The Art of War - Egyptian Uprising

[RandomGuy]

Like you said, mostly Muslim population, but more importantly the power vacuum needing to be filled. Does Egypt have a properly organized minority party to fill that void? I dont know, serious question.

No, no it does not. Opposition parties have been universally banned, jailed, and cheated out of representation.

Organization is of utmost importance as the soon-to-be-former president trots through the last steps of his very long waltz.

Seeing as the autocrat has been in power for 30+ years and the dissenters specifically chanted the president's name for ouster along with the Interior Minister (?) for the brutal methods employed by the administration to quell political movements, I'd fancy a guess that there is no organized political party to take the reins of power after his ouster.

Again, I dont know that to be the case, but look at Iraq's storm once a brutal dictator like Sadaam was removed. Granted, Iraq has a very proportionate number of minorities that all despise one another for whatever reasons, but I dont think Egypt is some geneous society of like minded individuals ready to unite under one common banner, is all.

To me, organization is the first trick in the hat to grab for power in this situation. 30 years under the current regime makes me think that the level of organization required isnt there for Egypt's minority political party/parties.

Yet you cant throw a stone without hitting an imam networked into the largest conglomeration of money and power in the Arab world neatly organized in a big handbook conveniently interpreted by the venerated.

Just a guess.

Probably a correct one, from what I have been reading.

Egypt, like Iraq, faces rampant official corruption at all levels as the result of dictatorships, and that really puts a damper on economic growth, which is *the* main driver here. Freedom, shmeedom. The population is young and jobless, with more than 60% of the population under 30, and 25-50% unemployment rates.

If they had jobs, they wouldn't be out protesting.

[boutons_deux]

Dubya Pravda News Flash: Egypt Proves Dubya Was Right

(aka, using a blanket of Pravda-worthy revisionist lies to try to cover dubya's pile of )

Media Enable Former Bushies To Rewrite History On Bush Egypt and "Freedom In The Arab World"

the Bush administration did not target Egypt as part of its so-called Middle East "freedom agenda," but rather, they relied on Egypt to help them to implement it. Despite the occasional criticism of Murabak's suppression of political opposition, they by no means held Egypt up as an "Arab" "dictatorship" that needed to forge the path to democracy. Indeed, the Bush administration far more consistently pointed to Egypt as the potential Middle Eastern model of democracy.

http://www.truth-out.org/print/67337

[RandomGuy]

Bolton: Mubarak’s Downfall Would Mean We Need To Bomb Iran Sooner

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/01/bolton-egypt-iran/

Bolton.

What a maroon. He's like the embarassing uncle at family gatherings that won't stop talking to himself, and will tell you all about how the Chinese are going to invade Panama.

[boutons_deux]

New Jordan Government: King Abdullah II Dismisses Government

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0...tml?view=print

[boutons_deux]

China seeing the possibilities.

#Egypt Blocked in China

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/egy...46?tag=nl.e539

[RandomGuy]

The men of Qasr el-Aini Street

A quick primer on current understanding of the Muslim Brotherhood, fwiw.

The foreign policy journal, unsurprisingly, has a lot of good material if anyone wants to read up.

One can find the deluded take of Iran's current leaders who see Tunisia/Egypt as a remake of their 1979 revolution to overthrow "US imperialism", rather than the 2009 Green Revolution. They seem to seriously think that their crushing of the Green Revolution was simply another "US plot" foiled by diligent security forces.

[DarkReign]

Reading this when I get home.

[LnGrrrR]

Bolton: Mubarak’s Downfall Would Mean We Need To Bomb Iran Sooner

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/01/bolton-egypt-iran/

Bolton is so predictable. Next headline will be something like "My kid ate Cheerios with sugar today, it means we must bomb Iran! YEARGH!"

[BlairForceDejuan]

LOLOLOLOL World Police

Feels good pissing away billions to fund Muslim Brochachos with a nice army. Can't wait to vote in the next idiot Rep/Dem and do it again!

[ChumpDumper]

Bolton: Mubarak’s Downfall Would Mean We Need To Bomb Iran Sooner

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/01/bolton-egypt-iran/

Wants to be president, of course.

[024]

the iranian revolution against the shah was a mostly secular movement as well. the protesters gained the support of the islamic clerics but it was mostly an uprising by students and middle class iranians. when iran wrote its new cons ution, the clerics surprised most of the iranian revolutionaries by staging a small coup and turning iran into a theocracy with khomeini at the top. while the muslim brotherhood do not enjoy the same religious legitimacy as the iranian ayatollahs, there is still a risk of some a secondary coup that would strengthen the brotherhood's influence in egyptian politics. however, egpyt had always been more of a nationalist state. the opposition leaders are more socialist and nationalist than religious. i doubt the egyptians would allow a theocracy to rise.

most likely scenario would be an interim government composed of the current vice president and senior military officers with eventual elections that carry the socialists into power. the ruling coalition will be more anti-american and anti-israel but would also not ally itself to extreme religious groups. the muslim brotherhood would be finally free to operate without looking over the shoulders and maybe form some kind of deal with the ruling coalition.

a worst case scenario would be a fractured nation trying to create a democracy that just won't work. there will be too much infighting, corruption, and broken alliances that the military will have to step in and rule the country for a while. or the muslim brotherhood rapidly regains its influence and seizes the opportunity to grab power. highly unlikely though because the base of power in egypt has always been the military and the military seems to be tacitly supporting the secular protesters. if another dictatorship is to arise from all this then it would be on of military rule.

in any case, the US and israel need to prepare for a less friendly egypt.

[LnGrrrR]

Wants to be president, of course.

Better shave the 'stache then. Quick, who was the last President with a 'stache elected?

[ChumpDumper]

Better shave the 'stache then. Quick, who was the last President with a 'stache elected?

Why, Thomas Dewey of course.

[LnGrrrR]

Why, Thomas Dewey of course.

Pshaw. Almost-presidents don't count.

[LnGrrrR]

Ha! Proving that every original thought was already thought by someone else on the internet...

http://www.good.is/post/can-a-man-wi...-be-president/

[Yonivore]

Better shave the 'stache then. Quick, who was the last President with a 'stache elected?

Was it Teddy Roosevelt?

[ChumpDumper]

Close.

[The Reckoning]

taft?

[MannyIsGod]

s really getting crazy today.

[Yonivore]

Syria and Jordan autocrats are frantically finagling to keep their day jobs.

[boutons_deux]

s really getting crazy today.

Come on, Manny, Repug/conservatives have been bat crazy for decades.

It's going to get worse, unstoppably.

98% of America is ed by the vampire-squid VRWC, like it was in the 1920s and Robber Baron era, and it's un able.

Too much money and power in too many sinister hands that control government.

[boutons_deux]

"Mubarak’s regime has received roughly $2 billion per year since coming to power, overwhelmingly for the military.

Where has the money gone? Mostly to U.S. corporations. I asked William Hartung of the New America Foundation to explain:

“It’s a form of corporate welfare for companies like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, because it goes to Egypt, then it comes back for F-16 aircraft, for M-1 tanks, for aircraft engines, for all kinds of missiles, for guns, for tear-gas canisters [from] a company called Combined Systems International, which actually has its name on the side of the canisters that have been found on the streets there.”

Hartung just published a book, “Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex.” He went on: “Lockheed Martin has been the leader in deals worth $3.8 billion over that period of the last 10 years; General Dynamics, $2.5 billion for tanks; Boeing, $1.7 billion for missiles, for helicopters; Raytheon for all manner of missiles for the armed forces. So, basically, this is a key element in propping up the regime, but a lot of the money is basically recycled. Taxpayers could just as easily be giving it directly to Lockheed Martin or General Dynamics.”"

http://www.truthdig.com/report/print...racy_20110201/

===========

In fact, the American Empire is really just the VRWC, MIC division, sucking US taxpayer pockets dry while burdening US citizens with $Ts in debt. Guess to whom the US pays the $B100s in national debt interest? yep, capitalists who had enough capital to buy US bonds.

[MannyIsGod]

Syria and Jordan autocrats are frantically finagling to keep their day jobs.

The same autocrats endlessly supported by our government?

The US loves their dictators because they keep "stable" and it doesn't care if it comes at the expense of other peoples freedoms and then the people in this country wonder why happens here directed by groups from that general area.



They hate our freedoms
-George Bush future Mt Rushmore President

No, they hate us because they're NOT free and we have a hand in that.

[MannyIsGod]

From Al Jazera's live blog:

3:22pm Protesters in Tahrir Square shows the Al Jazeera camera the ID cards of accused plain clothed security (police ID) who came in earlier to create chaos.

Shocking that the violence is being caused by government operatives.

[MannyIsGod]

The Google response to all of this has been pretty amazing. Their Speak to Tweet service is awesome.

http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/egypt.html