Egyptian Revolution Jan 25th 2011

[TheVoxyn]

Just saw a couple of videos on the TV about how some Egyptians reacted when hearing the news. It was unbelievable to watch and it genuinly moved me.

[Chino]

Thought it was a cool pic.

[Mr. Beale]

It's just going to get tougher from here, but a great sight nonetheless. Congrats to the Egyptian people!!

[TheVoxyn]

Some impressive pictures:

https://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/02/egypt_the_wait.html

[Chino]

Some impressive pictures:

https://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/02/egypt_the_wait.html

very impressive.

[emindead]

So... Algeria next?

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Some impressive pictures:

https://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/02/egypt_the_wait.html

Whoa. Lots to say about those pictures.

[ack44]

So, this whole thing was inspired by Tunisia... which caught fire because of a WikiLeaks revelation, if I understand correctly. I hope this leaking fad thing keeps destabilizing the establishment 

[Progmetty]

So... Algeria next?

It looks like it but I'd really like to see that crazy asshole Kadafi go first, but it seems he has it well under control in Libya, I was talking to a Libyan co-worker earlier and he said the people are too terrorized to act, when I told him so were we he said not anywhere near how bad they have it from their police and president secret service.
Kadafi is seriously insane, no exaggeration there, he is literally mentally unstable, in the 80's he used to make the local TV broadcast a still picture of his shoes when he's "unhappy with his people", he wrote something that he calls "The Green Book" which has nothing but quotations that doesn't make any sense and the quotes from this book are everywhere from sign boards to newspapers in Libya, I recall a couple saying "Kids are small now but then they will be large" and "If you have something then you neighbor doesn't own it".
In the few times foreign press has interviewed him the journalist usually just assumed it was the language barrier or the interpretor fault that makes Kadafi completely not understandable to them but he really does not make any sense, last I remember was Larry David when Kadafi was in NY for the UN thing last year and KI have never seen King more confused by answers of the interviewee than this, he thought the interpretor was weak but I understand what Kadafi is saying in Arabic and it simply doesn't make any sense.
He's been ruling Libya for 41 years according to the Libyan guy I was talking to earlier.

[rumborak]

I'd rather not see another country go down in the near future. I think the current scenario is ideal, in the sense that stability is possible, but there's a lot of pressure on the remaining regimes.

rumborak

[zerogravityfat]

I would guess that Iran would be next. They tried unsuccessfully several times and now they have a shot at a real push.

[emindead]

Get that Ayatollah out.

[glaurung]

So, this whole thing was inspired by Tunisia... which caught fire because of a WikiLeaks revelation, if I understand correctly. I hope this leaking fad thing keeps destabilizing the establishment 

What was leaked?

[Global Laziness]

I'm posting this in here because this guy was my best friend growing up (we've drifted apart in recent years though) and I think it's pretty impressive:

Thomas McLoughlin-Coleman had some surprising news for his parents when he called home to Ottawa on Sunday.

“Hi, I’m in Detroit,” the 19-year-old told his mother, Diane.

“What are you doing in Detroit?” she asked, surprised to learn her son wasn’t at his Ottawa apartment.

“I’m going to Amsterdam.”

“Why?”

“It’s just for a holiday.”

Well, not quite. A bit of a fib, in fact; the kind young men tell their parents so they don’t worry too much.

The high school student was on his way to join the thousands of Egyptians protesting in Cairo’s Tahrir Square against the regime of President Hosni Mubarak. The young man wanted to be a witness to history.

“What he said was, he felt compelled by what he was seeing in the news and he was moved by what was happening to the Egyptians,” Diane said Wednesday.

So it seems. “This arguably is something that has never happened in Middle Eastern politics before,” Thomas told the Citizen in an series of e-mail exchanges.

“A people standing up for themselves, declaring that they have rights and freedoms, and that they are not going to go home until their rights are fully enacted. I just had a gut feeling that I needed to be a part of it somehow.”

It wasn’t an impulse decision. Thomas agonized for several days over his desire to see for himself what was happening in Egypt. “From the start I did know that I wanted to help document what was happening, though I didn’t know how. I just decided that I would figure something out when I got there.”

Last week, his decision made, Thomas booked his flight. He then flew to Detroit and on to Amsterdam, where he caught another flight to Egypt. Before his departure, he phoned home again to reveal his true itinerary. Arriving at the Cairo airport, he somehow convinced customs officials he was a student coming to Egypt to learn Arabic.

Full story: Ottawa teen witness to history

He also wrote a dispatch from Egypt to the Ottawa Citizen as well.

[zerogravityfat]

rumor is mubarak has been taken to a hospital in germany in a comatose state.

[AndyDT]

rumor is mubarak has been taken to a hospital in germany in a comatose state.

I read that first as "rumborak".

[emindead]

rumor is mubarak has been taken to a hospital in germany in a comatose state.

I read that first as "rumborak".

bitch stole my post!

[rumborak]

My cover is blown! Shit, might as well sign with my real name from now on.

Hosni

[Chino]

 

[El Barto]

I was reading a FOX article on how the Muslim Brotherhood is going to take over Egypt and turn them into an al Qada nation state, and one of the points in the article was this:

More than three-quarters of Egyptians now have satellite dishes. Young people use them to get their news principally from Al Jazeera, whose interest in and deference to Islamic fundamentalist and extremist views cannot be underestimated.

It seems like all of us were watching al Jazeera during this whole deal and found them to be pretty good at what they were doing.  Obviously, none of this is surprising coming from FOX.  However, it does make me wonder if the English version of al Jazeera isn't presenting things quite differently than the version from an Islamic nation.  Does anybody (possibly an Egyptian DTF'er) have any insight?

[Progmetty]

I have watched the Arabic version of Al Jazeera on regular basis since I was in college in the early 00's, also watched Al Jazeera's English since it started a few years ago, I have never felt Al Jazeera was carrying any extremist or even moderate religious advocating in it's programs, they are however a strong advocate for the Arabic cause.
They allow interviewing clerics and religious figures every now and then if the topic requires but they always draw the line at extremist or violent views, extremist type interviews usually ends up a mock fest (and a rather funny one at that).
It's also important to note that most displayed religion related subjects on Al Jazeera programs are about the violence between Shiia and Sunni Muslims, I've noticed most of the west are yet to recognize them are two fundamentally different religions in ideology and practice.
During the war on Gaza Al Jazeera was heavily covering the action from the Palestinian side, I've browsed English and American news channels over and over for a detailed coverage but as usual found nothing more than "Ahhh Hamas started it", on Al Jazeera they showed the dead bodies lifted from under the destroyed buildings and houses, families crying over their loved ones on the streets, mass funerals, etc, there was a hell of a lot of that, it's easy to see Al Jazeera was biased for Palestine but kinda it makes sense since you can't get the full picture in this particular conflict anywhere else.
Long story short if Al Jazeera is advocating something it's the Arab cause, not extreme Islam.

[ack44]

Al Jazeera is probably more anti-Muslim extremism than Fox is, in that they actually report on extremism in remote places that doesn't get news coverage and show how it affects the local populations. Fox will only focus on fundamentalism when it serves their propaganda cause.

[emindead]

https://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122244215758692.html
Iranian navy ships exit Suez Canal

First such passage through Egyptian channel since 1979 Islamic revolution is condemned by Israel as a "provocation".
Last Modified: 22 Feb 2011 05:22 GMT


The canal is a vital global trading route and major source of revenues for the Egyptian authorities


Two Iranian naval ships have passed through Egypt's Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea heading for Syria, a source at the canal authority told the Reuters news agency.

The ships entered the canal at 03:45 GMT on Tuesday and passed into the Mediterranean at 13:30GMT, the Suez Canal Authority source said.

"Their return is expected to be on March 3," the source said.

The two vessels, Alvand, a patrol frigate and Kharg, a supply ship, are the first naval vessels going through the canal since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, after which diplomatic ties between Egypt and Iran were strained.

Egypt's ruling military council, facing its first diplomatic challenge since taking power on February 11, approved the vessels' passage through the canal.

The Suez Canal cuts through Egypt and allows shipping to pass from the Middle East to Europe and vice versa without going around the southern tip of Africa. The canal is a vital global trading route and a major source of revenue for the Egyptian authorities.

Israel takes a "grave view" of the passage of the ships.

On Sunday, after a weekly meeting of his cabinet, Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, denounced the ships' arrival in the region as an Iranian  power play.

And last week, the prospect of the Suez crossing was described by Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's far-right foreign minister, as a "provocation" by Iran.

But an Iranian diplomat said that: "This will be a routine visit, within international law, in line with the co-operation between Iran and Syria, who have strategic ties.

"The ships will spend a few days in Syrian ports for training purposes, having already visited several countries including Oman and Saudi Arabia."

The decision was a difficult one for Egypt's interim government as Cairo is an ally of the US and has a peace treaty with Israel.

However, Egypt's official MENA news agency has reported that the request for the ships to transit the canal was granted because they were not carrying weapons or nuclear and chemical materials.

The 1,500-tonne Alvand is normally armed with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles, while the larger 33,000-tonne Kharg has a crew of 250 and facilities for up to three helicopters, Iran's official Fars news agency said.

[ack44]

this is pretty mind blowing

[TheVoxyn]

Whats with all the USA flags in the pic?

[7StringedBeast]

well it looks like they are saying the USA was pro mubarak and was on his side, seeing as the american flag is on the shields of the riot gear. 

[El Barto]

I didn't realize they were so inspired by Freddie Mercury. 

[rumborak]

Yeah, on the right is Mubarak and his support for/by the US.

BTW, terrible picture. Totally overloaded.

rumborak

[Progmetty]

It took the U.S 11 years after the revolution to get on track and there's already voices in Egypt saying "Enough protests already!"
Since Mubarak stepped down groups of protesters has been redirected to a goal we have long had vengeful lust for, they went breaking into National Security Investigations headquarters, recovering tons of documents that incriminate many high ranking police officers of ordering severely violent investigation methods and various types of torture and physical humiliation, the protesters also freed a lot of political prisoners they found locked up in under ground chambers, in other headquarters they broke in to find a lot of burned documents.
First I need to explain that the "National Security Investigations" in Egypt is supposedly counter to the FBI in the states, only in our case it has nothing to do with the nation's security, this organization has been the regime's true instrument of terror for the last couple of decades, prior to that it existed under different names like "Political Police" which was deemed inappropriate and too obvious as time progressed, highly trained in the 50's by Otto Skorzeny and other former members of the Waffen SS, at this point the Political Police was being formed and trained as a tool against the growing communist movement in Egypt at the time, so them SS fellas were really eager to teach the Egyptian officers how it's done.
These teachings were passed on at The Political Police (later National Security), developed and updated with years, they answer to no one but the president, who has been proven cautious of them himself!
These guys has been widely known in among political analyzers in Egypt to have had the difficult mission of coming up with ideas to divert national attention from exposed corruption cases attributed to the ruling party that couldn't be covered in earlier stages, some of their greatest hits included releasing sex tapes of a famous Egyptian belly dancer with a powerful business man, starting the Egyptian/Algerian hate war in the media based on a soccer match and the easiest of all; creating havoc between Muslims and Christians.
Long story short; they're back at it now, to put out the protesters angry tirade against them and slow down the search for their numerous secret headquarters, a church was mysteriously burned a week ago and now the Christians are out in protests which were followed by another mysterious spark in one of Cairo's most populated neighborhoods that led to a fight nine dead and around 90 injured.
Why do Egyptians fall for it every time? because our average Joe is dumb as fuck and unaware of the scale of his surroundings and the magnitude of his actions and because religion makes you dumber, you guys dunno what religion means to Arab Muslims and Christians alike, you're shocked by the amount of anger Muslim Arabs displayed when these Danish drawings of the Prophet was published and you were shocked by the anger of Arabic Christians at Family Guy for making fun of Jesus, religion stuff doesn't fly with well Arabs, they can find no humor there even if God told them it was funny.
Now there's a lot of campaigns on facebook to raise awareness and fight against the religious violence, I'm terrified at the prospect of a civil war, which can easily happen when you consider the kind of passion I described in Egyptians towards religion.

[emindead]

Revolution Youth Coalition refuses to meet Clinton

Coalition calls on US administration to revise its foreign policies towards Egypt after decades of propping up the ousted dictatorship of Mubarak.

Ahram Online , Tuesday 15 Mar 2011

The January 25 Revolution Youth Coalition has announced it refuses to meet Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, during her visit to Egypt. The Coalition stated that the US administration was a vital supporter and ally of the ousted Mubarak regime.

The coalition, made up of six youth groups, said it did not welcome Clinton’s visit to Egypt and demanded that the US administration make a formal apology to Egypt’s people for its foreign policy towards the country in the past decades. They added that “the Egyptian people are the masters of their own land and destiny and will only accept equal relations of friendship and respect between the people of Egypt and the people of America.”   

The coalition's declaration added that “the US administration took Egypt’s revolution lightly and supported the old regime while Egyptian blood was being spilled.” It also condemned past American policies towards Egypt and demanded that they be reformulated to achieve a balance between the interests of the Egyptian and American people.

Clinton's tour of the Middle East, which starts today in Egypt before taking her to Tunis, is the first cabinet-level visit to the region by the Obama administration since the revolutions in both countries.

[emindead]

Metty, what the hell is going on over there?

[Progmetty]

The people who started the revolution have been growing impatient and distrustful of SCAF (Supreme Council of the Armed Forces) in power since Mubarak was ousted. Now they've taken it back to the streets in a movement we're calling "The Single Demand" which is an official decree or a reliable promise of some kind that the SCAF is going to handover power to a civilian president before April 2012.
Most of the revolutionaries are certain now that SCAF is just an extension of Mubarak's will. Mubarak was their supreme commander for 35 years, before he even became president. And SCAF is made up of old brothers in arms. Personally I'm not so sure of that even though I know it's strong possibility. I chose to be optimistic and assume that SCAF are just too hesitant over the choices they should make cause they know this is history in the making here.
An Egyptian writer said the relationship between SCAF and the people of Egypt since the revulution is comparable to that of the wife who suspects her husband is cheating on her but doesn't wanna face him so she wouldn't bring destruction to the household. I say; this now is the wife confronting her husband.
None of the political powers and movements that emerged in Egypt since the revolutions have proved powerful enough to unite Egyptians under a single or two parties. There are at least 8 parties that have a lot of supporters, no majorities and therefore SCAF can't rely on any civilians yet. Except the civilians who run the temporary government and those don't have any legislative powers by default.
On the 28th of November we will have our first Parliament elections. The revolutionaries want it delay until they get the "One Demand" thing resolved. But the problem now is that a lot of people do not understand that and are now just saying "Go home already, Mubarak is gone and they said they'll do elections and stuff" and "We're sick of the protesters making life all tense and also the economy can't take this shit".
The Police has again been getting brutal. 24 people died in Tahrir square in two days and a lot have bad injuries. A good friend of mine who lose an eye in the January revolution was shot in the other eye the day before yesterday and now he's fast becoming a symbol of "Saving the revolution" and sacrifice. This is one of the many facebook pages about him https://www.facebook.com/Ahmed.Hrarah It's in Arabic but you'll see a picture of him with on eye patch that says "25th January" and someone already photo shopped the other eye to say "November 19th".
Last time I saw him was at my wedding in Egypt 3 years ago. I highlighted his number on my phone last night and kept looking at the phone for half an hour but couldn't press dial cause I don't know what to say.
A video leaked where you can clearly hear the police officers saying "That shot was in his eyes, good job!" so it's kind of a new thing they're doing. Dunno the point of that.
People and families at homes are terrified and movement is very limited cause the looters get their best chances to make big attacks in times like these. For example they'd stop your car and have you sign a paper that says you sold it to them to let you live. My dad's drive to work is relatively long so I'm always worried about him. My mom's school is near her apartment but she's still an easy target. My brother is in the "Go home already" group even though he was with the revolution before. He thinks we need to wait what the coming month will bring instead of keeping the country at such chaos.
The revolution has more odds against it than ever now. As long as there are dumb fucks who thought it was over just cause Mubarak is gone.
Regarding the political parties, fragments and ideologies that has cooked in Egypt since the revolution; truly a long story and I'm too worried and upset to type a long post that this one, eventually I will. Sorry about that.

[emindead]

No worries, man! THANK YOU very much for your kind an long response! I will wait for the next part of it