[vision-master]

Also, the American ppl are armed to the teeth.

[dorlomin]

The US is now holding talks with El Baradei.

Rumour mills running wild.

Protests are planned for Syria, but thats not going to fly.

[dorlomin]

Mubarak will confirm he will not stand in the next election on TV tonight.

But the protesters want him gone now. As soon as he says he will walk later this year, he will be a lame duck. There is no such a thing as a lame duck strong man, your either a strong man of packing your bags for Jeddah.

[vision-master]

BBC: President Mubarak will say in a speech shortly that he will step down at the next election, but will stay in office until then, al-Arabiya TV reports.

I'd say he's not going to get out of here alive?

[vision-master]

Troops mobilising in Jordan

[Sixstrings]

The NYT says it's class warfare.
Rich, Poor and a Rift Exposed by Unrest

As the government of Egypt shakes from a broad-based uprising, long-simmering resentments have burst into open class warfare.
...

They're right. I heard a commenter on the TV news that said Egypt has 40% unemployment. Maybe that's just Cairo, seems like an incredible number (then again, we have 20% REAL unemployment even here).

The main demands of the protesters are that Mubarek leaves and they want a minimum wage. So that's what it's about, minimum wage and food to eat and a job and some hope -- not radical islam.

[dorlomin]

Mubarak confirms he is to stand down but in several months.

Doubt this will satisfy the protesters.

[Sixstrings]

Mubarak confirms he is to stand down but in several months.

Doubt this will satisfy the protesters.

That guy is really crafty.. I thought I read September? So that's 7 months.. maybe he just wants to quiet things down and then when the time comes around he won't leave.

[Pretorian]

It is never right to claim a right you deny others.

Really. How do you define " others" ?

[dorlomin]

That guy is really crafty.. I thought I read September? So that's 7 months.. maybe he just wants to quiet things down and then when the time comes around he won't leave.

He is facing a general strike, million on the streets, non responsive army, dissapearing allies and a coallition from Christians to Islamic fundamentalists, marxists to religous conservatives, the middle classes and the poor. Its his last throw of the dice.

Friday prayers are the next big one. If the revolt has moment still then he is off.

Given the reaction in Tahir square the moment will still be their.

My guess is a complete breakdown in censorship with the press in the next day or so.

All government is a bit of a con trick, convincing people that the statis quo is less hassle than change, with a strongman government the trick is that its not worth the dead and tortured necessary to affect change. But with Mubarak now on his way out and the change process underway his ability to offer long term protection from prosecution to his minions is clearly out th window. Their calculus now is to stick with him and believe he can gerrymander the system to put his placeman in place or to defect to the opposition and sue for mercy.

The army does not seem to have many skeletons in its closet so the generals seem to find the change non threatening. The police on the other hand seem desperate (comon enough in these situations, IIRC the Romanian army backed the protesters against the police in 89). Now is a standoff till either the police and internal security forces can go on the offensive (hard to do with M1 Abrams guarding the protesters) or to bolt and hope Mubarak can hold on long enough to get the guiltiest out to Jeddah.

[mos6507]

How do you define " others" ?

I know you how you define it.

[Keith_McClary]

Now is a standoff till either the police and internal security forces can go on the offensive (hard to do with M1 Abrams guarding the protesters) or to bolt and hope Mubarak can hold on long enough to get the guiltiest out to Jeddah.

I've been wondering where these dictators and their thugs will go. The Saudi royals may not want to be associated with other tyrants who have been deposed by popular uprisings. It might give people ideas.

These days the US does not seem keen to harbor its puppets and collaborators, eg. there are thousands of Iraqi former US employees in exile in Jordan and Lebanon. Didn't they take in a lot from Vietnam?

a senior Israeli official told the country's Haaretz daily that the West is making a mistake. "The Americans and the Europeans are being pulled along by public opinion and aren't considering their genuine interests," the official said. "Even if they are critical of Mubarak they have to make their friends feel that they're not alone. Jordan and Saudi Arabia see the reactions in the West, how everyone is abandoning Mubarak, and this will have very serious implications."

Maybe Israel will take in their friendly dictators.

[eXpat]

Clashes break out in Tahrir Square

Clashes have broken out between pro- and anti-government demonstrators in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

Protesters from both sides threw stones at each other in Tahrir Square, the epicentre of ongoing opposition demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak.

Al Jazeera correspondents, reporting from the scene, said that more than a 100 people were injured in the clashes and in a stampede that started when trouble broke out.

Earlier, witnesses said thousands of pro-Mubarak supporters had entered the square. Opposition groups said Mubarak had sent in thugs to suppress the protest.

Also in Cairo, Al Jazeera's Jane Dutton, said that "hundreds of anti-government supporters were running from the square, including many women and children".

Another Al Jazeera correspondent said men on horseback and camels ran into the crowds, as army personnel stood by. The correspondent added that more horses and camels are arriving into the square.

Al Jazeera's online producer in Cairo said rocks were continously being thrown from both sides.

He also said that tens of thousands of people from Mubarak's supporters are coming up to Tahrir square.

"The army had barricades to block them off but they got through them and the army let them through.

"The people on horses are pro-Mubarak supporters, they are a very angry crowd looking for anyone working for Al Jazeera and for Americans. They are trying to get on the other side of the army tanks to get to the anti-Mubarak supporters. More and more pro-Mubarak supporters are coming in and for now the army is acting as a buffer."

Violence

Jane Dutton also said that security guards have also been seen amongst the pro-Mubarak supporters, and it may be a precursor to the feared riot police arriving on the scene.

Dutton added that a journalist with the Al-Arabiya channel was stabbed during the clashes.

Fighting took place around army tanks deployed around the square, with stones bouncing off the armoured vehicles. Soldiers did not intervene.

Several groups were involved in fist fights, and some were using clubs. The opposition also said many among the pro-Mubarak crowd were policemen in plainclothes.

"Members of security forces dressed in plain clothes and a number of thugs have stormed Tahrir Square," three opposition groups said in a statement.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122124446797789.html

[vision-master]

TWITTER

SUEZ

afneil Andrew Neil
by phillipjedwards
Suez canal still open. But ports closing. If Canal closes Egypt crisis goes global


TWITTER

GAZA

GazaYBO Gaza Youth Break Out
Breaking news: F16s are all over Gaza now

[vision-master]

There is a MASSACRE going on LIVE infront of my eyes...
Pro-mubaraks using: Acid to burn people, stabbing with knifes and swords! against people with only fists and stones!!!

[vision-master]

reports that another 20,000 police are on the way to the square
coktails molotov trowing agaist people!!!

[vision-master]

Breaking: ALL that have been captured from pro-mubarak protestors have turned up to be police! aljazeera arabic

[vision-master]

Report: Egyptian army intervenes to stop Cairo clashes

Published: 02.02.11, 19:33 / Israel News

Share on TwitterShare on Facebook
share

Eye witnesses say that Egyptian army troops are intervening to stop the violent clashes that have broken out between supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at Cairo's Tahrir Square, the Al Arabiya news network reported.

[link to www.ynetnews.com]

[Oneaboveall]

Looks like Anderson Cooper got attacked by a mob.

Got roughed up by thugs in pro-Mubarak crowd..punched and kicked repeatedly. Had to escape. Safe now

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2011/02/02/2011-02-02_cnns_anderson_cooper_and_news_crew_attacked_by_angry_mob_in_egypt.html#ixzz1CpQ9F9G0

[Graeme]

Peak Oil & Poverty - More Background on the Egyptian Popular Uprising

Egypt is particularly vulnerable. Its oil production peaked in 1996, and since then has declined by around 26 per cent. Since the 1960s, Egypt has moved from complete food self-sufficiency to excessive dependence on imports, subsidized by oil revenues. But as Egypt's oil revenues have steadily declined due to increasing domestic consumption of steadily declining oil, so have food subsidies, leading to surging food prices. Simultaneously, Egypt's debt levels are horrendous - about 80.5 percent of its GDP, far higher than most other countries in the region. Inequality is also high, intensifying over the last decade in the wake of neoliberal 'structural adjustment' reforms - widely implemented throughout the region since the 1980s with debilitating effects, including contraction of social welfare, reduction of wages, and lack of infrastructure investment. Consequently, today forty per cent of Egyptians live below the UN poverty line of less than £2 a day.

Due to such vulnerabilities, Egypt, as with many of the MENA countries, now lies on the fault-lines of the convergence of global ecological, energy and economic crises - and thus, on the frontlines of deepening global system failure. The Empire is uncrumbling. The guarded official statements put out by the Obama administration only illustrate the disingenuous impotence of the U.S. position.

treehugger