The Egyptian Crisis Continues
Protests against President Hosni Mubarak’s government continue in Cairo and other cities, and the government has all but given up on dispersing the masses from the streets. Hundreds of people mobilized to support Mubarak in Cairo, but their number was a fraction of the tens of thousands that occupied the capital’s Tahrir Square Monday night.
The past few days have been repeats in terms of protester mobilization. Every day, Egyptians in Cairo and other cities occupy the main squares and march through the streets, then thousands spend the night in their city’s main square. In the morning, they’re joined by more protesters, and begin again.
The government has used every tactic available to disperse the crowds, and the police are back on the streets after disappearing for days. The army is out in full force. Internet has now been fully disconnected, cell phone and landlines are restricted, and SMS has been blocked for days. The government imposes a 12-hour curfew during the afternoon, evening, night, and early morning, to no avail.
Protesters allege that mobs waging a campaign of looting across Cairo are government operatives.
After his speech on Friday promising that his government will listen to the people’s voices and appoint a new government, Mubarak appointed a vice president and shuffled his cabinet. Most appointees have backgrounds in Egypt’s military or police, though — prompting many Egyptians and outside observers to reject it as a step towards reform.
On Sunday, Mubarak ordered newly appointed Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik to increase subsidies and to work on reforms for the economy. Later, the government announced that Vice President Omar Suleiman had been asked to open dialogue with the opposition. But the opposition had already settled on their one demand: Mubarak must resign. This demand was repeated by opposition leader and former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed El Baradei at a protest in Cairo, and later by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood.
The government’s inability to disperse the protesters or to meet their demands has started chipping away at the international support Mubarak received when the crisis first began.
Leaked memo reveals Obama is “reaching out” to Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt:
From the desk of united states President B. Hussein Obama:
To: Muhammad Badi’e, General Guide, Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian Branch
To My Dear Brother Badi’e,
Greetings and salutations my Dear Brother in The Common Struggle. I see that all is progressing well on your front, and I congratulate you on your many successes to date. I wish to inform of what you may expect from “outside” forces as the struggle progresses.
First of all, please do not fear any attempt by amerikkka to debase your glorious revolution against the zionist running dogs who currently infest the capitol of your great nation. It is the will of Allah (peace be upon his name) that you will be victorious in this struggle, and now that I am Commander in Chief of the amerikkkan armed forces I can assure you that there will be no action taken against you by either the regular amerikkkan military or the CIA. Since you are guaranteed safety on this front let your hands be bold to shed the blood of those who have opposed you… Read the rest here… http://beautifulletters-bls.blogspot.com/2011/01/obama-reaches-out-to-muslim-brotherhood.html
is this supposed to be funny? i think it is sophomoric.
The demonstrators congest on a public square. They write signs in English. They do not storm government buildings as they should. It looks like Mubarak is riding this one out.
What is wrong with what FDR mused for Vietnam, but didn’t get implemented,
and it being applied to the countries which are majority Muslim – namely trusteeships.
Take a look at the pages where FDR shows up in “Lost Crusade: America in Vietnam” by Chester L. Cooper, and also look at the material referred to in the footnotes that are on those pages.
I don’t trust Mubarak, or Ahmadinezhad, but I do trust those dissidents who showed up at the conference referred to here, by George Jonas: http://www.georgejonas.ca/recent_writing.cfm?id=772