step down from National Democratic Party; young party members set to replace them.02/05/2011 21:15
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=206947&R=R3
The Stratfor version of the same story claims Hosni is out too (that's the conflicting story part).
someone please draw a parallel to G-20 protests.....looked to me like pittsburg police were far more violent than the egyptian police minus a couple shootings, which pa. police made up for with liberal useage of all manner of non lethal weapons....an argument for why they should not be allowed such weapons in the first place
a couple of dead girls sticking flowers in gun barrels might clear things up for folks on where exactly we stand here in the good ol' U S of Armaments
It was over four days ago; when the mob paused to listen to the great snake's speech.
Oil and gold will correct precipitiously on this news.
With a correction in AU and AG we shall have to TBTFD.
Fuckin' Mubarak, he just won't go!
The media ridicules and trashes internet blogers in the USA, But take every tweet and posting by unidentified protesters in Egypt as the complete and total truth. The media is being played as fools. Everyone has skin in this game. The winner takes home the most valuable piece of real estate in the world (Suez Canal) and 82 million people who fight to the death for a piece of bread.
"The winner takes home the most valuable piece of real estate in the world (Suez Canal) and 82 million people who fight to the death for a piece of bread."
If 82 million people were fighting a few thousand over a piece of bread it would be pretty much over wouldn't it?
Maybe the question is...the amount of bread being fought over...amount of people involved in the fight for it...how much is left for the victor...and do they wish to share with the vanquished ;-)
Vae Victis!
"As the Romans protested, and prepared to rescind the treaty, Brennus is said to have yelled "Vae Victis!", or, "Woe to the Conquered!", upon which he threw his sword onto the scales as an additional counterweight to the Roman gold."
http://www.conservapedia.com/Roman_Republic
It has always been so...democracy is a very dangerous thing to handle, it can burn you in so many ways.
Our founders knew this, they gave us a republic based on law instead.
As Ben Franklin said, all we have to do now is keep it. Now, with the circumventing of law it's not lookin very promising.
SeeYa
NYT reporting, US & Europe now support keeping Mubarak as dictator during period of transition.
Me thinks me smells a $40-70 billion desert rat.With whom are Mubarak's investments involved? Who would suffer exposure? Are those investments cleverly tied up to interests that threaten pulling the rug out from underneath the tenuous Euro sovereigns? A clever man would have tied his investments to the carabiner of stronger climbers---you know, "if I go, we all go."
Mubarak told Obongo to buzz off.
[Mubarak told Obongo to buzz off.]---spongeBOB
Follow the money. Remember last May or so, when BP was weeks away from filing bankruptcy due to the oil catastrophe in the Ghost of Mexico. Bankruptcy? The Obama Administration was suddenly very engaged. BP bankruptcy threatened to trigger a disastrous domino effect exposing the "economic recovery" for the phony it is. Today, BP is doing fine, and the Ghost of Mexico is "back to normal."
They must keep the first domino from falling. If Mubarak is holding a domino, he will remain Egypt's dictator.
Speaking of dictators, our own Mayor Daley of chicago has held the mayor's seat for 23 years until he decided to retire this year. How many congressman and senators have held thier seats for 20, 30 or even 40 years?
Non-violent doesn't mean lacking force.
The general strike was set for Sunday (i.e. now) a long time back.
We'll see. This particular police state has a way of motivating its opponents. And Egypt is....Egypt. How many ways can the snake find its prey? Many.
I heard there was a village in Korea during the Japanese occupation. One day at a given signal, every able-bodied adult pulled out something sharp from under their coats and killed simultaneously, every Japanese suit in the village. Anyone know if that is true?
There is a tendency among many to disparage the MSM with regard to reporting on such events as the protests in Egypt, and instead to embrace “alternative” media. I do not believe this is either fair nor accurate.
I have first hand experience of a popular uprising that took place a few years ago. I found that the reporting of such MSM sites such as CNN, BBC and AL Jazeera to be far more accurate than what I read on alternative media sites.
It is easy to understand why this might be the case. The MSM sites, with much larger budgets, actually had reporters on the ground. While MSM reporters often like to make themselves part of the story, they also spend a good deal of time trying to report what they actually see, and most try to present the views of a cross section of the local citizenry. Some are also batshit crazy, running toward the source of shooting rather than flee as most everyone else is doing. In fact, if one is ever in doubt about who the reporters are, one tell is watching the direction they move when the SHTF.
A typical “alternative” reporter is a blogger sitting at home, searching the net for bulletin boards (or now, Tweets), then parsing and issuing a “report”. While most MSM might well have an agenda, I suspect almost all bloggers have one. Thus, when scanning the boards they hand select those items that best fit their pre-conceived notions, leaning toward the most spectacular.
During the uprising I witnessed, I had spotty access to the internet and to international phone lines, though on occasion I could get through. I had full and uninterrupted access to the three media outlets I noted above. The MSM was nailing it, at least according to what I witnessed. I got some absurd reports from friends outside the country who had been reading “alternative” sites.
One in particular I remember. It was being reported on many blogs that a certain soccer field had been the site of mass executions and the ground for hastily buried bodies. I went to the soccer field to check it out. There was a small hole surrounded by a pile of dirt where workers were installing a better drainage system. The workers were not around, preferring to stay at home while the violence raged. I was able to get there and back unscathed, but wiser for my little jaunt.
I am not in Egypt now, so I do not know for sure how accurate or not the MSM is, but my own experience leads me to believe pretty accurate. What they say it means and what might happen could be open to debate, but I have no reason to believe their reports from site are inaccurate.
This is a lot of words to apologize for people who have been shown time and time again to have been lying to you.
Fantastic post idea. I had three words. Now it's one. Listen really closley. (attrition)
All the massive protests in the world cannot accomplish what a few lone snipers can do with far less death and destruction.
Some of Vince Flynn's fictitious characters if made manifest could end the oligarchic, despotic rule of Tyrants, bankers, lobbyists, presidents and the men behind the scene like Soros, Fink, Rubin, Jordan, Slim.
All well and good, but aren't there others waiting to step into their place (perhaps even handing suitcases full of fiat to said snipers)?
I think Mubarak is just waiting for the US check to clear at the Swiss bank. Yeah, it's not gold, but if it's enough. . . .
Good to see you again ned!
More time = more dead and injured. This is not going to plan.
Unless more people are mobilised for a renewed campaign against Mubarak, this article is probably on the button, Mubarak has won the war of attrition and the protesters will have to be satisfied with his conceding 90% of their demands. Concessions by a liar and thief of biblical proportions - who knows how this will end in a few months? Suleiman and Mubarak's security apparatus will have 7 months to find all the ring leaders and do what comes so naturally to their CIA training.
In other news: I was pleased to notice that GW Bush had to cancel his trip to Geneva for a Jewish charity gala over fears that he could be arrested there for torture allegations.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/George-W-Bush-Former-President-Cancels-Visit-To-Switzerland-Over-Fears-He-Could-Be-Arrested/Article/201102115923822?f=rss
Uncle Sam is down on his knees, begging for this scenario.
Getting rid of (Mu)Barak is perhaps a net good, but ONLY if you can control what's to come. And right now, the ability to do so is sits on a knife's edge.
What they simply CANNOT allow is for the movement to expand and develop an independent, institutional power. This has happened historically with the revolutionary movement forming councils - Russia, Spain, Chile, Iran - to coordinate activity.
Wednesday's attack showed us that this process was already underway. That came a shock. And it changed the scenario by making the status quo the ENEMY of (Mu)Barak, and not its friend. Their failed operation to storm the Square - sanctioned at every step by Uncle Sam - changed the balance of forces.
Rupert Murdoch here is trying to lay the same foundation with its propaganda that the NYT did on Thursday night. They're needing an immediate solution, and they're trying to make it a fait accoompli.
The cowards and agents running the 'Muslim Brotherhood' (UK created, circa 1920s) have facilitated this illusion by meeting with Suleiman - also an intelligence asset.
If the movement lets these suckpumps take over in any way, they'll have been duped. It will cause only problems. The same tools who participated on Tuesday STAYED HOME on Wednesday, when the real Revolution was violently attacked by (Mu)Baraks goons.
The sides are quite easily visible now in this struggle. The good guys now must turn the power relationship upside down.
The key question in my mind remains whether the Army will shed blood to remain well-fed and bought off, or whether their dignity at some point takes hold and they change sides.
Plus you have to be careful of the people who joined it intending to quit hoping to pull people out with them. The old support and then yank support trick.