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Unrest in Egypt

  • Thread starter Thread starter Priceless
  • Start date Start date
Priceless said:
I've seen estimates of close to 2 million. They've run out of room in the square and crowds are gathering in the streets surrounding the square. The police are reportedly putting barbed wire around the palace to protect the president, but according to interviews with some of the protesters, they are going to stay in the square until Mubarak leaves. The military has arrested police and other "thugs" who were trying to infiltrate the protests. Protesters have set up a human chain around the perimeter and they are confiscating any weapons brought to the square...this will be a peaceful protest. Hopefully Mubarak leaves before he gets desperate and orders the military to open fire. He does have an actual legacy of which to be proud...every hour he remains tarnishes that legacy.
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Yeah, he's been a part of some of the biggest peace treaties with Isreal and other big players in the middle east. He just needs to find himself a nice island somewhere warm to retire to, and let Egypt have free elections.
 
Re: Unrest in Egypt

Kepler said:
AJE stream caption says "more than one million" protesters "said to be" there.

People power, baby. The protesters have been amazingly organized, peaceful, and savvy (controlling for weapons and government agents provocateur). If they pull this off it will be one of the great revolutions in history. If it becomes violent, it could be one of the most horrific.
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I'm listening to the AJE feed on LinkTV and watching "Democracy Now" A producer on the ground reports that it goes even further. The crowd has organized a trash removal and recycling center, as well as a makeshift cafeteria where they are distributing food and water. They're doing all this with no organized leadership, and without the ability to organize through the Internet. This is not some violent mob; they are not just saying they don't need the government to function, they are showing it. Just amazing stuff.
 
Re: Unrest in Egypt

I tuned into the BBC World Service broadcast on XM on the way home last night, and they had a chat with someone caught in the middle of the crowds. He turned out to be a professor on holiday who was caught in the middle of the revolution. His doctoral study? Mass Crowd Psycology.

He was able to take what he's known and apply it, and he said that some actions changed how he's writing his dissertation. He pointed out one moment where the crowds scattered, and he asked someone what was happening, the fellow replied that they were fearful of the police in this section, so they're moving to OTHER crowds in other areas to prevent any violence from erupting.
 
Re: Unrest in Egypt

AJE is showing a split screen of the protests in Cairo and Alexandria...one group is chanting the other is singing the National Anthem...just outstanding stuff!
 
Re: Unrest in Egypt

Priceless said:
I'm listening to the AJE feed on LinkTV and watching "Democracy Now" A producer on the ground reports that it goes even further. The crowd has organized a trash removal and recycling center, as well as a makeshift cafeteria where they are distributing food and water. They're doing all this with no organized leadership, and without the ability to organize through the Internet. This is not some violent mob; they are not just saying they don't need the government to function, they are showing it. Just amazing stuff.
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Seems to refute the theory that Muslims are bad people.
 
Re: Unrest in Egypt

Here's an interesting story from the Huffington Post regarding AJ being censored in Egypt, AND the US.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/30/al-jazeera-english-us_n_816030.html

Other than in a handful of pockets across the U.S. - including Ohio, Vermont and Washington, D.C. - cable carriers do not give viewers the choice of watching Al Jazeera. That corporate censorship comes as American diplomats harshly criticize the Egyptian government for blocking Internet communication inside the country and as Egypt attempts to block Al Jazeera from broadcasting.

The result of the Al Jazeera English blackout in the United States has been a surge in traffic to the media outlet's website, where footage can be seen streaming live. The last 24 hours have seen a two-and-a-half thousand percent increase in web traffic, Tony Burman, head of North American strategies for Al Jazeera English, told HuffPost. Sixty percent of that traffic, he said, has come from the United States.
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Re: Unrest in Egypt

5mn_Major said:
Seems to refute the theory that Muslims are bad people.
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Yep. That is just as simplistic as saying "Christians are bad people" or "Blacks are bad people." To paraphrase a wise man who said this a long time ago, "You can't judge a race (or a religion) as a whole. They all have to be considered on an individual basis. Anyone who says different is a fool."
 
Re: Unrest in Egypt

I think it's time for the US to do a Ferdinand Marcos on Mubarak - Go public and say it's time for him to step down for the good of the country. Everyone knows he's done. It's a matter of when, so why not (cynically) seize the high ground rather than do nothing hoping he'll hang on like Somoza?

This does has a 1989 feel to it. There's just no symbol like the wall to knock down.

So who's next? Yemen? Syria? Iran?
 
Re: Unrest in Egypt

Hopkinja said:
I think it's time for the US to do a Ferdinand Marcos on Mubarak - Go public and say it's time for him to step down for the good of the country. Everyone knows he's done. It's a matter of when, so why not (cynically) seize the high ground rather than do nothing hoping he'll hang on like Somoza?

This does has a 1989 feel to it. There's just no symbol like the wall to knock down.

So who's next? Yemen? Syria? Iran?
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The US Government can't do that. Our govt has to continue sitting back and wait for the outcome. We already look ridiculous due to when Sec. Clinton publicly announced our govt's support of Mubarak on Jan 25 and then on Jan 30 said that we will respect the will of the people but not encourage the outcome one way or the other.
 
Re: Unrest in Egypt

Hopkinja said:
I think it's time for the US to do a Ferdinand Marcos on Mubarak - Go public and say it's time for him to step down for the good of the country. Everyone knows he's done. It's a matter of when, so why not (cynically) seize the high ground rather than do nothing hoping he'll hang on like Somoza?

This does has a 1989 feel to it. There's just no symbol like the wall to knock down.

So who's next? Yemen? Syria? Iran?
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Sunday Hillary Clinton said they wanted a peaceful transition...that certainly seems to indicate the US position. On the one hand, we can tell Mubarak to go, but then it looks like "we" overthrew the dictator. It will tarnish whatever solution the Egyptians dream up. As someone said, we don't want a "Made in the USA" stamp on this. It's a highwire act that Obama has to walk right now. Hopefully in private he's telling Mubarak to get out.

There are plenty of symbols, but hopefully the crowd won't decide to knock down the Pyramids in protest. :p
 
Re: Unrest in Egypt

5mn_Major said:
Seems to refute the theory that Muslims are bad people.
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The dime store Metternichs at Fox are scrambling to keep that kettle on. They had Bolton on yesterday to talk about the Middle Eastern political situation and today they have some of their halfwits on to make boogeta-boogeta noises about the Muslim Brotherhood. You can already see them regrouping so that their lemmings won't be confused by images of Muslims acting like human beings. Because, you know, then this might be considered mass murder.

The contrast could not be any clearer: actual footage of the protests as opposed to a carefully framed and scripted recapitulation of a failed ideology. They report, you decide.
 
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They just did a report from the prison that got broken into. A lot of the prisoners are actually staying at the prison so they can continue to serve their time, and assuming that they'll be released when they're suppost to.
 
Re: Unrest in Egypt

Investors seem to like the direction of things.

On Friday they were spooked, yesterday they crawled...and today they just busted through 12,000 and back to precrash levels.
 
Re: Unrest in Egypt

5mn_Major said:
Investors seem to like the direction of things.

On Friday they were spooked, yesterday they crawled...and today they just busted through 12,000 and back to precrash levels.
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That's more volatile than my wife. And as with her, I would tread carefully...

Things I have learned from the images on AJE:

1. Alexandria's coast is beautiful.
2. Most of the rest of Egypt is as ugly and inhospitable-looking as Phoenix.
 
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Re: Unrest in Egypt

Al-Arabiya
Mubarak scheduled to give another speech Tuesday; reports say he is due to announce that he will not run in the upcoming elections
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Re: Unrest in Egypt

So it's following the Tunisia script pretty closely.

The King of Jordan (who IIRC has a hot wife who went to Harvard -- edit: she didn't go to Harvard, but she is hot)) fired his cabinet this morning. The Syrian leadership has been acting a little skittish, too. The Saudis (you know, our friends) are bad-mouthing the protesters.

There were interesting interviews with Israelis on AJE yesterday. Some were worried, some were playing DIY Real Politik, and some sounded like hippies celebrating the Age of Aquarius.

The protesters created a soccer tournament to keep people busy (and invited the army officers to play). Which is all very well, but how are you going to handle food and sanitation for 2 million people for even one day?
 
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