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Mubarak, Army, U.S., Israel vs Egyptian People

February 2, 2011 By Emad Mekay

[As government forces have attacked peaceful protesters in Tahrir Square, Emad Mekay from Cairo reports]

Mubarak is clearly backed by the Americans. He took some moves after speaking with Obama and a visit by a former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner.

Mubarak, the army, the Americans and the Israelis are clearly on one side. That’s one camp. The people of Egypt (most of them now) are the other.
The Americans want Mubarak to stay on for longer while they look for a suitable successor that would be best for U.S. interests.

Mubarak’s tactic is to make Egyptians choose between “security”, that he supposedly provided over the past 30 years, or insecurity, vandalism, and chaos that he is also providing now. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Resources on Trade, World Bank & IMF, Uncategorized, War: Info, Analysis, Policy Options

Unrest Spreads to Sinai

February 1, 2011 By Mohammed Omer

Mohammed OmerA Bedouin youth casually spreads out a piece of cloth before a police headquarters in Sheikh Zwayyed town in Sinai, the vast desert area to the east of Cairo across the Suez. “I will leave when Mubarak leaves,” he says. [Full piece from Inter Press Service]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Chomsky: Strategic and Economic Objectives, Not Anti-Islamization, Drives U.S. Policy

January 31, 2011 By Noam Chomsky

[While many are claiming that a central goal of U.S. policy is to minimize influence of groups like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Noam Chomsky contributed this to our blog]

It is well-established, including the major scholarly literature, that the U.S. supports democracy if and only if that accords with strategic and economic objectives.  Following that principle, in the Arab/Muslim region it has generally supported radical Islamists in fear of secular nationalism (as has the UK).  Familiar examples include Saudi Arabia, the ideological center of radical Islam (and of Islamic terror), Zia ul-Haq, the most vicious of Pakistan’s dictators, Reagan’s favorite, who carried out a program of radical Islamization (with Saudi funding), and many others.  The operative criterion is obedience, not religious extremism (rampant in the U.S., for example) or surely democracy.

Chomsky’s books include Deterring Democracy.

Filed Under: Resources on Trade, World Bank & IMF, War: Info, Analysis, Policy Options

An Open Letter to President Barack Obama

January 30, 2011 By journalist

—————————————————————————————————————————

[To sign; for recent news releases on Egypt from the Institute for Public Accuracy]

Dear President Obama:

As political scientists, historians, and researchers in related fields who have studied the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy, we the undersigned believe you have a chance to move beyond rhetoric to support the democratic movement sweeping over Egypt. As citizens, we expect our president to uphold those values.

For thirty years, our government has spent billions of dollars to help build and sustain the system the Egyptian people are now trying to dismantle. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Resources on Trade, World Bank & IMF, War: Info, Analysis, Policy Options

Report from Cairo

January 28, 2011 By journalist

From Alex Ortiz in Cairo: “The army is beginning to come into Cairo … tens of thousands converged in midan al-gala’ coming from three different protest marches. Total communication blackout. Reports of senior police officers ordering their men to stand down and not beat or fire tear gas at protesters in Midan al-gala an hour ago.”

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Report on Latest from Cairo

January 26, 2011 By Emad Mekay

CAIRO, Egypt [11 p.m. local time] — 1-Some government media figures appear to be joining ranks with the protesters. Mahmoud Saad, a talk show host in the Egyptian state-run TV, has announced that he will no longer appear on TV starting tonight after he came under pressure from top government officials to report “untruths” about the protests. Mahmoud Saad, a popular TV host, has told other journalists that his disappearance from his daily show, Masr El-Naharda (Egypt Today), comes in protests against pressure to defame protesters as rioters “destroying the country”. The state is clearly starting to launch a media campaign against the protests. My guess is that they will try to scare off the rest of Egyptians from joining the protests in the future by labeling protesters “saboteurs”. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Police in Cairo Beating up Jounalists

January 26, 2011 By Emad Mekay

[From 9:28 a.m. ET]: Police started beating up journalists protesting outside the Press Syndicate in downtown Cairo. They beat up women journalists too who were screaming and crying for help. “Do not club women. Do not club women,” some of the men rushed to the police asking them not to target women. “You’ll make things worse if you use violence” many journalists were telling police officers outside the building.

In the industrial city of Mahala, police virtually cordoned off the city. My sources in the city tell me the police ordered early dismissal of textile factory workers to preempt any organized protests of workers after work. They also blocked all traffic to some streets leading to the city center square, Al-Shoon Sqaure.

The protests are not asking for anything specific this time. They want the government out. It is that general.

Based in Cairo, Mekay reports for Inter Press Service and other outlets.

Filed Under: Resources on Trade, World Bank & IMF, War: Info, Analysis, Policy Options Tagged With:

From Alex Ortiz in Cairo

January 26, 2011 By Alex Ortiz

[The Egyptian government has apparently block Twitter, Facebook (as of Wed. morn U.S. ET) and other internet tools, though apparently some people are able to get around such restrictions. Email from 8:45 a.m. ET:]

Downtown Cairo today remains in a state of high alert. There are many security forces and plainsclothed policemen visible on every street in the center of the city. There have been minor clashes with protesters in various parts of Cairo, as well as in Assiyut – a city to the south.

At the moment, security forces are cordoning off Tahrir Square. Private security guards in the immediate area claimed that they have heard through Central Security that clashes are expected later in the day.

More to come.

Also see: http://tweetchat.com/room/jan25

Ortiz studies at American University in Cairo; he graduated from Brown University in Arabic literary translation and Middle Eastern studies in 2009. Yesterday he succeeded in having a video stream of protests with thousands watching online.

Filed Under: Resources on Trade, World Bank & IMF, War: Info, Analysis, Policy Options Tagged With:

Video from Cairo

January 25, 2011 By sam

Phone lines are intermittent and Twitter has reportedly been blocked in Egypt. Here is a live video feed: ustream.tv/channel/cairodowntown [update: ustream has been blocked, streaming now intermittently at livestream.com/cairowitness -- further update, now at: www.justin.tv/cairowitness]

Here is a YouTube video from earlier today:

Filed Under: Resources on Trade, World Bank & IMF, War: Info, Analysis, Policy Options Tagged With:

Ukraine’s Assault on a Free Press

January 24, 2011 By David Marks

In Ukraine, where media diversity is often defined by which powerful oligarch controls which TV station, one network, TVi — known for its independent investigative style — is under intense legal pressure, with its owner not part of Ukraine’s power circles.

TVi faces a court hearing on Tuesday over a legal claim that the station’s frequencies were not legally authorized. But critics, including many from abroad, have accused the Kiev government of using the case as a way to bludgeon a troublesome media voice into silence. … [See full piece on consortiumnews.com]

Filed Under: Electoral Issues Tagged With: ,
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