< Archives: 2011 January

IS Today THE Day? Millions Plan To March on Mubarek

January 31st, 2011 - by: danny

IS Today THE Day? Millions Plan To March on Mubarek

On RT Critiquing Media coverage of The Protests In Egypt

A Tipping Point?

Today could be the turning/tipping point in Egypt with a Million Person march, Yesterday, the Army did not rally to M’s side. Protests continue on Day 8. (Today is the anniversary of the student sit-ins on Febriary 1 1960 that escalated the civil rights movement in America.)

The Whole World IS watching. You can too:

You can now watch Al Jazeera on your computer and on LiveStation.com on your phone.

This just in: Jordan’s King Abdullah dismisses government

One Egyptian told me he believes that Mubarek can be elected president again—In Israel. “He’s more popular there,” he said with a smile, “than in Egypt.” This joke gets a big laugh among Egyptians and makes Israelis nervous..

This was the news posted on Alternet yesterday–all very interesting but now somewhat out of date,

Crunch Time On The Nile?

NY Times This Morning: Mubarak’s Grip on Power Is Shaken

The new vice president said President Hosni Mubarak authorized him to speak with the opposition,

Washington Post: Us Follows Cautious Course on Mubarek

Mubarak proposes talks as opposition calls for massive protest; rights group confirms looting by undercover police

CAIRO – As pro-democracy demonstrators vowed to bring 1 million people to the streets of Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak offered a gesture of conciliation on Monday, directing his new vice president to begin talks with his opponents about changes to the country’s constitution.

CLG, Press TV, Thousands hold anti-US rally in Cairo

Thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets on the seventh consecutive day of anti-government protests, shouting slogans against the US, Israel and France. Five hundred thousand protesters gathered in Tahrir Square at the city center on Monday, despite heavy military presence. Many protesters say they will no longer tolerate the Western dominance over the region.

The Guardian: A New Way To Tweet

Egypt to send Twitter messages by leaving a voicemail on a specific number after the last internet service provider in the country saw its access cut off late on Monday. The new service, which has been created by co-ordination between the two internet companies, uses Google’s speech-to-text recognition service to automatically translate a message left on the number, which will be sent out on Twitter with the “#egypt” hashtag.

Ujwal Singh, cofounder of SayNow and Abdel Karim Mardini, Google’s product manager for the Middle East and north Africa, said in a blog post that “over the weekend we came up with the idea of a speak-to-tweet service — the ability for anyone to tweet using just a voice connection … We hope that this will go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time.”

Google listed three phone numbers for people to call to use the service. They are: +16504194196; +390662207294; and +97316199855. No internet connection is required.

That will be important for users there after Noor Group, which had been the last internet service provider connecting to the outside world, went dark late on Monday. It had remained online after the country’s four main internet providers — Link Egypt, Vodafone/Raya, Telecom Egypt and Etisalat Misr — abruptly stopped shuttling internet traffic into and out of the country last Friday.

Telegraph, Are Saudia Arabia’s Oil Fields Next?

National Journal, In Egypt, All Eyes on the Military

There comes a moment in a revolution when the men with the guns and those in command of the state’s fearsome machinery of oppression decide to turn them on the crowds in the streets, or they stand down, risking the wrath of a dictator. And more often than not, that moment decides the matter. James Kitfield says the culture of Egypt’s military is likely the key to Mubarak’s fate.

REAL NEWS: WHAT NOW?


More at The Real News


Charles Gasparino, Daily Beast, Will Egypt Rock Our Economy?

Financial Times: Oil surges as Egypt protests intensify

Oil prices broke through the $100 a barrel level for the first time in more than two years, amid market fears that Egypt’s turmoil will hit oil flows.

Foreign reaction to Egypt echoes anxiety

FT: Companies and governments have begun airlift operations to evacuate foreign nationals out of Egypt, although tour operators said there were no plans for a large-scale repatriation of holidaymakers, as demonstrations continued against Hosni Mubarak, the president.

Gareth Porter, Common Dreams, Why Washington Clings to a Failed Middle East Strategy

The death throes of the Mubarak regime in Egypt signal a new level of
crisis for a U.S. Middle East strategy that has shown itself over and
over again in recent years to be based on nothing more than the
illusion of power. The incipient loss of the U.S. client regime in
Egypt is an obvious moment for a fundamental adjustment in that
strategy.

But those moments have been coming with increasing regularity in
recent years, and the U.S. national security bureaucracy has shown
itself to be remarkably resistant to giving it up. The troubled
history of that strategy suggests that it is an expression of some
powerful political forces at work in this society, as former NSC
official Gary Sick hinted in a commentary on the crisis.

MORE ON WIKILEAKS

Professor Michael Brenner, essay on The NY Times and Assange

The New York Times’ Executive Editor, William Keller, launched a scathing personal attack on Julian Assange in yesterday’s Sunday Magazine cover story. This odd behavior prompts these thoughts.

Truth is everywhere praised – but the demand always exceeds the supply. So it is for integrity and honesty as well. Always elusive in the public realm, they now are on the point of extinction. These qualities have given way to spin, to fables, to confected virtual realities, to dissembling. Indeed to outright lies and deceit. Perhaps even more ominous than the growing number of perpetrators is the legion of enablers and accessories. The latter are proliferating everywhere – especially in the media.

There are three paramount functions that the press in a free society is supposed to serve: to inform accurately, completely and fairly; to observe critically the conduct of our government and to bring forth any dubious activities; and to sustain a public dialogue on policies of consequence. Through the 9/11 decade, the media have fallen far short of this standard. That holds for the quality press, of which The New York Times is universally seen as the gold standard. It is past due to recognize that venerable paper’s dubious record of performance – a performance at sharp variance with its reputation. For years, its editors were accomplices to the Bush administration’s most baneful activities. It most notably did so in acting as a vehicle for transmitting the skein of lies that paved the way for the Iraq adventure (remember Linda Miller & Michael Gordon on WMDs). Let us recall as well its decision to bury the story of illegal surveillance and wiretaps of Americans at home for a year before the 2004 election because, as its Executive Director lamely and belatedly said, the paper’s policy is not to display details of matters that may lead to legal proceedings. This is the rational of a kept press in an autocracy, not a pillar of American democracy.

The NYT’s editors have endorsed, with only the slightest of qualifiers, the American occupation of Iraq; its goal of keeping residual military forces there and of meddling in the country’s domestic politics; the escalation in Afghanistan II for some still obscure purpose that the Times never has questioned; drone attacks in Pakistan coupled to the Obama White House’s campaign of shoving Islamabad into a full fledged civil war against the Taliban and other radical Islamist groups; the confrontational stance re. Iran that ejects serious security talks; outright American interference in Lebanon to ensure that the obedient Mr. Harari remains Premier at all costs; and of course the embrace of Israel’s ultra-nationalist government.

Your Letters.

My article on rising food prices in Egypt has been picked up by Al Jazeera.net and many websites. Some readers were upset with its title, “Egypt–Don’t be Gyped” which they saw as as slur on The Roma People (Gypsies), certainly not my intent. I was being too clever by looking for a rhyme and then using one that appeared in a song (King Tut Rocks) that goes back to my teen years. Funny how musical phrases stick in your memory. I should have thought about it more and apologize for any offense. The new title on my piece is “Egypt: Mubarek Is Not Your Only enemy. I learned from this experience.

Jay Spark writes:

“I enjoyed your piece on commodity/food speculation and the Egyptian debacle. The clear focus and references were “right on the money”. I agree that we’re seeing the start of something big: not only in the middle east and elsewhere, but much closer to the “homeland” (North America). The visuals from Cairo and Alexandria actually make it look like the State Department pulled out the dusty old blueprints from Tiananmen: ironically, another great disaster of American foreign policy. The flower revolutions seem to have passed their “best before” date as a tool for effective media framing.

The food-price pressure on an expanding swath of the disentitled here is palpable, although still unreported (for the myriad obvious reasons). If enough “Egypts” start happening, the “justice virus” may eventually also break out here – in the home of the somnambulant “free”. Meantime, we can count on the ilk of the Clinton clan and political kin to do anything in their power to seal up the exits and the windows of American dissent.

We’re living in interesting times, my friend. I like the changes in your editorial style and substance: heftier and more confident dissections. Regards,

A number of readers on Al Jazera posted comments. I was pleased to be considerd worth for inclusion in their excellent coverage, Here are some.

Helen Lambert writes from the UK: I am in agreement with the report on the negative impact of US, and others’, involvement in Egyption finances and business. As an English woman i see the insidious manipulation of the people by big corporations and also by US politics. I would like the Egyption people to know that my family, and i, fully support their heroic efforts to rise up and demand their rights to have a government that puts the people’s needs first. You are inspiring!

Paul Cowan writes from Qatar:

Schechter overlooks two important points when he asks why Americans, with greater wealth inequality, do not riot and Egyptians do. First, contrary to his apparent mantra, inequality is not bad, it is good. It offers the hope of improvement as one moves up the ladder (Love this, DS) . But that only applies if it is possible to climb the ladder. In the US, it is; in Egypt, it probably isn’t. His second error is to think that inequality matters more than poverty. Few American live on $2 a day, many Egyptian do.

Judith Bell writes from Canada:

You had to bash American. Obligatory. Israel or America – this is Al Jazeera after all!! But your TRUE article, shows that people need economic reform not an election. The press generally does not get this They overstate the importance of a free election, which they see as democracy. It is why they mistake Hezbolah and Hamas as democracy and legitimize their authoritarianism. Democracy is rule of law for all and every day responsiveness to the people to bring them a quality of life.

Sally Eastman writes: This is a superb article that shows how globalization is affecting every country on Earth. We need a new economic system without inherent inflationary pressure every time the Federal Reserve Bank wants to stimulate the economy.
Jerry Bennett takes issue from the USA:

Mr. Schechter: Egypt’s $2 a day is equivalent to $730 a year; whereas the U.S. Poverty level (U.S. Census 2011) is near $25,000 a year. When analyzing “wealth inequity” It is not simply the disparity between haves and have-nots that is important; it’s the quality of life of the have-nots. It’s the freedom to be something other than a have-not. It’s hope vs. despair. When you simply apply a ‘Guni Coefficient’ to a human being and then draw a conclusion… it’s you that have a problem with context.

John Friery disagrees: What an interesting article. And true to the core. The poor segment of our country is growing expoentially in joining the poor of the world. It is nothing but greed of the wealthy. The middle class( if there ever was one in the US) is disappearing.

Krzysztof Nędzyński Redaktor/Editor writes from Poland:

I work for obserwatorfinansowy.pl, an economic news and analysis portal run by the National Bank of Poland. I found your piece on Al- Jazeera website and I believe it is great. Will you give us your consent to translate to Polish and publish your article on our webpage?

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/01/201113113211680738.html

Paul Buhle writes on Facebook: “hey, young people are rising up and using new media! It seems like a moment for Schechter,New Dissector, to come int his own…”

Chicago Democracy Upate:

Early voting in the Mayoral electon has begun. Don Rose, a local political commentator writes:

It is difficult to imagine Rahm Emanuel as a sympathetic, victim-like figure, but whoever actually financed the effort to remove him from the Chicago mayoral ballot did the trick. By the time the Illinois Supreme Court reflexively restored his name, such a crescendo of support had built up that he stands a good chance of winning the job outright on Feb. 22 instead of being forced into a runoff.

To do so he must get 50 percent of the vote plus one; otherwise he will have to run against the second-place finisher on April 5. All 50 aldermen also are elected under the same “nonpartisan” system.

More On The Giant Squid on The Face of Humanity (t/h Matt Taibbi)


Fortune: Goldman Sachs Scores Again

America’s favorite bankers have outdone themselves yet again.

How might you compensate management for a year in which profits plunged, you spent $550 million of shareholder money to settle a fraud investigation and your stock ended up more or less exactly where it started.

NY Times, A Bonus Bump for Bank of America’s Chief

Bank of America didn’t have the smoothest 2010, what with the foreclosure mess and a drooping stock price. But that didn’t stop its chief executive from getting potentially up to $9.05 million in bonuses.

Brian T. Moynihan is set to receive up to that amount in restricted stock – if he meets certain financial goals – on top of an unchanged $950,000 in base salary, the firm disclosed in a regulatory filing.

One of his top lieutenants, global banking and markets chief Thomas Montag, is set to receive $14.3 million in restricted stock, and a base salary raise to $850,000 from $800,000.

You Can Bet On It

With media and political analysts in mind, CEO Mickey Richardson and his team at Bookmaker.com, one of the leading sportsbooks, have calculated the odds on what’s to come for the political turmoil in Egypt.

NEXT COUNTRY TO HAVE CIVIL UNREST IN 2011

YEMEN +180 35%

JORDAN +200 33%

TURKEY +300 25%

ALGERIA +300 25%

IRAN +300 25%

LIBYA +500 16%

Question: does the Florida’s judges ruing on health care, invalidating the law because it mandates that individuals but insurance also invalidate auto insurance which is required in most states to operate a motor vehicle?

Thats the News DIssector Blog for today. Thanks to all who write. Comments to Dissector@mediachannel.org

Post to Twitter

Share

See the whole Post / →

Opposition Uniting Around ElBaradei; Egypt, Mubarek Is Not Your Only Enemy: The Crisis Behind The Uprising

January 30th, 2011 - by: danny

Opposition Uniting Around ElBaradei; Egypt, Mubarek Is Not Your Only Enemy: The Crisis Behind The Uprising

Quote of the Day:

” … where are the protests in our country? Where is the leadership connecting the dots… between the financial meltdown, the record profits and bonuses on Wall Street, the continuing collapse of home equity, the joblessness, and the assault on public services in the name of budgetary prudence?” ~ Robert Kuttner [More here →]

News Dissector in the Media: Interviewed by KhabarOnLine.ir: Egyptians don’t have Strong Leadership

A “MUHAMMAD” IS COMING DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN

Politics hates vacuums. Political change demands leaders. And so, it is coming to pass that an NYU Grad, (who went to Law School, I believe, alongside Geraldo Rivera), a Nobel Laureate (for encouraging an end to nuclear proliferation) Mohamed Mustafa ElBaradei, globally known and media blessed, is emerging as the choice of the diverse opposition in Egypt. The so-called International community is comfortable with him. He has been a mostly reliable functionary.

He was a long shot–but now he seems to be the only shot. Anthony Shadid of the New York Times puts it this way:

“Though lacking deep support on his own, Mr. ElBaradei, a Nobel laureate and diplomat, could serve as a consensus figure for a movement that has struggled to articulate a program for a potential transition. It suggested, too, that the opposition was sensitive to the uprising’s image abroad, putting forth a candidate who might be more acceptable to the West than beloved in Egypt.”

Last night, he had some advice for Washington: “It’s better for President Obama not to appear that he is the last one to say to President Mubarak, it’s time for you to go,” Mr. ElBaradei said.

The Washington Post reports they are hearing him, kind of and cautiously:

“The Obama administration firmly aligned itself on Sunday with the protest movement that has overtaken Egypt, calling for an “orderly transition” to a more representative government amid rising U.S. concern that the demonstrations are turning violent and that unrest could spread across the Arab world.

On the 7th day of the protests, it is the people who are continuing the pressure to remind us that “its not the ship that makes the waves but the motion on the ocean.” The Financial Times reports this morning: “Egyptian protesters remained camped out in central Cairo on Monday, the seventh day of anti-government demonstrations and vowed to stay until they had toppled the president, Hosni Mubarak.”

But the modern day Pharaoh Hosni Mubarak is not the only enemy of the Egyptian people. He may be going–but what is coming? Don’t be fooled into thinking that the US financed military is the savior. And don’t be fooled into thinking a political “reform” is enough.

Read on …

EGYPT:   Mubarek Is Not Your Only Enemy.

The Economic Crisis Is Driving Political Protests Sparked In Part By US Financial Speculation

This is an upstairs/downstairs story that takes us from the peak of a Western mountaintop for the wealthy to spreading mass despair in the valleys of the Third World poor.

It is about how the solutions for the world financial crisis that the CEOs and big pols are massaging in a posh conference center in snowy Davos, Switzerland have turned into a global economic catastrophe in the streets of Cairo, the current ground zero of a certain to spread wave of international unrest.

Yes, the tens of thousands in the streets demanding the ouster of the cruel Mubarak regime are there now pressing for their right to make a political choice but they are being driven by an economic disaster that has sent unemployment skyrocketing and food prices climbing.

People are out in the streets not just to meet but by their need to eat.

As Nouriel Roubini who was among the first to predict the financial crisis while others were pooh-poohing him as “Dr. Doom” says don’t just look at the crowds in Cairo but what is motivating them now, after years of silence and repression.

He says that the dramatic rise in energy and food prices has become a major global threat and a leading factor that has gone largely unreported in the coverage of events in Egypt.

“What has happened in Tunisia, is happening right now in Egypt, but also riots in Morocco, Algeria and Pakistan, are related not only to high unemployment rates and to income and wealth inequality, but also to this very sharp rise in food and commodity prices,” Roubini said.
Prices in Egypt are up 17% because of a worldwide surge in commodity prices that has many factors but speculation on Wall Street and big banks is a key one.

As IPS reported, “Wall Street investment firms and banks, along with their kin in London and Europe, were responsible for the technology dot-com bubble, the stock market bubble, and the recent U.S. and UK housing bubbles. They extracted enormous profits and their bonuses before the inevitable collapse of each.

Now they’ve turned to basic commodities. The result? At a time when there has been no significant change in the global food supply or in food demand, the average cost of buying food shot up 32 percent from June to December 2010, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Nothing but price speculation can explain wheat prices jumping 70 percent from June to December last year when global wheat stocks were stable, experts say.”

Here’s a key fact buried in a CNN Money report – the kind intended for investors, not the public at large: “About 40% of Egypt’s citizens live off less than $2 a day, so any price increase hurts.”

Brilliant!

Think about that: what would you be doing if you were living of $2 a day. You won’t be drinking mochachinos at Starbucks, that’s for sure. Trust me, the people on top are following this unrest closely on Wall Street as anxiety grows:

Reports the Washington Post: “U.S. stocks declined sharply Friday as violent clashes in Egypt injected a jolt of anxiety into global financial markets.

Egypt is central to U.S. interests in the Middle East as a moderate state and a key player in both counter-terrorism operations and regional peace negotiations, said Helima L. Croft, a geopolitical analyst at Barclays Capital.

If street protests were to end President Hosni Mubarak’s nearly 30-year hold on power, “I think there would be a fear that you could see radicalism sweeping across the Middle East,” Croft said, adding that the fear might be unfounded.

Beyond its political significance, Egypt controls the Suez Canal, an important shipping lane.”

Suddenly, there are worries about Egypt being able to pay off its debt, and the country was pronounced riskier than Iraq, according to Asia Times:

“The cost of protecting Egyptian debt against default for five years with the contracts jumped 69 basis points, or 0.69 percentage points, this week to 375 today, compared with 328 for Iraq, according to prices from CMA, a data provider in London. Just last week, Iraqi swaps cost 19 basis points more than Egypt’s, and in June, an average 240 basis points more, as Iraq recovered from the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The unrest, inspired by the revolt that toppled Tunisia’s leader, “does raise political risks,” said Eric Fine, a portfolio manager in New York who helps Van Eck Associates Corp. oversee $3 billion in emerging-market assets. “If this is a revolution, the price of risk for Egypt could go much higher, and if it’s a failed one” the cost will drop to 300 basis points and probably 250, Fine said in a phone interview.”

While most of the increases in food prices are due to droughts and floods, US policy contributed to it mightily, argues Mike “Mish” Shedlock on his Global economic blog, revealing a reality the media has missed:

“Bernanke’s “Quantitative Easing” policies combined with rampant credit growth in China and India has led to increased speculation in commodities. That speculation has forced up food prices.

Please note that speculation in commodities is not a cause of anything. Rather commodity speculation is a result of piss poor monetary policies not only the Fed, but central bankers worldwide.”

Michael Fitzsimmons says that US energy policy is also contributing to the problems in Egypt, but agrees that monetary policy is a prime culprit. He writes, ” to sum things up: Ben Bernanke’s implementation of “QE2″ has directly led to food inflation across the world. In many developing and poor countries (i.e. Egypt and elsewhere) food makes up a much larger percentage of an individual’s income and is felt much more severely than in the U.S.

Why have most media outlets ignored this? The financiers schmoozing at the World Economic Forum in Davos know all about it and are worried as well as Bloomberg News reported.

“This protest won’t end in North Africa; it will spread in many countries because of high unemployment and increasing food prices,” Hamza Alkholi, chairman and chief executive of Saudi Alkholi Group, a holding company investing in industrials and real estate, said in an interview in Davos, Switzerland.

In an age of globalization, a hike in global prices will spread unrest globally. Egypt had its own “bread riot” in l977 when prices went up suddenly on the orders of the World Bank so it is no stranger to the need to fight back.

The question is why aren’t Americans up in arms too as inflation at the pump and the grocery store drives princes higher here. Part of the reason is that they don’t know that the US has worse economic inequality according to a scientific measure: the Gini Coefficent.

Washington’sBlog.com reports:Inequality In America Is Worse Than In Egypt, Tunisia Or Yemen

“Egyptian, Tunisian and Yemeni protesters all say that inequality is one of the main reasons they’re protesting. According to the CIA World Fact Book, the U.S. is ranked as the 42nd most unequal country in the world, with a Gini Coefficient of 45. Egypt in contrast is ranked as the 90th most unequal country, with a Gini Coefficient of around 34.4. He asks, “so why are Egyptians rioting, while the Americans are complacent?” According to the report, Building a Better America, Dan Ariely of Duke University and Michael I. Norton of Harvard Business School demonstrate Americans consistently underestimate the amount of inequality in our nation.” [More here →]

And why is that? Could our media have anything to do with it, a media consumed with when it bleeds it leads, but where context and background are missing?

Remember the main axiom of investigative reporting: “Follow the money.”

Also,   Follow Your Heart: New freedom anthem from musician Stephen Said:

Dear all, the world is changing before our eyes. Here is أحب عيشة الحرية pronounced “Aheb Eisht Al Hurriyeh,” (I Love the Life of Freedom), an anthem to global unity and equality my father taught me that has been sung for civil rights movements across the Arab world since the 1930′s. I have just released this video and mp3 to be used freely by all those who are peacefully working to build the international movement for a more just society. With words by Egyptian poet-laureate Ahmed Shawki, it was first put to music in the 1930′s by great Egyptian composer Mohamed Abdel Wahab. This new recording, with video intros in English and French version, is from my upcoming album with visionary producer Hal Willner. Please help me by spreading this beautiful and timely global message, the world needs us. This is our moment! Share the video and mp3, retweet it and Facebook it today. We want to live in freedom! Versions: English | French

How To Stay Informed And Take Action: Al Jazeera | Get Egypt Back Online | Contact the White House and encourage President Obama to take the side of Egypt’s people and urge the Egyptian military to refuse illegal orders to attack civilians: 202-456-1414 Fax: 202-456-2461

Juan Cole on Egypt’s CLASS conflict

“Why has the Egyptian state lost its legitimacy? Max Weber distinguished between power and authority. Power flows from the barrel of a gun, and the Egyptian state still has plenty of those. But Weber defines authority as the likelihood that a command will be obeyed. Leaders who have authority do not have to shoot people. The Mubarak regime has had to shoot over 100 people in the past few days, and wound more. Literally hundreds of thousands of people have ignored Mubarak’s command that they observe night time curfews. He has lost his authority.” [More here →]

Yves Smith on NakedCapitalism.com on the State Department’s latest turn to backing their version of democracy:

“Speaking more bluntly than administration officials have so far, Mrs. Clinton said Mr. Mubarak’s appointment of a vice president was only the “bare beginning” of a process that must include a government dialogue with the protesters and “free, fair, and credible” elections, scheduled for September.

I’d love to have overheard the call with Netanyahu.

This little piece strikes me as a tad closer to the truth:

Given the fact that our little policy of backing dictators that are willing to bend to our interests has just backfired in a rather serious way, one might think a fundamental reassessment might be in order. As former CIA director Emile Nakhleh writes in the Financial Times:

The possible toppling of the regime of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, following unprecedented street protests, will be as dramatic for US policy as the removal of the Shah of Iran over three decades ago. US policymakers were caught just as off guard in 1978 as they were last week. The question of “who lost Iran” that bedevilled US policy and intelligence leaders must now be crackling again in the air as those sitting in Washington watch Cairo burn. They were not prepared for the chaos following the Shah’s collapse, and they are not prepared for what may follow Mr.   Mubarak today … [More here →]

Bloomberg Reporting From Davos, Analyst Predicts Major Bank Crisis In 2015

Letters:

Marry Susannah Robbins:Congratulations to us all! It’s finally come! Stand with with Egypt!

Hartley Pleshaw: Notice, if you will, the difference between coverage of the revolt in Egypt and the one in Iran two years ago. The U.S. media cheered that one no end; this time, “caution” and “uncertainty” are the watchwords. I suspect that many Egyptian Nedas have already been killed so far; who in the U.S. media are personalizing them–giving them a face, name and life story–and proclaiming their martyrdom?”

Hillel Schenker of the Palestine-Israel Journal writes a friend from Israel: Yes, these are dramatic times, and as Bob Dylan once said, The Times They are a Changing. I have a lot of empathy with the primarily secular demonstrators in the streets, and with many of their slogans. The one thing that concerns me is that El-Baradei has declared that the Moslem Brotherhood will be part of his potential future coalition, if he becomes the transitory leader. If the Islamist Moslem Brotherhood become a dominant factor within Egyptian society, that is not good news for the potential of a more enlightened, open and pluralistic Egyptian society, for the sake of the Egyptians, and for all of us in the neighborhood. The outcome of the current drama is still not clear – and we are part of the whole world which is watching, with bated breath.

Angela Peterson: Hi Danny: If there were more William Blacks in the world, the corrupt banking system would be shut down, and the new government he would appoint would open new government banks, which would then be regulated and the people that ran them would get a normal wage. Then the corrupt powers that be would not be able to cream society, which they seem to be good at. The elite are always going to let the greedy b_____s win and say to hell with the hard worker. One day, all the people that have had their money stolen will burn the yachts and the jets and the homes of these thieves.

Your comments always welcome: dissector@mediachannel.org

Post to Twitter

Share

See the whole Post / →

SUNDAY Latest on Egyptian Uprising: MERIP Report; US Reaction

January 29th, 2011 - by: danny

SUNDAY Latest on Egyptian Uprising: MERIP Report; US Reaction

Sandra Fogler writes on Facebook: On this day, the anniversary of Ghandi’s assassination, may we remember to “Be the change you want to see in the world”….in honor of his life and teachings, feel free to share a favorite quote. Blessings and peace to all ~

Dissector In The Media:

1. Listen to yesterday’s NewDissector Radio hour on the ProgressiveRadioNetwork.com, linked to this page for the discussion we had about Egypt with Aimée Kligman, and war with Kathleen Barry, PH.D.

2. Corporations Bring Us The News We See — I am interviewed in this report by Anastasia Churkina:



Just Some of the News From Egypt

">
Telegraph (UK) Bloodshed in the Streets

Washington’s Blog Via NakedCapitalism.com: Goverment THUGS doing the looting

[Al Jazeera reporter] Ayman Mohyeldin reports that eyewitnesses have said “party thugs” associated with the Egyptian regime’s Central Security Services — in plainclothes but bearing government-issued weapons — have been looting in Cairo. Ayman says the reports started off as isolated accounts but are now growing in number.

The Telegraph reports:

“Thugs” going around on motorcycles looting shops and houses, according to Al Jazeera. They say they are getting more and more reports of looting. More worryingly, one group of looters who were captured by citizens in the upmarket Cairo district of Heliopolis turned out to have ID cards identifying them as members of the regime security forces.
Similarly, Egyptian newspaper Al MasryAlyoum provides several eyewitness accounts of agents provacateur:

Thugs looting residential neighborhoods and intimidating civilians are government-hires, say eyewitnesses.

NY Times: Military Does Little to Quash Protests

As troops and protesters fraternized, Omar Suleiman, Egypt’s military intelligence chief, was sworn in as vice president.

NY Times: Calling for Restraint, Pentagon Faces Test of Influence With Ally

The United States military is trying to navigate a peaceful outcome and remain close to an important ally.

World Media Reaction: Check Out This Picture

Egypt Shuts Down Al Jazeera Bureau

Sunday: Mazin Qumsiyeh writes from Palestin on some of the latest news. Watch Al Jazeera for more on live stream or at AlJazeera.net.

-Large demonstrations by Egyptians and human rights defenders at Egyptian
embassies around the world all demanding democracy
-Israeli embassy in Cairo essentially emptied (an apartheid state embassy in
the largest Arab country is an abomination)
-Israeli pundits very worried about how Egypt might look after Mubarak.
-There are many signs that the Egyptian military (like the Tunisian
military) may be critical in this struggle. Already there are instances
where the demonstrators were protected from the Egyptian police by the
Egyptian military. See footage (4)
-A number of human rights groups and Egyptian community representatives
abroad all called for ending the Egyptian police brutality. By contrast EU
and US government officials are making feeble statements to hedge their bets
and at best call for “peaceful” actions from “all sides”. Slowly they were
forced to modify their retorhic to talk about “change” but must finally call
on their puppet Mubarak to leave power and insist that he and his sons and
family return the billions stolen from the Egyptian people.
-A number of religious and civil organizations in Egypt broke their silence
to support the ouster of the “last Pharaoh”
-The dictatorship cutting of web and mobile phone services and banning
reporting by groups like Al-Jazeera did little to stem the tide of protest
because people are living it daily in their homes and on the streets and
they are not being incited from outside.
-Protests spread to Jordan and Yemen (two other Western supported
governments). There are now plans for large protests in Syria and other
countries.
-On the Palestinian Authority TV news, they noted that Mahmoud Abbas called
Mubarak and stated his support for stability of Egypt. Other news outlets
stated that he fully supports the Mubarak regime. Hamas then came in to say
that they support the Egyptian people. Sadly, I think all rational human
beings know which horse to bet on in this struggle between people and a
western-supported dictator who accomplished nothing for his people and
instead enriched his family (his sons are billionaires in a country in which
tens of millions of people live on less than $1 a day).

Debbie Menon passes this along:

Al Jazeera reports Mubarak’s planning exile to Tel Aviv. According to sources in the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel is making preparations to welcome Hosni Mubarak into exile after Saudi Arabia rejected overtures. Al Jazeera also reports Israeli diplomats have fled Egypt amid the unrest. CNN reports widespread rumors that Mubarak’s wife and other family members have already fled Egypt.

Arab Executives Predict Regime Change in Egypt, as U.S. State Dept says reshuffling of government won’t do. Demonstrations across the U.S. rally in solidarity with protesters. See also Robert Fisk’s latest dispatch: Death throes of a dictatorship.

Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge, Who Is Mubarek’s New Vice-President?

Jane Kramer of the New Yorker on the New VP’s links to Renditions


Independent on Sunday; The Impact on the Region

Conspiracy Theory of The Day: Is Mohammed El Baradei the “Globalist Pied Piper” of the Egyptian Revolt?

Conspircy Theory Runner-UP: U.S. Energy Dependency Responsible for Egyptian Unrest.

Egypt On Fire

The Middle East Research and Information Project offers a comprehensive look at events in Egypt. Worth Reading. (Thanks to the Campaign for Peace And Democracy for hipping me to this excellent perspective.).

Dead-Enders on the Potomac:

Every US administration has its mouthpiece in Washington’s think tank world, its courtier that will slavishly praise its every utterance. For the blessedly bygone Bush administration, that echo chamber was the American Enterprise Institute and the neo-conservative broadsheets in its orbit. For the Obama administration, it is the National Security Network, an operation founded in 2006 to bring “strategic focus to the progressive national security community.”

With one US-backed Arab despot dislodged and dodging Interpol, and another facing an intifada of historic proportions, many eyes looked to Washington, hopeful that President Barack Obama might reprise his ballyhooed Cairo speech of June 2009, showing the restive Arab masses that he felt and, perhaps, really understood their pain. Instead, Arab populations have heard a variation on Washington’s long-standing theme: “The Obama administration seeks to encourage political reforms without destabilizing the region.” That sentence, taken from the National Security Network’s January 27 press release, says it all: Democracy is great in theory, but if it will cause any disruption to business as usual, Washington prefers dictatorship. [More here →]

Your comments welcome: Dissector@mediachannel,org

Post to Twitter

Share

See the whole Post / →