As pro-democracy protests continue in Egypt, many cities across the country including the capital, Cairo, have become very dangerous at the moment. And many foreigners are getting out as quickly as they can, even Iraqis are heading to back to Baghdad for the sake of their safety. Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf reports now on the exodus.
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Who will win the standoff between millions of angry Egyptians and the country’s defiant leader?
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Death toll rises as violent clashes continue in Egypt between anti-government and pro-Mubarak supporters The sound of gunfire continued to be heard across central Cairo this morning, as anti-Mubarak protesters held their ground against pro-government assaults. After a dramatic night of fighting on streets and rooftops around Tahrir Square and the Egyptian museum, violence continued well after dawn. Local news channels reported that four had been killed in the latest clashes, though doctors on the ground told the Guardian that the death toll was higher. Witnesses who spent the night in the square said there were major shooting incidents at 11pm and 4am local time, the latter involving a sniper equipped with a laser sight. Seven protesters were reported to be confirmed dead at a nearby makeshift medical centre, with three other bodies still unrecovered. “We had over 1,000 injured through the night, including several dead from gunshots,” said Dr Ibrahim Fata, a professor of surgery and one of more than 70 doctors who have volunteered to help treat those injured at the square. “It’s like a war situation in here; some of the pro-change resistance did not bring their wounded to us because they didn’t want to leave their positions. I haven’t slept in the last day and a half.” As Fata was speaking the Guardian witnessed a man with a broken spine being brought in on a corrugated iron stretcher, while others walked around in bandages. Some protesters had taped cardboard boxes to their heads to serve as crude helmets. The shootings came after protesters seeking an end to President Hosni Mubarak’s three-decade-long dictatorship were attacked yesterday by supporters of the Egyptian leader, many of whom were found to be carrying police identification. Molotov cocktails were thrown from buildings and several fires burned through the night. By this morning it was clear the pro-change protesters had succeeded in repelling the assaults and holding Tahrir, their main rallying point throughout this ten-day uprising. At a barricade on Meret Basha Street, approximately 50 metres from a flyover on Abdel Munim Riyad Square, another aid station treated those wounded in the fighting. About 1,000 pro-Mubarak militants continued to mass on the flyover, throwing stones at the crowds below, though it was clear they were increasingly outnumbered, with up to 4,000 anti-regime protesters inside the square and many more gathering as mid-morning approached. Some sections of road are so littered with debris and ripped up by those seeking rocks to throw that they are now impassable. But organisation amongst the pro-change forces remains strong, with groups cooking breakfast over fires and handing out food to the crowds. “Where have you been, this government is killing us,” appealed Wael Abdel Aziz, a pharmacist camped out in Tahrir. A second man, who would give his name only as Osama, said: “Mubarak decided to kill the Egyptian people. He is treating us like insects, trying to crush us.” Egypt Hosni Mubarak Middle East Protest Peter Beaumont Jack Shenker guardian.co.uk
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http://www.youtube.com/v/M-t3Gk7kqaE?f=user_uploads&app=youtube_gdata Go here to read the rest: Tahrir square overnight – February 3
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The Baltic nation of Latvia is blessed with some of the most beautiful forests in the world, millions of square kilometres of pristine woodland that support a complex biodiversity of rare species of animals and plants. But with the Latvian economy in difficulties and the need for money pressing, those trees are being cut down at an alarming rate.
Continue reading …Newsweek Publishes Gay Author Hailing His Mix-and-Match Gay Family Life, Trashing ‘Bizarre and Hateful’ Opposition
February 3, 2011 No CommentThis week's Newsweek reproduces today's preferred method of journalism on homosexuals: first-person gay narratives, hermetically sealed from any troublesome opposition. In a long piece entitled “Meet My Real Modern Family,” author Andrew Solomon reports on how he and his lover have each fathered two children, although only one of them lives with them. Solomon unsurprisingly expresses pride and demands respect: “We have earned the familial relationships into which others stumble, and there is a veteran’s peace in our mutual devotion.” Religious people only surface briefly in their typical role, as villains: John and I sent out birth announcements that included a picture of us with George. One of John’s cousins returned it with a note that said, “Your lifestyle is against our Christian values. We wish to have no further contact.” Some people scorn the idea of calling five adults and four children in three states a family, or believe that the existence of our family undermines theirs. I do not accept competitive models of love, only additive ones. I espouse reproductive libertarianism, and would propose that when everyone has the broadest choice, love itself expands. I would never want to be smug about the affection we all found in one another. It is not a better love than others, but it is another love, and just as species diversity is crucial to sustain the planet, this diversity strengthens the ecosphere of kindness. Newsweek highlighted the line about “reproductive libertarianism,” and never felt compelled by anyone to defend how “love itself expands” when children live without mothers or fathers on a daily basis. Or how children feel when they were conceived in test tubes and placed in the wombs of people like so much laboratory flotsam. This may be “modern.” It's also incredibly artificial. The notion of “sin,” as usual, is completely verboten.
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enlarge One of the more interesting facets of the ongoing protests in Egypt has been how neighboring countries are responding to populist unrest in their own countries. In advance of Yemen’s “Day of Rage” set for Thursday, Yemen’s president released this statement : Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Wednesday he will not seek to extend his presidency in a move that would bring an end to a three-decade rule when his current term expires in 2013. Eyeing protests that brought down Tunisia’s leader and threaten to topple Egypt’s president, Saleh also vowed not to pass on the reins of government to his son. “No extension, no inheritance, no resetting the clock,” Saleh said, speaking ahead of a planned large rally due on Thursday in Sanaa that has been dubbed a “Day of rage.” I’m not sure the people are willing to wait until 2013. We’ll see. Moving on to Jordan, King Abdullah II has replaced his entire cabinet in an effort to expedite reforms . The surprise move by the monarch, a key U.S. ally, was intended to prevent growing demonstrations across the country from gathering steam. But the Islamist opposition promised more protests, charging that the new prime minister is unfit to rule and that the king’s step did not go far enough. Members of Islamist and secular groups had demanded the dismissal of Rifai and his cabinet, widely accused of corruption. The government was also blamed for cutting subsidies that led to rises in fuel and food prices and for moving too slowly on political reform. Over in Syria, unrest is also afoot with a rally being organized to take place in Damascus. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad isn’t shaking up the government over it, because he claims to be ” closely linked to the beliefs of the people. ” Yet, there are still organizing efforts afoot for a February 5th “day of rage”. The organizers of the planned demonstrations in Damascus and Aleppo have listed their demands: an improvement in living standards, respect for human rights, freedom of speech for all Syrian citizens, and greater influence for Syrian youth. They requested that the protesters come equipped with nothing more than Syrian flags and signs expressing their demands. Dominoes can fall far away, or close to home. I can’t help but notice the similarities between what has sparked the commitment to these demonstrations in the Middle East and our own situation here. Rising food prices, fuel prices, high unemployment, poverty and increasing divides between the haves and have-nots are not Muslim or Christian concerns. They’re human concerns, and they exist in this country, too. Over the weekend, I noticed that Coca-Cola and Nestle shut down their operations in Egypt, at least temporarily until things stabilize. Who knew they even had operations in Egypt? I wonder what they paid their workers. I’m guessing it wasn’t enough for them to get ahead, just like here. At the heart of these demonstrations, there’s a human cry to be heard, to have hope, and a pathway to a better future. That’s not all that different from here. We have the benefit of having elections, but whether they’re free or fair is another question, given the current right-wing attack on minority voters and efforts at voter suppression, not to mention Citizens United . We’ve seen what the first round brought — a Congress hell-bent on depriving us of access to health care, oppressing women, and catering to their corporate masters. What will 2012 bring? And will we be willing to have our own “day of rage”?
Continue reading …Bernie Sanders: We Need Medicare for All at State Level, Not Wholesale Repeal of Health Care Law
February 3, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Thank you Sen. Sanders. While discussing the ruling by Florida tea party Judge Roger Vinson to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, Bernie had this to day about what we need to do to fix out broken health care system. SANDERS: At the end of the day, let’s be clear, the United States is the only nation in the industrialized world that does not provide health care for all of our people and yet we end up spending almost twice as much as any other country. Is this health care reform bill the bill I would have written? No, it is not. And one of the changes that I want to see is not to repeal the whole bill, but to give states the flexibility to go forward in more effective ways. In my state I would like to see; and I think we’ve got a shot at passing a Medicare for all, single payer bill, which in a cost effective way could provide health care to all of our people. Those are the changes we need. Not the wholesale repeal of this legislation. His state of Vermont is going to be under attack for trying to do this by the special interests that don’t want to see it work. Let’s hope they prove them wrong and get the system enacted and maybe it will spread to other states.
Continue reading …Bully BillO comes out to smack Colmes for daring to suggest liberals don’t hate America
February 3, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Now here’s an irony: Bill O’Reilly accusing Al Jazeera of being anti-Semitic because it includes guests who clearly fit that description. Meanwhile, the Glenn Beck Anti-Semitic Elephant in the room goes politely ignored. Of course, what this was really about was, once again, right-wing Fox talkers like O’Reilly and Monica Crowley using unrest abroad as a way to smear liberal Americans as insufficiently patriotic. And so when Alan Colmes called them out for it, his reward was to get the BillO the Bully Full-On Nasty treatment. It happened last night on O’Reilly’s opening “Talking Points Memo” segment : “Talking Points” could provide hundreds of examples of anti-Semitism and “hate America” rhetoric displayed on Al Jazeera, the network Sam Donaldson admires. And he’s not alone. Here’s what Brian Stelter wrote in The New York Times on Tuesday: “As recently as Friday, the conservative Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly branded Al Jazeera as ‘anti-America.’ … But that view has been largely drowned out by people like [Sam] Donaldson who have hoisted up Al Jazeera English for its protest coverage.” Totally absurd. Any fair-minded person who follows Al Jazeera knows it is anti-American and anti-Semitic. Only on the far left can it find acceptance. Sure. And it’s true that it’s there are many examples of anti-Semitic guests on Al Jazeera — just as it’s true that Fox has had on its airwaves a broad assortment of nativists and other far-right extremists over the years as well. But even more important, one of Fox News’ leading anchors — and a frequent onstage and on-air cohort of O’Reilly’s — is under siege from Jewish rabbis outraged by Beck’s anti-Semitic slurs of George Soros and his obscene overuse of Nazi and Holocaust comparisons and metaphors . Oh well. That — like any criticism of the network at all — is NEVER mentioned at Fox. Because as the segment that followed with Colmes and Crowley amply demonstrated, this was less about bashing Al Jazeera and was really all about bashing liberals — as Crowley made explicit. And that set off the fireworks: CROWLEY: Well, I — I don’t want to attribute this directly to Sam Donaldson but I would say to make a broader point that the far left in this country is essentially anti-American. COLMES: Oh please, now that’s disgusting. CROWLEY: They are — and so a lot of their — a lot of their philosophy. (CROSSTALK) COLMES: That’s disgusting. That’s sickening. CROWLEY: I’m not saying you, Colmes, I’m saying the broader far left has an anti-American agenda that in many ways dovetails… (CROSSTALK) COLMES: Who, who? Tell me who? Who on the left? CROWLEY: …with the kind of reporting — reporting that we see come out of Al Jazeera. O’REILLY: She’s saying the far left. COLMES: Who? Who? Who are you calling anti-American? I’m so tired of people calling people on my side anti-American. (CROSSTALK) O’REILLY: Are you a far-left guy? COLMES: I don’t know. You have called me that. O’REILLY: Sometimes your positions are far left. COLMES: All right, fine. But am I anti-American? O’REILLY: I don’t think you’re anti-American. But certainly the far left is taking anti-American positions. COLMES: But look, but let’s stop this name-calling. Let’s stop demonizing anybody you don’t agree with and call them anti-American. O’REILLY: I just ran a “Talking Points Memo” that backed up, all right, with four specific things that this is an anti-Semitic, anti-American network and I could do 40 of them. COLMES: But you said those were people on the network as guests. (CROSSTALK) O’REILLY: There is no counter. Why don’t you grasp this? I’m getting a little mad at you. Grasp this! There is no counter on it, you got it? There is no counter on it! COLMES: Yes, I hear what you say. It’s free speech. O’REILLY: So it’s this, yes, it’s free speech. Shouldn’t be praised by a pinhead like Donaldson. Nor should O’Reilly’s speech be praised … by anyone. Smearing, lying, and bullying should get you removed from the airwaves, not enshrined as one of cable’s most prominent anchors. Memo to BillO: There is a big “counter” hanging around your neck. And his name is Glenn Beck.
Continue reading …Rupert Murdoch: I’d Never Hire Keith Olbermann Back – He’s an Impossible Nut
February 3, 2011 No Comment
Since the moment he announced he was doing his last “Countdown” on MSNBC, people have wondered where the controversial Keith Olbermann will land. On Wednesday, News Corp's Rupert Murdoch told Neal Cavuto it won't be on Fox News (video follows with transcript and commentary): NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: OK, could I switch gears a little bit, Rupert, and talk about Comcast closed its deal with NBC? What do you think of that? RUPERT MURDOCH: I think it's OK. I think it's OK. They put a few rules in. We would like to see bit more of this, bit more of that, but less of this — No, I think it is OK. CAVUTO: Do you expect any changes editorially in how NBC News operates under Comcast? MURDOCH: Don't think it matters, no, much does it? CAVUTO: Do you think it had anything to do with Keith Olbermann leaving? MURDOCH: I just don't know. CAVUTO: Would you — MURDOCH: I've heard different accounts and I don't know. CAVUTO: Would you ever hire Keith Olbermann back? MURDOCH: No. We fired him once, we don't believe in firing people twice. CAVUTO: You called him a “nut.” MURDOCH: Well, he was a nut on — on — we had him on late night FOX Sports for many months, I think. He's impossible. CAVUTO: If you looked at news today, does it matter whether it is right or left or — ? If this product does well and it doesn't have any political leanings one way or the other, are you saying this is an incubator for how you get news on the net in the future? MURDOCH: (INAUDIBLE) leanings. Americans are intelligent people. They make their own mind up about things. CAVUTO: Young people, we're told, are not as conservative. Do you buy that? MURDOCH: No, on the whole, I don't. I keep hearing stories of college campuses where the students totally disagree with their hippy — their ex- hippy teachers. (LAUGHTER) MURDOCH: People — as I say, people think for themselves. On January 22, when TV critic Tim Goodman floated the idea that Olbermann should consider going to Fox, I wrote: Although this wouldn't surprise me, I'd be very sad to see it happen. In my view as a media analyst, Keith Olbermann represents all that is wrong in journalism today. He makes a hobby out of distorting the truth, and when that's not good enough to further his agenda, he just flat out lies. Him battling with folks like Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and Greta Van Susteren would be fabulous theater as it drove Fox's ratings, but it would also drag down that network's credibility. MSNBC is a laughing stock because of this arrogant, egotistical blowhard, and has become more so as a result of similarly vitriolic additions to its prime time lineup. Let's hope Roger Ailes recognizes this and doesn't take Goodman's advice. I'm very glad to hear Murdoch agrees with me. (H/T Mediaite )
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