30 January 2011

HUGE crowds in tahrir square in cairo — UPDATING

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Fighter jets are buzzing the crowds. It's deafening. They've made about six runs at them so far, but the crowd just roars louder every time they come over and they are NOT dispersing. More people are pouring in. Curfew again being defied. People cheering and whistling at the planes and screaming for Mubarak to leave. Gunshots heard. Sirens. Tanks. People pouring into the square from every direction. Chanting: You Are Flying. We're Not Dying.

ADD TEN HOURS TO TIMES BELOW FOR CAIRO TIME.

6:15am PST — Hillary has just come out talking about "an orderly transition"... but still pretty vague.

6:20am PST — People yelling: Down, down with Mubarak. Leave, leave Mubarak. Families flooding into the square. Man reporting from the crowd is hollering that they caught looters with police IDs last night. People were flashing the V sign at the fighter planes... and helicopters that were flying over... the two fighters seem to have left, but a military helicopter remains. The crowd is getting louder.

6:30am PST — I think a 4pm curfew is pretty outrageous, don't you? Although, it does make it better for people defying the government to get in more defying time. Personally, I am STOKED that people are bringing their whole families into the square. A better life for your children DOES mean risking your and their lives.

The worst nightmare woke me up to catch this. I think I just had a near-death experience in my sleep... but I'm not taking that as a bad omen for Egypt. I am feeling great people power coming out of Egypt.

6:33am PST — NOW they're saying the Muslim Brotherhood is pushing for ElBaradei. That's a new one. So I'm thinking the back rooms are trying to keep the regime, but without Mubarak, if ElBaradei is being painted as a dreaded "Islamist"....

6:40am PST — Rumor that there is a helicopter with the presidential seal on it got very, very low above the crowd... speculating maybe Mubarak is on it... people trying to lie down to spell something out to the air above them.

6:45am PST — PJ Crowley tweets the US wants an orderly transition to a free, fair and orderly election. That's clear as mud... not that I think the US has ANYTHING to say in the matter... but I think they've been hard at it with Netanyahu over this whole thing... and maybe even with good reason, because the PSYCHOPATHIC Israelis are likely to fly in and bomb the Egyptians in the squares.

6:55am PST — Reports of many thousands gathered in Alexandria. They want Mubarak hung.

7:00am PST — Back in Cairo, two military vehicles have just pulled back. Crowd cheering them.

7:15am PST — Bunch of discussion about the US stance on all this. Straddling. Talking orderly transition with Mubarak. Doesn't want to be seen as interfering. Of course they don't want to be seen interfering, but they are interfering, there can be no doubt about THAT. I'm NOT going to blow my cool.

7:25am PST — crowds denouncing Omar Suleiman, so-called "vice president", as an Israeli client.
Here are five facts about Omar Suleiman:

* He has been the director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Services (EGIS) since 1993, a role in which he has played a prominent public role in diplomacy, including in Egypt's relations with Israel and with key aid donor the United States.

* He was born on July 2, 1936 in Qena, in southern Egypt. He later enrolled in Egypt's premier Military Academy in 1954, after which he received additional military training in the then Soviet Union at Moscow's Frunze Military Academy.

* He also studied political science at Cairo University and Ain Shams University. In 1992 he headed the General Operations Authority in the Armed Forces and then became the director of the military intelligence unit before taking over EGIS.

* Suleiman took part in the war in Yemen in 1962 and the 1967 and 1973 wars against Israel.

* As Egypt's intelligence chief, Suleiman was in charge of the country's most important political security files, and was the mastermind behind the fragmentation of Islamist groups who led the uprising against the state in the 1990s.
7:30am PST — Assuring us the reports of looting are very much exaggerated and the Egyptian people have it under control with their neighborhood watch groups.

8:00am PST — Reports ElBaradei has been unanimously chosen by some rebel committee to head up the formation of a transition government and is on his way to Tahrir Square.

8:15am PST — Some skepticism expressed about how the people in the square will receive ElBaradei. Many are unhappy that he has not been there, living instead in Vienna, and only flew into Cairo two days into the demonstrations.

8:25am PST — ElBaradei has arrived at the square. He will be making a plea to the army to take the side of the people, rather than continuing to simply guard buildings and roads. Communications are still cut off in Egypt, so logistics are extremely difficult.

Listened to Hilliary's shtick from earlier this morning again, and it sounds to me as though she's talking Mubarak staying on, but just with a more representative government....

8:45am PST — Roughly a million people at Tahrir square right now. ElBaradei still has not spoken, but does have the backing of all fourteen opposition parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood.

11:25am PST — "Egypt wants a free and fair, fully accountable transparent government."

JOIN THE CLUB.

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love, 99
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5 comments:

  1. National Intelligence Estimate = 0
    Even President Obama Is Watching Al Jazeera

    I think phil was right about the CB and Ham Radio business. When this comes here Obummer is going to be on the dark side of the moon.

    ps- Who the fuck cares what Hillary has to say about anything?

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  2. Take the last link: Obummer+TV, then take the first link to add+++++

    POPCORN!

    "From the start, according to sources privy to the discussions, talks revolved around two objectives: how to cajole Mubarak to respond to the demonstrations, while, at the same time, not saying anything publicly that could be taken as American approval of the forcible overthrow of Arab regimes. But as the demonstrations grew in intensity, that balance became increasingly fraught. The demonstrators were, after all, demanding human and political rights to which the United States is committed, but which Mubarak showed no sign of granting.

    After much discussion, it was decided that President Obama would not try to speak directly to Mubarak. According to an informed source, the assessment was that president-to-president intervention should be held in reserve as a last recourse. Besides, any exchange with Mubarak would require Obama to say whether he supported Mubarak’s continued rule. And the president was in a bind: He couldn’t bluntly say no. On the other hand, Egyptian authorities would instantly broadcast any expression of support as proof that Washington was backing Mubarak’s hold on power. (Shown this article for review, the White House said: "There's nothing we'd comment on here at the moment.")

    So the administration tried to reach Mubarak by other means. The Cairo embassy reached out to his advisers. Other Arab leaders were enlisted. Across the region, the events in Cairo were viewed with mounting concern by other governments. The longer their television screens were filled with those scenes of protest, the likelier they were to trigger comparable uprisings in other capitals. The administration’s message was clear: for your own sake, persuade Mubarak he has to quell the revolt by offering concessions.

    By Thursday, though, the Cairo embassy was reporting that Mubarak was mobilizing the Army. Everyone knew that Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, would see the biggest demonstrations yet. Mubarak’s mobilization of the military could only mean that he was set on suppression. There was a real risk of bloodshed—and the judgment both of analysts in Washington and of Arab leaders in other capitals was that killings on any scale could ignite a firestorm—not only in Egypt but across the region.

    Taking advantage of a pre-arranged Q&A session on YouTube, Obama warned: “The government has to be careful about not resorting to violence.” Mubarak, he said, needed to be “moving ahead on reform—political reform, economic reform”.

    Whether Obama’s warning influenced Mubarak’s actions is unclear. The Army did roll into the streets of Cairo and other cities on Friday. But it did not shoot; and, on Friday evening, Mubarak appeared on television for the first time in the crisis."

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  3. Hoefully Mubarak and his band of thievies are on a jet out of the country by Monday. Come on Army make the right move.

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  4. I think Mubarek is going to have to step down. After he leaves, it will be discovered that he looted the treasury.

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  5. I tried manfully to stay awake through ElBaradei's statement, but it seemed to be very short and muted, quite short of expectations... mayhap his reception at the square wasn't as rousing as had been hoped? Anyway, I was flickering in and out of sleep when he finally said something... and I take it nothing has come out of Mubarak... though there is a vexing showing of so-called parliamentarians blathering away.... The continuing willingness to stonewall and terrify the people makes me irate.

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