Breaking News & LIVE THREAD- Egypt and Middle East

Various on the internet | 28 January 2011

[SE Mom]

From FOX:

DEVELOPING: Loud explosions and gunfire were heard in the Egyptian capital of Cairo Friday, as protesters demanding the removal of President Hosni Mubarak defied a curfew, Al Jazeera reported. Egyptian television reports the ruling party headquarters in Cairo are on fire.

From TWITTER:

WashingtonPost: Clinton: We urge #Egypt authorities to allow peaceful protest, reverse unprecedented steps it has taken to cut off communications less than 20 seconds ago

[mewzilla]

King Tut museum secured by Egyptian army: TV report

[Chuck54]

If Egypt comes out of this thing with anything even slightly more liberal....

I'm afraid they won't.

And I am stone cold serious about that.

[DoughtyOne]

Heh, heh, heh... how fortuitous. Proper word? Oh well, sounds good. Har.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Here, let me help you back up on that Turnip Truck you just fell off of!

[ColdOne]

W.H. won’t take sides in Egypt

http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/0111/no_call_to_mubarak_685ba76a-4f96-40dc-b38e-bb440170113f.html

[DoughtyOne]

Yep. Sure does...

[NeoCaveman]

White House votes present.

[DoughtyOne]

Yep, true...

[anglian]

“Zionists are in a panic. Zionists and those who want to reassure them are saying that the slogans are not mentioning Israel. Read the slogans on my blog and see for yourselves. Plus, no matter what they chant. can anyone doubt that a new regime in Egypt (whether secular or Islamist) in now way can continue the official embrace of Israeli war crimes and that the siege of Gaza would be first to go. Be afraid, O Zionists. Be very afraid. The future of Israel is very very bleak—and deservedly so. That state would be extinguished, sooner or later, and only then can Jews, Muslims, Christians, and atheists live in peace in the holy land.”
There is a picture of Mubarak being circulated on Facebook: it shows him with a star of David on his forehead. There are others mocking him as well.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/ ON THE OTHER HAND Op-ed: Egypt protesters show poise, diligence
“The voices would not be silenced. As Western leaders sit idly by and say little, or give lip service to their “good dictators” Egyptians stood firm in their defiance of the state of affairs their country has seen deteriorate over the past three decades of Mubarak’s emergency law.

No major opposition group threw its official backing of the protesters. There was no “golden boy” Mohamed ElBaradei spurring on the protesters; the Muslim Brotherhood did not join and other opposition parties were not seen as leading the demonstrators’ charge. This was truly, as any American can understand, a movement by the people for the people.”

(Joseph Mayton is an American journalist based in Cairo, Egypt. He is currently working on a book about the Muslim Brotherhood and is founder/editor of Bikya Masr website)
http://bikyamasr.com/wordpress/?p=24695 ____________________________________________________________Muslim Brotherhood is young at heart - Joseph Mayton - “In many ways, these young people have created a new identity and image of the Brotherhood, both in Egypt and abroad. No longer do knowledgeable people view its members as the stereotypical bearded Islamists. Instead, they see members who talk of their desire for democracy and greater freedoms, not to mention their love for American films.” COMMENT - “The younger generations of the MB have the same goal as the older generations - they are just more sophisticated in their methods and more prepared to pragmaticaly use the language of democracy and human rights.”
Good grief - the Muslim Brotherhood has a newer better hipper image!-— http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/16/muslim-brotherhood-young-egypt

[Smogger]

Like I said earlier the phrase “pouring gasoline on a fire” comes to mind.

Countless protesters would probably be back in their homes playing FarmVille or updating their status right now were the Internet to be restored.

[DoughtyOne]

I hear ya.

[GonzoGOP]

No I'm pointing out that it didn't happen after the 1967 war like you said but after the 1973 war. Between 1967 and 1973 they were still bitter enemies. It was the mutual blood letting of 1973 that convinced Sadat to negotiate a peace treaty. And the Muslim Brotherhood, you know the guys that are taking over now, killed him for it.

[HollyB]

Hey, I predicted that! I’m playin’ the lottery tonight for sure ; )

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2664888/posts?page=539#539

[KC Burke]

Gibbs said concrete reforms must be made.

Shades of April Glaspie -- here it comes.

[Carling]

By not taking a side, the White House already took a side.

Hint - it isn’t Mubarak...

[filbert]

I guess I could rephrase and say “it will be a miracle if Egypt comes out of this with a government even slightly less repressive than the one they already had.”

Is that sufficiently worldly?

Anybody who’s chirping about a “pro-democracy revolution” is the turnip-truck-tipper-offer . . .

Now, it **could** happen. But it would be a Miracle. Literally.

[RinaseaofDs]

I hate to blame the CIA here for anything going on right now in the Obama admin, but I wonder what the CIA has been feeding Obama in the last three weeks with respect to Egypt and Tunisia?

[SE Mom]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110127/ts_nm/us_egypt_protest_elbaradei_4

Remember the little weasel Elbaradei?

[Never on my watch]

Al Jazeera reporting influential people and top business men and have gotten on a private plane and left the country.

Do you think Obama takes all of these vacations as practice for when he flees the country into exile?

[meyer]

White House votes present.

But is, in reality, absent.