01/02/11

• Here is a brief account of the US position in the past 5 days towards what turned out to be an Egyptian revolution:

27/01/11 At the night before the expected demonstrations, the regime cut off all internet and communication tools from the whole population in what was seen as a precursor of the violent crackdown it intends to ensue over the demonstrations. Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, said that: “Egypt’s government under President Hosni Mubarak is stable“

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/US-wants-free-fair-Egypt-elections-Clinton/articleshow/7392077.cms

28/01/11 After millions of Egyptians were actually seen dominating the streets, across all cities and streets of Egypt, Robert Gibbs, White House spokesman, said that: “[It's]absolutely not too late for Mubarak’s regime to reform”

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/absolutely-not-too-late-mubaraks-regime-reform-says-white-house

In the same day, when asked about the composition of the protesters asking for the downfall of Mubarak by a reporter who is concerned that fundamentalists might be leading them, Robert Gibbs responded: “I think [they are] what you would consider to be the Egyptian middle class“

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/01/28/press-briefing-press-secretary-robert-gibbs-1282011

29/01/11 Later on when the Egyptian people turned out to be more fierce in their demand for liberty than the US expected, a senior Obama administration official said that: “[the] U.S. wants to see an overhaul, not overthrow, in Egypt“, and that “the United States is looking for managed change”

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/sc-dc-0130-egypt-us-20110129,0,2811094.story?track=rss

Although the Egyptian people came out in unprecedented numbers to overthrow the 30-year-old regime, Joe Biden, the US Vice President, in an interview with the Christian Science Monitor unashamedly said that: “Egypt’s Mubarak [is] no dictator, he shouldn’t step down”.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2011/0127/Joe-Biden-says-Egypt-s-Mubarak-no-dictator-he-shouldn-t-step-down

01/02/11 After three days of continuing demonstrations in which millions have decided on one and only demand, that Mubarak should be other thrown, defying army presence and police brutality, Barack Obama at last sent an envoy to Mubarak to: “urge him not to run for re-election”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/world/middleeast/02transition.html?_r=1

• How the Egyptian people’s revolt is changing the world

“The people have decided to overthrow the regime”. This is the chant that people across the entire country, united, chanted. It’s a clear and powerful statement that the people are taking their matters into their own hands. They have caught the US unawares by their uprising. They are determined in their demand.

The US state department got confused. They were faced by a new and unexpected
situation. What the US is trying to do is to reshuffle its cards, quickly, in the best way that makes it able to “protect its interests” in the region, whilst not appearing to be dumping their ally in the first crisis. They must preserve their dominance by any means possible.

But the problem is that: they are not able to call the uprising a fundamental or extremist movement and condemn it, because it is very clear that it was triggered by middle class Facebookers and Tweeters. They are not able to call it a minor movement or to ignore it, because it has triggered millions of Egyptians from every class, gender, age and religious belief to come out to the streets. It is a revolution by all means, and there is no way trying to dub it anything else.

In less than 5 days, the regime was already done with. The events of this uprising
have been evolving so fast, and so should have been the reaction of the US. We are not in the old times when they can dance with words on a fine string for 5 days to decide their position. The world has changed. In 5 days, all your statements have been very well monitored, leaked, shared, tweeted and retweeted, as if a few months of time in the Cold War. The pace by which the American state department managed the situation in Egypt belongs to the past. The tone that they have used in addressing the situation (above in bold) is a fleeing remainder of a world order that also belongs to the past; a past where the US could dictate what other governments should do, and what they would like to see happen!

The Egyptian people’s uprising is changing the world as we know it because their march through the streets of Egypt is also a march beyond those times. It’s done. What the Egyptian people are indirectly saying is that there is a Newer World Order. An order where the people united, the grassroots connected, cannot be controlled by “old politics”. That only they will dictate what their government should do, and that only they will decide what they would like to see happen. You have to devise newer politics in order to assure your dominance. But until you do that, your puppets will fall like dominos, stripping you off the political influence that you stubbornly maintained during the past decades; a political influence that came at the price of the liberty, dignity and life of the people.

What the Egyptian people is also saying is that: we are kicking him out because of the fact itself that he does take orders/urges from you. The people of Egypt have decided to overthrow the regime. In doing this, the people of Egypt are over turning the tides, refusing US dominance over their fate, assuming power now in their own hands, and only they will urge and order who they want to run for presidency!

Thank you very much; we do not want your support. Even more, it is unacceptable. Stay out!

This is the newer world order. Many people doubt that the people can come up with someone that the US doesn’t want. But how this revolt has evolved proves exactly the opposite. Young middle classers who are open to the sources of information that are currently available will not stand silent while the US and world leaders play the games they have played in the past few decades. They have to devise new games. Until then, gone are those days when dictatorships can rule while people, the grassroots, are connected through internet, texting, social networks and all the available leaking sources. The people of Egypt are presenting the world a model for a new age revolution. By taking matter into
their own hands, they are proving to the US that their “old politics” will not be working anymore.

Their destined fate was to survive 5000 years, for their bones to mingle with blood of Egyptians of today in their revolution!

• Notes:

-         If the US state officials can urge/order Mubarak not to reelect through just one enjoy, and they can cleverly show that they were the ones who told him by announcing it before his speech (to make Egypt and the world see that they are exerting pressure on the regime), they can also order him to reintroduce internet access to the population once it had been cut. But since this would confuse their situation even more, and accelerate events, it is something that they wish could pass without being noticed.

-         Barack Obama’s 2008 idealist speeches are proving day after day to be rhetoric. He gravely failed to even look good in this crisis. He proved that he descended from an intellectual to a politician controlled fully by the rules of the game. A politician who clearly sacrifices ideals for maneuvers time. The people who were killed, the liberty that was sacrificed, the ideals that were smashed broken to the ground, all fall into your lap. You are on the wrong side of history; the side that you eloquently urged world leaders to prevent in your inaugural speech. Shame!

-         Analysis: Egypt crisis a fresh dilemma for Obama team

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110201/wl_nm/us_egypt_usa_dilemma_1

-         The White House quietly prepares for a post-Mubarak era in Egypt

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/30/nation/la-na-white-house-egypt-20110131

Although there is currently no evidence that the documents are not fake, many of the thugs that were captured during the looting were found to be undercover police snitches. The source of the documents is said to be blogger Wael Abbas, who is usually a reliable source. But the authenticity of the documents are yet to be determined.

Courtesy of:

http://sharek.aljazeera.net/node/1208

Barak Obama ve diğer dünya liderleri, bütün bu olanlara rağmen yoz ve vahşi Mübarek rejimini, yatırımları uğruna desteklemeye devam ediyorlar. Bu yatırımlar, onların gözünde Mısır halkının özgürlüğü ve hayatıyla aynı değerde. Mısır’da olanları vicdanınızın ve mantığınızın süzgecinden geçirip hükümetiniz ve bürokratlarınız üzerinde insanlık adına doğru olanı yapmaları için baskı oluşturun. Aksi halde, tarih onları yanlış tarafta yer alanlardan olarak yazacak. Şu an bizim için bir lüks olan ülkenizdeki istikrar vasıtası ile size bu yazıyı ulaştırıyoruz. Elinizden geleni yapın!

Bu sizden Özgür Mısır Halkı olarak ricamızdır.

„Преди три дни, след 30 годишен режим на  жестока и корумпирана диктатура, управляван от Мубарак, египетският народ възстана да освободи страната си с милиони мирни демонстранти призоваващи за промяна. В отговор, управляващият режим прекъсна всякакви интернет и мобилни комуникации към цялото население, извърши масови арести на местни и международни журналисти, и буквално изолира хората от всички източници на новини, информация и комуникация. Освен това управляващите отговарят на демонстрациите с всякакви насилствени мерки, за да потиснат гласа на народа. Обединени в тяхната кауза, хората надделяват отказвайки да напуснат улиците, докато Мубарак  не отстъпи. В отговор, управляващият режим изпраща армията по улиците да контролира протестите с танкове и бойно снаряжение. Омар Сюлейман, един скандален ключов съюзник на интересите на САЩ, бива назначен за вицепрезидент. Отново, народът се въпротивява, борещ се за свободата си. В отговор, управляващият режим пуска на свобода  затворници, осъдени и бандити от затвори  в  цялата страна,  по улиците на египетските градове, въоръжени с полицейски автомобили, униформи и оръжия, атакуващи невъоръжени  цивилни граждани. Музеи биват плячкосвани, банки биват ограбвани, къщи биват нападани  и стотици биват убивани, докато четете тази малка бележка. И все още, всички дигитални и журналистически източници на информация  са с прекъсната връзка от и към цялата страна.

Барак Обама и световните лидери са избрали да заложат на корумпирания и брутален режим на Мубарак, въпреки всички тези факти, за да защитят своите интереси в региона; интереси, които се плащат на цената на живота и свободата на египетския народ. Обръщаме се към вас и вашата съвест , вече знаейки какво се случва в момента в Египет, да направите  всичко възможно,  да призовете  вашето правителство и длъжностните лица свързани с него, да направят необходимите действия  за подкрепа правото на свобода на египетския народ, за да не се окаже, че се намират на грешната страна в историята.   Обръщаме се към вас по силата на стабилността, в която живеете в собствената си страна; един лукс, който ние не можем да намерим.

Ние, хората на Египет, ви апелираме! „

Barack Obama e i leader mondiali hanno scelto di scommettere sul regime corrotto e brutale di Mubarak, nonostante tutti questi fatti, per proteggere i loro interessi nella regione, gli interessi che vengono a prezzo della vita e della libertà del popolo egiziano. Ci appelliamo a voi e noi invocheremo il tuo coscienza di sapere che cosa sta accadendo in Egitto, e fare tutto il possibile per esercitare una pressione sul vostro governo e funzionari di rivalutare la loro alleanza, e di proteggere gli altri esseri umani, altrimenti si troveranno
sul parte sbagliata della storia. Ci rivolgiamo a voi in virtù della stabilità in cui si vive nel proprio paese, un lusso che non possiamo trovare.

Noi, il popolo libero Egiziano, appelliamo a Voi!

Barack Obama et autres leaders mondiaux ont decidé de soutenir le régime barbare et corrompu de Mubarak, en dépit de ces faits afin de protéger leurs intérêts dans la région, au prix de vies Egyptiennes et de notre liberté. Nous faisons aujourd’hui appel à vous et à votre conscience pour savoir et comprendre ce qu’il se passe en Egypte et pouvoir faire pression sur votre gouvernment afin qu’ils puissent ré-évaluer leurs alliances avec ce régime et qu’ils protègent les vies du peuple Egyptien. Nous faisons appel à vous en vertu
de la stabilité politique dans vos pays, un luxe que nous sommes pour le moment incapable de nous offrir.

Nous, le peuple libre Egyptien, faisons appel à vous!

Barack Obama and world leaders have chosen to bet on the corrupt and brutal regime of Mubarak, despite all those facts, to protect their interests in the region; interests that come at the price of the life and liberty of the Egyptian people. We appeal to you and we call upon your conscience to know what is currently happening in Egypt, and do all that you can to exert pressure upon your government and officials to reassess their alliance, and protect fellow humans or else they will find themselves on the wrong side of history. We appeal to you by virtue of the stability in which you live in your own country; a
luxury that we are unable to find.

We, the free Egyptian people, appeal to you!

Three days ago, I read Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. He delivered it on the same day that the #Jan25 protests began in Egypt. I was dismayed that he didn’t mention the protests at all, because they’re more important than almost everything he did mention. This essay is an attempt to explain why they are so important, why Obama ignored them, and what the possible results of that choice could be.

• What Egypt is like

For readers who don’t know much about Egypt, like most Americans, here’s my attempt to sum up a country of 80 million people in three minutes.

Egypt is not a republic, any more than the People’s Republic of China is. Egypt is a brutal dictatorship, governed by the same dictator since 1981, 29 of those years under state-of-emergency regulations. That dictator, Hosni Mubarak, was the vice-president of the previous dictator, Anwar Sadat, who in turn was the vice-president of the dictator before him, Gamal Abdel Nasser, who had held absolute power since 1956. Egypt has been under one-party rule since 1952, and although the ruling party has changed its name several times, it has never yielded its power.

Egypt has gradually declined in influence and quality of life throughout Mubarak’s reign.

Some opposition parties are now formally allowed. They currently hold 3% of the Egyptian parliament. All influential opposition parties are banned, and the press is heavily censored. Mohamed ElBaradei, an Egyptian who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work fighting nuclear proliferation, moved to Vienna so that he can find reporters willing to talk to him.

Egypt is desperately poor. The majority of the country depends on the bread dole for survival.

Egypt is one of the countries where the US would ship prisoners to have them beaten, electrocuted, and raped by the Egyptian police for years, as a means of interrogation. (Abu Omar and Ahmed Osman Saleh are two of the best-known cases.) Indeed, its reputation for torture was so well established that it was the first US ally selected for this “extraordinary rendition” program.

The Egyptian police are famous for their lack of controls. Last year, Khaled Said was sitting in an internet café; a couple of policemen came in and demanded to see everyone’s ID, which is against Egyptian law. He refused, so they dragged him outside, beat him to death, and dumped his body in the street.

It’s also one of the top recipients of US aid in the world, much of which is earmarked for the security forces — the same security forces who are currently beating journalists bloody and shooting protestors with US-made tear gas, birdshot, and now bullets.

Much of Egypt’s military, the tenth largest in the world and the largest in Africa, is actually paid for by the US. Egypt produces US-designed armaments such as the M1 Abrams tank under license. Without the political and financial support of the US, it is generally believed in Egypt that the current dictatorship would have fallen decades ago.

As Shahi Hamid said, “If the army ever decides to shoot into a crowd of unarmed protestors, it will be shooting with hardware provided by the United States.”

However, as Steven A. Cook of CFR says, all those soldiers “are not there to project power, but to protect the regime.” He calls the Egyptian military “the ultimate instrument of political control.” In other words, all those weapons are bought to be used against Egyptians, not to protect Egypt.

This is exactly the sort of situation that fosters non-state terrorism: a disempowered citizenry, kept in check by only the military might of an unaccountable and corrupt dictator backed by a faraway country, watching their future being destroyed one year at a time — all so that that faraway country can have a “reliable friend” to support political goals the nation opposes. This country profile fits both Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as it has for decades. And, indeed, non-state terrorism has been on the rise in Egypt for decades, and in 2001 an Egyptian flew a plane into a US building with the help of 15 Saudis and a couple of guys from other countries. We have not begun to see the end of this.

US elites believe that crushing the Egyptian people’s dreams of opportunity and justice, year after year, is a worthwhile price to pay for having Egypt as an ally in the region. Understandably, US elites are not very popular among Egyptians.

• The revolution in Tunisia

Last month, there was a Tunisian revolution. It started when one Mohamed Bouazizi, of Sidi Bouzid, committed suicide. There’s 30% unemployment in Sidi Bouzid. At 26 years old, he was eking out a living as a fruit vendor, one of a series of marginal jobs he’d been working since he was ten years old — until a police officer slapped him in the face, spat at him, confiscated his fruit cart and electronic scales, and beat him.

So he burned himself to death in protest.

This sparked mass protests by the Tunisian people, and after a month, the 23-year rule of Tunisian dictator Ben Ali ended, and he fled the country. This was the first successful popular Arab uprising in history.

Even as I write this, the new government is still reshuffling; yesterday, six ministers left over from Ben Ali resigned from the cabinet. It is possible that the new government will still not be truly democratic, but it seems likely that protests will continue to make the country ungovernable until there is at least a credible promise of improvement.

The Tunisian dictatorship had been considered stable and a steadfast ally of the US government, to the point that it, like Egypt, accepted “extraordinary renditions” from the US government for torturing.

There’s a lot of debate about what made this revolution happen now and not at some time during the previous 23 years. Perhaps the economic situation finally got bad enough; perhaps it was the Al-Jazeera coverage; perhaps a critical mass of Tunisians had access to Twitter and Facebook to organize; perhaps US embassy cables leaked via Wikileaks sparked new anger, or made Tunisians realize that their dictator’s backing from the US government was weaker than it had appeared.

• The uprising in Egypt

Whatever it was that happened in Tunisia, Egypt has been following suit. The story I mentioned earlier, of Khaled Said, has been a rallying point.

(Liz Henry’s running summary of sources is good.)

On January 25th, Police Day, almost a hundred thousand people protested in the streets — mostly peacefully. This was the biggest protest since 1977, when Sadat cut off the bread dole. There were mass arrests, but only of a few hundred people. A policeman was killed by a thrown rock, and several protesters were killed. The government illegally and erratically blocked the web sites of Twitter, Facebook, Bambuser, the opposition newspaper Dostor, and other services. The Muslim Brotherhood, the strongest opposition party (one of the illegal ones), didn’t participate in the protests.

One freelance Al Jazeera news cameraman survived being shot by the police with 11 rubber-coated steel bullets, which were surgically removed over the following days.

There was a rumor that Gamal Mubarak, the son of the dictator, had fled to England with his family.

Nour Ayman Nour, the son of Ayman Nour, the leader of the El Ghad party, was arrested at from a protest, but escaped.

Hillary Clinton said that Mubarak’s government as “stable and looking for ways to respond” to the protestors’ demands.

On January 26th, protests continued, and activists made plans to have big protests on January 28th after prayers. Police began shooting protestors with birdshot instead of rubber-coated bullets. Hundreds of detainees were being held incommunicado with no access to lawyers. (The interior ministry said it had detained 860 people.) Hillary Clinton said that Mubarak should allow protestors to demonstrate, and “should implement reforms.” Crowds burned down government buildings in Suez and reported being “massacred”. Minister Rachid canceled his planned trip to the World Economic Forum.

By January 27th, at least three more people had died. Mohamed ElBaradei returned to Egypt. Crowds stormed morgues in Suez to recover the bodies of the dead. The stock exchange halted trading for 45 minutes due to rapidly dropping stock prices. 140 protestors were charged with sedition. Ahmed Ezz, the country’s wealthiest businessman, was rumored to have fled the country. The Muslim Brotherhood pledged to participate in Friday’s protests. Crowds burned a fire station in Suez. Egypt canceled football games. ElBaradei published an op-ed entitled “A Manifesto for Change in Egypt”.

A major protest is planned for the 28th, right after early afternoon prayers.

On the morning of January 28th, they turned off nationwide internet access, BlackBerry messaging, and SMS, and there are rumors that satellite phones are jammed. The news media is supposedly forbidden from reporting. Ham radio and telephone systems are still in operation, including internationally.

Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian expatriate journalist, has warned that this dark curtain being drawn around Egypt is intended to conceal a massacre.

The police began mass arrests of Muslim Brotherhood activists, and police started setting fire to cars for no apparent reason. Joe Biden says he wouldn’t call Mubarak a dictator.

One ISP remains connected internationally, permitting banks, the stock market, and activists to reach the rest of the world.

• What is at stake in Egypt

First, Mubarak could fall. The new government could be democratic, military, or Islamist. 80 million people could be liberated from tyranny.

Tunisia is a tiny country with little influence. Egypt, however, is one of the most powerful countries in the Middle East and in Africa. It houses al-Azhar university; it’s the origin of many of today’s Middle Eastern political movements; and it has immense military strength. Its current government is also a key ally of the US in the region.

If Egypt democratizes, it is very likely that other Arab autocrats will be overthrown by popular uprisings, too. Hundreds of millions of people could wrest back their futures from the hands of the greedy autocrats who rule them today.

Because the people of the region have been living under US-supported dictatorships for so long, it is likely that any new governments will be less favorable toward the US (and Israel) than the current ones — although Egypt is probably the most severe case of this.

It’s likely that such a transition would result in more violence in the short term, but less in the long term.

And the influence of the US would be dramatically reduced.

On the other hand, the army could massacre hundreds of thousands of people, finally putting to use all those US-made, US-funded guns and bombs. There is surely some level of violence at which the people would be cowed, even if there wouldn’t be anything left fighting for afterwards.

• Obama’s choice to snub the Egyptian activists

Barack Obama, in his speech, naturally spoke most about the United States; but he also spoke about Korea, Russia, Chile, China, India, Afghanistan, Iraq, Panama, Pakistan, Brazil, El Salvador, Sudan, and Colombia. He even said he supports the revolution in Tunisia:

And we saw that same desire to be free in Tunisia, where the will of the people proved more powerful than the writ of a dictator. And tonight, let us be clear: The United States of America stands with the people of Tunisia, and supports the democratic aspirations of all people.

But he didn’t say a word about Egypt.

Of course, actually “supporting the democratic aspirations of all people” would mean that he supports the Egyptian protestors in their efforts to liberate their nation from its ruthless dictator. But Obama’s vice-president, Joe Biden, says he doesn’t even think Mubarak is a dictator, and that some of the protestors’ demands are not “legitimate”.

Obama is a first-class politician, maybe the best in the world. He wouldn’t leave out Egypt by accident.

It seems that he’s simply continuing the policy described earlier, supporting the Egyptian government no matter how oppressive it is, because it might survive and he believes its support is essential.

Perhaps he has calculated that any new government would likely be anti-US whatever he does, so he has nothing to lose by backing Mubarak. Or perhaps he thinks he can get away with taking no real action, and later claiming that he always supported the democratic aspirations of Egyptian people?

In any case, his support emboldens Mubarak for the massacre he is planning a few hours from now. Some of the innocent Egyptian blood shed today will be on Barack Obama’s hands.

It is often difficult and risky to take the side of justice, righteousness, freedom, and democracy. But those who side against them will not be remembered kindly by those who risked their lives for them. Obama has chosen cowardice and expediency over principles and honesty. And that choice undermines his stirring rhetoric much more than any sloppy choice of words could have.

Courtesy of:

http://canonical.org/~kragen/egypt-massacre-sotu.html