Egypt is collapsing!

[BRVoice]

# weddady weddady Mubarak's regime actions show it does not think that the US neither the EU will actively, not rhetorically, challenge it. #Jan25 less than 20 seconds ago via Tweetie for Mac

# Dima Khatib أنا ديمة Dima_Khatib Mubarak to ABC, about yesterday's violence: "I was very unhappy about yesterday. I do not want to see Egyptians fighting each other" #jan25 1 minute ago via web

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Asked about insults, Mubarak tells ABC: "I don't care what people say about me. Right now I care about my country, I care about Egypt." 2 minutes ago via web

# weddady weddady Mubarak's regime actions show it does not think that the US neither the EU will actively, not rhetorically, challenge it. #Jan25 less than 20 seconds ago via Tweetie for Mac

# Dima Khatib أنا ديمة Dima_Khatib Mubarak to ABC, about yesterday's violence: "I was very unhappy about yesterday. I do not want to see Egyptians fighting each other" #jan25 1 minute ago via web

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Asked about insults, Mubarak tells ABC: "I don't care what people say about me. Right now I care about my country, I care about Egypt." 2 minutes ago via web


# Dima Khatib أنا ديمة Dima_Khatib ABC's Amanpour says Gamal Mubarak was there. Mubarak told her it was never his intention to have his son follow him into office. #jan25 1 minute ago via web

# weddady weddady On day 10, after over 400 dead and over 8000 injured, mass arrests today's Mubarak's regime is confident the West will ply. #Jan25 1 minute ago via Tweetie for Mac

# Ali Abunimah avinunu Millions of Egyptians will go to the streets tomorrow. If there's a solidarity demonstration in YOUR country, join it! #jan25 1 minute ago via Twitter for Mac

# Shadi Hamid shadihamid My new piece for USA Today on why Americans should care about Egypt http://usat.ly/giyUQY #jan25 #Egypt 1 minute ago via bitly

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Mubarak to ABC "I never intended to run again. I never intended Gamal to be President after me." http://abcn.ws/hWMX0f 2 minutes ago via web

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Mubarak to ABC "I would never run away, I will die on this soil." http://abcn.ws/hWMX0f 3 minutes ago via web

# weddady weddady Mubarak's regime actions show it does not think that the US neither the EU will actively, not rhetorically, challenge it. #Jan25 3 minutes ago via Tweetie for Mac

[BRVoice]

http://abcnews.go.com/International/...ry?id=12833673


Mubarak: 'If I Resign Today There Will Be Chaos'
In an Exclusive Interview, Egypt's President Says He's Fed Up and Wants to Resign, "But Cannot for Fear of the Country Falling into Chaos."
REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK
By CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR
Feb. 3, 2011

I've just left the presidential palace in Cairo where I sat down for an exclusive 30-minute interview with President Hosni Mubarak.

He told me that he is troubled by the violence we have seen in Tahrir Square over the last few days but that his government is not responsible for it. Instead, he blamed the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned political party here in Egypt.

He said he's fed up with being president and would like to leave office now, but cannot, he says, for fear that the country would sink into chaos.

I asked President Mubarak about the violence that his supporters launched against the anti-government protestors in Liberation Square.

He told me, "I was very unhappy about yesterday. I do not want to see Egyptians fighting each other."

For Complete Coverage of the Crisis in Egypt, Featuring Exclusive Reporting From Christiane Amanpour, Click Here

When I asked him what he thought seeing the people shouting insults about him and wanting him gone, he said, "I don't care what people say about me. Right now I care about my country, I care about Egypt."

I asked how he felt after giving the speech Monday night, saying he would not run for president again, he told me he felt relief.

For now, Mubarak remains in the presidential palace with his family, heavily guarded by armed troops, tanks and barbed wire. We were joined by his son Gamal, who was once widely considered to be his successor. Mubarak told me it was never his intention to have his son follow him into office.

And he pledged his loyalty to Egypt. I would never run away, he said, I will die on this soil. He also defended his legacy, recounting the many years he has spent leading his country.

While he described President Obama as a very good man, he wavered when I asked him if hour felt the U.S. had betrayed him. When I asked him how he responded to the United States' veiled calls for him to step aside sooner rather than later, he said he told President Obama "you don't understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now."

President Mubarak: 'I Will Die on Egyptian Soil'

I asked him how he himself was feeling. He said I am feeling strong. I would never run away. I will die on Egyptian soil.

He told me, "I never intended to run again. I never intended Gamal to be President after me."

Gamal, his son, was sitting in the room with us as he said this.

[BRVoice]

# weddady weddady Mubarak's calculation is that as Obama faltered in supporting protesters in its arch-enemy #Iran, it'd will not dare do so with him #Jan25 7 minutes ago via Tweetie for Mac

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Al Jazeera: Reuters: Draft Congress resolution asks Mubarak to transfer power to temporary coalition government 8 minutes ago via web

# Nic Robertson NicRobertsonCNN Senior judge tells us "What I saw yesterday made not only me.. the rest of the Egyptian perceive him as a traitor" #Egypt #jan25 #Mubarak 8 minutes ago via web

# EACUSAمصريون للتغيير eacusa #jan25 #egypt The honorable police: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHWF7EaAuLc http://fb.me/z66ZV2ux 9 minutes ago via Facebook

# weddady weddady The Mubarak regime seems to feel that the US needs it more than Mubarak needs the US based on weackness of US action #Jan25 9 minutes ago via Tweetie for Mac

# Jan25 Voices Jan25voices Audioboo: From Tahrir, minutes ago. TarekShalaby(.com) "What the global support means to us in Tahrir" http://boo.fm/b269625 9 minutes ago via AudioBoo


# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Al Arabiya: Draft US Senate resolution urges Mubarak transfer power via @AlArabiya_Eng 10 minutes ago via web

# weddady weddady Omar Sleiman's declarations are a direct challenge to the Obama administraton: "We don't care what u think" #Jan25 10 minutes ago via Tweetie for Mac

# Ali Abunimah avinunu CHICAGO: Egypt solidarity demo FRIDAY 4 FEB 5PM E. Illnois & N. Michigan Ave Details: http://t.co/VqgsSg3 #jan25 10 minutes ago via Twitter for Mac

# Nic Robertson NicRobertsonCNN Senior judge calls yesterday's Cairo clashes “massacre� & tells us regime should face war crimes tribunal. #Egypt #jan25 #Mubarak 12 minutes ago via web

# Dima Khatib أنا ديمة Dima_Khatib According to ABC's Amanpour, Mubarak said to Obama:"you don't understand Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now" #jan25 12 minutes ago via web

# Nic Robertson NicRobertsonCNN Senior judge in #Alexandria- former Chief Justice Lower Court--tells us #Mubarak regime panicking, has never seen such demos before #jan25 13 minutes ago via web


# Hossam عمو حسام 3arabawy Yesterday it was interior ministry's police doing the dirty jobs for Mubarak. Today it's the military police http://bit.ly/dQ17e2 #Jan25 1 minute ago via Echofon

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Senator Patrick Leahy: U.S. money “will not go to the Mubarak administration; that’s a pipeline that can easily be turned off.� 2 minutes ago via web

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Senator Patrick Leahy on Mubarak: “If he doesn’t leave, there will not be foreign aid; I mean, it’s as simple as that� http://bit.ly/gjeDW4 3 minutes ago via web

# Hossam عمو حسام 3arabawy New post: #Jan25 Mubarak, you can choose: go out or go out! http://bit.ly/f7bXgq 4 minutes ago via arabawy.org

# arabist arabist The war on journalists http://arb.st/iaPthe 4 minutes ago via twitterfeed


# Nicholas Kristof NickKristof Thanks so much! RT @VanessaBrunner i'm tweeting @NickKristof but cant get enough.this post almost brought me to tears http://nyti.ms/hfKnxm 5 minutes ago via web

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi "The chairman of the panel that controls foreign aid (is) prepared to stop all US financial assistance to Egypt unless Mubarak steps aside" 5 minutes ago via web

# Breaking News BreakingNews Egyptian military police arrest members of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch - BBC http://bbc.in/gsjWCQ 5 minutes ago via breakingnews.com

# EACUSAمصريون للتغيير eacusa rustyrockets Russell Brand by mand0z I stand with the Egyptian people. http://j.mp/StandWithEgypt Please sign. http://fb.me/RY7dKqu0 6 minutes ago via Facebook

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi U.S. Lawmakers & Members of Congress Call for Halting Egypt Aid to Push Mubarak Aside http://bit.ly/gjeDW4 6 minutes ago via web

# Nicholas Kristof NickKristof A request for the Int'l Criminal Court to investigate #Egypt. Could #Mubarak end up at the dock? http://bloom.bg/guHXWo less than a minute ago via bitly

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Al Arabiya: AFP: Seven youth leaders are arrested at Meydan Tahrir (Maybe Omar Suleiman wanted to have an urgent word with them) 1 minute ago via web

# Sharif Kouddous sharifkouddous Tahrir is regaining it's strength. It's getting lively again after yesterday's brutal assault. #Egypt 2 minutes ago via txt

# SultanAlQassemi Al Arabiya: Eleven youth leaders have been arrested by police on their way back from visiting El Baradei 2 minutes ago via web

# SultanAlQassemi Sultan Al Qassemi The chairman of the panel that controls foreign aid (is) prepared to stop all US financial assistance to Egypt unless Mubarak steps aside #Egypt 41 seconds ago Favorite Retweet Reply

# shaistaAziz: Al Arabiya: Eleven youth leaders have been arrested by police on their way back from visiting El Baradei @SultanAlQassemi #jan25 #Egypt
Thursday, February 03, 2011 3:18:27 PM

# sunflower247: RT @AlArabiya_Eng: US intelligence warned Obama of Egypt instability at end of 2010: Reuters http://www.alarabiya.net/en_default.html #Mubarak #Egypt #Jan25
Thursday, February 03, 2011 3:19:37 PM



# SultanAlQassemi Al Arabiya breaking: Obama administration is discussing a proposal with Egyptians regarding Mubarak's immediate exit from power 7 minutes ago via web

# AJELive AJELive For those having problems accessing our live blog site: please be patient. We're sorting things out. #Egypt 10 minutes ago via web

# Breaking News BreakingNews Obama administration discussing plan for Mubarak to quit immediately - NYT 16 minutes ago via breakingnews.com

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Journalist intimidation is working: New York Times: Network Anchors Leave Egypt Amid Crackdown http://nyti.ms/gJQzeu 18 minutes ago via web

# Breaking News BreakingNews U.S. Senate passes resolution calling on #Egypt's Mubarak to begin transfer of power http://wapo.st/epiRQL 20 minutes ago via breakingnews.com


# SultanAlQassemi "Proposal also calls for the transitional govt to invite members from a broad range of opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood" half a minute ago via web

# Hossam عمو حسام 3arabawy New post: #Jan25 Barricades at Tahrir Sq entrance متاريس لحماية الإعتصام http://bit.ly/hm1ejA 3 minutes ago via arabawy.org

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi White House, Egypt Discusses Plan for Mubarak’s Exit http://nyti.ms/fB8b3d (This is a direct link to the NYT piece but you have to register) 4 minutes ago via web

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Breaking: New York Times: U.S. Discusses Plan for Mubarak to Quit: Vice President Omar Suleiman Would Be Interim Leader Under Deal 4 minutes ago via web

# Breaking News BreakingNews Proposal would hand power to transitional government headed by VP Suleiman with support of #Egypt's military - NYT http://nyti.ms/gl07Ff 6 minutes ago via breakingnews.com

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Al Arabiya breaking: Obama administration is discussing a proposal with Egyptians regarding Mubarak's immediate exit from power 7 minutes ago via web

[BRVoice]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/wo...y.html?_r=2&hp


White House, Egypt Discuss Plan for Mubarak’s Exit
By HELENE COOPER and MARK LANDLER
The New York Times
Published: February 3, 2011

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is discussing with Egyptian officials a proposal for President Hosni Mubarak to resign immediately, turning over power to a transitional government headed by Vice President Omar Suleiman with the support of the Egyptian military, administration officials and Arab diplomats said Thursday.

Even though Mr. Mubarak has balked, so far, at leaving now, officials from both governments are continuing talks about a plan in which, Mr. Suleiman, backed by Sami Enan, chief of the Egyptian armed forces, and Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, the Defense Minister, would immediately begin a process of constitutional reform.

The proposal also calls for the transitional government to invite members from a broad range of opposition groups, including the banned Muslim Brotherhood, to begin work to open up the country’s electoral system in an effort to bring about free and fair elections in September, the officials said.

Senior administration officials said that the proposal is one of several options under discussion with high-level Egyptian officials around Mr. Mubarak, though not him directly, in an effort to convince him to step down now.

The officials cautioned that the outcome depended on several factors, not least of all the mood of the protesters on the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities and the dynamics within the Egyptian government. Some officials said there was not yet any indication that either Mr. Suleiman or the military were willing to abandon Mr. Mubarak.

The Egyptian government will be tested again by massive new protests on Friday, which the demonstrators were calling the “day of departure� for Mr. Mubarak, when they plan to march on the presidential palace. The military’s pledge not to fire on the Egyptian people will be tested as well.

The discussions about finding a way out of the crisis in Cairo comes amid new questions about whether American spy agencies, after the collapse of the Tunisian government, adequately warned the White House and top lawmakers about the prospects of an uprising in Egypt.

During a Senate hearing on Thursday, both Democrats and Republicans pressed a senior Central Intelligence Agency official about when the C.I.A. and other agencies notified President Obama of the looming crisis, and whether intelligence officers even monitored social networking sites and internet forums to gauge popular sentiment in Egypt.

“At some point it had to have been obvious that there was going to be a huge demonstration,� said Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who is chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. She said that intelligence agencies never sent a notice to her committee about the growing uprising in Egypt, as is customary for significant global events.

Stephanie O’Sullivan, the C.I.A. official, responded that the agency has been tracking instability in Egypt for some time and had concluded that the government in Cairo was in an “untenable� situation. But, Ms. O’Sullivan, “We didn’t know that the triggering mechanism would be.�

Even as the Obama administration is coalescing around a Mubarak-must-go-now posture in private conversations with Egyptian officials, Mr. Mubarak himself remains determined to say until the elections in September, American and Egyptian officials said. His backers forcibly pushed back on Thursday against what they viewed as American interference in Egypt’s internal affairs.

“What they’re asking cannot be done,� one senior Egyptian official said, citing clauses in the Egyptian constitution that bars the vice president from assuming power. Under the constitution, the speaker of Parliament would succeed the president. “That’s my technical answer. My political answer is they should mind their own business.�

In an interview with Christiane Amanpour of ABC News, Mr. Mubarak said that he was “fed up� with being president but that he could not step down for fear of sowing chaos in the country. Because of the fervor in Egypt, one Obama administration official said, Mr. Mubarak’s close aides expressed concern that they weren’t convinced that Mr. Mubarak’s resignation would satisfy the protesters.

“The worry on Mubarak’s part is that if he says yes to this, there will be more demands,� said Leslie H. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. “And since he’s not dealing with a legal entity, but a mob, how does he know there won’t be more demands tomorrow?�

A number of high-level American officials have reached out to the Egyptians in recent days. While administration officials would not give details of alternative scenarios, they made it clear that their preferred outcome would be Mr. Suleiman as the transitional figure.

Vice President Biden spoke by phone to him on Thursday, the White House said in a statement, urging that “credible, inclusive negotiations begin immediately in order for Egypt to transition to a democratic government that addresses the aspirations of the Egyptian people.�

Mr. Biden’s phone call came after a mission by Mr. Obama’s private emissary, Frank G. Wisner, was abruptly ended when Mr. Mubarak, angry at Mr. Obama’s toughly worded speech Tuesday night, declined to meet with the envoy a second time, official said.

Defense secretary Robert M. Gates has made three calls since the weekend to Egypt’s powerful defense minister, Field Marshal Tantawi, who served on the coalition side in the 1991 Gulf War. Pentagon officials declined on Thursday to describe the specifics of the calls, but indicated that Mr. Gates’ messages were focused on more than urging the Egyptian military to exercise restraint.

“Officials familiar with the dialogue between the administration and Cairo say that American officials have told Egyptian officials that if they support another ‘strong man’ to replace Mr. Mubarak — but without a specific plan and timetable for moving toward democratic elections — the U.S. Congress might react by freezing military assistance. On Thursday, the Senate passed a resolution calling on Mr. Mubarak to begin the transfer of power to an “inclusive, interim caretaker government.�

American officials have pointed to the Anthony H. Cordesman, an expert on the Egyptian military at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that a transition government of Mr. Suleiman and the military, with pledges to move toward democratic elections, was in his mind “the most probable case.� But he said the administration had to proceed with extreme caution.

“Everybody working this issue knows that this is a military extremely sensitive to outside pressure,� he said.

, adding that Even as the administration ratcheted up the pressure on Egypt, it has reaffirmed its support for other Arab allies facing popular unrest. The White House released a statement saying that President Obama called President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen on Wednesday to welcome Mr. Saleh’s recent “reform measures� –the Yemeni President promised not to run again in 2013.

And on Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called King Abdullah of Jordan to say the United States looked forward to working with his new Cabinet—recently announced--and to underline the importance of the relationship between Jordan and the United States.

Philip J. Crowley, the State Department spokesman, declined to say whether Mrs. Clinton had enlisted him in an effort to ease out Mr. Mubarak. But he praised the king for responding to the unrest in Jordan. “He’s doing his best to respond to this growing aspiration,� Mr. Crowley said. “And we appreciate the leadership he’s shown.�


Elisabeth Bumiller, Mark Mazzetti and Thom Shanker contributed reporting.

[BRVoice]

# taherezzat: RT @miawakid: goodnight cruel world.. let's pray for the best for tmrw.. #egypt #jan25
Thursday, February 03, 2011 10:20:34 PM

# ptthunder: WARNING! B4 TH TIANANMEN SQUARE MASSACRE TH CHINESE GOVT 1ST REMOVD ALL NEWS CAMERAS! NO LIV CAMS NOW IN #Tahrir #Egypt #jan25 #departureday
Thursday, February 03, 2011 10:22:12 PM

# amehWahba: RT @SGardinier: Fouad Ajami CNN "Last night we entered the dark phase We saw really naked the cruelty of the regime" #Jan25 #Egypt
Thursday, February 03, 2011 10:24:34 PM

# Nic Robertson NicRobertsonCNN Each time we go out, we really don’t know what’s going to happen, several hairy incidents today with mobs #egypt #mubarak 34 minutes ago via web

# Nic Robertson NicRobertsonCNN Mood changing on street, not just pro-regime thugs but people who’ve heard the VP on state TV blaming foreign media for the upheaval #egypt 34 minutes ago via web

# CommonCentsMom: RT @ghannamm: #Mubarak and his thugs seem to undermine the Egyptian people. #Egypt is not fooled, we are not fooled. Over a Million expected 2mrw. #jan25
Thursday, February 03, 2011 10:33:10 PM

[vector7]

Ghost apocalypse rider caught on video of Cairo riots

Starts at 1:18 of the clip

[BRVoice]

Oh my God!

Are you sure this is not a montage?

[BRVoice]

# Dan Nolan nolanjazeera Sadly i'm catchin plane out of cairo today. Threats to us been a bit too much. Need to spend some time with family & hope to return soon 3 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone

# Jan25 Voices Jan25voices Audioboo: LPC #Tahrir: Moments ago "Our demands have not changed. Mubarak must leave. His speeches have not worked." http://boo.fm/b270034 5 minutes ago via AudioBoo

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Handy Al Jazeera map of Meydan Tahrir in English with army points highlighted #jan25 http://yfrog.com/h84zjlnj 5 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone

# Evan Hill evanchill A friend in the square tells me that if the pro mubarak crowd really cared - if they weren't paid or ordered to come - they'd still be here 7 minutes ago via Seesmic for BlackBerry

# Dima Khatib أنا ديمة Dima_Khatib PEOPLE WANT: REGIME OVERTHROWN.. chanting in several cities of #egypt LEAVE LEAVE WE DON'T WANT YOU #jan25 7 minutes ago via web


# evanchill The head of the armed forces was here today and a rep of the PM early in the morning. It doesn't feel like there will be a fight 6 minutes ago via Seesmic for BlackBerry

# AJELive AJELive Al jazeera Arabic's Cairo office has been stormed by unknown men and the office has been trashed #Egypt #tahrir 6 minutes ago via web

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi I agree with @Ra_ed who said that late tonight (so that Obama is watching) Mubarak will come out & offer to lift the State of Emergency Law 7 minutes ago via web

# Breaking News BreakingNews Amr Moussa, the Arab league chief, is attending the rally in Tahrir Square - Al Jazeera http://bit.ly/eIDZSJ 8 minutes ago via breakingnews.com

# Alan Fisher AlanFisher Al jazeera Arabic's Cairo office has been stormed by unknown men and the office has been trashed #Egypt 8 minutes ago via web

# Sarah El Sirgany Ssirgany RT @RamyRaoof: the internet connection (3g) is very very slow. Its difficult to access the internet from here around Tahrir Square. #Jan25 8 minutes ago via TweetDeck

# Nic Robertson NicRobertsonCNN Large peaceful demo continues, old nationalist songs playing, numbers as big if not bigger than million man march #egypt #jan25 #mubarak less than a minute ago via web

# Evan Hill evanchill Just met 14 year old mohammed who snuck away from home to come here. His dad has told him to stay put until its safe less than a minute ago via Seesmic for BlackBerry

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Mubarakite explains how Al Jazeera's (hacked website) is biased against Egypt http://bit.ly/fyBpTJ (Video Arabic 2 min) via @mustafazayed1 1 minute ago via web

# Dima Khatib أنا ديمة Dima_Khatib Le bureau d'Al Jazeera au Caire a été envahi et on y détruit tout.. DéjÃ* Mubarak avait interdit Al Jazeera et maintenant ça #jan25 1 minute ago via web

# The Daily News Egypt DailyNewsEgypt Al-Jazeera Arabic says its Cairo office "has been stormed by unknown men and the office has been trashed". #jan25 2 minutes ago via web

# Dima Khatib أنا ديمة Dima_Khatib Invadieron oficinas de Al Jazeera en el #Cairo y andan destruyendo todo lo que hay. #jan25 4 minutes ago via web

# Sarah El Sirgany Ssirgany RT @Sandmonkey: The Tahrir crowds are not Muslim Brotherhood, they are from all walks of life. Don't let anyone tell you different. #jan25 4 minutes ago via TweetDeck

# Mona Eltahawy monaeltahawy Intl comm hello? RT @yasminelrifae: Germany freezes arms exports to Egypt over attacks on demonstrators and journalists. #Jan25 4 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone

# Sarah El Sirgany Ssirgany RT @hackneylad: Was detained along with @petersbeaumont by army this morning, then released to vigilante mobs. Only just got back safely 5 minutes ago via TweetDeck

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Al Jazeera: From Al Karama (Dignity) Party: The party's leader's home in Naga Hammadi is surrounded by knife-wielding Baltagiya (thugs) 5 minutes ago via web

# Jan25 Voices Jan25voices Egyptian National TV confirming live : Tahrir is over 1 Million. #Egypt #Tahrir #Jan25 5 minutes ago via web

# Sarah El Sirgany Ssirgany where in salah salem? RT @heba_afahmy: Hundreds of anti mubarak protestors walking through Salah salem str towards Tahrir square 6 minutes ago via TweetDeck

# Jan25voices Audioboo: LPC Talking live with @RamyRaoof about internet access http://boo.fm/b270049 #TahrirEgyptJan25 half a minute ago via AudioBoo

# The Daily News Egypt DailyNewsEgypt DNE reporter says Alexandria pro-democracy protesters about 800,000 now, stretching from beyond Ibrahim Al-Qaed Mosque to Manshiya. #jan25 2 minutes ago via web

# Nic Robertson NicRobertsonCNN Calls on street in Alexandria are for unity, one voice, keep up the demands #egypt #jan25 #mubarak 3 minutes ago via web

# Mona Eltahawy monaeltahawy woman Vblog inspired #Jan25 RT @BBCWorld: Prominent anti-Mubarak activist Asma Mahfouz says received deaththreats from rulingparty members half a minute ago via Twitter for iPhone

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Al Jazeera: More than 500,000 protesters in Mansoura demand Mubarak steps down (120 km/75 miles NE of Cairo. Pop 1.1 million) #Jan25 half a minute ago via web

# Jan25 Voices Jan25voices LPC: "Just left #Tahrir looking for food for a group I am with. Things in Square remain very calm." #Jan25 #Egypt 1 minute ago via web


# Dima Khatib أنا ديمة Dima_Khatib Alexandria: some say over half a million protesters. For sure hundreds of thousands #jan25 #egypt half a minute ago via web

# rmack: RT @abuaardvark: What's happening in #Egypt is a slow motion coup, warns Ellis Goldberg http://bit.ly/hjYYWI #jan25
Friday, February 04, 2011 7:50:53 AM

# heyjude408: RT @lissnup: #Egypt: El Baradei told AJA he met 9 protest leaders last night, all arrested afterward "these are Mubarak's promises" #Jan25
Friday, February 04, 2011 7:52:02 AM

# AaronBBrown: #Press outlets gearing for conflict at #Tahrir Square but peaceful so far #Egypt #Cairo #jan25 @AJEnglish LIVE STREAM http://bit.ly/dKo80J
Friday, February 04, 2011 7:52:29 AM

# aml1609 RT @ToniMG11: #Syria: Protests planned for tomorrow starting at 1 p.m.
half a minute ago via web

# CReimann SYRIAN GOV. HAD BANNED ALL THE INTERNET TODAY IN SYRIA!! PROTESTS IN SYRIA! NOW!!!! #sharek #SyrianRevolution http://on.fb.me/Syrians
half a minute ago via web

# amsterdamized RT @ArabRevolution: OK then. According to BBC: Syria cut off Internet. Thanks @Messrologist @lubnablog
half a minute ago via web


# jan25live Dostor: Aljazeera: around half a million protesters are in #Mansoura #jan25 #egypt 2 minutes ago via jan25live

# lyse doucet bbclysedoucet Trying to go back into Tahrir Sq thru another entrance - man at checkpoint stops us #egypt #jan25 2 minutes ago via ÃœberTwitter

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Al Jazeera: 20,000 protesters in Aswan demand Mubarak steps down #jan25 (900 kilometers /600 miles South of Cairo. Pop. 280,000) 2 minutes ago via web

# DohaFarhat: Jamal Zeidan from Suez: Demonstrations are taking place against Mubarak #Egypt #Jan25 #aljazeera
Friday, February 04, 2011 7:59:11 AM

# Evan Hill evanchill There's at least five layers of protester checkpoints between the first barricade at the museum and the interior half a minute ago via Seesmic for BlackBerry

# lyse doucet bbclysedoucet Queues into Tahrir Sq now longer than bridges #egypt #jan25 http://plixi.com/p/74707323 less than a minute ago via ÃœberTwitter

# Jan 25 Live jan25live Dostor: Red Cross is sending a medical support plane to #egypt to help in #tahrir square #jan25 #egypt 1 minute ago via jan25live

# AbilYasir: RT @Abdulla_AlAthba: protesters in small cities like naga hamadi are being brutally attacked by #mubarak police & thugs #Egypt #Jan25 #Feb4 @bencnn @nolanjazeera
Friday, February 04, 2011 8:00:55 AM

# pcmsma: RT @bbclysedoucet: Queues into Tahrir Sq now longer than bridges #egypt #jan25 http://plixi.com/p/74707323
Friday, February 04, 2011 8:01:24 AM

# Jan 25 Live jan25live RNN: Office of the secretary general of the League of Arab States, Amr Moussa, confirms that he is in #Tahrir square #jan25 #egypt 1 minute ago via jan25live

# Gregg Carlstrom glcarlstrom A much lighter atmosphere in Tahrir Square today, but still tense, and without Tuesday's triumphalism. They think this will be a long slog. half a minute ago via HootSuite

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Al Jazeera: Protest organisers announce that next week will be "Resistance Week" 1 minute ago via web


# The Stream AJEstream #DIY community impressed by " #Cairo Street-Tech." Great photos of improvised helmets and reports of power leaching. http://bit.ly/elugq7 1 minute ago via web

# Gregg Carlstrom glcarlstrom The army has blocked off the Corniche and Qasr al-Nil; inside their barriers, six or seven layers of protesters check IDs and pockets. 2 minutes ago via HootSuite

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi After today's "Friday of Departure" Mubarak 's grip on power enters borrowed time & negative territory. His would be an overdue departure. 2 minutes ago via web

# Gregg Carlstrom glcarlstrom Huge crowd in Tahrir, and growing by the minute. Same diverse makeup as earlier this week, many women, children. #jan25 #egypt 2 minutes ago via HootSuite

# Evan Hill evanchill Just saw a checkpoint chase down and reprimand a boy who had a slingshot. Its not the time for that, they shouted 3 minutes ago via Seesmic for BlackBerry

# Jan 25 Live jan25live Dostor: Fahmy Howeidy: Whoever settled and started negotiating with the government does not represent the egyptian people #jan25 #egypt 1 minute ago via jan25live


# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi CNN India: Egypt: Protestors march towards Mubarak's palace http://bit.ly/fRJ6FP "several thousand protestors started their march.." less than a minute ago via web

# bbclysedoucet More soldiers & armoured vehicles out today on approaches Tahrir Sq #july25 #egypt http://plixi.com/p/74710515 less than 20 seconds ago via ÃœberTwitter

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi NDP Spokesman: Don't you try to make me say bad things about people I know. There are foreign elements that try to destabilise the country half a minute ago via web

# weddady weddady PLS SOMEINE TRANSLATE TO FARSI: To my brothers & sisters in #Iran, What are you waiting for? #Jan25 #Iranelection half a minute ago via Tweetie for Mac

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Al Jazeera: But these are the NDP leaders for ten years. Nothing was done until the youth came to the streets. NDP Spokesman: reform started 1 minute ago via web

# Nic Robertson NicRobertsonCNN Biggest crowds yet in Alex, banner strewn buses at rear of protest snaking through streets, #Mubarak out #egypt #jan25 2 minutes ago via web

# evanchill Rock throwing betw protesters and mub supporters has erupted in talaat harb square 40 meters ahead of me 1 minute ago via Seesmic for BlackBerry

# SultanAlQassemi Al Jazeera: But Omar Suleiman said he will talk with the Muslim Brotherhood, are you calling them destabilsers? NDP: Don't mix things 1 minute ago via web

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi NDP Spokesman Mohammed Ragab: Al Jazeera has lost its respect, you must become neutral in your coverage. 2 minutes ago via web

# Nic Robertson NicRobertsonCNN Mood --almost celebratory but serious, trucks with huge speakers belting out nationalist tunes from Nasser era#Mubarak out #egypt #jan25 3 minutes ago via web

# Sarah El Sirgany Ssirgany from which side and why? RT @Omniaaldesoukie: feels terrible for not be allowed to Ta7rir 3 minutes ago via TweetDeck

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi NDP Spokesman: They want to separate the Christians from the Muslims. These are important reforms that must be undertaken 4 minutes ago via web

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Al Jazeera: Please be calm. Tell me the names of these foreign elements NDP Spokesman: All foreign powers want to attack a strong Egypt 4 minutes ago via web

# Evan Hill evanchill Talaat harb square east of tahrir is chaos now but the barricade itself not under attack, the fighting is in the street 4 minutes ago via Seesmic for BlackBerry


# SultanAlQassemi NDP Spokesperson to Al Jazeera: The NDP has nothing to do with the men on camels. The NDP only works to protect this youth uprising. [Ends] 15 minutes ago via web

# Nic Robertson NicRobertsonCNN Protestors stop where they are in street for prayer kneeling in the road, men and women 15 minutes ago via web

# Nic Robertson NicRobertsonCNN Large and loud crowds marching thru center of Alex, peaceful, calling for ouster of regime, stay united in voice #egypt #jan25 #mubarak 3 minutes ago via web

# Breaking News BreakingNews Economy adds 36,000 jobs in January, below forecast; unemployment rate falls to 9 percent, lowest since April 2009 http://bit.ly/e1VleO 3 minutes ago via breakingnews.com

# Jan25 Voices Jan25voices LPC: ' Media personalities are coming here today. Before they were talking to us via TV, now some are talking to us from #Tahrir #Jan25 4 minutes ago via web

# Jan25 Voices Jan25voices LPC: 'Even my grandmother (old NDP) says she is tired of# NDP statements on TV. Split among many NDP is over leave in 8mo vs now.' #Jan25 6 minutes ago via web

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Al Arabiya: The Egyptian army received orders to protect foreign journalists #Jan25 6 minutes ago via web

# weddady weddady RT @BloggerSeif: @Sandmonkey i came across 3 nuns! #jan25 7 minutes ago via Tweetie for Mac

# Jan25 Voices Jan25voices Aljaz Arabic: showing NDP Spokesperson"The Muslim Brotherhood are trying to infiltrate the demonstrations." #Tahrir #Jan25 8 minutes ago via web

[New Guy]

Ghost apocalypse rider caught on video of Cairo riots

Starts at 1:18 of the clip

looks like the fire reflection to me, kind of like when you point a video camera at the sun and pan away. pretty cool though, plus i guess we don't know how God is planning on showing us the signs from Revelation

[BRVoice]

http://www.financialsense.com/contri...he-hidden-hand


Revolution in Egypt and the Hidden Hand
Submitted by JR Nyquist on Fri, 4 Feb 2011

Egypt is in the grip of revolutionary violence. The longstanding regime of Hosni Mubarak may be overthrown. If this happens, the consequences will be far-reaching. Egypt has the largest population and the strongest military in the Arab world. If a revolutionary Jihadist regime takes power in Egypt, then Saudi Arabia and the Gulf emirates will probably not survive. In that event, the oil-rich Persian Gulf will fall into the hands of radicals who are likely to use oil as a weapon against Europe, Japan and America. Following the pattern of other revolutionary regimes, the radicals will realign their respective countries with Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela.

Some of the most famous terrorists of recent history have been Egyptians. The PLO's longtime terrorist leader, Yasser Arafat, was an Egyptian; and so was 9/11 mastermind and ringleader Mohammed Atta, as well as bin Laden's lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri. We also have testimony from former East Bloc intelligence officials that these Egyptian luminaries worked for Moscow, for the KGB and/or its sister agencies. It is no accident that radical Islam's concern for the oppressed underclass resembles liberation theology, which Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) referred to as a "fundamental threat to the faith of the Church." According to Ratzinger, liberation theology "goes beyond denominational borders: from its own starting point it frequently tries to create a new universality for which the classical church divisions are supposed to have become irrelevant." The same could be said of radical Islam as it seeks to unify the various sects of Islam by focusing popular rage against the Great Satan (America) and the Little Satan (Israel).

The unrest in Egypt should also remind us of something from our own past. In the 1960s student radicals demonstrated in favor of the Vietcong. They were called "antiwar" protestors, but in truth they were supporting terrorism. The impulse of the Left, even now, is the same. As newspapers carried stories about the Irish Republican Army, the Red Brigades, Basque ETA, PKK, Vietcong, ANC, and other Communist-backed movements, student protestors were taking the theme of "liberation" into the streets. President Richard Nixon wanted to know if the antiwar movement was financed or directed from Moscow, and he tasked the CIA to investigate. But the CIA found nothing. Many scholars have taken this as proof that Moscow did not support the antiwar movement during the Vietnam War, though testimony has emerged that contradicts the prevailing view. According to a book titled Through the Eyes of the Enemy, written by Russian GRU defector Col. Stanislav Lunev, Soviet officials had long been funneling money to support "the most aggressive and violent minority leaders" in America. These were activists, according to Lunev, "who could either sway people to the Soviet point of view or cause general turmoil in the United States." Lunev further wrote: "The GRU funded every major antiwar group. Any antiwar activists who claim otherwise are sadly naive." [p. 170] By using a chain of untraceable intermediaries the Soviet Union pumped more than twice as much money into the antiwar movement in the United States than it put into the North Vietnamese military machine and economy. Today, with Russia's involvement in organized crime and drug trafficking, mob violence may be readily whipped up, bought and paid for with laundered cash.

The rise of terrorism, together with the rise of massive street demonstrations, was integral to the Soviet Bloc pattern of accelerating the "national liberation" struggles of the Third World. According to Finnish historian and researcher Antero Leitzinger, by 1968 Moscow had designated Egypt as its principal base for subverting the entire Arab world. Despite the fact that President Anwar Sadat broke with the Soviet Union and wiped out many KGB agents in Egypt, Sadat was nonetheless assassinated and a new subversive movement was developed. The KGB turned to political Islam "as the most promising basis for winning Arab hearts" in Egypt. Meanwhile, the Iranian Revolution served as a guidepost. "Among the closest associates of Khomeini there were many Communists who had conveniently grown beards," noted Leitzinger. "Mustafa Ali Chamran had studied in California and Egypt before he founded a Red Shi'ite secret society. His pupils included later foreign minister Ibrahim Yazdi, oil minister Mohammed Gharazi, and a Lebanese fellow student [at] Berkeley University, Hussein Shaikh al-Islam, who led the occupation of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran."

But aren't the Islamists the enemies of Russia? Didn't they defeat Russia in the Afghan War? Readers should set aside the popular mythology of Soviet defeat in Afghanistan, and take a look at the facts. Afghanistan was a Soviet laboratory for incubating the perfect Manchurian Islamist. The ancient Russian practice of political provocation was here used to great advantage. Throughout much of the Afghan War the Soviets controlled a significant number of Islamic fighters. According to KGB defector Vasili Mitrokhin there were many false flag operations within Afghanistan. In fact, by January 1983 the KGB had trained 86 "false bands" under KGB officer V. Kikot of the 8th Department of Directorate S. Much of the factional fighting between Muslim groups was KGB or GRU-inspired. All this was possible, wrote Leitzinger, because the CIA merely threw money and supplies into Afghanistan without developing a core group of Afghan experts. Thus, Russia was able to manipulate the country's Islamist groups through its agents, preparing Afghanistan as a "base" (al Qaeda) to be used against America in the future.

At this point in our discourse the reader might scratch his head and ask an obvious question: Haven't the Islamists been killing Russians? Haven't they bombed Russian apartments, blown up Russian airline passengers, murdered Russian hostages?

According to former KGB Lt. Col. Konstantin Preobrazhensky, "Americans generally believe that Russia is afraid of Islamic terrorism as much as the U.S.A." Many of us have read about the 1999 apartment bombings in Russia, the fighting in Chechnya, the Nord-Ost theater hostage-taking, the Beslan School massacre, and the recent airport bombing. "But in all these events," says Preobrazhensky, "the participation of the FSB [KGB] ... is also clear. Their involvement in the Moscow blasts has been proven by lawyer Mikhail Trepashkin, a former FSB Colonel." Preobrazhensky might have added that the staged Nord-Ost tragedy was famously exposed as a KGB provocation by the martyred Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaya; and the wholesale KGB fabrication of a Chechen terrorist threat was exposed by KGB defector Alexander Litvinenko (who famously died of radiation poisoning in November 2006).

To Americans, who know almost nothing of real KGB methods, who do not understand the techniques of "provocation" and "false flag" operations, the surface facts of the case appear confusing, or contrary to common sense. Would the Russian special services really organize terrorist attacks on Russian citizens? It is hardly credible! But that is only because Americans are unacquainted with KGB history, with the mass killings of the Stalin regime, and the bloodthirstiness of the "organs" of the Soviet state, long dedicated to terrorism. As former KGB officers have attempted to explain, there is a logical connection between Islamic terrorism and Russia. "The late Alexander Litvinenko ... told me that his former FSB colleagues had trained famous al-Qaeda terrorists Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Juma Namangoniy during the 1980s and 1990s," wrote Preobrazhensky. "Before his death, Juma Namangoniy (Jumabai Hojiyev), a native of Soviet Uzbekistan, was a right-hand man of Osama bin Laden in charge of the Taliban's northern front in Afghanistan."

How did Litvinenko know all this? In 1996, says Preobrazhensky, "Alexander Litvinenko was responsible for securing the secrecy of Al-Zawahiri's arrival in Russia...." In the book Allegations: Selected Works by Alexander Litvinenko we read Litvinenko's own words: "Arabs ... who studied in the Soviet universities or KGB special schools, have always been recruited as KGB agents on [a] massive scale." According to Litvinenko the KGB recruited so many Palestinians at one point that KGB Chariman Yuri Andropov issued a special order to halt further recruitments. It is no wonder, said Litvinenko, that "Hamas leaders still follow an old habit of going to Moscow to bow to their master...."

Preobrazhensky's text also mentions that the ringleader of the 9/11 hijackers, Mohammed Atta, reportedly met with a senior Iraqi intelligence operative in Prague. "But Iraqi intelligence was just a client of Russian intelligence service," wrote Preobrazhensky. There even exists a report from Czech sources (i.e., allegedly from former BIS Captain Vladimir Hucin) that Atta was recruited and trained in Czechoslovakia prior to the fall of Communism. Atta's subsequent trips to Prague, in advance of 9/11, should have been more thoroughly investigated by the FBI and CIA, especially when we realize Moscow's role as an ongoing organizer of terrorism and the power of the old Communist mafia in former Soviet Bloc countries. Unfortunately, most of the "trusted" Czech contacts used by U.S. officials and journalists are likely agents of hidden Communist-era structures which continue to monopolize key positions in government and the economy.

During the Cold War the KGB did not succeed because of operational efficiency or perfection; rather, "agents of influence" always provided cover in the form of pre-baked interpretations and clever "insights" used to dissuade Western analysts from accepting certain facts, or believing key witnesses (including defectors). By providing a constant stream of useful information on matters of relative insignificance, East Bloc agents have long been positioned to override true information in favor of false information. Since there are more paid agents whispering lies than unpaid individuals with important truths, the lies seem to prevail and get reported in newspapers or intelligence reports. The truth languishes, unsupported by big money or big media.

The events in Egypt are part of a pattern, and they are part of a sequence. As the Russian exile Pavel Stroilov told Jamie Glazov of FrontpageMag.com in January of 2008, "These and other facts of FSB involvement in international terrorism ... have tremendous implications. Contrary to the view of many in the U.S., Russia is anything but a reliable ally of yours in the 'war on terror.' The Kremlin is playing a treacherous double game: while enjoying the West's support as an ally, it secretly supports and manipulates al Qaeda through FSB agents of influence."

This situation is no different in Egypt. The crowds calling for Mubarak's resignation are being manipulated by unseen agents of influence. To what end? The answer is not far to find. The Great Game has been going on for many decades. It is still being played, even now.

[BRVoice]

http://www.debka.com/article/20631/


Hizballah team breaks 22 members out of Egyptian jail
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 4, 2011, 12:32 PM (GMT+02:00)

A joint Hizballah-Hamas unit used the havoc in Egypt to storm the Wadi Natrun prison north of Cairo Sunday, Jan. 30, and break out 22 members of the Hizballah's spy-cum-terror network, tried and convicted in Egypt for plotting terrorist attacks in Cairo, the Suez Canal and Suez cities and on Israeli vacationers in Sinai in 2007-2008. This is reported by debkafile's counter-terror sources.

The second object of the break-in was to release Muslim Brotherhood inmates to boost the anti-Mubarak street protests now in their second week across Egypt.

In April 2009, Hizballah's leader Hassan Nasrallah admitted he had sent Sami Shehab to Egypt to establish the network. It soon became one of the most dangerous terrorist cells ever to be exposed in the region in recent years. Among its members were also combatants of the radical Palestinian Hamas.

Thursday, Feb. 3, Mahmoud Qmati, Hizballah member of the Lebanese parliament, was glad to announce that all 22 members of the network, including its leader Sami Shehab, had been freed from jail and returned home safely. He provided no information on how this happened.

debkafile rounds out the picture.

The unit assigned by Nasrallah for the jail-break consisted of 25 trained Hizballah and Hamas gunmen. When the riots erupted in Egypt, they started making their way from Gaza to Egypt via smuggling tunnels. On the way, they picked up weapons and explosives in El Arish, northern Sinai, under cover of an onslaught armed Palestinians and Bedouin had launched against Egyptian security forces - partly for this purpose.

The break-out team was met at the Suez Canal by Muslim Brotherhood activists who ferried them across to Ismailia on the western bank by Egyptian smuggling boats. From there, they were driven to the Wadi Natrun prison, one of the largest in Egypt, to be briefed outside by former MB inmates on the guard and security arrangements in the jail and the locations of the cells holding the Hizballah, Hamas and Brotherhood convicts.

After days of surveillance, the team struck.

Explosives and missile-launched grenades flattened the outer gates killing at least 30 Egyptian prison guards who tried to fight them off. Small explosive devices were used to smash internal gates and clear the way to the cells. To expedite the escape of a large number of prisoners, they also blew big holes in the prison's outer walls.

Outside, they were collected by a large convoy of trucks and buses brought in by the Muslim Brotherhood which distributed its freed members around the disturbance hubs in Cairo.

A smaller convoy of minivans carrying the 22 Hizballah and Hamas convicts and their liberators made its way by various routes past Egyptian security forces, who were fully engaged with the protest riots, to Sinai and onto the Gaza Strip. As soon as the escape was discovered, Egyptian forces in Sinai and Israeli forces on the Egyptian border deployed in an effort to stop them entering Gaza, but were too late.

This audacious Hizballah-Hamas attack on the Egyptian prison was the first major quasi-military operation they had ever carried out deep inside Egypt.

[BRVoice]

# Hossam عمو حسام 3arabawy New post: 1/2/2011 Tahrir Square ميدان التحرير #Jan25 http://bit.ly/gOJ6JN less than 20 seconds ago via arabawy.org

# Breaking News BreakingNews U.S. Postal Service suspends mail to Egypt - washingtonpost.com http://wapo.st/iebGnx 2 minutes ago via breakingnews.com

# Ali Abunimah avinunu Palestine: Settlers kill 2 Palestinian teens, Israeli soldiers attack funeral http://t.co/6WKlVVO 6 minutes ago via Twitter for Mac

# Hossam عمو حسام 3arabawy New post: Mubarak family fortune could reach $70bn, say experts http://bit.ly/giLCiN 7 minutes ago via arabawy.org

# Breaking News BreakingNews Houston saw 750 wrecks due to icy roads by late morning - Houston Chronicle http://bit.ly/eRoYra 8 minutes ago via breakingnews.com

# Mona Eltahawy monaeltahawy RT @CornelWest: My tears flow in deep solidarity with you in the face of the U.S.backed tyranny in #Egypt. #Jan25 13 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone

# Mona Eltahawy monaeltahawy RT @CornelWest: My deep #love goes out to my precious and priceless Egyptian brothers and sisters. #Jan25 14 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone

# Dima Khatib أنا ديمة Dima_Khatib #sidibouzid RT@AymenLamine no, pple here r less nervous & stressed, joking on zaba they know the worst is behind & things will be better 16 minutes ago via web

# Jan25 Voices Jan25voices Audioboo: Audio: Egyptian woman discusses ‘infiltrators’. Her source for this knowledge is State TV coverage o... http://boo.fm/b270611 20 minutes ago via AudioBoo

# weddady weddady RT @Sarahcarr: RT @3awadalla: He also said that an iranian was caught at checkpoint with 2 human heads!! #tahrir #jan25 22 minutes ago via Tweetie for Mac

# weddady weddady RT @Sarahcarr: RT @3awadalla Man from checkpoint says that US, Israel, Iran, Hamas, & all world powers r sponsoring #tahrir protests! #jan25 22 minutes ago via Tweetie for Mac

# Hossam عمو حسام 3arabawy New post: #Jan25 Matthew @justimage http://bit.ly/g5m8yM 25 minutes ago via arabawy.org

# weddady weddady #FF For more info about Ali #Abdulemam, #Bahrain blogger in prison http://bit.ly/b2MbtA 25 minutes ago via Tweetie for Mac

[BRVoice]

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=206840


Obama: Political transition in Egypt must begin now
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
02/04/2011 23:05
The Jerusalem Post

WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama on Friday repeated his demand for a political transition to begin in Egypt now.

Obama said that discussions have begun in Egypt on a turnover of the government, and he said he hoped "to see this moment of turmoil turned into a moment of opportunity."

"The whole world is watching," Obama said after meeting at the White House with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Obama said he was encouraged with the restraint showed Friday and repeated his insistence that the US opposes the use of violence either by the government or the protesters.

"This is obviously still a fluid situation, and we're monitoring it closely," Obama said.

He said the US wants to send a "strong and clear message" that attacks on journalists, human rights activists and peaceful protesters "are unacceptable."

He did not directly blame the Mubarak government for the attacks but said the Egyptian government is responsible for protecting its people.

Obama did not insist that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak leave immediately. But he talked about "a transition period that begins now."

Click here for full Jpost coverage of unrest in Egypt

He said the process must "lead to free and fair elections" but that "details of this transition will be worked by Egyptians."

Pressed on whether Mubarak should leave office immediately, Obama appealed to the longtime Egyptian leader to consider the greater good of Egypt and take steps now to push the country toward democratic reform — but stopped short of saying he should resign at once.

"He is proud, but he's also a patriot," Obama said.

He suggested that mere gestures toward the opposition were not enough.

"Going back to the old ways is not going to work," Obama said, meaning violence, oppression and limits on communication.

Obama said the new government should be "responsible to the grievances of the Egyptian people."

"The only thing that will work is an orderly transition process that begins right now" and leads to free and fair elections, he said.

Obama said Mubarak should be thinking about "how do I leave a legacy behind" that helps Egypt move through this difficult period in an orderly fashion.

Obama said that since Mubarak announced he would not run for re-election, "the key question he should be asking himself is how do I leave a legacy behind in which Egypt is able to get through this transformative period, and my hope is he will end up making the right decision."

[BRVoice]

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=206843


Egyptian journalist dies of gunshot wounds
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
02/05/2011 00:03

CAIRO — An Egyptian reporter who was shot during clashes a week ago died of his wounds Friday, his employer said, in the first reported death of a journalist in the chaos surrounding Egypt's anti-government protests.

Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud, 36, was taking photographs of fighting between protesters and security forces from the balcony of his home when he was shot Jan. 28, state-run newspaper Al-Ahram said on its website.

Mahmoud worked for Al-Taawun, a newspaper put out by the Al-Ahram publishing house. He lived near central Tahrir Square, the focal point of protest rallies as well as clashes this week between large crowds of supporters and opponents of President Hosni Mubarak.

The United Nations described brazen assaults on reporters that occurred during this week's violence as an attempt to stifle coverage of anti-government protests. President Barack Obama said attacks on reporters, human rights workers and peaceful protesters in Egypt were "unacceptable."

The Egyptian government said reports of "an official policy against international media" were false, and that violence against journalists was unacceptable.

"International media have been, and are always, welcome in Egypt," said the state-run Cairo Press Center, which oversees media accreditation. It said more than 1,000 international journalists were in the country.

"Regrettably, international journalists have been endangered by the same conditions that have threatened all Egyptians in areas of the country where there have been major disturbances and a breakdown of security," the center said.

It said the Ministry of Information had worked with authorities to speed the release of those journalists who were detained.

The White House said it was working with the US Embassy in Cairo on getting American journalists who have been beaten or detained out of Egypt.

Press secretary Robert Gibbs said the US government continues to receive disturbing reports about what he called a "very systematic targeting of journalists."

On Friday, two correspondents for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty who had just flown into Cairo were detained, the organization said. It said one of the correspondents who was able to speak to another colleague reported that he believed they were being held in a police station.

A Swedish TV reporter, Bert Sundstrom of public broadcaster SVT, was in serious condition at a Cairo hospital after being stabbed in the back on Thursday.

CBS News said correspondent Lara Logan and cameramen Don Lee and Max McClellan were released after being held for a day by the Egyptian military, and were headed back to the United States.

In Geneva, the UN's high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, called the detentions of journalists "a blatant attempt" to stifle news coverage.

"One of the prime drivers of this chaos seems to have been the actions of Egypt's security and intelligence services," she said.

French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie condemned attacks on French media in Cairo and said she was "especially worried about the fate of three French journalists and a researcher about whom French authorities have no news."

[BRVoice]

http://once-upon-a-time-in-the-west.blogspot.com/


Thursday, February 03, 2011

Africa/Middle East Files: Anti-, pro-Mubarak forces clash, Obama concedes Muslim Brotherhood’s role in “new Egypt,� Syrian branch threatens uprising

- Yevgeny Primakov, Russia’s Foremost Arabist and Ex-Boss of KGB/SVR, Reflects on Egyptian Turmoil, Cautions “Social Revolutions Not A Thing of the Past�

- Israel Faces Strategic Disaster as USA’s Crypto-Muslim President Prepares to Hand Egypt over to Islamic Extremists

- 5,000 Criminals Escape in Massive Prison Breaks Last Weekend, Hamas and Hezbollah Terrorists among Escapees

- Tunisia’s Interim Interior Minister Accuses Security Services of Fomenting New Unrest to Thwart Transition to Democracy

- Jordan’s King Abdullah II Capitulates to Muslim Brotherhood and Leftists, Fires Prime Minister, Implements Reforms

- President Assad Alleges Country “Immune� to Unrest, Next Day Syrian Branch of Muslim Brotherhood Promises Civil Disobedience

- Algerian Opposition Plans More Anti-Government Rallies, Demands Ouster of National Liberation Front President Bouteflika

Pictured above: Backdropped by the Egyptian Museum, Cairo's Tahrir Square on February 3. Note the rows of many devout Muslims praying.

Over the past 10 days, more than 300 Egyptians have been killed in fighting between anti-government protesters and security forces and also between pro- and anti-government forces. In the midst of President Hosni Mubarak’s attempts to cling to power, the Muslim Brotherhood’s role in the future of Egypt has entered the international media spotlight.

On Wednesday, thousands of supporters and opponents of Mubarak clashed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, which is near the headquarters of the long-ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). Mounted on horses and camels, some wielding whips, pro-Mubarak militants stormed barricades set up by oppositionists. The next day, army tanks and soldiers finally cleared away pro-government rioters and positioned themselves between the attackers and protesters seeking Mubarak’s ouster. The clash followed a call by the army for protesters to return home, prompting the latter to accuse state security of employing thugs to break up the barricades.

The new head of government promptly made an unprecedented apology for the assault by regime backers. Appointed this past weekend, Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, in an unprecedented official apology, acknowledged that the assault on the anti-Mubarak protesters was likely organized and promised to investigate who was behind it. Shafiq is a former air force commander and lately president of Egypt Air. Observing the political turmoil from Washington, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs admonished: “If any of the violence is instigated by the government, it should stop immediately.�

On Wednesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, chief architect of the new Union for the Mediterranean, urged a speedy political transition “to respond to the desire for change and renewal forcefully expressed by the population.� Sarkozy has come under criticism for appearing to support the regime of Tunisian dictator President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, toppled in mass protests last month.

Internet service was restored throughout Egypt, having been cut off for days by the government. State television reported an easing of a nationwide curfew and declared that parliament was suspended until the results of last year's contested elections were revised.

Adding uncertainty to the political turmoil were several prison breaks that occurred over the weekend, as a result of some police officers abandoning their posts. Last Sunday, a total of 5,000 inmates escaped from a penitentiary in Faiyum Governorate, located about 130 kilometers southwest of Cairo. A top prison official holding the rank of general was killed in the incident. Among the escapees in Faiyum were members of Egypt’s banned Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, the political party/terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip.

On the same day, at the Wadi Natrun prison north of Cairo, incarcerated members of Hezbollah fled after guards abandoned their posts. In April 2010, a Cairo court sentenced 26 people, including members of the Lebanese political party/militia, in connection with a plot to carry out terrorist attacks against the Suez Canal and resorts on the Sinai Peninsula. Four were sentenced in absentia.

This week, the Muslim Brotherhood reiterated its demands for the president’s departure and the end of the Socialist International-affiliated NDP regime. On the organization’s website the Brotherhood urged Egyptians to resist pro-government militants and “stand in one trench against the ruling autocratic regime.� On Tuesday, Mubarak vowed to complete his present term, which expires in September, but promised that he would not stand for re-election. Despite opposition demands, the Egyptian dictator refuses to leave the country.

On Thursday, Kremlin-run Novosti reported that “Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood movement has unveiled its plans to scrap a peace treaty with Israel if it comes to power, a deputy leader said in the interview with NHK TV.� Speaking to the Japanese media, Rashad al-Bayoumi announced: “After President Mubarak steps down and a provisional government is formed, there is a need to dissolve the peace treaty with Israel.� Egypt was the first Arab country to officially recognize Israel and sign a peace agreement with the Israeli government in 1979.

Since January 25, the Muslim Brotherhood has participated in the mass anti-government rallies in Cairo, Alexandria, and other cities, prompting some political analysts to speculate about the Islamist organization’s role in a post-Mubarak government. The Brotherhood has in fact publicly declared its intention to join pro-Iranian opposition leader Mohamed El Baradei in a government of national unity following the next presidential election, slated for September.

This week, various news agencies diligently ferreted out the US government’s real stance regarding Egypt’s expected transition to democracy. Not surprisingly, the administration of crypto-Muslim US President Barack Hussein Obama is prepared to hand Egypt over to radical Islamic and pro-Iranian forces. According to the Israeli media, citing The New York Times, “Obama believes that the Muslim Brotherhood should participate in the political process in Egypt.� Online business magazine Globes, noting the White House’s disappointment with Mubarak’s decision to postpone his departure until September, continues:

The option to approach the Muslim Brotherhood came during a meeting of over a dozen foreign policy experts at the White House on Monday [January 31]. The meeting, led by deputy national security adviser for strategic communications Benjamin Rhodes, and two other National Security Council officials, Daniel Shapiro and Samantha Power, examined unrest in the region, and the potential for the protests to spread.

The New York Times quotes participants as saying that White House staff members said that Mr. Obama believed that Egyptian politics needed to encompass 'non-secular' parties: diplomatic-speak for the Muslim Brotherhood.

In keeping with Obama’s position, the US State Department has acknowledged that the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest and best-organized opposition party, may play a role in Egypt’s transition from autocracy if the group agrees to a peaceful, democratic process. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley denied that US officials in Cairo or Washington have spoken to Brotherhood representatives. However, he conceded that the Brotherhood is “a fact of life in Egypt.� The Brotherhood won 88 seats in the 2005 parliamentary elections, but lost every one in last year’s poll, partly provoking the current unrest.

An anonymous official at the US embassy in Egypt acknowledged that Ambassador Margaret Scobey had spoken to a “large number of people,� including former United Nations nuclear watchdog chief El Baradei. “Embassy has been in touched with a large number of people, but I don’t know all the names for sure. However, Muslim Brotherhood—no.�

Located at the intersection of the Asian and African continents, Egypt is a key ally of the USA and Israel. Until 1991 Egypt was armed principally by the Soviet Union. Since the so-called demise of communism, however, the Mubarak regime has turned to the USA for $1 billion in military aid each year. Cairo has used these funds to buy tanks, F-16 fighter jets, Patriot anti-aircraft missiles, and other weapons systems. Foreign policy analysts warn that “US military and intelligence agencies would lose vital air, land and sea assets if Egypt falls into the hands of radical Islamists, as Iran did in 1979.�

Ken Allard, a retired US Army colonel and military analyst, predicts: “Let me count the ways. They are our biggest strategic partner in the Middle East. At that point, you’ve lost your biggest Arab partner. Geostrategically, the mind boggles.� The US Navy would not be able to navigate the Egyptian-run Suez Canal, which reduces sailing time for Atlantic-based carriers groups going from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. The US Air Force would probably lose overflight rights into the Middle East, while the US Army would lose a partner in building the M1A1 tank.

“If we lose Egypt to the Brotherhood, it is absolutely devastating,� fretted former US Representative Peter Hoekstra, who led the House Select Committee on Intelligence. “The Egyptians are a key stabilizing force for us throughout the Middle East.� During a 2009 visit to Cairo, US Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates stated: “Our military has benefited from the interactions with the Egyptian armed forces—one of the most professional and capable in the region. We are always looking for ways to expand these ties through education, training and exercises.�

The Obama White House has been courting the Muslim Brotherhood for some time. In January 2010, Washington lifted a ban preventing Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan from entering the USA. Ramadan, an Egyptian then living in Switzerland, is a leading member of Europe’s Muslim Brotherhood branch and the grandson of the movement’s founder Hassan al-Banna.

Russia has waded cautiously into Egypt’s political turmoil, but nevertheless directed subtle warnings toward the USA and Israel not to interfere in the country’s domestic crisis. On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov emphasized that Egypt remains Russia’s strategic partner, minimizing Mubarak’s alliance with the USA:

Egypt is our strategic partner and a key country in the Middle East region. That it why we are not indifferent to what is happening there and are interested in Egypt being a stable, prosperous and democratic state and want today's socio-economic and political problems to be peacefully solved as soon as possible.

We do not consider it useful to produce any recipes from outside or deliver ultimatums - it is political forces in Egypt who should speak out.

On Tuesday, the aging Yevgeny Primakov, a trained Arabist who was formerly head of the Soviet KGB but currently presides over the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce, noted the absence of overt Islamic slogans in the Egyptian protests. However, he asserted that it is erroneous to believe that social revolutions are “a thing of the past.� Primakov’s full comments were published in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily:

We have concentrated in our analysis quite fairly on radical Islamism, which has been gaining strength in the Muslim world, and we have somewhat overlooked “traditional� roots of social revolutionary explosions. Generally, we have erroneously assumed that revolutions, which sweep away conservative and authoritarian regimes, are a thing of the past, including in developing countries. The situation in Tunisia and Egypt show that we are wrong.

Having focused on the dangers of extremist Islamism, we have underestimated the influence of modernization, primarily on advanced Muslim states, in terms of their socio-cultural development. Spontaneity backed by chatting on the Internet and via mobile phones played a role in the revolutionary movement that shook Tunisia and then Egypt.

There were no Islamic slogans in demonstrations in Egypt and Tunisia, even through the Muslim Brotherhood has rather strong positions in Egypt.

It is a sign of serious importance. But it gives no guarantee that the Islamists will not try to ride the revolutionary wave. The Muslim Brotherhood did so during the revolutionary events in Egypt in 1952-1953.

Whatever concessions it makes to faux rightist conspiracy theories, the New American exposes the role of the Communist Party of Egypt in the present revolutionary convulsions by quoting the party website:

Hundreds of patriotic and democratic forces and cadres of our Party in the Cairo district of Abidin and in other places in the capital as well as other demonstrations in Port Said and Alexandria against the inheritance of power to Gamal Mubarak, or an extension for Hosni Mubarak…

Our party has participated in the demonstration raising banners of the Communist Party Banners to fly the red in the field of Abdeen and confirm the position of the Communist Party of rejection of this system.

Elsewhere in the Arab world, the Syrian chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood is threatening civil disobedience against the socialist dictatorship of President Bashar al-Assad. On Tuesday, Syrian Muslim Brotherhood leader, Riyadh Al Saqfa, warned the Ba’athist regime to “learn from what happened in Tunisia.� He rumbled: “If the [Syrian] reimge continues to ignore the views of the people and corruption and discrimination continues, we will incite the people to demand their rights until this reaches the point of civil disobedience. A statement released by the organization demanded that the Ba’athist party remove Article VIII of the constitution, which enshrines single-party rule, and terminate all emergency and martial laws, release all political prisoners, and ameliorate the country’s poverty.

This ultimatum from the Syrian section of the Muslim Brotherhood comes one day after Assad proudly declared in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that his country is “immune� to the unrest gripping the Arab world.

In Jordan this week, King Abdullah II capitulated to demands from the Islamic Action Front, the national branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, and leftist parties to dismiss the government and implement political reforms. In Algeria, oppositionists plan a large anti-government demonstration for February 12 with the intent of ousting National Liberation Front President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and ending a state of emergency that began when the Algerian Civil War erupted 19 years ago.

In Tunisia, where the revolutionary wave began, the new interior minister accused members of the security services of instigating further unrest to block efforts to establish democracy following the ouster of Ben Ali. Farhat Rajhi also announced the detention of his predecessor, Rafik Belhaj Kacem, who led the crackdown in December and January against protesters seeking to end Ben Ali’s 23-year rule.

[catfish]

'Terror attack on Egypt-Israel gas pipeline in El-Arish'
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND ASSOCIATED PRESS 

02/05/2011 09:58


Egyptian state television reports masked men set off detonation at pipeline in northern Sinai causing massive flames; gas supply to Israel cut off following explosion; Jerusalem monitoring situation.

This appears to be breaking news, just came across this.

[Kosciuszko]

300 dead so far, thousands wounded. Today heavy machine gun fire was heard in Cairo.

There is a definite apocalyptic foreboding about all of this revolting. The Anti-christ just like Christ Himself and in perfect symmetry with Him, will most likely fulfill the prophecy "He will be called out of Egypt" (Hosea 11:1) . He will emerge in Egypt and will be an apostate from the ranks of Princes of the Church (in other words a cardinal). He will be most likely an ethnic Jew and a descendant of King David.

[BRVoice]

Kosciuszko, I don't know if you are polish but I offer my sincere condolences about the late president of Poland and all the others staff members who were in that airplane took down by the russians.

It's a bit late, I know. but I have a deep respect for the History of your country. And also I had a huge respect by the late Pope John Paul II.

[BRVoice]

# Al Jazeera English AJEnglish 500 protesters arrive in #Tahrir Square from Suez. Protesters call for protests on Sunday called "day of the martyred": http://aje.me/fio27R 2 minutes ago via web

# Ali Abunimah avinunu TONIGHT: Auschwitz survivor Hajo Mayer speaks on Zionism's victims. CHICAGO 7pm (I won't be there, but PLEASE go!) http://t.co/lWHHaie 3 minutes ago via Twitter for Mac

# AJELive AJELive 500 protesters arrive in #Tahrir Square from Suez. Protesters call for protests on Sunday called "day of the martyred": http://aje.me/fio27R 4 minutes ago via web

# Ali Abunimah avinunu Saeb Erekat retracts lie that @AJEnglish's Clayton Swisher is "CIA." Will Saeb now retract his many other lies? http://t.co/EGrKbzx 7 minutes ago via Twitter for Mac

# Dima Khatib أنا ديمة Dima_Khatib Foreigners (tourists, visitors, residents) have been visiting Tahrir Square. Offering flowers in solidarity ! #jan25 #egypt 10 minutes ago via web

# Dima Khatib أنا ديمة Dima_Khatib I believe that thanks to Egyptian regime everyone in the world now knows the meaning of the word "THUG" #jan25 #egypt 11 minutes ago via web

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi Burning fuel to compensate the energy that was lost due to the N. Sinai pipeline explosion will cost Jordan's treasury $4m a day. @AJEnglish 11 minutes ago via web

# Gregg Carlstrom glcarlstrom Crane and flatbed on the Corniche clearing a burnt-out vehicle. And a crew of guys in orange vests clearing trash. Back to "normal"? 11 minutes ago via Seesmic for Android

# Dima Khatib أنا ديمة Dima_Khatib RT@brajesh2001 Yes Shahid is an arabic word and Indians use many arabic words in our language. We know the meaning of thug as well #jan25 11 minutes ago via web

# Hossam عمو حسام 3arabawy In Tahrir now, while it rains RT @Rouelshimi: Chants: the people want the president prosecuted. #jan25 12 minutes ago via Echofon

# Dima Khatib أنا ديمة Dima_Khatib Libéré: Mohammed Fawi, journaliste égyptien d'AlJazeera (Finance) au Qatar. Il avait été détenu pendant ses vacances en #Egypte #jan25 12 minutes ago via web

# Jan25 Voices Jan25voices AJA: Aljazeera's Mohammed Fawy also released. #Egypt #Tahrir #Jan25 13 minutes ago via web

# Shadi Hamid shadihamid Exactly RT @twundit: but the protests influence which elites are allowed into the process .. provide motive for negotiations #jan25 13 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

# Sultan Al Qassemi SultanAlQassemi . @AJEnglish's reporter at the Munich Security Summit said all the world leaders gathering there spoke as if "Mubarak's days were numbered" 14 minutes ago via web

[BRVoice]

http://www.debka.com/article/20635/


Assassins fail to murder Egyptian Vice President Suleiman
DEBKAfile Special Report February 5, 2011, 2:19 PM (GMT+02:00)

Early Saturday, too, US intelligence sources disclosed that exactly a week ago, on Jan. 29, an attempt was made on the life of Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman in central Cairo as his convoy left the presidential palace. He had just been sworn in by President Hosni Mubarak as Vice President. Suleiman escaped unharmed but two of his bodyguards were killed. The sources said the attack bore the marks of professional, well-trained hitmen.

The attack was denied in Cairo but US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed it in Munich when she said the assassination attempt was a sign of instability in Egypt.
Asked about this incident at his press briefing Friday night, Feb. 4, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said tensely: "I'm not going to… get into that question."

The attempt on the vice president's life underscores three features of the storm overtaking Egypt:

1. The pictures broadcast to world screens are almost exclusively restricted to Cairo's central Tahrir Square showing the opposition is gaining the upper hand in its challenge to the regime, while events elsewhere in the city and country suggest that Hosni Mubarak and his supporters are holding their ground against the movement and well able to fight back.

2. Whenever US President Barack Obama turns the heat up for Mubarak's immediate resignation – "now means now" - his words are greeted by an unwelcome rejoinder in the Egyptian arena. On Saturday night, Jan. 29, for instance, when Washington appeared confident that Mubarak was about to cave in, the attempt was staged on Suleiman's life.

Wednesday, Feb. 2, after Mubarak had held out for nine days of 24/7 protests against his presidency, Washington began leaning hard on the army chiefs to remove him. Gen. Suleiman, Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and Chief of Staff Gen. Sami Enan were warned that the $1.3 billion of US military assistance to Egypt was in jeopardy.

That day, 50,000 Mubarak loyalists stormed apparently out of nowhere into Tahrir Square for a massive attack on the protesters that was powerful and brutal enough to send them fleeing.

Saturday, the day after Obama called on Mubarak "to make the right decision," an explosion in Sinai cut off Egyptian oil supplies to Israel and Jordan.

3. Mubarak does not appear to be frightened off by Obama's threat of an aid cutoff. According to international financial experts, he and his clique may well command many billions of dollars stashed away and invested outside the country. Some sources estimate Mubarak's private fortune at $20 billion which, if judiciously spent, could temporarily make up the shortfall, keep the wheels of government turning and enable the regime to hold out for some time.