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Post by onlymark on Apr 20, 2011 12:02:21 GMT
Elections are supposed to be happening in September for the Parliament and November for the President (I think, these things do change and get postponed).
Not far from me is the Mubarak Police Academy where all the officers are all trained - now the sign, made up of great big letters, just says 'Police Academy' and in the other direction is the normal Police college. I still see comings and goings there but nothing out of the ordinary. I'm also not sure whether they will be recruiting much as it does seem that half of the Police are not at work now anyway - a lot of their roles are taken by the Army. I'm not sure if in time they'd recruit and train more, or just set back on all those who don't work now.
If you (collective you) ever came to Egypt you can't not have noticed the amount of Police at every road junction and on nearly every corner. Most of these are not there now. Some are still directing traffic but there are many places I've normally seen one or three, but it is now empty. The result, including the apparent increase in vehicles over the last year or two (due to the level of Government taxes on imported cars/items altering), is more road chaos then ever before. And I get the impression that it is increasing daily. Some routes I've driven to get from one place to another at certain times of day are now chock-a-block.
Most other things are virtually back to normal. There are minor differences (apart from the traffic) but i's more or less 'business as usual'. I get the impression most people are holding their breath and giving the Army a chance - they feel they deserved it after their conduct during the protests.
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Post by onlymark on Apr 20, 2011 13:48:38 GMT
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Post by onlymark on Apr 21, 2011 13:54:23 GMT
The interim Government have made a momentous decision. One that will affect every citizen of the country -
- they've cancelled daylight savings time. We wont be altering the clocks this summer. It was supposed to be done on April 29th.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2011 14:19:12 GMT
If the prayer time calendars are already printed up, not everybody will be pleased.
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Post by Kimby on Apr 28, 2011 6:39:05 GMT
It makes me sad to hear that Egyptians are clamoring for an end to the 1979 treaty with Israel.
When we visited Egypt in 1989, we had people say to us, on hearing that we were American: "I love Jimmy Carter!" Guess the love has faded...
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Post by onlymark on May 24, 2011 13:32:38 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2011 14:57:52 GMT
I see that Cairo is still rumbling...
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2011 20:23:40 GMT
And so it all starts again....
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Post by Deleted on Nov 27, 2011 20:55:03 GMT
Legislative election tomorrow. I am not optimistic.
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Post by Jazz on Dec 21, 2011 3:42:16 GMT
The blue bra woman. Today the women of Egypt took to the streets to protest the violence against this young woman. Women protesting in Egypt. Unusual and courageous of them to do so. We need to support them. This video has probably been seen more in the western world than in Egypt. Most people in Egypt watch state television. The video: Note the dragging of her body in the street, the boots kicking the young woman’s body. The brutality. The government spokesman ‘regrets’ the incident. [youtube]The Blue bra woman. Today the women of Egypt took to the streets to protest the violence again this young woman. The video. Note the boot placement over the young woman’s body. The brutality. [/youtube] also, news.nationalpost.com/2011/12/20/the-girls-of-egypt-rally-after-blue-bra-beating/
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Post by bjd on Dec 21, 2011 8:51:17 GMT
I read that this video has been seen much more abroad than on state-controlled TV in Egypt.
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Post by fumobici on Dec 21, 2011 17:07:57 GMT
That looks only different by degree from many of the scenes from recent American protests where the police exhibit their sociopathy. Of course the American administration condemns such abuses when they occur abroad but remain completely silent or even praise the forces of order when similar acts occur in their own jurisdiction. Every government nurtures and protects its own goon squads, they are always useful when the people step out of line by complaining and examples need to be made.
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Post by onlymark on Dec 21, 2011 17:20:12 GMT
I was a member of a goon squad for three years. Enjoyed every minute of it.
Sociopathy - "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood." Or - "..prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime when in a violent emotional state or situation..." Tarring all Police with that brush does seem somewhat excessive though I do understand when video like this is readily available.
Just curious, are you anti-Police?
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Post by fumobici on Dec 21, 2011 19:20:37 GMT
I was a member of a goon squad for three years. Enjoyed every minute of it. Sociopathy - "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood." Or - "..prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime when in a violent emotional state or situation..." Tarring all Police with that brush does seem somewhat excessive though I do understand when video like this is readily available. Just curious, are you anti-Police? I'm not anti-police per se, I'm not sure how one could really be so categorically given the obvious necessity of having people to see that laws are enforced and reasonable order is maintained in any society. That said, the police here in the US and in many other places enjoy a near impunity from any meaningful consequences when they cross the line and become violent criminals operating under the color of law as in this video. Obviously most police aren't sociopaths who act out directly but it is common for them to protect those that are within their ranks and by tolerating such behavior the culpability for such violent sociopathies extends to all those who protect or tolerate such behavior through silent acquiescence. And that silent tolerance of violent criminality within their ranks is a sadly an altogether too common occurrence. There is a significant protected minority of police in many places who should not only not be allowed to wear the uniform but who should be locked safely away in prison where society will be protected from them. The police seen in videos like these violently beating on unarmed protesters only trying to exercise their political speech rights are among those who in any just society would be segregated from civilized society as violent criminality under the color of law is obviously far more dangerous to society than violent criminality by ordinary civilians.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2011 19:54:39 GMT
I find it quite interesting that the video is presented on the "Russia Today" site. Pot calling the kettle black?
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Post by onlymark on Dec 21, 2011 20:13:26 GMT
I agree and have come across Police who are no more than criminals, either because of corruption or, as in this subject, violence. There is amongst specialist squads the difficulty of being ostracised if you speak out. This also occurs with those engaging in normal police work as well. Blind eyes are turned and it takes a strong person to intervene - I have refused to work with someone who I knew to be violent and let my views be known. But it also needs strong supervisors to back you up and/or act themselves and this is often lacking. There are many reasons why I left that job, one being that I could no longer tolerate the 'us and them' attitude whereby the public were seen as different entities to the Police and often treated accordingly. Though when you often deal day in and day out with the dregs of society and recidivists, it doesn't take long to adjust your perspective as to what the 'public' are. However, despite what might seem similarities, there is a world of difference between what I know, i.e. the UK Police, to be and what I also know, i.e. the Egyptian Police, to be. It's a bit apples and oranges.
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Post by onlymark on Jan 25, 2012 5:34:32 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2012 6:05:32 GMT
When I clicked on "women in parliament," the most obvious thing is that there are not enough seats in that place. The people are crammed in like sardines.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2012 18:17:26 GMT
So, here we are at last at election day in Egypt. Two days actually.
Even if the result is not completely honest, it is another example of courageous and totally "illegal" political protest removing a regime of tyranny.
It will be interesting to see the outcome.
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Post by onlymark on Jun 2, 2012 11:17:00 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 15, 2012 16:24:41 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 19, 2012 21:37:21 GMT
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Post by onlymark on Jun 20, 2012 4:03:33 GMT
The military taking more power for themselves? Somewhat predictable in reality. It is something I expected but not quite in such an open way. I just thought there'd be a lot more prevarication over who has power.
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Post by onlymark on Nov 22, 2012 20:42:04 GMT
Latest news is that the new President, Mohammed Mursi, is asserting his power. He has declared - "All constitutional declarations, laws and decrees made since Mr Mursi assumed power cannot be appealed or cancelled by any individual, or political or governmental body."
Uh-oh.
Also, and possibly worse than not allowing any challenges to his authority is - "The president is authorised to take any measures he sees fit in order to preserve the revolution, to preserve national unity or to safeguard national security."
In other words it seems he is trying to make it so he can make any rules he wants without being challenged and if he is challenged then he can do anything he wants to stop it.
Double uh-oh with bells on.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2012 21:39:43 GMT
Frankly, I think that Egypt has become too turbulent to accept such malarkey.
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Post by onlymark on Nov 23, 2012 14:40:01 GMT
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Post by mossie on Nov 23, 2012 19:39:32 GMT
Yes, it does not look good. It depends on the army now, who don't seem as powerful as they used to be.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2012 6:27:12 GMT
It's really beginning to look like a rerun... And Tunisia is not all that calm either, although it has been in the news less.
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Post by onlymark on Jan 13, 2013 10:55:45 GMT
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