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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 28, 2011 22:17:39 GMT
Mubarak is on live right now, addressing "the masses".
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 28, 2011 22:29:41 GMT
MUBARAK:
I have ordered the government to step down and I will name new government tomorrow.
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Post by lola on Jan 28, 2011 22:33:23 GMT
Amazing situation.
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Post by lola on Jan 28, 2011 22:34:18 GMT
I heard there are dial up numbers being distributed to get around the ISP shutdown.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2011 23:00:25 GMT
The crowds are back in the street, past midnight, chanting "Mubarak must go!"
People would have had to be really stupid to believe Mubarak's line of bullshit. He named all of the members of the government personally, and suddenly they are the ones responsible and not he?
He has just fueled the outrage.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 28, 2011 23:27:21 GMT
Oh, absolutely. I mean the effing arrogance of the man! From the very beginning of the speech, where he smarmily spoke of giving people the right to demonstrate, and on through to his claiming to be aware of the concerns of the people, he demonstrated his autocratic cluelessness and indifference to anything except his own position.
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Post by lola on Jan 28, 2011 23:28:34 GMT
I hope our Cairo Correspondent is keeping his head down.
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Post by lola on Jan 28, 2011 23:30:15 GMT
Oh, never mind. He's monitoring it from a posh hotel somewhere.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 29, 2011 0:04:20 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 29, 2011 7:48:15 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2011 15:27:04 GMT
It has been reported that the Carrefour hypermarket in Maadi has been looted. It is one of the major ex-pat areas of Cairo. Mark made report about Maadi called A short walk along Road 9.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 29, 2011 17:31:28 GMT
Thanks for finding that, Kerouac. As I look at the news, I keep wondering how close the turmoil is to Mark and his family.
However, before we get unnecessarily alarmed, we have to remember that it's the dramatic parts that are being shown on the news.
During 2006, family and friends elsewhere were convinced I was in terrible danger. The reality was that it was entirely possible to avoid all hot spots.
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Post by bjd on Jan 29, 2011 17:47:29 GMT
On Al Jazeera, I just heard that 1) there has been looting at the Egyptian Museum, which had been protected yesterday. I saw video of broken cases and damaged articles 2) People are calling to report that some of the "thugs" on motorcycles that are going into upscale neighbourhoods and looting shops and houses are in plain clothes, but carrying government issue weapons and have ID from the security services. They were the police, now there is no police and nobody to turn to for security.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2011 17:57:38 GMT
Mark has not been living in Maadi, though -- he is in Rehab. Maadi is south of Cairo. Rehab is east of Cairo and farther from the city. However, it is obvious that if the problem starts to be the haves vs. the have nots, Rehab may not be spared.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2011 19:06:58 GMT
Yes, I think the looting can easily reach Rehab too. I read that people are locking up try to keep looters out. And the museum is Cairo has been broken into...
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Post by mich64 on Jan 29, 2011 19:07:50 GMT
Was Mark not leaving this weekend? Gosh I hope so These demonstrations and the media reports definetly helps me to understand how removed Moubarak is from understanding his own countrymen. It seems he believes that the public want the government changed but that does not mean him. His interpretation was to remove the current members and bring in different representation, however, he fails to see that the public is intelligent enough to see that replacing with the same just with different names and faces does not mean change. His arrogance seems that he believes he is a 21st Century Pharoh not a political head of state, but actually royalty, a King. Even to the point that he plans to leave his "reign" to his son. It is disturbing.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2011 19:14:54 GMT
I don't understand why he won't resign. How can he carry on knowing he is such an unpopular and unwanted president? I reckon after 30 years of ruling the country he's had his shot, now he needs to hand matters over to someone else. Who though? That's the question, and will the next one be any better than this one?
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Post by bjd on Jan 29, 2011 19:33:46 GMT
I don't understand why he won't resign.
Power. All these guys are holding on to their thrones because of the power, money, power that comes with it.
In today's paper there was a summary of all the heads of state of the Arab countries -- the two most recent "changes" in power have been the sons of monarchs taking over from their fathers. Qaddafi has been in power since 1968! Most of the others for well over 20 years.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2011 21:00:47 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2011 21:34:54 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2011 21:59:54 GMT
Meanwhile, in Fantasyland.....
Saudi King Abdullah called Mubarak and "was reassured" about the situation in Egypt, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported.
"During the call, the king said, 'Egypt is a country of Arabism and Islam. No Arab and Muslim human being can bear that some infiltrators, in the name of freedom of expression, have infiltrated into the brotherly people of Egypt, to destabilize its security and stability and they have been exploited to spew out their hatred in destruction, intimidation, burning, looting and inciting a malicious sedition,'" the news agency said.
Saudi Arabia "strongly condemns" the protest, it said.
Mubarak added that Egypt will "deter anyone who tries to exploit the freedom of (the) Egyptian people and will not allow anyone to lure those groups or use them to achieve suspicious and strange agendas," the news agency said.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 30, 2011 2:01:56 GMT
I like the way the king tacitly admits that the people of Egypt in fact have hatred. Apparently he does not wish to address that issue. Arrogant bastards, the both of them. ================================================ Along with the rest of you, I am concerned about onlyMark and his family. However, there is no doubt that Mark is prudent and cool-headed. I have been trying to find news items about the El Rehab section where he lives. Both of these articles mention it. They are both from @ 7 hours ago. This one is the one from which Kerouac quoted above: www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/01/chaos-in-cairo.htmlThis one has some sobering news about the sordid depths to which the government is stooping: www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/eyewitnesses-say-state-sponsoring-vandalismDon't underestimate neighborhood watch efforts under these circumstances. Whereas it's hard to condone vigilante justice, it's also hard to dispute that beating up young thugs and tying them to lamp posts for a few hours strongly discouraged them from trying to rob any more old ladies. We went without police for months here, and there was little crime. Every neighborhood had banners out announcing that the residents would not tolerate illegality in their area, and that they were organized. That, plus a couple of the chastening displays such as I described, did the trick.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 30, 2011 5:41:00 GMT
Watching Al Jazeera live right now (11:40 pm, CST) english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/Cairo seems positively peaceful, but all hell has broken loose in Alexandria.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2011 15:32:12 GMT
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jan 30, 2011 16:32:30 GMT
Whatever happens in Egypt I just hope that the Egyptian people are allowed to find their own way without well-meaning intereference from the west. Many of the interviews I've read in the press here make the point that the Egyptian people just want Mubarak out, then they will elect a true representative. In most countries in the west a leader will rarely be in office for more than a few years, I don't understand how a President/Prime Minister can be in power for 30+ years when they aren't providing the population with it's basic needs.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2011 21:17:08 GMT
From the NYT:
CAIRO — The Egyptian uprising, which emerged as a disparate and spontaneous grass-roots movement, began to coalesce Sunday, as the largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, threw its support behind a leading secular opposition figure, Mohamed El Baradei, to negotiate on behalf of the forces seeking the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.
This is a pretty major development.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 30, 2011 21:44:59 GMT
That seems like good news, from what I've read.
Please see #69 above.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2011 21:54:12 GMT
I was thinking more about #47.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 30, 2011 22:02:35 GMT
Point taken, but perhaps he is a good choice as a negotiator if he has the support of disparate segments of the population. Also, a "brand name" negotiator attentive to the voice of the demonstrators could be most effective.
We may be on the verge of witnessing a viable new, benevolent government in Egypt.
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Post by mich64 on Jan 31, 2011 1:47:17 GMT
I was watching televison this morning and there was a tourism commercial to visit Egypt. Certainly not the Egypt we are seeing now.
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