Cairo Street Scenes - Sunday 6th February

Cairo Live Now - BBC World Service Radio

Live commentaries from Egypt. Switch console on HERE.

Qui Fait Du Chantage Sur L'autre, Obama Ou Moubarak?

On se rend compte que les Américains se croient encore les maîtres du monde.Je m'étonne que l'ensemble de notre classe politique, de nos journalistes ne soient pas du tout offusqués par cette attitude "néo-colonialiste" des USA.Même si le régime de Moubarak n'a rien d'une démocratie, cela ne justifie en rien cet interventionnisme américain. Les Américains, 'patrie de l'ultralibéralisme' sont toujours obnubilés par les profits à court-terme et n'ont jamais rien compris aux besoins des pays Arabes. Ils se sont souvent conduits par le passé comme des imbéciles, agissant en dépit du bon sens (aider et armer par exemple les talibans dans leur lutte contre les Soviétiques)

Egyptians Rally For Mubarak Departure

Robert Fisk From Cairo 4 Feb.

They formed in phalanxes across the road outside the Egyptian Museum, each holding a shield of corrugated iron, many of them shouting "God is Great", a mockery of every Hollywood Roman legion, T-shirts instead of breastplates, clubs and the police night-sticks of Mubarak's hated cops instead of swords. Outside the House on the Corner – cheerfully telling me it belonged to anyone – stood a man holding (believe me, reader) a 7ft steel trident. "I am the devil," he cheerfully roared at me. 
This was almost as bad as the horse and camel attack by the Mubarakites on Wednesday. Fisk Handle Here.

Heckuva Job, Hosni - Tony Blair

By Robbin Yassin-Kassab by way of Reality Zone.


Excerpt -  Tony Blair, with the blood of Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine dripping from his fingers, says Egyptian dictator Husni Mubarak is “immensely courageous and a force for good.” The opinion is based on working “with him on the Middle East peace process.” Mubarak’s record on the pacification process involves helping the Palestinian Authority transform itself into a (stateless) police state apparatus, obstructing Fatah-Hamas reconciliation, and constructing, in concert with US army engineers, a metal wall underneath the Gaza border.
Under Nasser’s police state Egypt had no popular sovereignty, but it did have national independence. This was lost at Camp David in 1979, when Sadat signed peace with Israel, retrieved the occupied Sinai peninsula, and received the promise of billions of dollars of annual American aid. After Israel, Egypt is the second largest recipient of US aid. American funding of the military is the reason why top officers remain loyal to the regime despite all the humiliations (for Egypt lost its Arab leadership role long ago) and committed to the peace treaty, although Israel has reneged on its Camp David undertaking to provide a just solution to the Palestinian problem. In full here.

Cairo Revolt - 3rd February Video

One eye-witness said "Suleiman has not listened to the people's needs. We want Mubarak to leave immediately, not to stick around for another six months," said Mohamed Anis, 29, who works at the bourse.

"We have refused dialogue and negotiation with Suleiman until Mubarak steps down," he added.

The army's role in shaping events is crucial. Only on Thursday did soldiers set up a clear buffer zone around the square to separate factions after having held back. That did not prevent new clashes, as groups pelted each other with rocks. Sinister US and Israeli elements are not far away from the mayhem.

Moubarak Se Trompe Pour Pacificateur

Afghanistan War and Wolves In The City will be posting in French occasionally as well as English from today on. This from Le Figaro. Felicitations to all our French readers and some new French friends. Antoine de Loupes Dans La Ville.

Moubarak aimerait partir mais redoute le «chaos»

Réactions (292)



MINUTE PAR MINUTE - Dans une interview à la chaîne américaine ABC, le président se dit fatigué mais il craint les conséquences de son éventuelle démission en pleine crise. Les affrontements entre pro et anti-Moubarak se poursuivent dans la capitale.

Les journalistes étrangers pris pour cible en Égypte

Réactions (129)

Le Caire est le théâtre depuis mercredi d'une chasse aux journalistes, molestés par la foule ou emmenés par des policiers en civils. Un des envoyés spéciaux du Figaro a par ailleurs été arrêté ce jeudi non loin d'Alexandrie.

«Moubarak doit partir, on est prêt à mourir !»
Réactions (17)
ZAPPING VIDÉO - Dans les rues du Caire où les affrontements se poursuivent, des manifestants témoignent de leur détermination.

Le pouvoir égyptien fait sa propagande par SMS

Réactions (29)

Les Égyptiens reçoivent sur leur téléphone des messages glorifiant l'armée et appelant au respect de la nation. L'opérateur Vodafone, qui dit être forcé d'acheminer ces SMS, juge le procédé «inacceptable». » La coupure d'Internet a coûté au moins 65 millions d'euros à l'Égypte 

«L'armée a une attitude attentiste» au Caire

Réactions (15)

AUDIO - Le correspondant du Figaro au Caire, Tangi Salaün, analyse la position confuse de l'armée égyptienne qui soutient en partie la contestation, et dont les chars ont fait reculer ce jeudi matin des partisans de Moubarak place Tahrir.

Égypte : la révolte coûte 49 milliards aux Bourses arabes

Réactions (15)

Selon le cabinet d'études koweitien, Kamco, la Bourse du Caire a perdu 12 milliards de dollars entre le début des manifestations, le 25 janvier, et la fermeture de la place financière, le 27 janvier.

Au Yémen, pro et anti Saleh dans la rue 
Les manifestants ont réclamé jeudi le départ du chef de l'État, qui mise sur la division de ses adversaires.

Bouteflika annonce la levée prochaine de l'état d'urgence en Algérie

Réactions (59)

En vigueur depuis 19 ans, l'état d'urgence, dénoncé par l'opposition et la société civile, avait été instauré au cours de la décennie noire des violences islamistes.

Arab Countries - Democracy Index

INTERESTINGLY ALL ARE DICTATORSHIPS BAR LEBANON, IRAQ AND THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES(T.McK)

Maat – Goddess of Change, Nemesis of Mubarak

The ancient Goddess Maat represented for the Egyptian nation the concept of a structured world that brought order and equilibrium, ethical values and justice, culture and creativity. 

She was the personification of cosmic harmony and equilibrium. Maat was the opposite to everything that was disordered, chaotic, destructive, and unjust. All Pharoahs and kings had to bring order to their kingdom and world about them and therefore it was important “Ma’at” was in place.
Maat personified all that brought order and was regarded as the daughter or companion of the sun-god. She was shown in human form with an ostrich feather on her head and sometimes she was shown with the wings of a divine being. Not until the New Kingdom did she really begin to have a cult on her own. Then she became part of the set of gods that were worshiped at Karnak and Memphis. I hope she is looking after the ordinary people of Egypt just now.

US Wiped Out 3 Villages To Save Them

Lt. Col David Flynn of the US Army quoted here. No commentary needed for the lunacy to be manifest.

“We never went in with the mindset that we’re going to flatten the villages,” Flynn tells Danger Room. “I have friends in this community now. The last thing I’m trying to do is wreck my friends’ lives.”

‘We didn’t show them a plan and say, “We’re going to destroy everything in the village, is everyone OK with that?”‘

But he did flatten the villages — a decision that’s spurred heated debate since an analyst close to Gen. David Petraeus, Paula Broadwell, blogged earlier this month about the destruction of Tarok Kolache with 49,200 lbs. of rockets and bombs.

Flynn discloses that it wasn’t just Tarok Kolache that got hit: Khosrow Sofla and Lower Babur, located nearby in the Arghandab River Valley, were pounded nearly as badly. Several buildings in Khosrow Sofla are still standing, Flynn says, but Lower Babur is “closer to Tarok Kolache, though not completely eliminated.”

Now, the villages are being rebuilt, a process that’s just begun and which probably won’t be finished by the time Flynn’s battalion completes its tour in the spring. 

Flynn and his NATO bosses probably expect the local Afghans to be grateful to them.

Civilian Casualties At All Time High

The number of civilians killed in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion a decade ago hit record levels last year, according to a new report.

Some 2,421 civilians were killed, the Kabul-based Afghanistan Rights Monitor said.

Correspondents say most officials are expecting at least the same level of violence, if not higher, this year.

'Fear and intimidation'

As many as seven civilians were killed every day in Afghanistan last year, a record in the nine-year-old war, according to the Afghanistan Rights Monitor.

"Over 3,270 were injured in conflict-related security incidents across Afghanistan," the report said.