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Showing posts with label Mubarak. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mubarak. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Hosni Mubarak in Death Spiral Since Being Forced from Office...
0 comments Posted by queen at 6:11 AMSaudi Official: Mubarak has given up and 'wants to die'
There is talk of his depression, refusing to take medicine for ongoing health issues, and even of his falling into a coma this weekend.
Yet despite reports that he'd flown to Germany, Hosni Mubarak is refusing Saudi offers to host him, instead saying he prefers to remain on Egyptian soil to the end of his days... which may be drawing near from the sound of things:
Haaretz:
On Tuesday morning, the London-based pan Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported that Mubarak is in very grave medical condition.
A senior Egyptian official close to the ruling military council told the newspaper that he will "not be surprised if an announcement of Mubarak's death will come soon." According to the official, Mubarak is refusing to receive the appropriate medical treatment and also decided against travelling abroad for treatments
Two days ago, the Egyptian ambassador to the United States Sameh Shoukry said that as far as he knows, Mubarak's condition is serious. Even though Shoukry did not specify details, it is the first official report from an Egyptian official regarding Mubarak's condition.
Other newspapers in Egypt such as Akhbar Al-Youm and A-Shuruk also reported that the ousted president's condition is deteriorating, saying that he refuses to take medicine and is suffering from depression.
Mubarak, who has pancreatic cancer, is currently staying in his Sharm el-Sheikh estate after being ousted from power in the wake of Egypt uprisings.
Meanwhile in the wake of Hosni Mubarak's resignation, a female CBS reporter was sexually assaulted by a mob of newly liberated "democrats" yesterday, whilst the Muslim Brotherhood was busy announcing they're already forming a new political party.
Oh, and the new Egyptian Constitutional Panel has been formed... headed by an Islamist, with women and Coptic Christians -who together make up 55% of the population- completely excluded.
Widespread labor protests continue in the face of ever-sterner Army warnings... crazed Islamic youth groups are chanting in the street for Israel to have her gas pipelines shut-down tomorrow.- what's that got to do with 'democracy'?
Call it cynical, but... this one just doesn't feel like no Velvet Revolution to me... and the Muslim Brotherhood surely no Solidarity.
Mubarak, Hosni Mubarak, health, dying, health problems, ill, sick, hospital xxx Mubarak, Hosni Mubarak, health, dying hhh Mubarak, Hosni Mubarak, health, dying
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
EGYPT: Government 'Will Not Tolerate' Continued Cairo Protests
0 comments Posted by queen at 5:38 AMNew VP/longtime security chief Omar Suleiman prefers
"not to use police tools"... thereby implying he just might
Starting to look like the party's almost over in Cairo: popular support for the protesters is fading as the dug-in Mubarak regime offers measured concessions... whilst preparing to
turn the screws-
VOA:
Egypt's vice president says the government will not tolerate prolonged anti-government protests in Cairo's main square, where hundreds of thousands of people gathered Tuesday in the latest effort to force the ouster of long-serving President Hosni Mubarak.
Egypt's state-run MENA news agency quotes Vice President Omar Suleiman as saying that a crisis triggered by 16 days of anti-Mubarak protests in Tahrir Square must end "as soon as possible." Suleiman was speaking late Tuesday to a group of Egyptian newspaper editors.
MENA says Suleiman told the editors that the presence of anti-Mubarak activists and satellite television stations in the square was making Egyptian citizens "hesitant to go to work" and disrupting daily life. He accused the satellite television stations of "insulting" Egypt, without naming them.
But, Suleiman also is quoted as saying the government does not want to deal with Egyptian society using "police tools" and prefers to use dialogue to try to address the protesters' demands.
Hundreds of thousands of people rallied in Tahrir Square Tuesday in one of the biggest protests of a two-week-old uprising seeking an immediate end to Mr. Mubarak's nearly 30 years in power. Thousands remained in the square Wednesday, after spending another night in makeshift shelters.
.......
Suleiman also is quoted as warning against plans by some protesters for a campaign of civil disobedience, saying such a development would be "very dangerous" to society.
So, the revolutionary tide has turned in Egypt (sorry Bill Kristol and Barack Obama): seems the Muslim Brotherhood won't be getting the ball in the end-zone after all... surely disappointing to Tehran and other World War 3 enthusiasts throughout the Middle East:
Radio Netherlands
NRC Handelsblad reports that the tide of popular opinion now seems to be turning against the anti-Mubarak protestors on Tahrir Square, in what it describes as “a heartbreaking development for the demonstrators who where there from the start”.
Those emotions are expressed by 22-year-old Mona Sayd who says “We were so happy. We were writing history. And suddenly we’re the bad guys ... It feels like I was pregnant and now I’ve had a miscarriage. Today it’s as if I can feel the blood flowing out of my body. And as if that wasn’t enough, now there are people turning round and telling me that my pregnancy was illegitimate in the first place.”
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Friday, January 28, 2011
Update: Egyptians hosed down during prayers, Mohamed El Baradei on house arrest
0 comments Posted by queen at 11:48 AMNobel Peace laureate Mohamed El Baradei is on house arrest, according to Egyptian security officials. Mubarak is certainly acting like a tyrant here. Since when do people get arrested simply because they disagree with the current government?
K.T. McFarland commented on Fox that the dominoes are starting to fall. They fell already in Tunisia, and there is now trouble in Egypt, Yemen and Iran. What is important is that the dominoes fall in our direction and not in a direction that leads to a breeding ground for islamic jihadists. She says that all of these movements have a second act. In the Iranian revolution the pro-democracy movement was shoved aside quickly by the ayatollahs. Usually whoever prevails in the end is the most ruthless group.
Excellent coverage over at Maggie's Notebook.
Update via a Michelle Malkin tweet. Twitpic from @ollywainright shows Egyptians being hosed down during prayers.
"It is not inevitable that street demonstrations
lead to Jeffersonian democracy"
Recent violence in Egypt makes it appear to be a situation spiraling out of control, with six protesters already been killed in clashes with security forces and over a thousand arrested.
And today is to be the big day: major protests coordinated on social networking sites such as Twitter are planned for Friday, although the government has already shut down the entire internet in the country and deployed elite forces. If they do manage to stage more aggressive protests today, expect a real harsh crackdown.
But the media narrative in the west of how these are people seeking freedom, justice, and better living conditions is only partially true: the unrest is driven and coordinated by the oldest Islamist political organization on the planet, the Muslim Brotherhood... a radical, jihadist group that would quickly dispose any real democracy and consolidate power.
Protesters even fired two rocket-propelled grenades at a police station... does that sound like aspiring democrats to you?
Egyptian Interior Ministry's statements asserting this have been mostly dismissed in the west, implying that it's just an excuse to maintain their grip on power. But it's time we consider that they might just be telling the truth... and that their enemies are indeed enemies of democracy, and the United States as well.
The Tunisian protests that inspired uprisings in Egypt, Gaza, and Yemen were no Velvet Revolution with Vaclav Havel, either- more like a symptom of worrying Islamicization. While the corrupt, brutal Mubarak regime has little to commend it outside of stability, the alternative is likely to be no improvement.
And in charge of the strategic Suez Canal?
Since it's the MB that's organizing the protests, you can bet your bottom dollar that -like Lebanon today- the budding democracy would simply be hijacked by the Islamists, and dismantled from within as they install the theocracy they actually desire.
And don't let former IAEA head Mohammed El Baradei fool you... this guy is no democrat either, and in fact is suspected by many to be secretly a member of the MB himself- sure would go a long way towards explaining the duplicitous behavior in dealing with Iraq and Iran. With the MB banned in Egypt, members simply run as independents... as El Baradei was planning to do in the next election. Seems events got ahead of the Vienna resident, and he doesn't want to miss out on the chance to score some badly-needed street cred back in Cairo.
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton typically missed the chance to support Mubarak, instead appearing to abandon him... as westerners default to rooting for the poor, oppressed protesters, ala Tienanmen '89. But again, if the regime is tossed, the ultimate result will be anything but democratic. Thankfully, it's not just about Mubarak, either- the military government that has run Egypt for 60 years is the actual power will not allow it, they've got no problem shooting people- at all.
The regime offered an olive branch on Thursday as well, offering to stage talks with the protesters, a carrot to contrast the riot policemen's stick: alas, Mubarak knows -if nobody else does- that there is unlikely to be any lasting meeting of the minds with those who seek a totalitarian Islamist regime in the mold of Iran... but he has to appear reasonable before he starts cracking heads...
And -as usual- when so many other people have it wrong...
John Bolton has it right:
And I never thought I would contruct and use this sentence as long as I live... but I find myself in fundamental agreement with Joe Biden on this one... except the part about Mubarak not being a dictator. But diplomacy is about choices, no matter how unsavory- and even Slow Joe knows that.
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