The Egyptian Crisis Continues
Several members of his family, including his son and expected successor Gamal Mubarak, fled to London. That accompanied a continued flow of Egyptian businessmen and money out of the country — Al Jazeera reported that up to $500 million was being sent out of Egypt. At the same time, other countries, including the United States, have begun evacuating their citizens in the face of the unrest, their support for Mubarak’s regime faltering.
While several Western countries have expressed concern about the events in Egypt and called for reforms, none have explicitly asked Mubarak to step down. President Barack Obama had also shown reluctance to demand his ally’s ouster, but for the first time expressed support for “an orderly transition to a government that is responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people.” Other world leaders remained mostly mute.
Many are fearing more bloodshed in case Mubarak refuses to step down again. So far over 120 people have been killed in the protests, over 4,000 have been injured, and thousands more have been arrested. Hours ago, six Al Jazeera correspondents were arrested by state security forces, then released after an international outcry and prompting by the U.S. government. Their equipment was confiscated, though.
The crisis has severely affected the lives of Egyptians. In the past few days, armed mobs have waged a campaign of lootings, mostly in Cairo, but also in some other parts of the country. Protesters have organized neighborhood security watches to counter the violence, but they can do little to better security.
Food scarcity is hitting the country. Protests have effectively shut down most markets and stores in Cairo and other cities. Egyptians and observers fear that people are soon going to start finding it impossible to buy groceries if the protests continue and no solution is devised to return stability to the country.
Stability — in a country that has been, for 30 years, stable as a rock — seems as elusive as ever.
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