Be Excellent To Each Other

Are the Pyramids available to buy yet?

Wonder how my history teaching ex-pat-tutor friend Hendricks is taking things down there? Probably reclining on a chaise lounge, smoking a pipe and blaming the disturbances on 'Germans!' knowing him.

Hope he makes it to the Pipes & Ales pub crawl in a few weeks, concerning that he's practically the dictator himself.

The Yemeni president has said he will not seek reelection.

In Egypt, reports are coming in of pro-regime protests, but figures are varied. Really hope they don't meet the anti-Mubarak lot.

It looks like the Army should get a lot of credit here, from the chaps on the ground right up. I can't imagine the same situation in Syria ( for instance ) being as relatively peaceful. Had the Army gone in all guns blazing it would have got very messy very quickly.

Definitely. When those groups met and I heard gunfire, I thought all hell was about to break loose. Incredible work on the part of those soldiers, especially given their conscripted status.

I can't help but worry about what will happen to the 350,000 former police in Egypt after all this. I hope the corrupt ones are able to just accept defeat, or simply form a political party rather than anything more sinister.

The whole thing is fascinating though - the fact that a dictator with total control of the state and all services has shut his whole country down, yet thanks to the people themselves, and even to international businesses (it seems that Google are doing more for these people than our own and the US government, which is frankly embarassing), the word - and extensive footage - is still getting out, and that therefore the kind of "kill them all' approach that's worked for dictators for all of human history can suddenly be drastically less effective... I'm having trouble finding the right words, frankly. I've heard a lot of complete wank about the rise of Twatter et al and how incredible it is, but this whole episode has highlighted what unprecedented changes are coming to the way our societies work.

Google: always one to decide whether someone gives a shit about a country before lending a helping hand! (See: China.)

To be fair to google their head of operations (or whatever his title is) out in Egypt disappeared very early on in the troubles after posting quite a lot of anti-Mubarak statements and remarks - his last tweet reads like "oh shit I can hear them coming up the stairs!" so you can see why they would be desperate to help.

Fighting in Tahrir Square. Plainclothes police and pro-mubarak supporters have overwhelmed army barricades and attacked the protestors. More are coming. At least 100 injured.







Fuck. The army have screwed them. They're not going to attack them - they're just going to stand by and let the police in instead.

Shit.

So, did the military get the deal they wanted, but in return have to end the protests?

Crikey, scenes on the BBC not looking great.

Seems the army just parted and left the two sides to have it out.

Aw Christ, I haven't been near a computer all day so hadn't heard anything about what was going until I was driving home. Watching it on tv now and just feel so sick and sad for all those people. It has been obvious from watching it unfold that they have been so excited and hopeful and also so proud of the nature of the protests and the general reaction to bad behaviour. I really thought they might have got him to leave

They're not going anywhere. People on the edges have been hurt - estimates say several hundred injured with at least one dead - but there are thousands of people refusing to go.

They urgently need medical supplies. One guy has someone's lost kid.

Cameron is busy saying absolutely nothing, and blathering on about a "road map for democracy", as though this isn't a country where a dictator is sending his goons in to attack peaceful protestors. It feels awfully like he and the US representatives are talking about a completely different situation.



Jesus christ. Handing them over to the pigs? They'll never be seen again. This is fucking horrible.

Apparently in the instances where anti-Mubarak protestor have managed to get hold of a pro-Mubarak protestor, they have had government ID on them. so basically, it sounds like Mubarak has sent in his dogs.
Woman just interviewed was talking about how the protest organisers made sure everyone was searched coming in the square to stop weapons getting in so when these pro people came powering in with weapons the demonstrators were just overrun.

Live tweet from the square earlier today from (I think - people keep copy-pasting in that irritating way some do) blogger Ahmed Shokeir:



Translated:

Updates from the ground are starting to sound like reports on a castle siege:











I have a lot of hope that the protestors are going to win it, though. There's no way Mubarak can get everyone, and with no leadership there's nobody to assassinate. He can't risk giving them guns, and the army would probably join in with the protestors if he did. Sooner or later someone's going to get proof of Mubarak's involvement out to enough people, and even Israel and the US will have to speak against him.

Protestors have defended Tahrir square - Mubarak's men and their friends routed and reduced to chucking stuff from rooftops. Talk of their reorganising, but it seems to be rumours so far.


CNN are willing to report that this violence was orchestrated by Mubarak.

Fox news report that US Senator John McCain wants Mubarak to step down and will go on the record tonight. He's just twattered:



Oh dear. I'm not even a fan of not setting John McCain on fire, but the Obama administration has humiliated itself over this. On the plus side, if even Republican Party News is willing to support the uprising, surely the US will have to finally man up and do the right thing.

Google employee Wael Ghonim is still missing after several days.

It's believed he was last seen at about 1:00 in this video. Being grabbed and dragged off by Mubarak's police.

Mubarak's thugs have brought in guns and opened fire. Seven wounded already. It sounds like a tank may be moving in to protect the protestors, but it's not clear.

Unarmed, peaceful, pro-democratic protestors of a corrupt regime we support are being murdered live on international television. On the channel watched by over 50% of the audience in the Middle East.

If our government does not condemn this regime today, I'm going to fucking puke. Jesus.


The protestors are still chanting "LEAVE! LEAVE! LEAVE!", and can be heard over the gunfire. These people are fucking champions.

Thanks for the updates.

Jon Snow has an interesting piece: http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/egyp ... sown/14596

Violence continues, by all reports.

WTF - 'New Egyptian PM 'apologises' for violence'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12351831



Violence on both sides continues. Reports of journalists being attacked and of the military trying to round up foreign reports.

Sandmonkey has now apparently been arrested, and his blog is offline.

Here's his last post.

Terrible situation for the Egyptian demonstrators to be in, still showing unbelievable strength in the face of the mounting adversity. I hope the World leaders wake up and help to end the madness before more are killied.

Not saying much because I don't want to get in the way, but good work keeping us updated, folks.

State tv in Egypt is resporting that the new vice president has said that mubaraks son won't seek election in Egypt.
Thanks for that blog link Joans, I hope that guy is ok

BBC news talking to one of their people in Port Said who is saying that he has seen looters being caught and beaten to death and police ids found on them.

al jazeera right now

Talking to a woman on the phone and suddenly heavy gunfire which you could hear really clearly on the tv and she said people were running from the museum to the bridge. New guy now saying as soon as opposition thinks there is a weakness in the perimeter around the square the pro Mubarak supporters try and rush it.

Curfew starts in five minutes. Scary stuff. i can't believe the bravery of the people who have been protesting from the start.

Just seen a tweet to say that he's been released but his car has been destroyed and he was beaten.

There's a brief summary of the day's events on the Grauniad #block-22" class="postlink">live blog.

Continuing reports of gunfire but no clarity as to who is shooting and if they are warning shots or not.

Algeria alleged to have lifted its state of emergency, which began in 1991.

Dom, is your sister okay? Have you heard anything? If she's out there and we can help in some way, let us know.

This still constantly weird having been in Egypt only 4 months ago and seeing many of these places, and also hearing things said by the locals which mean that events aren't completely surprising. What is surprising however, is the following comment from the National Geographic article

Galleries: Five minute guide to the unrest in Egypt
http://www.news.com.au/pictures/gallery ... 555?page=1

This is horrible.

Glad mine and Rixondale's mate Hendricks is getting out tomorrow, at first I thought it was over-reaction pulling everyone out but I'm not so sure now.

There's a petition going here:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/democracy_f ... ourstatus2

I am normally loathe to sign online petitions, because they are designed to turn an enormous crowd of people beating on a politician's door into the much more easily dealt with 'single file you can simply delete', but I figure it's the least I can do for this.

In the time it took me to sign it (maybe 40 seconds), over 2,000 people from around the world had signed. After you sign, it takes you to a page with a live feed of other people who've signed it (just their name and country). It's amazing. It's ticking constantly. Mexico, Mexico, Netherlands, France, UK, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, USA, USA, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, USA, Turkey, Netherlands. It's almost enough to make me not despise all living things.

Signed, for what its worth.

I've got a horrible feeling Stockholm syndrome will eventually undo the Egyptian people when it comes to their feelings regarding Mubarek.

Mubarak saying that he has bad enough and he wants to stand down but can't out of fear of causing chaos.

Clinton condemns attacks on journalists and on peaceful protestors (in that order). She also says ther freedom of expression and of the press are rights that must not be suppressed. She did not condemn Mubarak for deliberately cutting off all forms of communication in Egypt for most of the last week. So basically the message is "we condemn anything bad that happens as long as we can imply that it wasn't Mubarak that did it".

Many, many journos have been attacked, including a Fox News team. They will probably regret that.

The UN Secretary General is getting impatient and saying the time for transition is NOW. Many European leaders seem to be toeing this line. Nobody in power has yet addressed the many, many accounts, pictures, and videos of NDP and police ID cards being taken from the people trying to kill the protestors.

Protestors report that undercover police are trying to infiltrate the square. Mubarak and his goons really are fucking monsters. Security within Tahrir is pretty tight, makeshift weapons are being stockpiled. Protestors are reportedly annoyed with themselves for not anticipating an attack. They've barricaded the main entrance to the square, and piled debris about 40m in front of it to force any charges to stumble/climb, and 10m away have stretched a heavy electricity cable at knee height across the street for the same purpose. One account by an Al Jazeera reporter sounds an awful lot like a zombie siege situation - the emphasis is very much on holding off and pushing back a horde for as long as possible until help arrives.

There's a fatalistic atmosphere according to some witnesses. The attitude seems to be "We die here, or we go home and are murdered by the police. I choose here. Fuck Mubarak." nonetheless, the people are clearly determined, though the situation, and Mubarak and Suleiman's good cop bad cop routine, propaganda, and other psychological warfare, are quite naturally wearing them down.

The protestors are still united only in their aims. Young, old, wealthy, poor, unemployed, doctors, men, women, muslim, christian, atheist. The call is going out for as many people as possible to come to Tahrir for tomorrow, the deadline they gave Mubarak. They want to show their solidarity as human beings, not as members of class or creed.

There is talk of marching on the presidential palace if he doesn't leave tomorrow. I admire this, but fear for its safety. I think many of these people have already decided that they will die for this cause one way or another.


Sharif Kouddous twatters:



These people are friggin' hardcore.

The pigs have shut down all the journalists overlookng Tahrir Square, which is increasingly being called by its translation of Liberation Square.

The only one left is the State TV one.

Get on twitter, people. Yes, I know, I know, but it's where the people on the ground are keeping us informed - it's direct from the front. They need to be heard. Mubarak needs to know that for every innocent person he murders in there, there will be a thousand witnesses.

Facebook, too. Tomorrow is going to be either an incredible triumph for humanity, or one of several varieties of horrible disaster.

It's terrifying how the Israelis AND Al Quaeda operatives are conspiring with each other against Egypt and infilitrating crowds, I don't know what to do!

White House discusses Mubarak's removal

Mubarak has refused to meet the US envoy twice, so they're speaking to his ministers instead.

This depresses me greatly. They should not be negotiating with this government. They should be condemning this government. The way they're going about this says to me that they're going to throw a bone to the people by chucking Mubarak out, but making sure that the 'transitional government' they install is exactly the same, maybe with a few new faces.

I hope I'm wrong. Over the last week these people have given me a greater respect for humanity than I've ever had. Trust the fucking US Government to ruin it.

On the plus side, a couple of people have mentioned a possible attempt to hack the fuck out of the State TV channel. They may have enough help to do it.

Incidentally, Anonymous pledged their support and have been doing their usual DDOS stuff for a few days. I am ambivalent about them, but I'm pretty sure some of them would relish taking out Mubarak TV 24.

Also, I forgot to mention earlier that several Iraqi citizens who had shipped in from Baghdad to support the protest left today. The reason? They felt safer in Baghdad.

Jesus christ.

Diplomatic car drives directly into group of protestors at high speed.

VERY disturbing footage (really, be careful), and not the first footage I've seen of government/police forces doing this.

And this is just what someone happened to catch, and managed to hang on to their equipment for long enough to get access to the internet and upload. In a country of 80 million people and hundreds of thousands of police alone, just imagine what isn't being shown.

Lone protestor shot dead at long range by police last week. (video)

He had a rock.

This, meanwhile, shows what the protest was, and much of it remains, before Mubarak's police started attacking Tahrir Square. Peaceful, joyful people singing and chanting together, mocking the president, calling for his removal, criticising his economic and social policies, demanding a free Egypt for everyone, not criminals or religious sects.

Young men, old men, a wee kid being piggybacked, a woman in a burkha, many women not, people in casual jeans and jackets, people in smart business wear, people in tweed.

It's at times like this that I really wish I was wrong about god, just so I could know that every last one of the cunts responsible for all this will burn.

Finally, for a bizarre hybrid of poignancy and comic relief:

A small gallery of improvised protective headwear for the oppressed.

Looks like we're going to see something massive happen tomorrow - Mubarak is going to go no matter what now, but whether the US or anyone else will force the whole lot of his scumbag friends out is another question entirely.

I'm going to get some sleep. I feel drained just from staying up late to keep up with this. I can't imagine the suffering of these people, and all this after a lifetime of it.

Everything you and Pete have been saying, but especially this:



I'm really, really hoping that autocratic regimes everywhere have been watching the news and shitting themselves.

They probably are, but I'd imagine they're also busy making sure they have a way of instantly turning off mobile phone and internet connections.

[Somewhat playing the Devil's Advocate] While I think it's disgusting that governments aren't standing in front of the press saying "Seriously Mubarak, what exactly the fuck?" - what can the US do really? They're still busy being slated for invading Iraq and Afghanistan. Okay, in this case it's quite clearly fucked up and in Egypt's interests to get Mubarak and his cronies (and the police) out, but any application force will be picked on.

Though just this once I might forgive it the official response was

It was in our interests to keep him in for 30 years. Turning around and saying "Get gone" isn't a particularly loyal, nor decent, thing to do.

They could make a public statement saying "Stop having people shot. Get the fuck out". It doesn't sound like much, but it's really important. Especially as right now he's playing the line that 'his presence in power is the only thing stopping this descending into anarchy'. Dick.

Yeah it's far more decent to show loyalty while his thugs beat up and kill a few more people.

I'll just add my voice to the chorus of people expressing genuine horror at the ongoing developments here; I'm increasingly hoping that this ends in Mubarak being strung up by his balls in the street for this.

As an aside, it does make me wonder about what those who live under such regimes actually think about Democracy; some of the quotes I've seen have left me quite sad at the thought that many see it as a far finer ideal than the dirty, grubby and rather shameful reality. I mean, our fine democratic governments have been arch supporters of the likes of Mubarak and many other odious regimes down the years - some of which we put in place in the first instance - because it suited 'us' strategically or whatever. Similarly, 'we' have no trouble in citing our fine ideals and morals when, for whatever reason, a given unpleasant regime falls out of favour. It's not as though any attempt is made to obfuscate such rank hypocrisy and every time I hear Hilary Clinton talking about 'freedom' and all the rest, I want to vomit.

I suppose this is realpolitik and all that and I am a pragmatist if I'm anything at all. Still, even I feel deeply uncomfortable about such things and can't help but feel it's a twisted, evil world we live in at times.

It's the great dilemma in international relations - do we prefer stability, at the cost of fucking over millions, or do we act on our ideals and risk greater chaos? And, no, I don't have the answer (and neither did Tony Blair ).

To be honest, and in further devil's advocate play, let's look at this from the Western governments point of view again:

The last time a big Middle Eastern government was o'erthrown was Algeria and Lebennon and - yes, Iraq - and those led to a brutal civil war lasting ages.

The civil wars as seen in Algeria and Lebennon were between Christian and Islamsist factions, with no quarter given. Frequently they threatened to spread.

Murabek was Vice President under Sadat and saw him gunned down metres away by Islamist terrorists. They weren't an imaginary threat cooked up by him. See also the Luxor massacre of tourists.

He HAS been an important balancing force in the Middle East when it comes to the Arab nations vs Israel. Egypt had been to war with Israel and lost lots of land ("Nor shall you add to it," cough cough, Israel) to her, so the West don't want to see inflamed passion in the biggest power in the theatre leading to a war there, and possibly a pan Middle-Eastern war at that.

Realpolitik is that squalid word that has bound us to governments like Murabek's before, and always will. It's easier to go with a certainty in the Middle East.

So, that's that said.

Unfortunately the US and the UK missed a golden opportunity while the protests were still peaceful, if they had put heavy pressure on Murabek to leave on the day before it all kicked off, and denounced the police, they would have had immense goodwill from the Arab world. Yes, I know goodwill is fickle out there, but they should have known that with massed peaceful protests:

1: Murabek's days are numbered unless massive violent repression involving army is used. Get on the good side of the new crowd whilst stearing clear of slighting old ally. Be active participant in change.

2: Murabek having followed up with modest violence (and I know that this doesn't seem like it for those poor sods on the ground, but if the army had been 100% for him, it would have been Tiannamen) with the media eye on him, the international loathing of him would soar.

3: In such a case Murabek will play every card in the, "But the West supports me," deck, and thus loathing of the West would rise again in the Mid East. We're being pulled under by a drowning man.

4: The Muslim Brotherhood HAVEN'T presented themselves as a coherent alternative, but their representative (Nobel Prize winner) has come up with a rational interim idea based on the big brains of Egypt backed by army. This idea is being also pushed by the US and UK, but with weasely words forbidding the MB from having a part in the government and thus fogging the issue, as the MB are on the receiving end here and thus are sympathetic.

The attacks on journalists were not predicted. This has thrown the West off balance and made it hard to see what the real mood is out there on the street. It has also led to heightened fears for them that a wave of anti-West feeling could sweep Egypt, pushing them towards a unfriendly government.

My (probably wrong) solution:

Help push Murabek out visibly and vocally, not only backdoors. Condemn the violence against protestors first and foremost. If civil war threatens, get behind the army and if necessary tolerate a (hopefully) temporary benign dictator if it avoids a Lebennon. V for Vendetta is all very well but civil wars are a tremendous evil. To counter the 'domino effect' (which is a seductive but usually false theory last seen horrifically misapplied in Cold War asia) call for a pan Arabic summit. The Egyptian people have shown they still look to America on these things, consolidate that. Even if it achieves nothing ultimately, it buys time to come up with something new.

Find a new Figurehead, fast! Better the Muslim Brotherhood than none, a vacuum is even worse. But some moderate army leader would be best for now, with MB guy El-Arabi.

America still has vast food reserves. Part of this discontent is through rising food prices. America can offer this and help drive down prices and angry discontent. In the mean-time it can step up a slow-burn of pressure in persuading dictators to resign and offer free-and-fairs. If it all goes to pot, at least they tried, and can chalk it up to experience.

There needs to be a good, in-depth look at this by the West. If only we had General Marshall of Marshall Plan fame.

Alternatively they could put me in charge. A letter, I think -

"Dear Mr Obama. I have had experience in governing Egypt in both Civilizations II and IV, ending with democratic governments. I have a GCSE in Maths and can both forwards and backwards roll. Please consider me for the post of Pharoh, or the new James Bond."