IS Today THE Day? Millions Plan To March on Mubarek

January 31st, 2011 - by: danny

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This was the news posted on Alternet yesterday–all very interesting but now somewhat out of date,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

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 conclusionÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ 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 NÃ„â„¢dzyÃ…â€žski 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

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