Escalation in Egypt

[flintlock]

Re: Escalation in Egypt

If Suleiman becomes President does that mean we'll be seeing more of this?

http://www.itulip.com/forums/images/attach/jpg.gif

[GRG55]

Re: Escalation in Egypt

the egyptian army, an army of conscripts and apparently an institution held in popular esteem, has refrained from imposing "order." in iran, however, the public insitutions of official violence - not just the police as in egypt - seem quite prepared to attack their own citizens. won't any popular demonstrations in iran be met with a severe and violent response?

Absolutely. Same situation in Saudi Arabia, and possibly Syria. All these places, and most others in this region [including Dubai] are "police states" in one form or another. But, as EJ once pointed out, large numbers of people out in the streets is every government's nightmare - totalitarian, democratic, or anything in between. As with Egypt a couple of years ago, the current situation in Iran is not sustainable [and the sanctions are having an increasing effect]...exactly how it will change, and when, is unknowable.

[touchring]

Re: Escalation in Egypt

Absolutely. Same situation in Saudi Arabia, and possibly Syria. All these places, and most others in this region [including Dubai] are "police states" in one form or another. But, as EJ once pointed out, large numbers of people out in the streets is every government's nightmare - totalitarian, democratic, or anything in between. As with Egypt a couple of years ago, the current situation in Iran is not sustainable [and the sanctions are having an increasing effect]...exactly how it will change, and when, is unknowable.

It is for this reason that Singapore requires a police permit for any "public assembly" of 1 person or more, or 2 persons or more for a "public procession".

If you come to Singapore, you must take note, if you want to stand in a public area (outside your home) in support or opposition to any cause, even if you do not say anything, do make any noise, do not show any banner or slogan or picture, do not make any actions, but as long as your purpose of standing there is to support or oppose any cause or person, you must get a police permit.


http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/non_versi...thod=part&sl=1

Short title and commencement
1. This Act may be cited as the Public Order Act 2009 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.

"assembly" means a gathering or meeting (whether or not comprising any lecture, talk, address, debate or discussion) of persons the purpose (or one of the purposes) of which is —

(a) to demonstrate support for or opposition to the views or actions of any person, group of persons or any government;

(b) to publicise a cause or campaign; or

(c) to mark or commemorate any event,

and includes a demonstration by a person alone for any such purpose referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c);

"procession" means a march, parade or other procession (whether or not involving the use of vehicles or other conveyances) —

(a) comprising 2 or more persons gathered at a place of assembly to move from that place substantially as a body of persons in succession proceeding by a common route or routes; and

(b) the purpose (or one of the purposes) of which is —

(i) to demonstrate support for or opposition to the views or actions of any person, group of persons or any government;

(ii) to publicise a cause or campaign; or

(iii) to mark or commemorate any event,

Regulation of public assemblies and public processions
5. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, a public assembly and a public procession shall not take place unless —

(a) the Commissioner is notified under section 6 of the intention to hold the public assembly or public procession, and a permit is granted under section 7 in respect of that public assembly or public procession, as the case may be; and

(b) the holding of that public assembly or public procession is not prohibited under section 12 or 13.

[don]

Re: Escalation in Egypt

"Power is laying in the streets"

Lenin

Years of repression have attempted to ensure that any opposition lacks an organization. It appears we're seeing that play out.

[don]

Re: Escalation in Egypt

Frank Wisner in Cairo

By VIJAY PRASHAD

From inside the bowels of Washington's power elite, Frank Wisner emerges, briefcase in hand. He has met the President, but he is not his envoy. He represents the United States, but is not the Ambassador. What is in his briefcase is his experience: it includes his long career as bagman of Empire, and as bucket-boy for Capital. Pulling himself away from the Georgetown cocktail parties and the Langley Power-point briefings, Wisner finds his way to the Heliopolis cocktail parties and to the hushed conferences in Kasr al-Ittihadiya. Mubarak (age 82) greets Wisner (age 72), as these elders confer on the way forward for a country whose majority is under thirty.

Obama came to Cairo in 2009, and said, "America does not presume to know what is best for everyone." Those words should have been cast in gold and placed in the portico of the White House. Instead, they drift like wisps in the wind, occasionally sighted for propaganda purposes, but in a time of crisis, hidden behind the clouds of imperial interests (or those of Tel Aviv). America presumes to know, and presumes to have a say equivalent to those of the millions who have thronged Egypt's squares, streets and television sets (one forgets about the protests of the latter, too tired to get to the square, nursing sick children or adults, a bit fearful, but no less given over to anger at the regime).

The Republicans have their own ghouls, people like James Baker, who are plucked out for tasks that require the greatest delicacy. They are like diplomatic hit-men, who are not sown up by too much belief in the values of democracy and freedom, but to the imperatives of "stability" and Empire. The Democratic bench is lighter now, as the immense bulk of Richard Holbrooke has departed for other diplomatic assignments. He had been given charge of Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he found little traction. The Taliban could not be cowered, and nor would the Pakistani military. Holbrooke had much easier times in the Balkans, where, according to Diana Johnstone, he instigated the conflict by refusing the road of peace. Wisner comes out of the same nest as Holbrooke. He is the Democrat's version of James Baker, but without the pretend gravity of the Texan.

Wisner has a long lineage in the CIA family. His father, Frank Sr., helped overthrow Arbenz of Guatemala (1954) and Mossadeq of Iran (1953), before he was undone in mysterious circumstances in 1965. Frank Jr. is well known around Langley, with a career in the Defense and State Departments along with ambassadorial service in Egypt, the Philippines, and then India. In each of these places Wisner insinuated himself into the social and military branches of the power elite. He became their spokesperson. Wisner and Mubarak became close friends when he was in country (1986-1991), and many credit this friendship (and military aid) with Egypt's support of the US in the 1991 Gulf War. Not once did the US provide a criticism of Egypt's human rights record. As Human Rights Watch put it, the George H. W. Bush regime "refrained from any public expression of concern about human rights violations in Egypt." Instead, military aid increased, and the torture system continued. The moral turpitude (bad guys, aka the Muslim Brotherhood and democracy advocates need to be tortured) and the torture apparatus set up the system for the regime followed by Bush's son, George W. after 911, with the extraordinary rendition programs to these very Egyptian prisons. Wisner might be considered the architect of the framework for this policy.

Wisner remained loyal to Mubarak. In 2005, he celebrated the Egyptian (s)election (Mubarak "won" with 88.6% of the vote). It was a "historic day" he said, and went further, "There were no instances of repression; there wasn't heavy police presence on the streets. The atmosphere was not one of police intimidation." This is quite the opposite of what came out from election observers, human rights organizations and bloggers such as Karee Suleiman and Hossam el-Hamalawy. The Democratic and Republican ghouls came together in the James Baker Institute's working group on the Middle East. Wisner joined the Baker Institute's head Edward Djerejian and others to produce a report in 2003 that offers us a tasty statement, "Achieving security and stability in the Middle East will be made more difficult by the fact that short-term necessities will seem to contradict long-term goals." If the long-term goal is Democracy, then that is all very well because it has to be sacrificed to the short-term, namely support for the kind of Pharonic State embodied by Mubarak. Nothing more is on offer. No wonder that a "Washington Middle East hand" told The Cable, "[Wisner's] the exact wrong person to send. He is an apologist for Mubarak." But this is a wrong view. Wisner is just the exact person to send to protect the short-term, and so only-term, interests of Washington. The long-term has been set aside.

I first wrote about Wisner in 1997 when he joined the board of directors of Enron Corporation. Where Wisner had been, to Manila and New Delhi, Enron followed. As one of his staffers said, "if anybody asked the CIA to help promote US business in India, it was probably Frank." Without the CIA and the muscle of the US government, it is unlikely that the Subic Bay power station deal or the Dabhol deal would have gone to Enron. Here Wisner followed James Baker, who was hired by Enron to help it gain access to the Shuaiba power plant in Kuwait. Nor is he different from Holbrooke, who was in the upper circle of Credit Suisse First Boston, Lehman Brothers, Perseus and the American International Group. They used the full power of the US state to push the private interests of their firms, and then made money for themselves. This is the close nexus of Capital and Empire, and Wisner is the hinge between them.

One wonders at the tenor of the official cables coming from Cairo to Washington. Ambassador Margaret Scobey, a career official, has been once more sidelined. The first time was over rendition. She is known to have opposed the tenor of it, and had spoken on behalf of Ayman Nour and others. This time Obama did an end run around her, sending Wisner. Scobey went to visit El-Baradei. Similar treatment was meted out to Ambassador Anne Patterson in Islamabad. Her brief was narrowed by Holbrooke's appointment. What must these women in senior places think, that when a crisis erupts, they are set-aside for the men of Washington?

Wisner urged Mubarak to concede. It is not enough. More is being asked for. Today, Mubarak's supporters (aka police out of uniform) have come out with bats in hand, ready for a fight. This has probably also been sanctioned in that private meeting. It is what one expects of Empire's bagman.

Vijay Prashad is the George and Martha Kellner Chair of South Asian History and Director of International Studies at Trinity College, Hartford, CT

http://www.counterpunch.org/prashad02022011.html

[D-Mack]

Re: Escalation in Egypt

Vijay Prashad (VP): All revolutions are not identical. The colour revolutions in Eastern Europe had a different tempo. They were also of a different class character. They were also along the grain of US imperialism, even though the people were acting not for US but for their own specific class and national interests. I have in mind the Rose Revolution in Georgia and the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine. Otpor in the Ukraine, among others, was well lubricated by George Soros's Open Society and the US government's National Democratic Institute. Russian money also swept in on both sides of the ledger. These Eastern European revolutions were mainly political battles in regions of the world still unsettled by the traumatic transition from state socialism to predatory capitalism.
The Arab revolt that we now witness is something akin to a "1968" for the Arab World. Sixty per cent of the Arab population is under 30 (70 per cent in Egypt). Their slogans are about dignity and employment. The resource curse brought wealth to a small population of their societies, but little economic development. Social development came to some parts of the Arab world: Tunisia's literacy rate is 75 per cent, Egypt's is just over 70 per cent, Libya almost 90 per cent. The educated lower-middle-class and middle-class youth have not been able to find jobs. The concatenation of humiliations revolts these young people: no job, no respect from an authoritarian state, and then to top it off the general malaise of being a second-class citizen on the world stage - second to the US-Israel and so on - was overwhelming. The chants on the streets are about this combination of dignity, justice and jobs.
http://www.counterpunch.org/ghosh01312011.html

I'm surprised the he mentions Soros and Otpor in past revolutions, but this time fails to mention them.

If one looks at Mohamed El Baradei ‘s dossier he seems quite impressive. He was chased out of Egypt by Mubarak and remained outside for 12 years until his return last week. He was also the head of the IAEA. OK so not much there right? Well doing some deeper research it seems that Mohamed El Baradei has been connected to the CFR (Council On Foreign Relations). In fact the whole notion that a united front of parties including both Western Liberals and the Muslim Brotherhood could somehow work together was already set into motion well before the current crisis. In a book by Bruce Rutherford entitled After Mubarak, the author explain how the Muslim Brotherhood, the judiciary, and the business sector can work in parallel, if not exactly together, to influence Egypt’s political future. CFR associate Steven A. Cook in fact showcased this book in his April 2009 article on CFR’s Foreign Affairs website. This is well before the current crisis.
In Comes El Baradei

Back to Mohamed El Baradei. To connect the dots, the Western press has, since the protests in Egypt began, pushed Mohamed El Baradei as the uniting figure for all of the above mentioned groups. One more dot should connect who this man really is working for: The International Crisis Group. This organization is heavily funded by George Soros, a man experienced in funding revolutions and placing leaders he wants and believes will push for globalization in that country. Well Mohamed El Baradei sits on the International Crisis Group’s Board.
I am all for a new Egypt, but please Egyptians, be careful who you replace Mubarak with. You may just find yourselves answering to to a whole new boss

http://www.mideastnewswire.com/is-el-baradei-an-insider

[touchring]

Re: Escalation in Egypt

Mubarak is a coward for using security forces disguised as civilians.

[oddlots]

Re: Escalation in Egypt

Apparently this is how all "elections" are dealt with under Mubarak and the NDP. Why change now?

Squinting a little bit, it seems obvious that this is simply a mafia-style government and state. Mubarak is as creepy as he looks.

Those are some very heroic people in that square. After watching non-stop for most of the evening I understand their tenacity. They know if they give up their foothold in the public eye they will be hunted down one-by-one by the regime's dogs.

Overwhelmingly sad to watch but it's not over. Enormously admirable people.

[touchring]

Re: Escalation in Egypt

Squinting a little bit, it seems obvious that this is simply a mafia-style government and state. Mubarak is as creepy as he looks.

He is nothing but a feeble old man, anyone who supports him should be worried should he be no longer around.

Not a smart bet by Israel.

[D-Mack]

Re: Escalation in Egypt

Mubarak is a coward for using security forces disguised as civilians.

Remember Canada?

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/...ontebello.html

[touchring]

Re: Escalation in Egypt

Remember Canada?

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/...ontebello.html

This is diffferent, Mubarak is using undercover police to fake supporting and assaulting peaceful protesters. A gazillion miles of difference.

I would expect his purpose is to scare away women and children first before sending in his shock troopers.

If this ends in civil war, you can be sure that Egypt will go the Iranian way. If that happens and the Suez is cut off, Europe will be in trouble.

[D-Mack]

Re: Escalation in Egypt

I don't see a difference...

well anyway, maybe it will work first it was Somalia then Yemen and now Egypt

The Oil chokepoint and other oily affairs
The strategic significance of the region between Yemen and Somalia becomes the point of geopolitical interest. It is the site of Bab el-Mandab, one of what the US Government lists as seven strategic world oil shipping chokepoints. The US Government Energy Information Agency states that "closure of the Bab el-Mandab could keep tankers from the Persian Gulf from reaching the Suez Canal/Sumed pipeline complex, diverting them around the southern tip of Africa. The Strait of Bab el-Mandab is a chokepoint between the horn of Africa and the Middle East, and a strategic link between the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean." [9]
Bab el-Mandab, between Yemen, Djibouti, and Eritrea connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. Oil and other exports from the Persian Gulf must pass through Bab el-Mandab before entering the Suez Canal. In 2006, the Energy Department in Washington reported that an estimated 3.3 million barrels a day of oil flowed through this narrow waterway to Europe, the United States, and Asia. Most oil, or some 2.1 million barrels a day, goes north through the Bab el-Mandab to the Suez/Sumed complex into the Mediterranean.
An excuse for a US or NATO militarization of the waters around Bab el-Mandab would give Washington another major link in its pursuit of control of the seven most critical oil chokepoints around the world, a major part of any future US strategy aimed at denying oil flows to China, the EU or any region or country that opposes US policy. Given that significant flows of Saudi oil pass through Bab el-Mandab, a US military control there would serve to deter the Saudi Kingdom from becoming serious about transacting future oil sales with China or others no longer in dollars, as was recently reported by UK Independent journalist Robert Fisk.
It would also be in a position to threaten China’s oil transport from Port Sudan on the Red Sea just north of Bab el-Mandab, a major lifeline in China’s national energy needs.
In addition to its geopolitical position as a major global oil transit chokepoint, Yemen is reported to hold some of the world’s greatest untapped oil reserves. Yemen’s Masila Basin and Shabwa Basin are reported by international oil companies to contain "world class discoveries."[10] France’s Total and several smaller international oil companies are engaged in developing Yemen’s oil production. Some fifteen years ago I was told in a private meeting with a well-informed Washington insider that Yemen contained "enough undeveloped oil to fill the oil demand of the entire world for the next fifty years." Perhaps there is more to Washington’s recent Yemen concern than a rag-tag al Qaeda whose very existence as a global terror organization has been doubted by seasoned Islamic experts.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.p...786&context=va

[touchring]

Re: Escalation in Egypt

I don't see a difference...

The grass is always greener on the other side.

[bpr]

Re: Escalation in Egypt

Umm... According to US News the Egyptian military has stepped out, allowing for a free-for-all.

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Escalation in Egypt

"Well, first of all, what’s happening is absolutely spectacular. The courage and determination and commitment of the demonstrators is remarkable. And whatever happens, these are moments that won’t be forgotten and are sure to have long-term consequences, as the fact that they overwhelmed the police, took Tahrir Square, are staying there in the face of organized pro-Mubarak mobs, organized by the government to try to either drive them out or to set up a situation in which the army will claim to have to move in to restore order and then to maybe install some kind of military rule, whatever. It’s very hard to predict what’s going to happen. But the events have been truly spectacular. And, of course, it’s all over the Middle East. In Yemen, in Jordan, just about everywhere, there are the major consequences.

The United States, so far, is essentially following the usual playbook. I mean, there have been many times when some favored dictator has lost control or is in danger of losing control. There’s a kind of a standard routine—Marcos, Duvalier, Ceausescu, strongly supported by the United States and Britain, Suharto: keep supporting them as long as possible; then, when it becomes unsustainable—typically, say, if the army shifts sides—switch 180 degrees, claim to have been on the side of the people all along, erase the past, and then make whatever moves are possible to restore the old system under new names. That succeeds or fails depending on the circumstances.

And I presume that’s what’s happening now. They’re waiting to see whether Mubarak can hang on, as it appears he’s intending to do, and as long as he can, say, "Well, we have to support law and order, regular constitutional change," and so on. If he cannot hang on, if the army, say, turns against him, then we’ll see the usual routine played out. Actually, the only leader who has been really forthright and is becoming the most—maybe already is—the most popular figure in the region is the Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan, who’s been very straight and outspoken."

Noam Chomsky