Perhaps Obama and Clinton might take note.

Don’t hold your breath…

Muslems and Christians united for democracy! Maybe we could do that here in the u.s.

Many thanks for your excellent work, Siun.

karen

Al Jazeera reporting one of their team, Ayman Mohyeldin, has been picked up about four hours ago by Egyptian police.

Last thing he was tweeting about was the apparent shooting of an Egyptian boy by Egyptian police. (see @AymanM)

Yesterday, on Democracy Now, it was stated the Army was going to relegate the protesters to the sidewalks and reopen the banks. Has either occurred?

It is really quiet at the Lake today. Where is everybody, worn out from the week in Egypt and prepping for the Superbowl?

Present and accounted for.

Nothing new in the world but more of the same hypocrisy and killing of innocents by the elite and their thugs.

The people of the US will immerse themselves in paying close attention to some silly sports event when they should be paying close attention to what their government and the media is doing, the bankers, the corporations and the police and military are doing.

Pass the beer…

Actions like that speak a hell of a lot louder than promises to reform made by the government. Right now I imagine that government will say just about anything to make the people go home.

Priceless and true: Nicholas Kristoff, from a story published yesterday that refutes the MSM and Republican [is that redundant?] meme that any change in Egyptian government (and impliedly elsewhere across the ME, except where we change the government) would lead to “the rise” of Islamists:

I asked an old friend here in Cairo, a woman with Western tastes that include an occasional glass of whiskey, whether the Muslim Brotherhood might be bad for peace. She thought for a moment and said: “Yes, possibly. But, from my point of view, in America the Republican Party is bad for peace as well.”

I’m glad Mr. Kristof added to the refutation of that hoary myth. It seems a nonsensical fear founded on ignorance, in that followers of Islam form the majority in the ME, which means that in one sense, any government would involve leadership by Islamists. I suppose neocons distinguish between “their” Islamists and those who put the interests of their own country first. It’s an ironic myth, too, in that those who most oppose Islamists coming to power elsewhere are doing their utmost to install radical “Christianists” like members of the C Street cabal here.

Cheney lurvs Mubarak and presumably Suleiman. What a surprise. They probably allowed him to lend a hand whenever he was in the neighborhood.

That is quite upsetting.

I think it’s hilarious how many right wingers are rushing to defend one of Jimmy Carter’s biggest achievements. I think we should point out who brokered the deal between Egypt and Israel and watch their pointy little heads explode.

A chauffeur to a senior British politician, who was hosting a visit by senior Soviet politician in the 1950′s, made the prescient observation that the visitor would likely remain in power because “he knew where all the bodies were buried” (by Joe Stalin).

Mr. Cheney presumably hopes that Mr. Mubarak or his hand-picked successor remains in command in Cairo for a similar reason, and because that person would also know who put them there.

Yep. I’ll bet what Mubarak and Suleiman could say would make even Obama look back, not forward.

Mr. Kristof, as have Juan Cole and others, has repeatedly made clear that today’s Moslem Brotherhood is not a terrorist organization; its present leadership and methods are far removed from what it was decades ago.

It might be fair to say, in comparison, though in a different way, that it is as different from its 1940′s and ’50′s character as is today’s Republican Party. Today’s GOP would call its own platform from that era socialist, fascist or any other sort of -ist it thought would be sufficiently insulting (if also demonstrably ignorant).

I heard the same thing on NPR yesterday. The idea is to marginalize the people in Tahrir Square and offer everybody else the illusion of a return to life as usual and an end to disruption. A pretty good strategy on paper. The question will be, how strong is the will of the Egyptian people? Will the press for an end to Mubarak-ism or give in?

The posture of the USG in supporting a handing over over power to the head of the intelligence service is disgracefull. It would mean certain death for many who supported the revolution.

All the people in the square do not have enough money to buy those 2 nor have they committed enough heinous acts to expect support from them.

Robert Fisks talks of how dictators turn their people into infants. Good read to understand the majority of this country especially the republcians

From the Independent’s Robert Frisk:

When Mubarak goes, terrible truths will be revealed. The world, as they say, waits. But none wait more attentively, more bravely, more fearfully than the young men and women in Tahrir Square. If they are truly on the edge of victory, they are safe. If they are not, there will come the midnight knock on many a door.

Enough to make him look back in anger?

I’d settle for looking back with prosecutions in mind….

To get the name of the boy would be quite important on a day that has been called to honor the martyrs.

Perhaps Tahrir Square should be renamed in honor of the young boy.

The child was/is the image of Egypt’s future hope. His life given for the sake of democracy should become the face of Egypt’s future as a democracy where youth will have a free voice without the fear of harm.

We all thought truths would be revealed when Bush left office. Anything Obama is pushing would probably shut down any revelations.

Torn between two lovers indeed. The spouse that’s been faithful or the mistress who agreed to keep his mouth shut.

Yes. Obama, Clinton and John Kerry are selling out the democracy movement in Egypt, dividing it, and a wave of repression will follow. They are a disgrace.

Nothing would make O look back, but with what is going on with Bush having to cancel his trip to Geneva he should be worried for his future travel plans.

Siun,

Does the Egyptian constitution have any kind of recall written into it?

Regarding our/American (including my own) general ignorance of the Arab world and Arab worldview, Frank Rich at NYT is essential reading today.

And his column helps explain why very few Americans would comprehend why Sulieman = Mr. Rendition (to say nothing of a lot of Americans not even knowing why ‘rendition’ is such a sinister term).

Only slightly OT. The kill switch rears its ugly head again.

Egypt’s five-day shutdown of the Internet has revived debate in the United States over how much authority the president should have over the Web in the event of a crisis.

Since AJ showed the video, they must have a connection to who he was, but they said they did not. Eventually, it will come out.

I’d settle for the entire Bush gang to be exiled to Dubai or Iraq.

Exactly. Neocon hypocricy is astounding. Neocons believe that theocracy is bad for the ME, but good for the US.

Bush cancels visit to Geneva
Organizers say the move was made on security grounds and not because of criminal complaints against him in Swiss courts.

So much for “the world is my oyster” idea for the last administration. By the time Obama is through, I’m sure he’ll get the same treatment.
Mr “Peace Prize”

Shorter Cheney: We need to continue to prop up ME dictators who provide military assistance to the US. Great. Message.

Cheney needs to STFU.

AS IF we believe a word he says….

Do you have a link to the story or a video? I haven’t seen an account of this incident.

Cheney needs to STFU.

Oh yeah. I’m not a huge fan of Obama but is it just me who finds it reprehensible that our intrepid media is always asking either the former administration or the woulda been administration what they would do in any given situation? I don’t remember them running to Clinton, Gore or Kerry during W’s years every time something cropped up. Seems pretty goddamned racist if you ask me. Asking the white folks what they would have done instead.

Ironic that everybody knows the MSM lies and spins facts, but believes 100% every “tweet, twit, tw*t” these same “journalists” spout. When did they all start telling the truth? Was it after they were dropped into an environment where actual proof could never be disclosed? Or was it somehow that the MSM have always been believed and outrage was just fake? Stay tuned for our 11 o’clock “big story” to find out!! LOL.

Indeed. Our PTB love to rail about the evils of Islamic theocratic fascism, while many of the PTB are themselves adherents of Christian theocratic fascism. And while it would be foolish to dismiss concerns about political Islam in Egypt entirely, from what I’ve heard so far, it sounds more likely that the Tea Party could take over the U.S. government than that the Muslim Brotherhood could take over the Egyptian government. And not all of the Brotherhood are Islamic theocratic fascists anyway, any more than all of the Tea Party are Christian theocratic fascists.

Um, are you sure you’re in the right post? Because this piece was about the today’s events in Egypt; the content on which it is based is from the source, not the MSM.

is it just me who finds it reprehensible that our intrepid media is always

Nope, not just you. But Obama opened the door by saying we can’t look back. It would have been nice if the media would have interpreted that as not putting Cheney’s face on TV. I also wish the press would have at least listened to what Clinton said in response to the “torture memos” and Cheney’s name being brought up in the hearings in 2009: “I Don’t Consider Him A Particularly Reliable Source Of Information” Trust what she says or not, it was a good off the cuff smack down in response to Rohrbacker. The smirks alone by his own staff was worth the watch.

Exactly. But as we all know well: IOKIYAR, or: It’s OK if You’re a Radical Christianist Theocratic Fascist (IORIYARCTF). Islamist facists and Christianist facists are completely different, doncha know??? /s

So far so good is what I say. We have a huge filter through which to view vents, and it can be very depressing to realize the inertia in this country when it comes to coverage – that plus the evidence that the failing regime in Egypt is still lashing out at the press, so it has become very dangerous for the folk there. The interview is very interesting in that the spokesperson for the young people mentions the European Union and the United Nations as outside elements they would accept in the discussion. This seems reasonable to me, particularly with the Turkish situation being compared as a model.

What I think is important is that the people on the square be aware of their co-demonstrators, and that the Christians protected the Moslems on Friday, and vice versa on Saturday is a huge element of a potentially powerful democracy. These two peaceful groups have particularly suffered under the American onslaught in the Middle East, and they continue to suffer even in this country. The brouhaha over the New York mosque gives us a black eye in that respect that the Egyptians will be well aware of, let alone our military presence in so many countries.

No, it’s not just you who is totally offended, *especially* when they start quoting Cheney as some go-to fountain of “correct thinking” information. I chucked my “nooz” paper across the room when my eye caught a photo of Cheney with the headline adjuring me that “Mubarak is a friend to the USA.”

Yeah, right: a *friend* to those like Cheney & Obama who pay off Mubarak to do the dirty work for the USA sometimes… and no doubt Cheney is having a few sweaty moments considering what skeletons Mubarak could reveal if the closet door is opened wide enough.

But dutiful Barry Zero will work real hard to keep looking ever forwarder…

Very important article.
Thanks

He keeps “looking forward” and ignores the cliff he’s taking US over…..willfully and with malice aforethought

Agreed. Reform always carries the risk that it might be hijacked – by the right, often, but also by the left. Change is something governments dislike as much as business executives; it makes uncertain the continuance of carefully crafted deals and predictions of profit. But that’s a poor argument that the vast majority of people should act like medieval peasants and submit to the status quo when that may be as or more harmful as change.

Booosh has been well-advised not to leave the USA right now, esp with the current events across the ME. Mind you, I’d love for nothing more than to see W get off the plane in Switzerland and be perp-walked across the tarmac. The spin-meisters here and abroad can tell a fairy tale about why W ain’t heaing off-shore anytime soon, but just bc Barry Zero has been *bought off* to “look forward,” doesn’t mean that others elsewhere will do the same.

And may the same thing occur once POTUS Obama is no longer POTUS, as he is now as culpable as Bush & Cheney, et al.

Completely different. *sneer*

It’s mostly hubris and (tip of the hat to Margaret) the opaque bubble in which they live. Much like dakine’s excellent post about whiny-baby Jamie Dimon boo-hooing about how it’s so “unfair” that the USA serfs aren’t licking his boots enough and have the astounding temerity to be pissed off at the bankers for how they are responsible for crashing the economy… POTUS Obama lives in a similar la-la land where TEAM USA can do whatever the fack we want and serfs worldwide will bow and scrape at our feet. Very much like how Rummy told us all that the Iraqi’s would greet the US troops with rose petals.

These overlords are like Tea Partiers… they don’t live in reality anymore. They’ve drunk their own Kool Aid that says they can get away with anything, and serfs everywhere will thank them for it.

Pride goeth before the fall…. or so they say.

Well conservatives everywhere *believe* that it’s completely different, esp the fundies that attend churches that are part of Doug Coe’s completely evil “Family” of churches… and the Doug Coe’s evil “Fellowship” of “ministers” have *infested* many churches in the USA and elsewhere…. sad to say. The brainwashing runs deep in these congregations, as I can attest from direct personal experience with my family.

Names I have borrowed along the way: Evilgelicals, Fundiegeiicals, “Christian” Taliban. Anytime I use “Christian” though, I like to denote that these people are not Christians in the sense of the philosophy of Christ I know or the example we see in the streets of Egypt today.

It was all over but the weeping and gnashing of teeth when the Fundiegeiical, name I shall not speak, found himself invited onto the inaugural stage.

Bush won’t be exiled anywhere. Obama and the Democrats have protected him and even invited him to the White House.

I doubt that many Egyptians harbor any illusions about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton being forces for democracy in Egypt or anywhere else. The U.S. ruling elite has, of course, wholeheartedly backed the Mubarak crime family for decades. And now they’re behind Omar Suleiman, a Mubarak clone.

The U.S. can be depended upon to do everything in its power to make sure genuine change does not occur in Eygpt. And it’s done a pretty good job of that so far.

With the US pushing the Mr Rendition solution of a Suleiman presidency, and multiple reports of negotiations amongst various parties,

This is supposition, not fact. My reading of what the administration is doing is trying to have a transition from Mubarak to Suleiman to and interim government that sets up quick parliamentary elections that establish a new regime (most likely their preference would be something akin to what exists in Turkey). The fact is, someone with power in Egypt has to tell Mubarak to go. That is either Omar Suleiman or General Tatawi, absence a mutiny in the rank and file of the military. And those “consultations” seem to be going on behind the scenes.

Frank Wisner’s value as an envoy was his closeness to Hosni Mubarak. Yesterday, he went rogue in support of his good buddy. It is very good to know where Wisner stands personally; essentially, he failed in his mission of convincing Mubarak to step down; he might not have even tried. But Obama went through the motions of sending an “old Egypt hand”. The US was behind the curve in responding to what was happening because of folks like Wisner who dominate foreign policy discussions of the Middle East in Washington. Instead of hammering Obama once again, the left needs to be turning its spotlight onto folks like Wisner and Tony Podesta who play the role of distorting the perception the US has of what is really going on in other countries. And who play Congress to restrain the options that the executive has available for dealing with other countries.

The US has not intervened to do anything, except maybe encourage the military to maintain its policy of not suppressing protest. The administration has been so careful about that that there are calls for US intervention to call for Mubarak to step down, which would be about as effective as asking Avigdor Liberman to withdraw Israel from the West Bank settlements.

The situation in Egypt is in the hands of the opposition groups, the rank-and-file military, and the Egyptian people. This is the result of George W. Bush’s gutting of American moral authority, economic prosperity, diplomatic credibility, and military power. We are in a Post-American global environment. Gradually in this situation this reality is dawning on the leaders of the European Community, the President, the Secretary of State, and some members of Congress. It has not yet reached the American media.

We can only watch how this plays out.

But that $1.5 billion in military aid? The only person really concerned about that to the point of modifying behavior is the Egyptian military. And even that leverage is limited. Should the US drop military aid, no doubt China would be quick to backfill it; Tahrir Square is too much like Tiananmen Square 1989 in its implications.

Here is the video of the boy being shot. Start watching about the 2:15 mark. You need a membership to view, but it’s free.

http://eclipptv.com/members/viewVideo.php?video_id=12532

Also, click the “read more” link on the right side of the page for the full full description of the event(s).

Ayman Mohyeldin has been one of the best journalists reporting from Tahrir Square.

It is clear that the Mubarak regime is trying to shut down Al Jazeera, which has had the most continuous coverage of events available outside Egypt. What is striking is that Mohyeldin has been reporting primarily on Al Jazeera/English. Apparently the regime feels that this coverage has been responsible for the international pressure they have been getting. Or wants to shut down coverage before an act of repression of the protesters.

If there is one political priority we should have right now it is supporting US pressure on the regime to allow free flow of information. Obama and Clinton have stated that as a principle; we should demand that they follow up on this. Does anyone have a list of all the journalists in detention?

Here’s a video to a heroine who is still with us…
The Egyptian Woman Who Took on Her Government
Shahira Amin, the anchorwoman who walked out of the state run broadcaster after it refused to cover the protests, tells NDTV she feels liberated. http://www.newslook.com/videos/288626-the-egyptian-woman-who-took-on-her-government?autoplay=true