Thousands rally in Cairo to defy curfew as Hillary Clinton calls on Hosni Mubarak to allow ‘orderly transition’ The Egyptian opposition leader, Mohamed ElBaradei, tonight predicted change within “the next few days” as western leaders pointedly declined to throw their support behind the country’s embattled president, Hosni Mubarak. In another dramatic day, thousands of protesters kept up the pressure on a defiant Mubarak amid sporadic violence and signs that the US and allies may ditch him unless he allows an “orderly transition”. ElBaradei, the former chief UN arms inspector and de facto leader of the opposition, called for the president to step down at once as demonstrators massed in Cairo’s central Tahrir square to ignore a night-time curfew. ElBaradei, who is now backed by the powerful Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition groups, said he wanted to negotiate about a new government with the army, which he described as “part of the Egyptian people”. Military helicopters and F16 fighters were seen and heard overhead as crowds streamed towards the rally – an apparent show of force that provoked both fear and ridicule. “The people want the regime to fall,” protesters chanted as ElBaradei walked to the centre of the square. Tanks, many emblazoned with anti-Mubarak slogans, were stopped from entering. “You are the owners of this revolution. You are the future,” ElBaradei declared. “Our essential demand is the departure of the regime and the beginning of a new Egypt in which each Egyptian lives in virtue, freedom and dignity.” Mubarak was shown earlier on state TV conferring with his newly appointed vice-president, the intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, and senior generals – a clear attempt to demonstrate that he enjoys the solid support of the armed forces. Western diplomats said they saw no sign the military was prepared to ditch the president. In other key developments: • Al-Jazeera satellite TV was ordered to close because of its coverage of the protests. • Thousands of prisoners, including Muslim Brotherhood activists, escaped from four jails. • The death toll over the past six days was reported to have risen to 102. • Large-scale protests erupted in Alexandria, Egypt’s second city, after the funerals of victims of the unrest. • British nationals in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez were told to leave if it was safe. • The US said it was organising flights to evacuate its citizens and urged all Americans in Egypt to consider leaving. Underlining international concern about the continuing crisis in the Arab world’s largest country, Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said she wanted Egyptians to have a chance to chart a new future. But she added pointedly: “It’s not a question of who retains power. It’s how are we going to respond to the legitimate needs and grievances expressed by the Egyptian people.” EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels tomorrow, are expected to echo that message. William Hague, Britain’s foreign secretary, told Sky News there had to be a shift to an “open and democratic society”, adding “whatever that means for President Mubarak.” Clinton and Hague both alluded to fears of growing Islamist influence. “What we don’t want,” Clinton said, “are radical ideologies to take control of a very large and important country in the Middle East.” David Cameron is understood to have had a “difficult” conversation with Mubarak on Saturday. Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, told his cabinet he was “anxiously following” the crisis, warning that Israel’s 30-year-old peace agreement with Egypt must be preserved amid concern about arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip. ElBaradei’s emergence as the opposition candidate for a new government injected new drama into the crisis as Osama Ghazali Harb of the National Democratic Front talked of a “transitional administration” that would oversee the cancellation of the emergency laws and the release of all political prisoners. It seems unlikely at this stage that the Mubarak government will agree to negotiate with ElBaradei, but the demand adds a significant new element to the drama.According to some reports police are due to return to the streets on Monday but the security of most neighbourhoods in Egypt lay in the hands of their citizens as residents set up makeshift barricades and formed local patrols to protect themselves from violence. Egypt Middle East Protest Jack Shenker Ian Black guardian.co.uk
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Army has played leading role in managing events and may well determine next stage of crisis Hosni Mubarak sought to boost his battered image as Egypt’s leader today, flaunting the support of the armed forces, whose loyalty he will need to retain if he is to survive in office. The embattled president was shown on state TV visiting an army operations centre, listening to briefings as if directing a battle and flanked by his new deputy, Omar Suleiman, and defence minister, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. With protesters and opposition parties demanding Mubarak’s immediate departure, he is showing his instinctive reliance on the military, backbone of the Egyptian regime since Gamal Abdel Nasser and his fellow “free officers” overthrew the monarchy in the 1952 revolution. Since troops were deployed in Cairo on Friday, the army has played a leading role in managing events and may well determine the next stage of the crisis. Mubarak’s key move has been the appointment of Suleiman, his veteran intelligence chief, as vice-president, and Ahmed Shafiq, formerly minister of aviation and commander of the air force, as prime minister. Neither ordinary people nor commentators were impressed by what looked like the shuffling of a familiar pack. “The appointments show that the regime isn’t serious about real, meaningful reform,” Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Centre told al-Jazeera. “If you were serious about democracy, would you appoint the chief of intelligence as your vice-president?” Crowds gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, chanting: “Hosni Mubarak, Omar Suleiman, both of you are agents of the Americans.” Still, the army remains relatively popular with Egyptians – certainly far more than the interior ministry’s security and riot control units. Troops have been guarding main installations since police lost control of the streets, but they have failed to enforce the curfew and have often fraternised with protesters rather than confronting them. Suleiman and Tantawi are untouched by the taint of corruption and personal wealth, unlike many in power. Suleiman, 74, is seen as fiercely loyal to Mubarak and has been intimately involved in the most sensitive issues of Egypt’s national security and foreign policy for nearly 20 years. In 1995, two years after taking over Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, he saved the president’s life during an assassination attempt in Ethiopia. He was also instrumental in defeating the insurrection mounted by Egyptian armed groups such as Islamic Jihad. In recent years, one of Suleiman’s biggest preoccupations has been dealing with the volatile Palestinian file, mediating between the western-backed Fatah movement and the Islamists of Hamas – a group with special resonance in Egypt because of its control of the Gaza Strip and its links to the Muslim Brotherhood. He has also been involved in mediation attempts between rebels and the government in Yemen. Analysts speculate that one possibility for the next step in Egypt is that the US, now calling for “an orderly transition” in response to the crisis, could try to persuade the generals that Mubarak should step down and allow political reforms to begin. The chief of staff, Sami Enan, returned at the weekend from a visit to Washington, whose military aid has been a crucial asset to the regime since Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel. But diplomats said there was no sign that senior military men in Cairo were preparing to ditch the president. Observers note that it was Tunisian generals who persuaded Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee into exile this month after weeks of unrest. When Mohamed ElBaradei announced that he had been delegated by opposition groups to discuss the formation of a national salvation government, he said that he would “be in touch soon with the army,” adding pointedly: “The army is part of Egypt.” The military, however, will be suspicious of the influence of the outlawed but semi-tolerated Muslim Brotherhood, which has been keeping a low profile in the protests so far but has now indicated that it is supporting ElBaradei. Egypt Middle East Protest Ian Black guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media Saturday Night Live gave Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and CNN a bit of grief for her “tea party” response to the president’s State of the Union Address. They could have done better by just airing Bachmann’s actual speech since their parody wasn’t nearly as creepy or bizarre as the real thing .
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Britons should avoid nonessential travel, says Hague, but government does not offer to evacuate those already there International alarm about the political and security implications of continuing unrest in Egypt intensified tonight as the United States, Israel and Turkey sent aircraft to evacuate their stranded citizens, and other countries advised their nationals to get out by any means possible. Britain’s foreign secretary, William Hague, said UK nationals should avoid nonessential travel to large cities such as Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. But the government did not offer to help evacuate those already there. They should leave by commercial flights unless they had vital reasons for remaining, Hague said. The situation in Egypt’s Red Sea resorts, where most Britons are staying, remained calm, he added. “We will watch over it very, very carefully, I’m sending extra resources to our embassy there.” The US government announced an immediate airlift for all Americans wishing to leave. “The department of state is making arrangements to provide transportation to safe haven locations in Europe,” it said. Airlifts were also announced by Turkey and Israel. Hague said Britain was concerned that Egypt could fall into the hands of extremists, but would not intervene directly. “What matters is that the process [of political reform] takes place, whatever that means for President Mubarak personally,” he told Sky News. “It is important for him to initiate that transformation and broadly based government, and that is what we would like to see. That is far preferable of course to Egypt falling into the hands of extremism or a more authoritarian system of government.” No 10 said David Cameron had spoken to Mubarak by telephone on Saturday night to express his “grave concern” about violence against anti-government demonstrators. The prime minister urged Mubarak to “take bold steps to accelerate political reform and build democratic legitimacy” rather than attempt to repress dissent, Downing Street said. Reactions to the unrest differed widely around the world. Iran’s opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi, believed by many to have won the disputed 2009 presidential elections, said he hoped the protests would bring to Egypt democratic change that has so far eluded his country. In contrast, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, whose autocratic regime has repeatedly rejected pressure for reform, suggested sinister foreign forces were at work in Egypt. “No Arab or Muslim can tolerate any meddling in the security and stability of Arab and Muslim Egypt by those who infiltrated the people in the name of freedom of expression, exploiting it to inject their destructive hatred,” Abdullah said. Other Arab leaders were keeping their fingers crossed as financial markets across the region tumbled. “We are looking for a stable Egypt and hoping things will be restored soon,” said Abdulrahman al-Attiyah, secretary-general of the Gulf Co-operation Council. In Israel, the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, addressed growing concern that his country’s principal Arab ally could turn into a foe again under a new government. “We are following with vigilance the events in Egypt and in our region … at this time we must show responsibility and restraint and maximum consideration,” Netanyahu said. “Our efforts have been intended to continue to preserve stability and security … I remind you that the peace between Israel and Egypt has lasted for over three decades.” Apparently concerned that reformist ideas could prove contagious, China blocked the word “Egypt” from micro-blog searches and suggested Egyptians were not suited to democracy. The Global Times, published by the Communist party, said that democracy was not compatible with conditions in Egypt or Tunisia, and that “colour revolutions” could not achieve real democracy. “Democracy is still far away in Tunisia and Egypt. The success of democracy takes concrete foundations in economy, education and social issues,” the newspaper said. “But when it comes to political systems, the western model is only one of a few options.” Egypt Middle East Simon Tisdall guardian.co.uk
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A collection of video images from Sunday’s protests across the embattled country.
Continue reading …The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission set up by Congress released more than its final report last week. It also posted online a trove of investigative documents: Lawyers for companies at the center of the crisis have wondered what might become of the documents, given that, as The National Law Journal reported in August, they had been internal to the companies and could be of interest to the plaintiffs’ bar. Many of those companies have already been battling proposed securities class actions.The archive appears on the Web site of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, and hundreds of documents are already up, including testimony and court filings. Phil Angelides, the commission’s chairman and a former California state treasurer, said the commission would be posting more, including “research and investigative documents, audio and transcripts.” Lisa Rickard, president of the U.S. Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform, criticized that plan. “The commission’s final report and its pledge to post raw materials — apparently including information obtained from companies as well as other government agencies — is an astounding abuse of process that would effectively create a government-sanctioned Wikileaks,” Rickard said in a formal statement today. The Institute for Legal Reform was founded to protect corporations from getting sued, and that’s really all you need to know.
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enlarge Now that Don Blankenship is out as head of Massey Energy and the company faces serious charges with regard to its safety record and last year’s explosion, company executives have decided it’s a good time to have the company sold to a company with better government…um..relations. So Massey Energy will become part of Alpha Natural Resources , in a deal that will allow Massey to benefit from Alpha’s better safety record while giving Alpha a hard lock on the coal mining business. Massey Energy, the embattled coal mine operator, agreed on Saturday to sell itself for about $7.1 billion in cash and stock in a deal that will create a new giant in coal production — and could help Massey shed legal burdens arising from a marred safety record that includes the explosion last year at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia. Under the terms of the deal, Alpha Natural Resources will pay 1.025 of its own shares and $10 in cash, for a total of $69.33 as of Friday’s market close, for each Massey share. That represents a 21 percent premium to Massey’s Friday closing price of $57.23. The deal will unite two of the biggest American producers of coal, with more than 110 mines and about five billion tons of combined reserves throughout the Appalachian region, the Midwest and Wyoming. It will also bolster Alpha’s presence in the growing market for metallurgical coal, which is used to make steel. Massey has enormous reserves of metallurgical coal, and it has increased its exports to countries like India and Brazil, where strong demand has driven up global prices for the material. Massey agreed to the deal today, after stomping their corporate feet and singing “lalalalala” with their fingers in their ears to the government’s findings that the cause of last year’s blast was a combination of broken equipment, poorly maintained safety devices, and coal dust. Massey Energy Co. on Friday rejected nearly every part of the federal government’s theory on what caused the deadly explosion at its Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia last spring, killing 29 men. The Richmond-based coal company doesn’t think that worn shearer bits, broken water sprayers or an excessive buildup of coal dust contributed to the blast, Vice President and General Counsel Shane Harvey said. Instead, Massey continues to argue that there was a sudden inundation of natural gases from a floor crack that overwhelmed what it insists were good airflow and other controls that should have contained the blast. The Mine Safety and Health Administration has played down the significance of the crack, arguing that it was not venting methane and that any explosion is preventable with proper safeguards. It presented preliminary findings from its continuing investigation last week, saying Massey records and evidence from inside the mine point to poor maintenance as the cause of the blast. Timing is everything. Massey faces stiffening regulatory oversight, as well as several state and federal investigations into its operations. On Friday, the company contested the findings of a federal regulator’s inquiry into the Upper Big Branch incident, the worst mining accident in 40 years. A company executive rejected claims that the explosion arose from faulty equipment and excessive levels of coal dust. Those legal troubles have weighed on Massey: After the Upper Big Branch explosion, the company tallied about $150 million in related expenses, and for for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, it reported $2.9 billion in net revenue but a $72.2 million loss. Mr. Crutchfield said that he planned to draw on his company’s cleaner safety and environmental record to help resolve Massey’s legal issues, which he conceded would take time. Which translated means this: Alpha knows someone who knows someone who will give them a break if they promise to clean up their act. And it only cost them a few billion dollars.
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Escape of Muslim Brotherhood leaders from jail in Cairo leads to fears that hardline Islamists could gain influence Hundreds of members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s leading Islamist political party, were among thousands of prisoners who escaped during overnight mass breakouts from four jails, security officials said today. Armed gangs took advantage of the chaos in Cairo and other cities to free the prisoners, starting fires and engaging prison guards in gun battles, officials said. Several inmates were reportedly killed during the fighting and some were recaptured. Abdel-Monaem Abdel-Maqsoud, a lawyer representing the Muslim Brotherhood, said 34 members were arrested and taken to a prison north-west of Cairo ahead of last Friday’s mass protests. All 34 got away last night, he said, including seven senior leaders. The organised attacks and dramatic escapes highlighted growing fears in Egypt, the US, and across the Arab world that militant Islamist groups, backed by hardliners in Iran and Syria, may seek to exploit regional unrest – and resulting government weakness – to increase their influence. In a sign of how conventional Arab politics is being turned on its head, thousands of Tunisians turned out today to welcome home an Islamist leader exiled for 22 years by the deposed regime of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. The reception for Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi, the leader of the Ennahda party, at Tunis airport was the biggest showing by the Islamists in two decades, suggesting that Islamist groups may play a big part in the country’s future governance. Speaking in Tehran, Ayatollah Seyyed Ahmad Khatami, a senior pro-regime cleric, gave Iran’s official blessing to the Egyptian demonstrators, saying they wanted a new Middle East based on Islamic values, following Iran’s example. “An Islamic Middle East is taking shape. A new Middle East is emerging based on Islam … based on religious democracy,” he said. Ali Larijani, the speaker of Iran’s parliament and a former national security chief, accused the US of trying to thwart demands for reform. “The Americans can tolerate seeing blood shed in Egypt but not see a regime fall in Egypt into the hands of the people,” he said. But while the president does not want to appear to be propping up the old order, officials indicated he was worried a new government dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood or other Islamist groups might not honour the treaty with Israel. The foreign secretary, William Hague, said it was not up to foreigners to decide who runs Egypt. But he added: “Certainly we would not want to see a government based on the Muslim Brotherhood.” Islamist leaders say such fears are misplaced and indicative of western misunderstandings about the organisation and like-minded groups. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Kamel el-Helbawy told Reuters that Islamist rule in Egypt would pose no threat to the west because it would be more democratic and broad-based than Mubarak’s “dictatorship”. “A new era of freedom and democracy is dawning in the Middle East and Arab world. That’s more important than declaring that a ‘new Islamist era is dawning’, because I know Islamists would not be able to rule Egypt alone. We should and would co-operate – Muslims, leftists, communists, socialists, secularists,” he said. “Dictators like Mubarak have always told the west, wrongly, there is no difference between Islamists like the Brotherhood and some violent groups who are real fundamentalists. The west is always afraid that if the Brotherhood came to power it would end freedoms or do something [negative] with Israel. But I stress that the Brotherhood are among the people who defend democracy in full, and like to see democracy prevailing, because democracy gives them some of their rights.” The Brotherhood has said it would put the Camp David peace accords with Israel to a referendum if it took power. Egypt Protest Middle East Tunisia Iran Simon Tisdall guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media So did Fran Townsend (former Homeland Security Advisor under George Bush) just admit we sent (via rendition ) detainees to Egypt to be tortured? Sort of, unintentionally. Marcy Wheeler at Firedoglake has more. When Mona Eltahawy explicitly described what many of us learned from Jane Mayer –Hosni Mubarak’s appointed Vice President, Omar Suleiman, has a long history of cooperating with us in accepting and torturing people rendered to Egypt–and when Wolf asks whether this went on in the Bush Administration (it dates back to the Clinton Administration), Townsend explains the best known example is that of Maher Arar. Wolf corrects her that that involved Syria. Poor Fran can’t even keep her torture states straight. She should have remembered former CIA agent Bob Baer’ s famous maxim: “If you want a serious interrogation, you send a prisoner to Jordan. If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear – never to see them again – you send them to Egypt.”
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