[Sixstrings]

Just watching CNN.. the video is amazing. People fighting on horseback, camels, buildings on fire with thousands of rebel and pro-mubarak mobs fighting it out. Looks like a movie.

This thing could get very, very bad and become a massive humanitarian disaster.. think Katrina but add in a civil war and the troops firing on the mobs.

And on top of it all that, pro-Mubarak protesters beat up Anderson Cooper:

The anchor was "punched 10 times in the head," CNN producer Steve Brusk Tweeted.
Anderson Cooper was attacked in Egypt Wednesday.

CNN producer Steve Brusk Tweeted, "Anderson said he was punched 10 times in the head as pro-Mubarak mob surrounded him and his crew trying to cover demonstration."

Cooper then escaped to the roof of a nearby building, where he said on air that he and his crew were trying to get to a neutral zone between protestors and pro-Mubarak supporters when they "were set upon by pro-Mubarak supporters punching us in the head. The crowd kept growing, kept throwing punches, kicks...suddenly a young man would look at you and punch you in the face."

Cooper told CNN's live blog that the attackers "pushed and shoved the CNN crew and punched them in the head... but no one was seriously hurt."

Added Brusk on Twitter, "Live images now of crowds on opposite side of trucks throwing rocks. A CNN reporter called earlier scene snowball fight with rocks."

CNN's Ben Wedeman told the blog that "he overheard a panicked army officer say the situation was out of control and there was nothing the army could do to restore order."
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/anderson-cooper-attacked-mob-egypt-95628

EDIT: fires seem to be getting worse, people throwing molotov cocktails. Building next to the Cairo museum is on fire. CNN also reporting men armed with machetes.

[Lore]

Anderson Cooper was attacked in Egypt Wednesday.

CNN producer Steve Brusk Tweeted, "Anderson said he was punched 10 times in the head as pro-Mubarak mob surrounded him and his crew trying to cover demonstration."

Cooper then escaped to the roof of a nearby building, where he said on air that he and his crew were trying to get to a neutral zone between protestors and pro-Mubarak supporters when they "were set upon by pro-Mubarak supporters punching us in the head. The crowd kept growing, kept throwing punches, kicks...suddenly a young man would look at you and punch you in the face."

Cooper told CNN's live blog that the attackers "pushed and shoved the CNN crew and punched them in the head... but no one was seriously hurt."

From what I heard, he was punched so hard he did a 360!

[Sixstrings]

From what I heard, he was punched so hard he did a 360!

You know everyone loves to hate on Cooper.. but honestly he's a good journalist. Took guts to go to Egypt in the first place.. he really doesn't know if he can get back out, or when.

[Plantagenet]

From what I heard, he was punched so hard he did a 360!

Did Anderson Cooper spin to the left like he usually does?

[Pretorian]

How do you define " others" ?

I know you how you define it.

My scale is by far more complex than that but yes I'd prefer that beast of zionism to be contained, thank you

[Pretorian]

its so much BETTER than a movie. If the coverage is assured, I do not mind paying $5 for gas to have this thing going.

[rockdoc123]

i'm late to the discussion as I've been away for awhile. I lived and worked in Cairo for a number of years back in the late eighties/early nineties. As an outsider it is easy to comment on the very prevalent poverty and what appears to be a two class system. What isn't apparent is the reason why Mubarak has been a strongman. The Muslim brotherhood movement in Cairo predates all of the fundamentalist movements that we normally hear about in the press. Mubarak was busy butting heads with this group well before Algeria experienced its' fundamentalist insurgence. You could argue the reason why this didn't happen in Egypt was that Mubarak ruled with a vengeance where it came to this issue. You can disagree with his methods....back when there was the group of fundamentalists who machine gunned down a number of German tourists in Luxor Mubarak's response was to immediately arrest a number of "the most likely candidates", put them in prison and treat them accordingly. It wasn't surprising that eye witnesses to the event pointed out the gentlemen arrested didn't look like the perpetrators. This, of course, wasn't Mubarak's point as he wanted the leaders not the individuals responsible. The arrested were detained (and no doubt tortured) for a number of months and then released on an appropriate Muslim holiday. Again, seems brutal and uncivilized but it was something that did work to contain the fundamentalist threat throughout a period where other countries were helpless. And he was almost invariably supported not only by the US but more importantly by the UK. You need to realize that of the >800,000 bopd that Egypt produced BP through their acquisition of Amoco were responsible for more than 2/3rd. The UK gov't were, hence, very involved in Egyptian policy.
It's a very strange country with huge contrasts. You have the opulent hotels on Zemalak island contrasting with the million plus destitute living in the city of the dead. When I lived in Cairo pretty much every third side street to the Corniche (main drag) had at least one truck permanently placed which had riot troops sitting in the back. It has always been a city waiting for it all to fall apart.
My question is what is next? Fundamentalist rule in what is likely the most western of all the Arab world? A new leader who doesn't have a lot of weapons at his disposal to deal with the huge amount of poverty present?
And finally I am considerably dismayed at the attempted sacking of the antiquities museum. I spent many, many hours there looking at the various exhibits and contemplating what the world must have been like several thousand years ago. It makes me very sad to think that people would ignore the value of all that history.

[Keith_McClary]

Egypt crisis opens door for oil sands

The escalating tension in Egypt has provided Stephen Harper with an unexpected opportunity to push for a guarantee that there will be no border tax on Canada's oil sands when he visits U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on Friday.
...
Given the escalating uncertainty in the Middle East, the time to make Canada's case as a growing, predictable supplier will never be better. We already supply nearly 10% of total U.S. demand and a new report prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy this week found that growing Canadian oil sands imports and U.S. demand reductions have the potential to "essentially eliminate" Middle East crude imports in the long term.

Canada's answer to scumbag Mubarak.

[sparky]

.
The counter revolution is getting in its stride ,
the disruption of the food deliveries make Cairo an hostage to famine
the police has left most of the city , people are afraid of looting and a complete breakdown of order
every support for Mubarak is scrapped wherever it can be found
obviously aggro is the policy , it should empty the square of the least combative protesters
the rest can be harassed by thugs or picked out by snipers .

the straightening is going to happen away from the cameras

[EnergyUnlimited]

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.

He is 82 and he will soon leave for a reason of natural course of events.
I wonder why he still cares?
He could easily secure a good deal for himself and family before leaving office and retire as a billionaire.
It would also take his family off hook.
If overthrown, he and his family risks far more.

[jupiters_release]

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.

He is 82 and he will soon leave for a reason of natural course of events.
I wonder why he still cares?
He could easily secure a good deal for himself and family before leaving office and retire as a billionaire.
It would also take his family off hook.
If overthrown, he and his family risks far more.

If Mubarak weren't a dictator his whole life, then maybe he'd have some other interests. He would consider himself a failure if he stepped down now to the people's will. Obama said he's cutting off $1.3B in aid, as if Mubarak cares. CNN said he's worth $40B to $70B. He can go on a stalinesque shopping spree for the rest of his life and I wouldn't be surprised if he does so with full support of the banks.

Population mitigation has to happen, and considering the global political structure it will probably happen with the most inequity possible.

[rangerone314]

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.

He is 82 and he will soon leave for a reason of natural course of events.
I wonder why he still cares?
He could easily secure a good deal for himself and family before leaving office and retire as a billionaire.
It would also take his family off hook.
If overthrown, he and his family risks far more.

If Mubarak weren't a dictator his whole life, then maybe he'd have some other interests. He would consider himself a failure if he stepped down now to the people's will. Obama said he's cutting off $1.3B in aid, as if Mubarak cares. CNN said he's worth $40B to $70B. He can go on a stalinesque shopping spree for the rest of his life and I wouldn't be surprised if he does so with full support of the banks.

Population mitigation has to happen, and considering the global political structure it will probably happen with the most inequity possible.

Mubarak and his minions maybe be thugs (are we sure he's not mafia?) but you can't blame him for the Egyptian people not keeping their trowsers zipped up and breeding like yeast in a culture dish.

[Sixstrings]

Mubarak and his minions maybe be thugs (are we sure he's not mafia?) but you can't blame him for the Egyptian people not keeping their trowsers zipped up and breeding like yeast in a culture dish.

Ranger, the reality is that poor people have more children. It's true the world over, including the United States. In poorer societies, having more sons is an asset -- they're extra hands on the farm or help pay the rent for the family dwelling.

Or maybe since poor people can afford less Stuff (tm) they have nothing else to do but make babies.

[jupiters_release]

Mubarak and his minions maybe be thugs (are we sure he's not mafia?) but you can't blame him for the Egyptian people not keeping their trowsers zipped up and breeding like yeast in a culture dish.

I've read this line quite often here. Because there's so much illness and suffering in the world, it's easier for us to deal with it if we believe people deserve it. I don't blame you though because sooner or later we'll all be facing the cliff. We can't cope so we mistakenly throw away our capacity for compassion. Overshoot is a symptom of our successfully fractured consciousness, our unsustainable assertion that the self is at all separate from the Not-self.

[Revi]

There won't be any more food with a new regime. Egypt had a deal with Russia, but they were cut off because the wheat harvest was damaged by the heat wave and drought last summer. Now let's say Mubarak steps out and there is an election tomorrow. That still doesn't solve the food problem. There are over 80 million people in Egypt. They all want flour to make flatbread. Where is it going to come from? The revolution doesn't solve that problem.

[mos6507]

...yes I'd prefer that beast of zionism to be contained, thank you

It seems pretty well contained as it is, considering that Israel is surrounded on all sides by people that hate them.

Oh, you think the joos are secretly taking over the world? In that case, well, you're not as complex and nuanced as you say you are. Just a simple bigot.

[mos6507]

The revolution doesn't solve that problem.

I don't think it will either. I also think if they wind up empowering the islamists that it will just make their lot in life worse if they start picking fights with Israel and losing US subsidies. That's not to say it makes sense to hold onto a 30-year dictator, but they need a plan, otherwise it could be out of the frying pan and into the fire. I think Mubarak may be sincere when he warns about this. We're on the verge of mob rule here and something needs to coalesce out of this void.

If you look at any country that experiences a power vacuum, often there is a period in which things are worse than they ever were as all of the forces that were repressed before suddenly have an opportunity to take over. Kind of like weeds taking over after a forest fire. It's risky.

Remember all the rhetoric about Iraq claiming they would have been better off if they kept Saddam? Think of the Balkan wars after the fall of Soviet Union. Think about the sorry state of post-colonial Africa.

Tearing things down is a lot harder than building things back up again.

[careinke]

The revolution doesn't solve that problem.

Tearing things down is a lot harder than building things back up again.

No it's not.

[gollum]

The revolution doesn't solve that problem.

I don't think it will either. I also think if they wind up empowering the islamists that it will just make their lot in life worse if they start picking fights with Israel and losing US subsidies. That's not to say it makes sense to hold onto a 30-year dictator, but they need a plan, otherwise it could be out of the frying pan and into the fire. I think Mubarak may be sincere when he warns about this. We're on the verge of mob rule here and something needs to coalesce out of this void.

If you look at any country that experiences a power vacuum, often there is a period in which things are worse than they ever were as all of the forces that were repressed before suddenly have an opportunity to take over. Kind of like weeds taking over after a forest fire. It's risky.

Remember all the rhetoric about Iraq claiming they would have been better off if they kept Saddam? Think of the Balkan wars after the fall of Soviet Union. Think about the sorry state of post-colonial Africa.




Tearing things down is a lot harder than building things back up again.

I guess we should have thought about that before we blew 67 billion dollars the last 30 years supporting what basically amounted to a dictatorship. Best thing we can do now is what we should have done in the first place, mind our own business! We set out to bring freedom and democracy to the middle east, and I guess we'll be a little surprised when a free people don't always do our bidding. Personally I see a lot to be hopeful for, there's a decent chance that out of this mess a liberal democracy will develop.

[nobodypanic]

but you can't blame him for the Egyptian people not keeping their trowsers zipped up and breeding like yeast in a culture dish.

a brave, courageous people like that? hell, it's a shame there aren't more of them. one of them is easily worth a hundred of us americans.