Don't forget adding "plut" as another block to top off the pyramid as the Libertarians and conservatives are leading us to.
Now all those who are so worried about their convenience in the USA should be worried for the idealistic thousands who will be jailed and tortured if Mubarak wins. It will take incredible courage to turn out for another big demo on Friday when Mubaraks thugs will go for broke. The full Tiannemen Square scenario is still possible.
As long as the army is remaining on the sidelines or the Mubarak thugs have tanks the Tiananmen scenario isn't possible. From the latest reports it sounds like the Mubarak thugs are in retreat.
That's what I mean, the camels (and their toes) and horses make it all too obvious that this is not some demonstration crowd. These guys came in with the intention to bust heads. Nobody just show up to a demonstration and brings his camel just in case.
I dont know if it's been answered, but what I heard is that these people were given horses and camels. These are actually the people who work around the pyramids transporting goods and they decided to bring their horses and camels. Obviously, unconfirmed.
Friday is day of rage about day of rage. I think it will be big, but Mubarak won't leave at an expected time IMO. As the Minister of Antiquities said yesterday on Al Jazeera, Mubarak is saying he is staying and he is willing to let Egypt burn down to the ground for that. Part of it is certainly his ego: he doesn't want Egypt to be a success after him, and another part of it IMO is that he is being forced to stay while the Western powers do their scouting reports and draw up strategy as the opposition starts having clearer figures.
I know it isn't really relevant but as an aside, Zahi Hawass is one of the biggest egomaniacs in the world. He gives Phil Jackson and Steve Jobs a run for their money. It will be a massive win for the world if he gets tossed along with Mubarak. I really can not stand the dude injecting himself into everything having to do with Egyptian antiquities.
Off by a day or two......but way to call that one man! My thoughts are with your people! I hope for a peaceful end. Stay strong man!
Damn. Some of the videos showing what is happening over there is crazy. The camel / horse charge into the crowds. <object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/live0000001?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/live0000001?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>
JuanCole.com gets it. ******* Mubarak Defies a Humiliated America, Emulating NetanyahuPosted on 02/03/2011 It should be remembered that Egypt’s elite of multi-millionaires has benefited enormously from its set of corrupt bargains with the US and Israel and from the maintenance of a martial law regime that deflects labor demands and pesky human rights critiques. It is no wonder that to defend his billions and those of his cronies, Hosni Mubarak was perfectly willing to order thousands of his security thugs into the Tahrir Square to beat up and expel the demonstrators, leaving 7 dead and over 800 wounded, 200 of them just on Thursday morning
JuanCole.com gets it. ******* Mubarak Defies a Humiliated America, Emulating NetanyahuPosted on 02/03/2011 It should be remembered that Egypt’s elite of multi-millionaires has benefited enormously from its set of corrupt bargains with the US and Israel and from the maintenance of a martial law regime that deflects labor demands and pesky human rights critiques. It is no wonder that to defend his billions and those of his cronies, Hosni Mubarak was perfectly willing to order thousands of his security thugs into the Tahrir Square to beat up and expel the demonstrators, leaving 7 dead and over 800 wounded, 200 of them just on Thursday morning Tahrir Square 2311 It might seem surprising that Mubarak was so willing to defy the Obama administration’s clear hint that he sould quickly transition out of power. In fact, Mubarak’s slap in the face of President Obama will not be punished and it is nothing new. It shows again American toothlessness and weakness in the Middle East, and will encourage the enemies of the US to treat it with similar disdain. The tail has long wagged the dog in American Middle East policy. The rotten order of the modern Middle East has been based on wily local elites stealing their way to billions while they took all the aid they could from the United States, even as they bit the hand that fed them. First the justification was the putative threat of International Communism (which however actually only managed to gather up for itself the dust of Hadramawt in South Yemen and the mangy goats milling around broken-down Afghan villages). More recently the cover story has been the supposed threat of radical Islam, which is a tiny fringe phenomenon in most of the Middle East that in some large part was sowed by US support for the extremists in the Cold War as a foil to the phantom of International Communism. And then there is the set of myths around Israel, that it is necessary for the well-being of the world’s Jews, that it is an asset to US security, that it is a great ethical enterprise– all of which are patently false. On such altars are the labor activists, youthful idealists, human rights workers, and democracy proponents in Egypt being sacrificed with the silver dagger of filthy lucre. Mubarak is taking his cues for impudence from the far rightwing government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, which began the Middle Eastern custom of humiliating President Barack Obama with impunity
Don't know if posted, but this is an awesome blog post from a guy who's been protesting since day 1, snippet: http://www.sandmonkey.org/2011/02/03/egypt-right-now/ The blogger is absolutely right in that last sentence, this ordeal has given me strong hints about which people I speak to are genuinely interested, rationally concerned and analyzing the situation, versus others that are just interested in shaping this thing to fit into their bigotry toolbox. Obviously, as with all things, I'm not exempt, and nothing is ever black and white. Mubarak's career is based on how succesfully he has marketed himelf to the Egyptian people and to America. Therefore it's in his benefit to silence good alternatives, exaggerate the appearance of Islamic radicalization externally ("either me or them!), and exaggerate the Israeli/"zionist" role internally ("it wasn't me, and I'm the one who can protect you from 'fill in the zionist conspiracy theory'"). This is precisely the situation right now, as evidenced by stories like zionist shark killing tourists and Jews training Egyptian protestors in America, state tv claiming that Hamas/brotherhood are only people in the square, and also him not recognizing El Baradei who is a moderate figure fit to guide a coalition through a transition. He should have gone and enjoyed the rest of his life spending all that money as a free man. Now the protestors appear to have added the condition that he goes on trial.
Are you completely insane now? Are you implying that being concerned about the extremists from the "Muslim Brotherhood" and other fanatical islamists is comparable with the Nazis' anti-semitism and hate against jews? I mean, are you completely off your rocker now? What is wrong with you?
I posit that this will now only end one of two ways: 1) Mubarak crushes dissent. 2) The dissenters throw Mubarak off his balcony. Bear in mind that this path was Mubarak's choice and, obviously, gives him the advantage. A deviously clever tactic - let's hope the resolve of the people is not broken. According to reports from the square that I heard yesterday afternoon on NPR, even after Mubarak's thugs attacked, the feeling is still one of euphoria, i.e., "you can't stop us anymore". Hungry people don't stay hungry for long.
I agree. Friday is make or break IMO. I would be amazed if it lasted another 8 days. But I can see Mubarak continuing thug tactics for weeks.
wtf, so in order to prevent the CHANCE that a new government can (most likely won't) be a threat to Israel, we don't want the current dictator to step down from his position? A ruler who violates his own people's human rights? Who attacks his own people when they are protesting against them? F that. Note: I have not been through this whole thread, so I don't know what has been discussed and what dumb things ATW may have claimed. Just wanted to give my two cents.
