Egypt wants money from the world

In one word, the answer should be:   NO.

Here is the answer - if you want OUR money (whoever the OUR may be) YOU MUST accept the conditions.  You don't get to go to the bank and dictate TERMS to them (however much we wish we could).

Protect visitors, encourage tourism, stop with religious attacks on the paganism of the pyramids, ensure visitors are not slaughtered on the steps of Hatshepsuts tomb.  If you do this, people will want to visit.  Otherwise, enjoy your sandbox, because that is all you have.

 

 

August 22, 2012

Egypt Requests $4.8 Billion From I.M.F.

By KAREEM FAHIM

CAIRO — The Egyptian government on Wednesday requested a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, in the country’s latest attempt to secure financing for an economy badly damaged by political upheaval since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt’s prime minister, Hesham Qandil, said that he hoped to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund by December.

This year, Egypt requested a smaller loan but said at the time that the amount could increase because of the country’s falling revenues from tourism and increasingly scarce foreign investment.

Speaking at a news conference with the monetary fund’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, Mr. Qandil said that Ms. Lagarde’s visit sent a message to the world that Egypt was “stabilizing.”

The loan has been a contentious issue in Egypt, where there is much popular resentment against conditions required by Western lenders.

Members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s most powerful political party, had previously voiced reservations about accepting the I.M.F. loan.

But the country’s new president, Mohamed Morsi, a former Brotherhood leader, has seemingly put aside those reservations as he grapples with Egypt’s deepening financial crisis.

While the terms of a possible agreement are still being discussed, Mr. Qandil said that the interest rate on the loan, to be disbursed in several parts, would be 1.1 percent.

In recent months, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have lent the Egyptian government at least $3 billion.

Ms. Lagarde said that I.M.F. officials would travel to Egypt next month to discuss the loan further.

"Egypt faces considerable challenges, including the need to restart growth, and reduce budget and balance of payments deficits," she said in a statement.
 

 

egypt

Egyptian Hope?

18-20 months ago, the world media proclaimed a new dawn in Egypt, the end of Mubarek, the end of a regime, the end of tyranny, the start of democracy.  El Baredi was even going to run, students and women marched in the streets.  Democracy was at hand.  Peace and hope.  Hope for the future, change to a better way of living.  All sorts of pro-democratic groups were on the televisions, all manner of commentary poured from the mouths of US and European commentators when discussing the support of El Baredi and other democratic candidates.  Often they would mention the brotherhood as being in the background, and in the first days and weeks, the brotherhood said it had no interest in elections or being in the political process, that was instead for the people.

All along I knew that what was pushing the entire process was the muslim brotherhood.  Democratic movements are not organized.  There is no basis for democracy in Egypt and never has been.  Brotherhood knew this.  They are the killers of Anwar Sadat.  They are the link between Libya and Tunisia and Algeria and Egypt … the brotherhood links them all, and intended from day 1 to take control and it slowly began the process.  Soon enough El Barredi dropped out and has disappeared.  All the pro Democratic candidates dropped out leaving only the military to save Egypt and the Middle East.  Ironic given their past association with ‘peace’. 

Now, the Muslim Brotherhood makes it clear … especially the last sentence of the quote:

"Over the past 18 months we were very keen to avoid any clashes or confrontations with other components of Egypt's political system because we felt that it would have negative consequences for the democratic system and for society as a whole," said Fatema AbouZeid, a senior policy researcher for the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party and a media coordinator for the Morsi campaign. "But now it's very clear that Scaf and other institutions of the state are determined to stand in the way of what we're trying to achieve, and we won't accept this any more. Egypt will not go back to the old regime through any means, legal or illegal.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/18/egypt-muslim-brotherhood-warning

egypt

Egypt and the Naivete of Women in Revolution

Silly women - you were not in the forefront of a revolution, you were duped by Islamists who let you march to achieve their ends and now that they have reached the point they sought - you are expendable.  WHy are you surprised?  The men in your country are unworthy to be called men.  Those who stand up to the Islamists live elsewhere, and those who fail to stand up to them do not deserve to be called men, while the rest subjugate women.

Mob attacks march against sexual harassment in Egypt

Around 50 women participated in Cairo march

The Associated Press

Jun 8, 2012 3:37 PM ET

A mob of hundreds of men assaulted women holding a march demanding an end to sexual harassment Friday, with the attackers overwhelming the male guardians and groping and molesting several of the female marchers in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

From the ferocity of the assault, some of the victims said it appeared to have been an organized attempt to drive women out of demonstrations and trample on the pro-democracy protest movement.

The attack follows smaller scale assaults on women this week in Tahrir, the epicentre of the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down last year. Thousands have been gathering in the square this week in protests over a variety of issues -- mainly over worries that presidential elections this month will secure the continued rule by elements of Mubarak's regime backed by the ruling military.

Earlier in the week, an Associated Press reporter witnessed around 200 men assault a woman who eventually fainted before men trying to help could reach her.

Friday's march was called to demand an end to sexual assaults. Around 50 women participated, surrounded by a larger group of male supporters who joined to hands to form a protective ring around them. The protesters carried posters saying, "The people want to cut the hand of the sexual harasser," and chanted, "The Egyptian girl says it loudly, harassment is barbaric."

After the marchers entered a crowded corner of the square, a group of men waded into the women, heckling them and groping them. The male supporters tried to fend them off, and it turned into a melee involving a mob of hundreds.

Marchers tried to flee

The marchers tried to flee while the attackers chased them and male supporters tried to protect them. But the attackers persisted, cornering several women against a metal sidewalk railing, including an Associated Press reporter, shoving their hands down their clothes and trying to grab their bags. The male supporters fought back, swinging belts and fists and throwing water.

'I am here to take a position and to object to this obscene act in society,'—Ahmed Mansour, 22-year-old male medical student

Eventually, the women were able to reach refuge in a nearby building with the mob still outside until they finally got out to safety.

"After what I saw and heard today. I am furious at so many things. Why beat a girl and strip her off? Why?" wrote Sally Zohney, one of the organizers of the event on Twitter.

The persistence of the attack raised the belief of many that it was intentional, though who orchestrated it was unclear.

Mariam Abdel-Shahid, a 25 year-old cinema student who took part in the march, said "sexual harassment will only take us backward."

"This is pressure on the woman to return home," she said.

Ahmed Mansour, a 22 year-old male medical student who took part in the march, said there are "people here trying to abuse the large number of women protesters who feel safe and secure. Some people think it is targeted to make women hate coming here."

"I am here to take a position and to object to this obscene act in society," he said.

Assaults on women Tahrir have been a demoralizing turn for Egypt's protest movement.

During the 18-day uprising against Mubarak last year, women say they briefly experienced a "new Egypt," with none of the harassment that is common in Cairo's streets taking place in Tahrir.

Women participated in the anti-Mubarak uprising as leading activists, protesters, medics and even fighters to ward off attacks by security agents or affiliated thugs. They have continued the role during the frequent protests over the past 15 months against the military, which took power after Mubarak's fall on Feb. 11, 2011.

But women have also been targeted, both by mobs and by military and security forces in crackdowns, a practice commonly used by Mubarak security against protesters. Lara Logan, a U.S. correspondent for CBS television, was sexually assaulted by a frenzied mob in Tahrir on the day Mubarak stepped down, when hundreds of thousands of Egyptians came to the square to celebrate.

In a defining image of the post-Mubarak state violence against women, troops dispersing a December protest in Tahrir were captured on video stripping a woman's top off down to her blue bra and stomping with their boots on her chest, as other troops pulled her by the arms across the ground.

That incident prompted an unprecedented march by some 10,000 women through central Cairo in December demanding Egypt's ruling military step down in a show of outrage

Small crowd

In contrast, the small size of Friday's march could reflect the vulnerability and insecurity many feel in the square, which was packed with thousands of mostly young men by nightfall Friday. Twenty rights groups signed on to support the stand and hundreds more vowed to take part, according to the Facebook page where organizers publicized the event, but only around 50 women participated.

Sexual harassment of women, including against those who wear the Islamic headscarf or even cover their face, is common in the streets of Cairo. A 2008 report by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights says two-thirds of women in Egypt experienced sexual harassment on a daily basis. A string of mass assaults on women in 2006 during the Muslim feast following the holy month of Ramadan prompted police to increase the number of patrols to combat it but legislation providing punishment was never passed.

After Friday's attack, many were already calling for another, much larger stand in the square against such assaults.

Another participant in Friday's march, Ahmed Hawary, said a close female friend of his was attacked by a mob of men in Tahrir Square in January. She was rushed off in an ambulance, which was the only way to get her out, he said. After suffering from a nervous breakdown, she left Cairo altogether to work elsewhere in Egypt.

"Women activists are at the core of the revolution," Hawary said. "They are the courage of this movement. If you break them, you break the spirit of the revolution."

It was NEVER a revolution you twit.  It was an Islamic uprising and you aided them.  End of story.

Egypt

The Thing About Liberals ...

Wherever they may live - liberals want change, now, immediate, and without hesitation.  They want good things - end of dictators and tyrants, the right of people to speak and scream, the rights of women and children, pro choice on all issues (except in the US where pro choice does not include the right to choose life based upon Biblical traditions).

Liberals want good things, there is no doubt.  They want it now and some, a few, will even march in protests and risk their very lives in cities like New York and Washington.  Set aside how asinine that image is, those same few would not march in protests against Mubarek or Khadafi.  Yet some liberal minded people did march in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, and Iran.  Some did and some risked everything to march for freedom.  The world media caught them on video, and showed us their heroic efforts to end the rule of tyrants and dictators - sadly, they were not the real protesters.

Sadly the world was mistaken.  But that's another thing about liberals, a slip here and there, a few mistakes along the way, and things are still fine, no apologies.  Like the t-shirt company in the 90's - No Fear.  This one for liberals - No Apologies.  Could be something George Clooney sets up, maybe even Kofi Annan. 

It's alright, they care, and that is all that matters whereas the heartless greedy conservatives hate everyone - unlike Kofi who presided over two genocides (or attempted), and Clooney who is a clueless as Anna, but he cares.

Yet back to the 'liberal protestors' shown on TV in Tunisia and Libya and Egypt, and Syria ... the face of a revolution.  Behind the face are very dark shadows that have seized control in Tunisia and Libya, and are on the edge of control in Egypt.  The liberal protesters sit back and wonder what happened - they are slightly dazed and certainly confused, wondering aloud what happened to all their candidates who promised them a yellow brick road and sunshine. 

"Young liberal and left-wing revolutionaries who led last year's uprising were dismayed when their own candidates lost the first round of the presidential election last month."

Dismayed?  Ha.  Anyone with half a wit, which discounts Obama, understood the 'revolution' was not the Arab Spring of Democracy Obama was touting, as were so many other quagga's in the media.  As if every quean on earth got in line to drink that cool-aid, and boy did they.  The jubilant support for the 'liberal' protesters in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt ... heck, we even put the liberal protesters in power in Libya, and are on the verge of doing the same in Syria.

What havoc we wreak in doing good, promoting good.  And they condemned Bush for Iraq.  Ha. 

Mubarek sentenced to life in prison for the few deaths in Tahir Square a little more than a year ago.  The funny part, 10X that many have died since, hundreds more have disappeared.  Thousands have been beaten and arrested and tried for crimes against the state.    Who now will be held responsible or is that ok with liberals - bloodshed to cleanse the palate.  The French believed that was the way to do it, until they ate their own and the blood ran freely for years.  Insanity.

But never apologize - not for any of your actions, a sure sign of sincerity and caring.


Quagga and quean are words.  They are not pulled out of my ass as some people are prone to doing!
Kofi is mentioned in regard to his passionate work on behalf of ton he Tutsi and Bosnians.







egypt

Egypt: A big step backward toward darkness

From December 1914 until 1917, Hussein Kamel ruled Egypt.  The three year period was the English Protectorate during World War I.  In 1917, Fuad I became King of Egypt.  He remained on the throne until 1936.  His son Farouk followed and he remained on the throne until 1956 when Gamil Nasser deposed him.  From 1914 until 1956, we have men placed on the throne who were more disposed toward the English than toward Mecca.  They may have been very good Muslims but they were Western-looking not Mecca-looking.

Prior to 1914, Abbas II ruled from 1892 until 1914 - nominally in charge, but again with British oversight and involvement by the Ottoman Empire.  Not religious to any serious degree as understood today.  From 1879 to 1892, Tewfik, father of Abbas II ruled.  Tewfik was generally Western in his outlook, devoting much attention to educational and legal reforms.

From 1879 through 1956, a Western government has been in control in Egypt.  Over 70 years of Western thought and ideas directing Egyptian policy.  Then in 1956, Gamil Nasser and other military officers, staged a coup, deposed the King and seized power.  While there was a confrontation in Egypt, it was between East and West, not between Western and Islamic.  Nasser toyed with the West and with the Soviets and was regardless of all else, Western in his outlook.  Nasser was removed by Sadat who signed a peace agreement with Israel (after a war that went badly for Egypt).  Despite his confrontations with Israel, Egypt was still very much Western in its outlook.  Sadat was murdered in 1981 by the Muslim Brotherhood, members of which went on to join up with al qaida.

Hosni Mubarek took control when Sadat was murdered and maintained control through 2011.  Then came the Arab Spring, which is wrongly named, and was in fact not run by peace-demonstrators, nor by reformers, but was fronted by stooges who would never gain power even though the west was fooled into believing they actually were in charge. 

The power in Egypt then and now is the Muslim Brotherhood.  We pushed for Mubarek to step down and now, what has followed in the last year in Egypt is a hell worse than any Mubarek ever imposed upon Egyptians.  A country that has stopped moving forward and is instead focused entirely on taking its considerable military to war with Israel. 

Today, the only candidates for the Presidency in Egypt are Islamist.  The Muslim Brotherhood will take control of Egypt and its military.  In the next year, the majority of generals serving today will retire and the up and coming officer corp are Islamist.

Egypt is about to take a 1000 year step backward.  After more than 130 years of Western policies, of pro-Western governments (whatever that means in Egypt), the tide is about to shift to a Western hating, Israeli hating, pro al qaida, pro Islamist government that controls the Suez Canal.

The fault for all this is Mubarek's and his government for pushing Egyptians to this point, but it is also a failure of the West to recognize who was really behind the uprisings.  The Brotherhood kept themselves relatively hidden in the beginning.  They said they had no interest in governing.  They wanted freedom and hope, they wanted change and peace ... but all that was a lie and anyone who understood anything about Egyptian history knew this was the case.

Now Mr. Obama, how do you deal with the fallout of losing Egypt to Islamist forces.

How shall you color this game-changer?












Egypt

While the World Withers

While the world teeters uncomfortably on a precipice - on one side a near all out genocide in various countries, and on the other tyrants controlling their people like cannibals control their lunch before preparation.

Mali has turned into a very unstable area.  A coup on March 22 has further exacerbated the problems.  In the north, rebels (read this as Islamic extremists - Tuareg) are advancing on government forces, and at this time Timbuktu has fallen to the rebels.  It seems the government forces are ill equipped and unable to stop the advance of the Islamic forces from the north headed by a former general as well as many soldiers from the Libyan military.

In Syria, apparently peace initiatives have been accepted by Assad.  The US has taken the firm step of declaring that Assad must go.  Hillary Clinton stated on April 1, that "the world will not waiver, Assad must go."   The US government has recognized the Syrian National Council, as representing all Syrians.  It also urged Syrian soldiers to disobey any orders to kill or injure civilians.

Assad cannot go so easily.  There is a great deal more at stake than simply Assad.  Iran is involved, al qaida is involved, the Baath party, the Assad family comes from a tribe that would not only lose power but would be punished by whatever came next.  There is still much bloodshed to follow.  Much.

And our Secretary of State says nothing when she opens her mouth except rubbish.  Those people who have been oppressed and arrested and those killed - the retribution without a stable government would be similar to what existed in Iraq (although not as extreme as between Shia and Sunni).

The winner for this will be al qaida (and I lump loosely all fundamental extremist Islamic groups into this label) and or hizbollah.  If hizbollah wins, Iran wins.  If al qaida wins - everyone loses.  The other option is for Assad to hold on to limited power and an elected parliament take actual power.  This option would forestall total bloodshed and Syria turning into an al qaida outpost or Iranian province.

In the Sudan, the juvenile attempt by the UN to create peace where none can exist.  Sudan had been in the grips of a genocide by the northern Islamic forces seeking to destroy and eliminate all non-muslim peoples.  It was, according to the UN, about water - which is not true.  Think OIL and you would be closer.  They had an election and separated.  There is the North (capital at Khartoum) controlled by Islamic forces, and the South (capital at Juba), controlled by Christian and animist forces.  According to those deluded enough to believe - everyone would get along famously after the division, but alas war continues and potential for a return to the genocide of the 90s and early part of the 21st century is near.

Yemen is another area that has not stabilized - kidnappings and assassinations are common.  Al qaida is responsible for both and in once case, a military base was attacked near a town called Zinijibar where 180 soldiers were killed and 70 abducted.    According to the UN, 3 million or so people are in need of aid.  This has the potential to turn into something much worse.

In Tunis, Islamic forces (again, al qaida as the label I use - Islamic extremist / fundamentalist groups) are pressuring the government through Islamic elected representatives to implement Islamic law and move toward a more centrally directed Islamic state.

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood (al qaida by my labeling) has ... gasp ... broken a promise (which was never a promise anyway ... to not seek control / power by involvement in presidential elections.  Gasp ... who actually believed them when they initially lied.  They lied when it suited them, when the forces aligned against Mubarek and now that all of his power and those fingers on the buttons in Egypt are out of the way, the Islamists will seize control spreading al qaida throughout North Africa. and down the Eastern coast.

The rift between Islamists and secular parties in Egypt deepened. Five parties accused the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist al-Nour party of dominating the 100-member panel tasked with drafting a new constitution. Boycotting the panel they promised to establish a parallel body to produce their own document.

Friction between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces also increased, with the Brotherhood threatening to topple the current government and warning of a second revolution if the military fails to relinquish power.   The military held power to ensure control over the rising Islamic tide and to pacify European and Western concerns over Islamic influence.  If the military gave up control and the Muslim Brotherhood seized control, the assassination of President Sadat will be complete.  The peace between Israel and Egypt would end and the world would be left with an Islamic power in Egypt that has never held power in Egypt in over 11 centuries.

In Afghanistan, the calm has slowly returned after 17 people were murdered by a US soldier.  According to figures available, more than 15 NATO forces have been murdered by Afghan soldiers turning their guns on them.  The US paid off the victims and their families.  No one paid off the NATO soldiers murdered by Taliban/al qaida instructed/supported/directed Afghan soldiers.

In Ethiopia and Eritrea, problems mounted.  While it seems like it is a world away from the US and our lives here, this unstable area could turn into a conflagration we will be forced to intervene in as the problem is not limited to the two African countries.   Ethiopian troops attacked military bases in Eritrea, claiming they were being used to train insurgents operating in the Afar region. Eritrea accused Ethiopia  of trying to divert attention from the dispute over their common border, and called on the UN to take action against Ethiopia.

Civil war and unrest after the first round of presidential elections in Guinea-Bissau.  The current Prime Minister took the lead with 49 per cent of votes. His opponents denounced fraud in the vote, and vow to boycott the run-off, scheduled for 18 April.  There have been assassinations and kidnappings and just hours after polling closed, the former head of their spy police was assassinated.  Shortly thereafter, the ex-army Chief of Staff asked for refuge in the EU compound in Bissau. 

In China, the ever tolerant regime has arrested six people and shut 16 websites after rumours were spread that military vehicles were on the streets of Beijing.  Doubtful those six people will ever see daylight again and probably many more arrests will follow.  This is what the world could expect from a China in control.

Russia is another explosion waiting to happen.  Obama promising to give to Russia codes for the missile defense system that protects Eastern European countries.  Those eastern European countries are now realizing the Obama administration is tossing them under the Russian bear and they do not like it at all.  Our relations with several countries have already been damaged.  The Polish government has started started leaking details about CIA prisons to embarrass the Obama administration, and the Ukraine has turned from the West and is now trying to make friends with Russia.  It seems that Obama is turning over the Eastern European nations to Russia just as we did in 1945.   Those countries are not happy and they will demonstrate their displeasure with increased disdain for the US. 

This disdain will further embolden Obama - his mantra that we (the US) are not special will further complete this world view - no one will care what we think or say about anything, thereby weakening US foreign policy and world respect for the US.

It is amazing what damage he has done in his 3.5 years.  Doubled the debt, weakened alliances, destroyed several alliances, and divided the US even more.  More jobs have gone abroad, our economy is bankrupt and he plows ahead with programs that will ensure we remain bankrupt.  Meanwhile Islamic forces move across the North of Africa and through the Middle East, toppling governments and installing extremist Islamic regimes.  The Arab Spring that liberals made such a deal about, the spread of freedom and such across North Africa and into the Middle East was actually the Spring of Islamic resurgence, not freedom.  Anyone who believed otherwise was not fully aware of the details and the events on the ground.












obama

Egyptian official: 73 dead, hundreds hurt in riots after soccer game By the CNN Wire Staff 2/1/12

Flares are thrown in the stadium during clashes that erupted after a football match between Egypt's Al-Ahly and Al-Masry teams in Port Said.

Cairo (CNN) -- At least 73 people were killed when riots broke out after a soccer game Wednesday in Egypt, the country's deputy health minister said.

At least 180 others were injured in the riots, the deputy minister said.

The fighting occurred in a stadium in the northeastern city of Port Said after a match between the Al-Ahly team and Port Said's Al-Masry team.

"It's kind of a security vacuum in the football stadium. ... It's not unheard of to have organized violence between football clubs, but something on this scale has never been seen before," said James Montague, a CNN contributor who researched soccer in the Middle East for his book "When Friday Comes: Football in the War Zone."

egypt

Arab Spring is American Fall

What do you get when you elect a man with less foreign policy experience than my mailman, and he brings in his cabal who have equally no experience or a decidely leftist / marxist leaning to their ideological outlook.

What do you get?

Well - Glick makes it pretty obvious in her column -




America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent

By Caroline B. Glick


http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |

A year ago this week, on January 25, 2011, the ground began to crumble under then-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's feet. One year later, Mubarak and his sons are in prison, and standing trial. This week, the final vote tally from Egypt's parliamentary elections was published. The Islamist parties have won 72 percent of the seats in the lower house.

The photogenic, Western-looking youth from Tahrir Square the Western media were thrilled to dub the Facebook revolutionaries were disgraced at the polls and exposed as an insignificant social and political force.

As for the military junta, it has made its peace with the Muslim Brotherhood. The generals and the jihadists are negotiating a power-sharing agreement. According to details of the agreement that have made their way to the media, the generals will remain the West's go-to guys for foreign affairs. The Muslim Brotherhood (and its fellow jihadists in the Salafist al-Nour party) will control Egypt's internal affairs.

This is bad news for women and for non-Muslims. Egypt's Coptic Christians have been under continuous attack by Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist supporters since Mubarak was deposed. Their churches, homes and businesses have been burned, looted and destroyed. Their wives and daughters have been raped. The military massacred them when they dared to protest their persecution.

As for women, their main claim to fame since Mubarak's overthrow has been their sexual victimization at the hands of soldiers who stripped female protesters and performed "virginity tests" on them. Out of nearly five hundred seats in parliament, only 10 will be filled by women.

The Western media are centering their attention on what the next Egyptian constitution will look like and whether it will guarantee rights for women and minorities. What they fail to recognize is that the Islamic fundamentalists now in charge of Egypt don't need a constitution to implement their tyranny. All they require is what they already have - a public awareness of their political power and their partnership with the military.

The same literalist approach that has prevented Western observers from reading the writing on the walls in terms of the Islamists' domestic empowerment has blinded them to the impact of Egypt's political transformation on the country's foreign policy posture. US officials forcefully proclaim that they will not abide by an Egyptian move to formally abrogate its peace treaty with Israel. What they fail to recognize is that whether or not the treaty is formally abrogated is irrelevant. The situation on the ground in which the new regime allows Sinai to be used as a launching ground for attacks against Israel, and as a highway for weapons and terror personnel to flow freely into Gaza, are clear signs that the peace with Israel is already dead - treaty or no treaty.

EGYPT'S TRANSFORMATION is not an isolated event. The disgraced former Yemen president Ali Abdullah Saleh arrived in the US this week. Yemen is supposed to elect his successor next month. The deteriorating security situation in that strategically vital land which borders the Arabian and Red Seas has decreased the likelihood that the election will take place as planned.

Yemen is falling apart at the seams. Al-Qaida forces have been advancing in the south. Last spring they took over Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province. In recent weeks they captured Radda, a city 160 km. south of the capital of Sana.

Radda's capture underscored American fears that the political upheaval in Yemen will provide al- Qaida with a foothold near shipping routes through the Red Sea and so enable the group to spread its influence to neighboring Saudi Arabia.

Al-Qaida forces were also prominent in the NATO-backed Libyan opposition forces that with NATO's help overthrew Muammar Gaddafi in October. Although the situation on the ground is far from clear, it appears that radical Islamic political forces are intimidating their way into power in post-Gaddafi Libya.

Take for instance last weekend's riots in Benghazi. On Saturday protesters laid siege to the National Transitional Council offices in the city while Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the head of the NTC, hid inside. In an attempt to quell the protesters' anger, Jalil fired six secular members of the NTC. He then appointed a council of religious leaders to investigate corruption charges and identify people with links to the Gaddafi regime.

In Bahrain, the Iranian-supported Shi'ite majority continues to mount political protests against the Sunni monarchy. Security forces killed two young Shi'ite protesters over the past week and a half, and opened fired at Shi'ites who sought to hold a protest march after attending the funeral of one of them.

As supporters of Bahrain's Shi'ites have maintained since the unrest spread to the kingdom last year, Bahrain's Shi'ites are not Iranian proxies. But then, until the US pulled its troops out of Iraq last month, neither were Iraq's Shi'ites. What happened immediately after the US pullout is another story completely.

Extolling Iraq's swift deterioration into an Iranian satrapy, last Wednesday, Brig.-Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps Jerusalem Brigade, bragged, "In reality, in south Lebanon and Iraq, the people are under the effect of the Islamic Republic's way of practice and thinking."

While Suleimani probably exaggerated the situation, there is no doubt that Iran's increased influence in Iraq is being felt around the region. Iraq has come to the aid of Iran's Syrian client Bashar Assad who is now embroiled in a civil war. The rise of Iran in Iraq holds dire implications for the Hashemite regime in Jordan which is currently hanging on by a thread, challenged from within and without by the rising force of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Much has been written since the fall of Mubarak about the impact on Israel of the misnamed Arab Spring. Events like September's mob assault on Israel's embassy in Cairo and the murderous cross-border attack on motorists traveling on the road to Eilat by terrorists operating out of Sinai give force to the assessment that Israel is more imperiled than ever by the revolutionary events engulfing the region.

But the truth is that while on balance Israel's regional posture has taken a hit, particularly from the overthrow of Mubarak and the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists in Egypt, Israel is not the primary loser in the so-called Arab Spring.

Israel never had many assets in the Arab world to begin with. The Western-aligned autocracies were not Israel's allies. To the extent the likes of Mubarak and others have cooperated with Israel on various issues over the years, their cooperation was due not to any sense of comity with Jewish state. They worked with Israel because they believed it served their interests to do so. And at the same time Mubarak reined in the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas because they threatened him, he waged political war against Israel on every international stage and allowed anti-Semitic poison to be broadcast daily on his regime-controlled television stations.

Since Israel's stake in the Arab power game has always been limited, its losses as a consequence of the fall of anti-Israel secular dictatorships and their replacement by anti-Israel Islamist regimes have been marginal. The US, on the other hand, has seen its interests massively harmed. Indeed, the US is the greatest loser of the pan-Arab revolutions.

TO UNDERSTAND the depth and breadth of America's losses, consider that on January 25, 2011, most Arab states were US allies to a greater or lesser degree. Mubarak was a strategic ally. Saleh was willing to collaborate with the US in combating al- Qaida and other jihadist forces in his country.

Gaddafi was a neutered former enemy who had posed no threat to the US since 2004. Iraq was a protectorate. Jordan and Morocco were stable US clients.

One year later, the elements of the US's alliance structure have either been destroyed or seriously weakened. US allies like Saudi Arabia, which have yet to be seriously threatened by the revolutionary violence, no longer trust the US. As the recently revealed nuclear cooperation between the Saudis and the Chinese makes clear, the Saudis are looking to other global powers to replace the US as their superpower protector.

Perhaps the most amazing aspect to the US's spectacular loss of influence and power in the Arab world is that most of its strategic collapse has been due to its own actions. In Egypt and Libya the US intervened prominently to bring down a US ally and a dictator who constituted no threat to its interests. Indeed, it went to war to bring Gaddafi down.

Moreover, the US acted to bring about their fall at the same time it knew that they would be replaced by forces inimical to American national security interests. In Egypt, it was clear that the Muslim Brotherhood would emerge as the strongest political force in the country. In Libya, it was clear at the outset of the NATO campaign against Gaddafi that al-Qaida was prominently represented in the antiregime coalition. And just as the Islamists won the Egyptian election, shortly after Gaddafi was overthrown, al-Qaida forces raised their flag over Benghazi's courthouse.

US actions from Yemen to Bahrain and beyond have followed a similar pattern.

In sharp contrast to his active interventionism against US-allied regimes, President Barack Obama has prominently refused to intervene in Syria, where the fate of a US foe hangs in the balance.

Obama has sat back as Turkey has fashioned a Syrian opposition dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Arab League has intervened in a manner that increases the prospect that Syria will descend into chaos in the event that the Assad regime is overthrown.

Obama continues to speak grandly about his vision for the Middle East and his dedication to America's regional allies. And his supporters in the media continue to applaud his great success in foreign policy. But outside of their echo chamber, he and the country he leads are looked upon with increasing contempt and disgust throughout the Arab world.

Obama's behavior since last January 25 has made clear to US friend and foe alike that under Obama, the US is more likely to attack you if you display weakness towards it than if you adopt a confrontational posture against it. As Assad survives to kill another day; as Iran expands its spheres of influence and gallops towards the nuclear bomb; as al- Qaida and its allies rise from the Gulf of Aden to the Suez Canal; and as Mubarak continues to be wheeled into the courtroom on a stretcher, the US's rapid fall from regional power is everywhere in evidence.












obama

Prosecutors to begin their case in Hosni Mubarak's trial

From Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, For CNN

January 3, 2012 -- Updated 0518 GMT (1318 HKT)

Cairo (CNN) -- Prosecutors begin presenting their case Tuesday in the trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who is accused of ordering protesters killed during the country's uprising last year.

"I expect a verdict before January 25, the anniversary of the revolution," said Khaled Abu Bakr, a lawyer involved in the trial.

He was referring to the beginning of the uprising that ended Mubarak's 30-year rule in February 2011.

Adel Saeed, an official spokesman for the general prosecutor's office, confirmed that there is "a possibility" of a verdict by January 25, depending on how long prosecutors and lawyers for the victims and the defense take to present their cases, plus the time the judge needs "to review all the documents and evidence presented."

The former president also faces corruption charges. He has pleaded not guilty.

Abu Bakr said prosecutors will take three days to make their case.

Mubarak was wheeled into court in a gurney Monday for a brief hearing to allow a judge to decide on specific requests presented by the lawyers during last weeks' session, Abu Bakr said.

Many Egyptians are critical of the court proceedings and some worry that Mubarak may be acquitted of the murder charges. Five police officers accused of killing protesters were acquitted last week.

The killings in question took place in front of a police station near downtown Cairo during January 28 and 29.

"Most people panicking after the verdict do not know that two families of the victims involved in this case have withdrawn the charges against the officers, " Abu Bakr said. "Their case was considered self-defense because the officers were defending their police station, which is different than the cases of those protesters killed by snipers from a distance in Tahrir (Square)" -- the center of protests against Mubarak.

Mubarak's health has been in question since his detention began in April after reports of his cancer and heart problems surfaced in the media.

Hauled away from the courthouse on his hospital gurney, Mubarak hid his face and covered his eyes from TV cameras.

Former Egyptian Interior Minister Habib El Adly, six of his aides and two of Mubarak's sons are also on trial on a variety of charges.

Sons Gamal and Alaa, who also were present in the courtroom's cage, have also pleaded not guilty.

The trial is expected to resume "almost daily" starting this week, as announced by the judge handling the case during its previous session.

About 840 people died and more than 6,000 were wounded in the 18 days of uprising that toppled Mubarak, according to Amnesty International.

egypt

Obama versus Osama: guess who the Egyptians prefer?



Colum Lynch
Foreign Policy
Tuesday, June 21, 2011


First the good news: U.S. President Barack Obama is more than twice as popular in Egypt as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadenijad.

Now, the bad news: the American president's standing has never been worse in Egypt, plummeting since 2008, when he received a 25 percent favorability rating, to 12 percent in 2011. Even Osama Bin Laden, the late al Qaeda leader, was more popular this year, with a 21 percent favorability ranking. The Iranian leader fared worse, dropping from 21 percent favorability rating in 2008 to a miserable 5 percent.

The findings are drawn from a public poll of Egyptian views in the aftermath of the public uprising that brought about the resignation of Egypt's fallen leader Hosni Mubarak. The poll was commissioned by the International Peace Institute, a New York-based think tank with close ties to the United Nations and Arab governments.

The poll seeks to capture the mood of the country in the lead up to the Egypt's first post-Mubarak election, and to handicap the presidential campaign. It shows that Egyptians currently fret over issues like the economy, stability, and government corruption more than they worry about the course of the country's democratic transition.

According to the poll, conducted by Charney Research and based on interviews with 800 Egyptians, Amr Moussa, the outgoing Arab League chief, has emerged as an early frontrunner. Thirty-two percent of respondents say they would vote for Moussa, who once served as Mubarak's foreign minister.

Essam Sharraf, an engineering professor who is serving as the country's interim prime minister, finished second with 16 percent of votes ( though his favorability ranking is higher than Moussa's). And Mohammed Tantawi, the army chief, finished third with 8 percent of those questioned saying they would vote for him. Mohammed El Baradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency who emerged from retirement to serve as Egypt's best known pro-democracy advocate, finished seventh, with only 2 percent of respondents pledging to vote for him.

The poll shows that the Egyptian army, which refused orders to fire on public demonstrators during the country's popular uprising, remains "extremely popular" with 90 percent of Egyptian respondents expressing a favorable view. Egypt's various secular parties also did well, garning 25 precent of respondents' votes, while Islamist parties gained 19 percent. The best-known political parties, the New Wafd Party and the Muslim Brotherhood, received respectively 40 percent and 31 percent favorability ratings. The Brotherhood's unfavorability rating, at 29 percent, was 10 points higher.

"The military right now is riding a wave of popularity because it is seen as playing two key roles [in Egypt's popular revolution]," Craig Charney, the pollster, told Turtle Bay. "It delivered the coup de grace to Mubarak and did it in a way that maintained a substantial degree of stability."

Charney said that the findings also demonstrated that fears of a religious take over by Islamists are overblown. "The much feared green-tide just isn't there, with the Muslim Brotherhood receiving 12 percent while the Salafists for all their sound and fury came away with only 4 percent," Charney said.

While an exiled Egyptian national, Ayman al Zawahiri, has been selected as the new leader of Al Qaeda, the poll suggested that the terror organization would have been better at influencing events in Egypt under the leadership of their late Saudi leader, Osama Bin laden, who was killed by elite U.S. commandos in Pakistan.

According to the poll, bin Laden's favorability ratings rose from 18 percent of those questioned in 2008 to 21 percent in 2011. In contrast, Zawahiri scored a favorability rating of only 11 percent this year.

Charney said that while other polls have found somewhat higher support for President Obama's response to the Egyptian uprising, he has suffered from a generally dim view of American policy throughout the region.

"Despite President Obama's words and measures in support of Egypt's revolution, he only narrowly edges out the leaders of al Qaeda and Iran in popular regard there," Charney said in a statement. "But our findings do clearly show that Egyptians have little regard for the likes of al-Zawahiri and Ahmadinejad."





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
egyptian twist

Racism and Hatred in Egypt

Have you ever heard that only whites can be racist? 

The argument basically treads the following:  only those who hold power can be racist, therefore, blacks cannot be.  Whites can be, because they have always held power.

One doesn't need to agree, just understand this view, held by many people who would self-identify themselves as left or left of left.   Most large media sources would fall into the left of center category based on the fact a majority of their employees / reporters/ anchors self-identify as left.

Even when blacks protested or rioted, it was regarded as significant because they held no power, and consequently, their choice to risk all, meant that the system was truly broken (whatever the issue they were demonstrating / protesting).

So, in Egypt when Christians are protesting ....





Mob attacks Christian protest in Egypt


5/15/2011

CAIRO (AP) — An angry mob attacked a group of mainly Christian protesters demanding drastic measures to heal religious tension amid a spike in violence, leaving 65 people injured, officials said Sunday.

The Christian protesters have been holding their sit-in outside the state television building in Cairo for nearly a week following deadly Christian-Muslim clashes that left a church burned and 15 people dead.

More than 100 people rushed into the sit-in area, lobbing rocks and fire bombs from an overpass and charging toward the few hundred protesters sleeping in the area. Vehicles were set on fire and fires burned in the middle of the street.

Police and army troops fired in the air to disperse the crowd, and a tree was set on fire under the overpass.

The security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the attackers had returned to avenge an earlier scuffle with the protesters who prevented a motorist from going through the area. A fight ensued, and the motorists fired blank rounds. The protesters chased the motorist and beat him badly.

Marc Mino, a protest organizer, told state TV the motorists had provoked the fight after refusing to be searched before entering the protest area, then provoking the protesters.

Medics said 65 were injured in Sunday's melee, two in critical condition. The security official said nearly 50 of the riot instigators were arrested.

A witness, Alfred Raouf, said armored vehicles later blocked traffic and pedestrians from going down from the bridge toward the protest area. The number of protesters at the sit-in shrunk, but those remaining insisted the strike would continue as their area was cordoned off by the security, Raouf said.

Religious clashes and a rising wave of crime have proved to be a major challenge for Egypt's military rulers in the days following the 18-day uprising that led to the Feb. 11 ouster of ex-president Hosni Mubarak.

Following the religious violence, the military vowed to respond firmly to instigators of violence and promised to respond to a number of the Christian demands, including reopening nearly 50 churches. But no trial date has been set for those responsible for the church burning or the violence last week.

Just hours before the Cairo violence, several suspected Islamic extremists bombed the tomb of a Muslim saint in the northern Sinai town of Sheik Zweid, said a security official, also declining to be identified because he wasn't authorized to release the information. The official said the eight or nine attackers fled the area. Muslim radicals have blown up at least five other Muslim shrines, because they believe the veneration of saints as a violation of Islam.

Meanwhile, doctors said Egypt's ex-first lady Suzanne Mubarak was in stable condition after treatment for a "panic attack" and has effectively been put under arrest in the hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh pending further investigation of corruption allegations, officials said Saturday.


Suzanne Mubarak fainted and suffered chest pains following a three-hour interrogation Friday which ended with a decision to detain her for 15 days as prosecutors looked at the sources of her wealth. She has been accused of taking advantage of his position for personal gain.

Health Minister Ashraf Hatem said the 70-year old Suzanne Mubarak was in stable condition Saturday after a 24-hour monitoring period in the intensive care unit of the hospital in the Red Sea town of Sharm el-Sheikh. She is in the custody of the police, Hatem said, according to Egypt's state news agency MENA.

Later, a second team recommended she remain under observation for an additional 48 hours, according to the hospital's director, Dr. Mohammed Fatahallah. He said the team determined that Mrs. Mubarak still has high blood pressure and suffers from chest pains, and an angioplasty may be necessary. He was speaking to the Associated Press.

The continuing treatment makes it unlikely she will be transferred quickly to a Cairo women's prison facility, where she had been expected to be moved.

Earlier, a hospital official had told the Associated Press that Mrs. Mubarak on Friday "suffered from a sudden panic attack after hearing that she will be sent to prison." The hospital official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to release the information before further tests were conducted.

Suzanne Mubarak's 83-year-old husband also is being treated in the Sharm el-Sheikh hospital, for a heart condition.

The former president had been questioned several times about allegations that he illegally amassed vast wealth, but Mrs. Mubarak was interrogated on Thursday for the first time on corruption charges.

The Mubaraks and other members of the former regime have been the subject of legal efforts to bring them to trial since the ex-president was forced to resign Feb. 11.

The process has been complicated by slow procedures and — in the Mubaraks' case — by health issues. Many in the protest movement have been critical of the current military rulers for being slow in pursuing corrupt officials, although many former regime members have been jailed.





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
egypt

Amid Arab protests, U.S. influence has waned




By Liz Sly
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, February 4, 2011; 4:04 AM

BAGHDAD - In days gone by, it was pretty much guaranteed that any demonstration in the Arab world would feature burning American flags and a blazing effigy or two of the U.S. president.

At the pro-democracy demonstrations on the streets of Cairo and elsewhere, references to the United States have been conspicuously absent, a sign of what some analysts are already calling a "post-American Middle East" of diminished U.S. influence and far greater uncertainty about America's role.


For just as burning flags are not part of the current repertoire, neither are demonstrators carrying around models of the Statue of Liberty, as Chinese activists brought to Tiananmen Square in 1989. Middle East activists say they avoid references to the United States as a political role model for fear of alienating potential supporters, said Toujan Faisal, a veteran democracy campaigner in Jordan who has been advising young protesters in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

"I don't think America appeals to the younger generation," she said. "I'm cautious not to present them with the American example because there's a negative attitude to America, a disappointment."






















foolishness

Obama: Burning Bridges, Destroying Alliances

One must wonder - even the most ardent Obama supporter, what is he doing? 


Not that we should capitulate to any oil state, nor should we be bowing to their despotic leaders, but ... to so undermine our credibility and worth, that these states look elsewhere for economic investments ...


NBC’s Brokaw: Saudis ‘So Unhappy' With Obama They Sent Emissaries to China, Russia Seeking Enhanced Ties


Wednesday, April 06, 2011
By Susan Jones



(CNSNews.com) – Reporting from Baghdad, Iraq yesterday, NBC’s Tom Brokaw said the Saudi Arabian monarchy is “so unhappy with the Obama administration for the way it pushed out President Mubarak of Egypt” that it has sent senior officials to the Peoples' Republic of China and Russia to seek expanded business opportunities with those countries.

After remarking on the difficulty of establishing democracy in the Middle East, Brokaw said that Defense Secretary Robert Gates “will face some tough questions in this region about the American intentions going on now with all this new turmoil, especially in an area where the United States has such big stakes politically and economically.”

“And a lot of those questions presumably will come from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia,” reported Brokaw on the Nightly News. “I was told on the way in here that the Saudis are so unhappy with the Obama administration for the way it pushed out President Mubarak of Egypt that it sent high level emissaries to China and Russia to tell those two countries that Saudi Arabia now is prepared to do more business with them.”

Brokaw continued, “Back here in Iraq, the political and the economic situation remains fragile. So fragile that the U.N. secretary general is worried that this country could now see massive protests in the streets once again.”


Earlier in his report, Brokaw noted that while U.S. military forces are supposed to leave Iraq at year’s end, the U.S. Embassy staff was being beefed-up from 8,000 to nearly 20,000 personnel.

[That last bit is interesting - we remove 10-12,000 troops and with the switcheroo, the numbers remain static.  Yet, we can call it a reduction.  Mighty big embassy!]
















obama

Egyptian Tourism

Plead with visitors to return to Land of the Pharaohs

Pyramid guides urge tourists to return to Egypt

Monday, 14 February 2011

CAIRO (AFP)


Hundreds of Egyptian tour guides gathered in the shadow of the Great Pyramids on Monday to plead with tourists to return to the Land of the Pharaohs following the fall of Hosni Mubarak's regime.

The upheaval of recent weeks and media coverage of days of violent clashes have combined to scare off visitors and stifle Egypt's key tourism industry, threatening thousands of jobs.

Inspired by the success of political protests in bringing down the regime, workers in several public and private sector industries have launched a wave of strikes to demand pay rises.

But the message from tourism workers was simpler.

"Come back, reviens, komm wieder, vuelve!" they implored, against the postcard backdrop of the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx.

The guides -- whose business has been badly hit by the crisis -- gathered at the plateau site, celebrating St Valentine's Day with banners in English, French, Russian and German reading: "Egypt loves you."

"Tourism is like a delicate bird, it flies off at the slightest sound. But there's nothing to fear here, quite the contrary," insisted 37-year-old guide Hazem Hashem.

Behind them a handful of Egyptian visitors were at the site, but there were no foreigners to be seen and Cairo's hotels and gift shops stand empty.

"We need to make tourism come back to Egypt. We want to send the message to tourists all over the world that they are welcome here," said 27-year-old Hossam Khairy.

Khairy was one of the tens of thousands of protesters who seized central Cairo's Tahrir Square and occupied it for two weeks as part of the nationwide demonstrations that bought down Mubarak.

He feels that rather than scaring off visitors, the revolution should act as a draw, showing the world that Egyptians share the values of freedom enjoyed elsewhere.

"They'll discover a new country, a new people," Khairy said. "Before, when tourists asked me questions about the president, I was ashamed when I had to pretend that we were a democracy."

Politics forgottenSome of those working at the pyramids opposed the revolt, fearing it would harm their trade.

Workers from tourist stables charged the demonstration on horses and a camel during an attack by stone-throwing pro-regime thugs on February 2.

On Monday, however, politics was forgotten and the guides were simply concerned with persuading their foreign guests to return.

"The return of tourists is in our interest, but also in the interest of the entire country," said Hashem.

Some 16,000 unionised tourist guides work on Egypt's ancient sites, earning around 300 to 500 dollars per month in peak times, but most have been without pay now for three weeks, according to 34-year-old guide Oncy Khalil.

"We lost our income to win our freedom," he shrugged.

Tourism accounts for six percent of Egypt's gross domestic product, and February would normally be the height of the holiday season.

The sector brought in $13 billion in 2010, with a record 15 million people taking their holidays in the Land of the Pharaohs.

Alongside the guides, coach drivers, camel handlers, souvenir sellers, hotel waiters and taxi drivers have had a thin few weeks.

Shabula Abzimir shows visitors the ribs of his famished steed, crying out: "There is no business, no Americans. My horse can't eat, my family can't eat. This is not war, come back!"

[You will note he did not say the Euros or the Asians or the Russians.]

Strikes by government employees have erupted throughout the country to demand higher wages and benefits, despite Egypt's newly formed government vowing to raise public sector salaries and pensions by 15 percent.























egypt

Egyptians were the Losers with Camp David: Slaves to Peace

I suppose all that humiliation they feel is not tempered by the more than $120 million in trade each year or the 15,000 jobs created as a result of that trade.

The 15,000 employed will be unemployed but not humiliated - assuming the statements in the article are accurate.  They will feel much better, although I suspect they will blame Israel for the loss of their jobs.



'We know that Netanyahu cannot sleep now’



By BEN HARTMAN
Jerusalem Post
02/02/2011


Protesters tell 'The Jerusalem Post' they don't feel Egypt is completely free of Israeli occupation, "Camp David made us a slave."

“After Camp David, all the Arab world sees that we are no longer a leader. Camp David made us a slave”

Like many at Tahir square on Tuesday night, 26-year-old Mohammed Salama of Cairo spoke of an eagerness for Egypt to shelve its nearly three decade old peace agreement with Israel, but insisted he does not want the country to go to war with Israel. In his hands he held a sign reading in Arabic “Netanyahu is worried about Mubarak”, which he said he wrote because “this is my country and my leader, I don’t want him to care about Israel, only about my country.”

Salama spoke moments after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak gave a nationwide speech vowing to hold new elections in six months in which he would not run. Like all of those spoken to by The Jerusalem Post after the speech, Salama said he didn’t feel the speech represented a victory for the movement, only a new ploy by Mubarak to stall and stay in power. Salama and all others spoken to by the Post vowed that they would stay in the square as long as it takes until Mubarak leaves and that the revolution is far from over.

Salama’s friend, Hazan Ahmed, 29, said the years of peace with Israel are tinged with the sting of humiliation, and that Egyptians still feel they’re country is not completely free of the Israeli occupation of the Sinai which ended under Camp David.

“The Egyptian army can’t enter Sinai, we feel that it is still Israel. There are Israeli people there all the time, but when we go, we have to stop at checkpoints and we get turned back. We don’t feel that Sinai is Egyptian.”

Ahmed said he didn’t want Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel completely demolished, but for it to undergo a serious change.

“It should be remodeled. With Mubarak leaving, we know that whoever comes next will remodel the agreement.”

When asked about the fact that Israel and Egypt have not gone to war since the agreement was signed, Ahmed, an unemployed medical school graduate said “yes, we have peace, but we have no dignity.”


Cairene Mohammed Gadi, a 33-year-old sales manager, walked around Tahrir square Tuesday holding a placard of Mubarak with a star of David drawn on his forehead. When asked about the sign, he said he wrote it because “we don’t want to take our orders from Israel anymore. We will keep the peace, but we won’t let Israel or any other country tell us what to do anymore. We don’t need to take orders from the world.”

Abdel Aziz, 27, from Mubarak’s hometown of Kfar El-Meselha, held a sign Tuesday saying “Bollocks to you Mubarak, it’s all over”. When asked about Israel, Aziz said “this is not about Israel, this is about our country first, we don’t care about other countries. This is not why we are doing this.”

Ahmad Ragab, 42, spoke more vehemently towards Israel saying “look, all Egyptian people hate Israel, only Sadat wanted Camp David. We know that Israel will be mad about what is happening here, and we know that Netanyahu can’t sleep now. We know that with the change here, there won’t be peace with Israel. There won’t be a war, but I don’t think there will be an Israeli embassy in Egypt any more, we will have only the most minimal relations.”

Ragab, who studied Chinese and works in Egypt-China business relations, said “we know the revolution will change this and that’s that, we see every day what Israel is doing with the Palestinians.”

At the same time, like all others asked by the Jerusalem Post after Mubarak’s speech about the revolution’s meaning for Israel-Egypt relations, Ragab said the issue was not at all at the heart of the January 25th upheaval.

“People in Egypt have no work, no future, 90% of Egyptian people see they have no future. They are tired.” Mohammed Salama issued a similar remark, saying “I work 20 hours a day in security for 300 Egyptian pounds a month, I feel terrible doing this. I studied law, I am a poet and a writer too, but I have no options and I can’t get married. I have a good education, I deserve a good chance to prove I can be somebody.”

As much as resentment towards Israel or the US, or the violence by Mubarak’s security services and the state police are mentioned by the protesters, their movement appears to be much more driven by exhaustion at a future that promises nothing to a largely destitute citizenry that doesn’t feel they have the ability to support themselves or their families. Among young people especially, the issue of not having a future in the country where they grew up stokes their fury, and drives them to seek the answers in democracy. When asked how democracy will bring prosperity to a country where nearly half the populace lives on less than $2/day, most protesters seemed at a loss for a definitive answer, but all expressed absolute certainty that the removal of Mubarak and his, in their view cleptocratic regime, will surely bring them a greater chance at prosperity.

For Ahmed Khater, a 26-year-old Cairene sitting in the square with the words “Mubarak get the hell out” written on his forehead, the promise of a better future has never been clearer.

“I have a bachelors degree and I get paid 500 pounds a month to be a computer technician. I can’t get married, I have no future. Mubarak’s people, they just steal our money, they keep everything for themselves and they forget that we are the owners of the country.”

“We were sleeping until now, but we are awake,” Khater added.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
egypt