Protests in Egypt

quelar wrote:

Not to put too fine a point on this, but a world population that has access to media that can not be controlled in the same ways it was. 

I believe there is potential for the media to be controlled as never before, thanks to the Internet. Everything on the Internet is being stored somewhere isn't it? And ISP providers can be forced to open their files so content can be traced.

The success of Wikileaks leads me to suspect the same kind of leaking can be done to sensitive files of progressives - sooner or later we'll probably see online everything related to progressive governments and organizations all over the world - who presumably have nothing to hide, but we'll see if that holds up.

The Egyptian gov't has demonstrated they can kill internet and cellphone access (and Twitter?) at will.

 I think China has that capability as well as being able to censor everything on their Internet carry. In the USA, Joe Lieberman right now has a Bill before Congress that would give the President an Internet "kill switch" in times of national emergency (all this was discussed on CNN early this morning), also probably with censoring capability, which undoubtedly would be used by an Administration not happy with Internet content on its own carry.

As media becomes more and more concentrated and integrated with the Internet for news updates and distribution, the idea that the Internet can be shut down and censored so  easily, effectively and completely,  ought to be a scary proposition for all of us. If I had better hearing, I'd buy myself a ham radio!

Ars Technica - How Egypt did (and your government could) shut down the internet

Quote:

The old story that the Internet was built as a military network to withstand nuclear attacks is pretty much an urban legend, but despite that, it's surprisingly hard to kill. It can be done, however, if you're a government and you try really, really hard.

What I find disgusting is the billion dollars in military /US aid that the US gives this Egyptian tyrant yearly…..so much for US democratic promotion and support bull.

When you hear about abuse of human rights and military dictatorships , look no furthur than “MR stick yer nose in other countries affairs USA”…When the people of the US fully realize how they have become the terror funding  pariah of the world there time will come and the protestors won’t be like lemmings or like Canadian sheeple but armed and dangerous.

Looks like the whole regime is Made in USA

A  photo of a "made in USA" tear gas bomb used against Egyptians has been floating around Arabic interwebs all last week.  They showed the photo on the CTV news last night. 

The Arab world has known for decades who's behind their tyrants.  Those in the western world can't seem to grasp what our role has been in this.

Yeah, well the ironic truths are being exposed in crises like these.  W is finally getting his way with his wish to bring democracy to the middle east.  Oops, or was this not the type of democracy he envisioned?  I think in the CIA manual this is called 'blowback'.   Even if the demonstrators succeed, as we saw in Iran in 1953 and 1977, this is typically not the end of it.  It is very interesting to watch how Obama is walking the tightrope of lying about bringing democracy and catering to his elitist puppet-masters.  Something's got to give there I would think.  1.5 B$ in US 'aid' (including nerve gas canisters) while they are bankrupt and can't even educate and feed their own population properly.  This blow-back may reach the USA yet...  I see there are support demonstrations in a number of US cities. 

WilderMore wrote:

It's incredible how quickly things went all pear-shaped in Egypt. AJ is reporting that government agents are looting the Egyptian Museum :(

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/01/29/live-blog-291-egypt-protests

 

It's not a coincidence. Apparently the looters are state security personnel.

umm, Al,

maybe the US actually does support democratic forces:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8289686/Egypt-protests-Americas-secret-backing-for-rebel-leaders-behind-uprising.html

sorry for any cognitive dissonance ....

Armchair socialists were quick to call for the Toronto G20 "thugs and vandals" who set fire to a couple of police cars to be rounded up and turned in to the police. I'm still waiting for those same critics to denounce the Egyptian protesters who set fire to government buildings in Alexandria and Suez and and street barricades in Cairo. Have they no respect for private property?   

Doug wrote:

China is trying to ensure that the Egyptians don't give anyone there ideas.

 

China has blocked the word "Egypt'' from the country's wildly popular Twitter-like service, while  coverage of the political turmoil has been tightly restricted in state media.

The CPC could always split into two very similar parties and run fraudulent FPTP elections for the same effect. Apparently they have a few people with enough money that they could be rigging two party stooge-offs, like here.

It's all Tommy's fault for starting medicare. Otherwise we could be out there in the streets today protesting the grinding poverty, police beatings and arbitrary arrests, and the CIA using our backyard for their torture gulags. Canadians don't know how good they have it, and it's not because the two old political parties have desired to be overly generous with Canadians.

Canada is a fairly stable stoogeaucracy today. We don't need an invisible army of darkness as a ruse for spying on ordinary people, for rounding up leftists,  and torturing them to death. At least not yet.

howeird beale wrote:

safetysue wrote:

As we have seen throughout history, where one dictator is overthrow, the vacuum is filled by religious fanatics or reactionaries.  Recall the Shah of Iran and the replacement with the Ayotollah Komani.

That's my fear, that a peoples uprising winds up in the hands of a Stalin. Just because the Muslim Brotherhood doesnt want to storm the barricades doesnt mean they're not ready for the fruit to drop into their hands.

Overthrow of the Shah was orchestrated by British and American intelligence as it was with Mossadegh in 1953.

2 looters were just caught in Muharram Beyh neighborhood of Alexandria who had police ID cards and were members of undercover plainclothes force.            http://www.hrw.org/egypt-live-updates

Mubarak in hiding in Sharm Al-Sheikh http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/interactive/2011/jan/27/egypt-prote...

Does anyone really believe the US wants to topple one of its main allies in the Middle East?

Quote:

The mushrooming protests confront the administration with one of the most nettlesome foreign policy dilemmas it has faced, forcing it to abandon the careful balance that Mr. Obama and his predecessors have struck between supporting the democratic aspirations of the Egyptian people while reaffirming ties with Mr. Mubarak. This same calculation has governed American dealings with other Arab allies led by entrenched autocratic rulers, notably Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

In each case, the overriding concern is that the same people who are clamouring for change could choose leaders who are hostile to the United States, or are even extremists.

Still, standing by Mr. Mubarak for fear of what could come after him could lead to "resentment towards the United States that could last another three decades, like Iran," said Martin S. Indyk, a Middle East peace negotiator in the Clinton administration. Laying out the American dilemma, Mr. Indyk said, "If we don't back Mubarak and the regime falls, and the Muslim Brotherhood takes control of Egypt and breaks the peace treaty with Israel, then it could have dramatic negative ramifications for American interests in the Middle East."

Egypt crisis: Obama cautions embattled ally against violence

Doug, it's called coppering your bets.

Deal with Mubarak as long as possible, get the opposition to feel grateful for you if it comes to power.  America has interests, and democracy is not really one of them, although they have to pretend it is.

Churchill's comment about making a favourable reference to the devil springs to mind.

A pundit or correspondent at CNN suggested as a possibility that  the VP picked by Mubarak will be a candidate in the elections that are (supposed???) to take place in August or September, and at that point Mubarak will step down. I very much doubt that idea will go over well.

An anti-Mubarak protest was growing in strength outside the White House this afternoon.

there seem to be escalating reports of 'looting' and also indications that agents provocateurs may be inciting incidents to provide the pretext for a military crackdown ostensibly to keep order and'protect' people...

Citizens commitees form to gaurd the museaum... they need to gaurd it from the govt workers who would loot the museaum in order to allow Mubarak to say the army is needed.

Other agent provocateurs trying to incite street violence, for the same reason as above.

Mubarak is following American traditions to do it this way. "Create a problem, offer the solution".

PS - nicely done article, Socrates. You write real purdy. However, I am not as sure as you seem to be that change is actually going to come to Egypt. Obama backing Mubarek is a potent force to reckon with [but America's win rate has been pretty low for several decades...]

Egypt Protests: America's Secret Backing For Rebel Leaders

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/828...

"The American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning 'regime change' for the past three years, the Daily Telegraph has learned. In a secret diplomatic dispatch, sent on December 30 2008, Margaret Scobey, the US Ambassador to Cairo reported that opposition groups had allegedly drawn up secret plans for 'regime change' to take place before elections, scheduled for September this year.."

Suleiman Selection Reassures Western Allies

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/01/29/suleiman-selection-rea...

"Omar Suleiman is many things to Egypt: spy chief, eminence grise to President Mubarak, point-man for Egypt's secret relations with Israel, and the bulwark between the Muslim Brotherhood and all the security services that stand in its way. Now he is Egypt's unelected Vice President.."

Muslim Brotherhood: National Unity Government Without Mubarak

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1615696.p...

"The banned Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group, told the German Press Agency dpa that they are in talks with other anti-government figures to form a national unity government without President Hosny Mubarak and his ruling party.."

Transformation in the Arab World

http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/blogs/mazin-qumsiyeh/32...

"On the Palestinian Authority TV news, they noted that Mahmoud Abbas called Mubarak and stated his support for stabilizing Egypt. In the demonstrations yesterday, a child in Gaza was carrying a sign that says, ' We Demand Freedom!' and a child in Cairo that says 'Children in Egypt and in Gaza Want the Siege Lifted.' That is our future, not elderly politicians meeting.."

The Socialist Roots of the Egyptian Protests

http://thegraph.com/2011/01/the-socialist-roots-of-the-egyptian-protests/

.."it's clear that the current 'revolution' in Africa has more to do with socialism than it does about Islamic fundamentalism.."

Is the Egyptian Government Using Agents Provocateurs to Justify a Crackdown

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/01/is-egyptian-government-using-agen...

"Security forces in plainclothes are engaged in destroying public property in order to give the impression that many protesters represent a public menace...The regime is trying to project the worst image possible to make it clear to people that they have only one of two alternatives, either the existing order or chaos.."

The Egyptian Revolution Starts

http://www.workersinternational.org.za/revolutionstartEgypt30.1.2011.pdf

"We salute the masses in Egypt.."

Front page of today's Globe and Mail:

[IMG]http://i51.tinypic.com/35c4r2w.jpg[/IMG]

No, it's not a G20 protester in Toronto - it's a protester in Cairo. The reason we don't get this kind of sympathetic coverage from the MSM, I guess, is that we carry the wrong kind of flags. That's the only possible explanation; after all, we were all - Canadians and Egyptians - demonstrating against the same thing: the worldwide neoliberal agenda of austerity and the modern "security" state (see Clinton video above).

If they held a G20 meeting in Cairo, do you think the protesters would get this kind of coverage?