Sunday, February 13, 2011
Soldiers Scuffle With Tahrir Protesters
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Do Giant Apes Roam Forests of China?
N. Korea Says No More Military Talks With South
FBI Warns AQ Sleeper Agents in US
US Administration and Lawmakers Differ on MB
China Reacts Cautiously to Events in Egypt
Friday, February 11, 2011
For Ex-Community Organizer Obama, Mubarak's Overthrow is Part of 'Moral Arc of the Universe'
Click here for the essay.WHICH ABDULLAH WILL BE NEXT?
Which U.S.-allied Middle Eastern leader will be the next to fall?EUPHORIA IN EGYPT AND AT CNN
Monday, 14 February 2011
Egyptian troops scuffled with pro-democracy protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square Sunday as they moved them aside to make way for traffic to resume through the focal point of the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
Soldiers entered the square Sunday morning and began removing the tents set up to shelter the protesters whose determined presence forced Mubarak to step down Friday and hand power to the military.
Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians celebrated his ouster in the square late Friday and Saturday before returning home; but hundreds remained Sunday, vowing to stay until Egypt's new military rulers meet their demands for democratic reforms. Scuffles broke out as some of the activists tried to resist the soldiers' efforts to clear the tent camp.
A coalition of youth groups that organized the protests issued a list of demands Saturday, including the dissolution of the ruling party-dominated parliament and the lifting of the deeply unpopular emergency law installed by Mubarak when he took office in 1981
The sightings are increasing, and increasingly taken seriously. Over here for the background.
Related:
The Obama administration is downplaying the Muslim Brotherhood/Islamist threat to Egypt; but U.S. lawmakers, especially Republicans, are increasingly concerned. Click here for the Reuters analysis, bearing in mind that the news agency is clearly biased in favor of the MB.
Government Fears Foreign Interference
China's authoritarian government has reacted with caution to the ousting of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak.
China's ruling Communist Party called Saturday for stability in Egypt after the fall of President Hosni Mubarak, saying foreign powers should not interfere.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ma Zhaoxu repeated in an online statement China's guarded response to events in Egypt since pro-democracy protest began 18 days ago.
He did not mention Mubarak's resignation or how he was toppled from power; instead, Ma repeated the same words from a press conference held last Thursday.
He said China has been closely following the changing situation in Egypt and hopes the latest developments will help Egypt to restore national stability and normal order as soon as possible.
Stability Stressed
China's state media also gave a cautious reaction. The China Daily underscored the government's key slogan that stability is important above all else. It also said in an editorial Saturday foreign powers should not intervene.
The editorial was the first extensive comment from China's state-run media on Mubarak's ouster on Friday after nearly 30 years as Egypt's ruler. State television news reported on Mubarak's fall without comment--and did not show pictures of pro-democracy crowds in Cairo.
China's cautious response may reflect concern among officials in Beijing for maintaining internal control.
Chinese Internet sites have restricted public comment on the unrest in Egypt. But discussion of the Egyptian leader's fall could nonetheless be found on blogs.
One Chinese blogger wrote: "The impact of this event will go beyond the Arab world. Faraway China will also feel its consequences."
One wonders: Could a revolution in Jordan--or the dismantlement of Israel--be part of the same arc?
How about Turkey's bid for EU membership?
Or the right to wear burqas in France and challenge Sarkozy--on the streets of Paris?
God help us.
POSTSCRIPT: Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski--whose ideas about international relations, in general, and the Middle East, in particular, have influenced Obama--was also inspired by an arc, one based on geography and religion. Brzezinski's cynical support for the jihad in Afghanistan and the Islamic Revolution in Iran was an outgrowth of his concept of an"Arc of Islam" stretching across the strategically situated, energy-rich countries of Central Asia, and his belief in the potential for harnessing the power of right-wing political Islam in order to control these lands--and bring down the Soviet Union. "Some stirred-up Moslems" (Brzezinski's own words) was a small price to pay, as he saw it, for the prizes on which his eyes were focused.
Time will tell.
The Jordanian monarch is the weakest link. Exit planning would make a lot of sense. Better to step down and depart in stages, assets intact, than to wait for the inevitable ouster--or assassination.
The population of Jordan (really a river, rather than a country) is overwhelmingly Palestinian; and even the Beduin tribal leaders are angry and restive. Not a good combination--for Abdullah and the West. The Muslim Brothers would probably win a truly free and fair election.
Could Bin Laden (the Al Qaeda leader, not the billionaire businessman) be elected president of a Saudi Islamic Republic?
One wonders--and worries.
THIS JUST IN: The New York Times has made it official! America's leading liberal newspaper says "history" overthrew Mubarak. Hmm.... Time was, the Times believed history put Hitler and Stalin and Mao in power, not to mention the Ayatollah Khomeini....
NETWORK ANCHOR CONGRATULATES ACTIVIST,
WHO SAYS CNN WAS 'PART OF THE REVOLUTION'
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