Posted on 02/02/2011 4:41:13 AM PST by sunmars
Update : battles have started.
There is a tense stand-off in the Egyptian capital's main square, after fights broke out between supporters and opponents of beleaguered President Hosni Mubarak.
Thousands of the president's supporters had surged into Cairo's Tahrir Square, dismantling barricades set up by anti-Mubarak groups.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
I have a feeling that “street activities” here in the US will not involve throwing rocks.
Well the young useful idiots certainly aren’t going to throw their i-pods, cell phones, or Starbucks lattes...
Reuters reporting new statement from Egypt’s Foreign Ministry rejecting US and European calls for immediate political transition in Egypt.
The Egyptian statement says it rejects calls for immediate political transition & views them as aimed to incite internal situation in Egypt.
Yes, i think i can safely say thats Mubarak telling Obama to go stick it.
I have seen this American Thinker / The Story of the Egyptian Revolution article, posted by Clarice Feldman, linked at a couple other blogs..
I'm not sure if it's been mentioned on FR so far or not, but here we go.
In this article she reprints an account from an eyewitness in Egypt, Sam Tandros.
It's a long read, but it certainly depicts a different perspective of events than we are receiving from news outlets.
Here's one (of many) money paragraphs from that article:
Today the Egyptians are scared. They have been given a glimpse of hell and they don't like what they see. Contrary to Al Jazeera's propaganda, the Egyptian masses are not demonstrating anymore. They are protecting their homes and families. The demonstration last night had 5,000 political activists participating and not 150,000 as Al Jazeera insists. At this moment, no one outside of those political activists cares less now if the President will resign or not. They have more important concerns now; security and food.
IOW, if this report is accurate, it's the military vs. professional protestors in Egypt. The Egyptian populace are forming groups to defend their loved ones from lawlessness.
Even with our limited view from here in the states I tend to believe this appraisal. Something about the numbers involved just doesn't add up. There seem to be too few people involved to really be a grassroots uprising. This is too staged (from the left/islamist side) to be genuine. But it is so far having effect.
@edhenrycnn: Robert Gibbs tells me WH is this morning renewing its call for non-violence in #egypt | Oh, good. That’ll work.
What manner of Christians are they, Latins or Maronites or Melkites?
I know how you feel. Too many family and friends support Obama and refuse to see the damage he’s doing to this country. They blindly support him destroying this country, all the while saying the most vile things about those of us who are trying to stop the destruction.
They are throwing concrete blocks, satellite dishes anything off the rooftops onto the people below. This is sadistic.
“I have a feeling that “street activities” here in the US will not involve throwing rocks.”
Nor will we ride in on horses and camels. I wish I would have seen that. I tuned in too late to livestream.
And al-Jazeera will happily be on-hand to report it all.
They are Coptic Orthodox.
From what I can gather from quick looks at the article and comments at other sites, an original protest of c. 5000 was tweeted up to be 150,000. That drew a crowd a few days later of a million and the rest is history. The original 5000 protester non-event disappeared down the memory hole in the process.
From another POV, I looked at a site that studies revolutionary cylcles. They concluded that unlike the Tunisian revolution which started with famished people outside the capital and swept towards the capital (the historical model), the Egyption protests started in Cairo and showed organizational levels in the early that they felt were too high for a spontaneous event.
In that regard, I agree with your assessment.
If anyone wants really biased coverage of the events in Egypt, Press TV from Iran is available in English.
Maintaining a relationship with a friend who's an active Leftist is like maintaining a relationship with a friend who's an active member of the KKK. Yes, he may not personally participate in objectionable activities, but he implicitly supports people who do.
Yep - these Egyptian anti-government protesters are noble, yet flag waving "Teabaggers" here are subject to scorn, derision and threats.
At this point, the only way to prevent an Islamist takeover would be to drown the rebellion in blood, killing the Islamists and radical clerics.
It has my vote. Everyone of those murdering sobs that are killed probably saves at least a thousand innocent lives. The lives of people who want nothing more than to live and let live. To provide for and raise their families. They are like a cancer, they must be amputated from the body[ies] of decent individuals.
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