Egyptian president need only remember 1952 to see what happens when the armed forces turn on those in power Egypt’s armed forces stand at the centre of the country’s drama, urged by pro-democracy protesters to defend them while commanders strive to ensure their status, power and influence are preserved once Hosni Mubarak has gone. As troops in Cairo’s Tahrir Square moved against pro-Mubarak loyalists , opposition leader Muhammad ElBaradei called on the army to intervene. The US and EU made clear they wanted to see the military act to maintain order. With veteran intelligence chief Omar Suleiman installed as vice-president, analysts predict key figures such as the defence minister, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, and the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Sami Einan, may yet move to persuade Mubarak to step down before September’s presidential elections, as he has now pledged. “These men are all old friends and I would not be surprised if they are able to convince Mubarak that he needs to go and have more urgent medical treatment in Germany,” said a former senior western official. “Whatever it looks like on TV, Mubarak is finished.” Tantawi has been in contact with the US defence secretary, Robert Gates. The countries have a strategic relationship worth $1.3bn (£800m) a year in military assistance to Egypt that is seen as “untouchable compensation” for making and maintaining peace with Israel. Suleiman and Einan are well regarded in the US. Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, reportedly praised the Egyptian army for its “professionalism” after speaking to Einan. The Egyptian army’s influence is not new. With nearly 500,000 men it is the world’s 10th largest. Egypt’s 1952 revolution, which overthrew the monarchy, was carried out by Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser and his fellow “free officers”. Anwar Sadat and Mubarak – a former air force commander – kept it powerful through the 1967 and 1973 wars. In recent years the high command is known to have been unhappy with the idea that Mubarak might be succeeded by his businessman son Gamal, not least out of concern that his liberalising agenda and private sector cronies would undermine their own extensive economic interests. Military-owned companies run by retired generals are active in the water, olive oil, cement, construction, hotel and petrol industries. Large tracts of land are owned by the military in the Nile Delta and on the Red Sea, apparently a benefit in exchange for the military ensuring regime stability and security. Retired officers often fill top civilian jobs in key ministries, though privatisation has forced military-owned companies to improve the quality of their work. Recent US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks paint a picture of an institution facing severe internal challenges and a decline in status. Tantawi, at 85 even older than the president, is referred to by contemptuous junior officers as “Mubarak’s poodle”, according to a 2008 report. “In the cabinet, where he still wields significant influence, Tantawi has opposed both economic and political reforms that he perceives as eroding central government power,” the cable says. “He is supremely concerned with national unity, and has opposed policy initiatives he views as encouraging political or religious cleavages within Egyptian society.”In another dispatch the US embassy quoted “academics and civilian analysts [who] painted a portrait of an Egyptian military in intellectual and social decline, whose officers have largely fallen out of society’s elite ranks. They describe a disgruntled mid-level officer corps harshly critical of a defence minister they perceive as incompetent and valuing loyalty above skill in his subordinates. However, analysts perceive the military as retaining strong influence through its role in ensuring regime stability and operating a large network of commercial enterprises.” Egypt Hosni Mubarak Protest Middle East Ian Black guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …There are mysterious animal deaths , and then there are just tragic ones. In California, the weekend bust of a cockfighting ring led to the deaths of about 1,000 roosters. The Ventura County Star reports that the roosters had to be euthanized due to their aggressive nature. Two men were…
Continue reading …
BBC says majority of World Service listeners in troubled Middle East nation tuned in on FM or via local broadcasting partners The BBC is standing by its decision to cut back its World Service broadcasts to Egypt despite the political crisis that has engulfed the country . Over the past week the popularity of the BBC’s Arabic website surged as president Mubarak’s government looked to clamp down on media reporting of the uprising, shutting down the al-Jazeera news channel , arresting journalists and pulling the plug on mobile phone and internet services . Short-wave broadcasts of the BBC Arabic service, which has around 400,000 listeners in Egypt, will be shut down as part of plans to save £46m from the World Service’s budget. The changes follow a 16% cut in its funding by the government and are likely to lead to the loss of 30 million listeners worldwide. There will also be “significant reductions” in the BBC’s Arabic TV services, according to the plans outlined by the BBC’s global news director, Peter Horrocks, last week . The National Union of Journalists described the World Service’s transmission policy as “short sighted”. “The Egyptian government’s attempt to close down the internet and mobile phone network demonstrates how short sighted the current World Service transmission policy is,” said an NUJ official at the World Service. “In a volatile world the World Service needs to maintain its own network of transmitters beyond the reach of dictators so it can continue to reach its audience.” The BBC said the majority of its World Service listeners in Egypt tuned in on FM or via local broadcasting partners. Short-wave broadcasts accounted for around 400,000 listeners out of the World Service’s Egyptian radio audience of 1.6 million, the corporation added. BBC Arabic’s total audience in Egypt, across TV, radio and online, was 3.4 million. “With satellite TV becoming virtually ubiquitous in the Arab-speaking world, and the success of its own TV channel, the BBC has decided to stop its short wave broadcasts to some countries in the Middle East,” the corporation said in a statement. “However, BBC Arabic will continue to serve its radio audiences on medium wave, through its network of FM relays and via existing and new rebroadcasting partnerships. “It will also continue to serve its most sensitive audiences in Sudan and Arabic peninsula with short wave and medium wave broadcasts. “We have seen a significant spike in the number of people visiting bbcarabic.com. It’s now at record levels – 1.3 million unique users in the week commencing 24 January, generating a total of 8.5m page impressions. “This is the highest weekly reach ever measured, more than twice as high as the average week in December, despite the fact that the majority of our audience in Egypt, our biggest market, cannot reach the website because of the internet restrictions introduced by the Egyptian government.” But one visitor to the Save World Service page on Facebook said: “With the events in Egypt this week where the internet was shut down, how can the BBC honestly believe that satellite and internet feeds will replace shortwave?” Another said: “As shown in Egypt the internet and cell phones can easily be cut off. In many places where the internet does exist service is not reliable … You cannot compare a relatively inexpensive radio set with a costlier computer or hand-held electronic device.” With short-wave broadcasts of the BBC Arabic service also due to cease in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the West Bank, Libya, Iraq and the Maghreb region of north Africa, it is expected to lead to the loss of around 5.7 million listeners across the region. •
Continue reading …
The clashes continue across Egypt and reports of gunfire continue to pierce the sky in the capital Cairo. The army has moved in to keep both sides apart, reportedly pushing pro- Hosni Mubarak supporters further away from the square. Ahmed Shafiq, Egypt’s new prime minister, speaking on state television says there will be an investigation in the fighting on Wednesday and the ongoing violence. Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher reports.
Continue reading …Tahrir Square sees clashes between Egyptian protesters and Mubarak supporters – video
February 3, 2011 No Comment
Television footage shows Egyptian troops moving between pro- and anti-Mubarak groups in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, where violent clashes are continuing
Continue reading …Sam David Mahjoobi was a poker enthusiast in his late 20s, working part-time as a secretary and living with his grandma, when he unwittingly helped Iran infuriate America by acquiring a nearly $325 million Boeing 747. How did he do it? Mahjoobi, now 31 and working in fashion, has no…
Continue reading …
News organisations warn of danger to reporters from Mubarak supporters as violence escalates in Egyptian capital Journalists from the BBC, al-Jazeera, and other Arab news organisations were today facing fresh attacks from pro-government “thugs” after an escalation of violence in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, overnight. Reporters from a number of media organisations, including CNN’s Anderson Cooper and the BBC’s Jerome Boehm, were targeted yesterday and earlier today as supporters of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak continued their attacks against anti-government protesters. Western broadcasters, including ITN and the BBC, today joined the Arabic networks in warning about the running battles taking place in and around Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Jonathan Munro, the deputy editor of ITV News, told the Guardian that the safety of its reporters was at the “forefront of all our minds” in discussions on how to cover the protests. “Whenever we work in a volatile region, we take safety very seriously,” he said. Channel 4 News reported today that Mubarak’s “secret police” were threatening journalists to keep away from the streets of Cairo. Jonathan Rugman, Channel 4 News’s foreign correspondent, tweeted earlier today : “One journalist punched in face, another stabbed in leg by pro-Mubarak thugs in Cairo this morning. On their way to hospital now.” Jon Snow, the broadcaster’s chief news anchor, added : “Media hotel [is] suffering Mubarak thugs attacking all our attempts to get out to report.” Reuters said one of its television crews was beaten up early today close to Tahrir Square while filming a piece about shops and banks being forced to shut during the clashes. David Degner, a Cairo-based photographer, said five of his journalist friends has been ” beaten and had their equipment confiscated ” as clashes between the two groups escalated. Press freedom groups warn that reporting on the Egyptian uprising is becoming increasingly perilous as the number of journalists injured and arrested continues to rise. “Starting yesterday we saw a surge phase in attacks against journalists,” said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Middle East and North Africa programme co-ordinator. “This is like a return to the first phase, before the censorship, but far more violent and universal. They are now targeting anybody with a camera, notepad, anybody interviewing people – anyone will get violently attacked, anyone they could get their hands on. If you’re a journalist in Egypt at this late stage in the game, they don’t care if you’re from Mars – they’re going to come after you.” Munro, who has ITV News colleagues reporting from Cairo’s Tahrir Square, said: “When deciding who to send to Egypt, we chose some of our most experienced reporters, producers and cameramen, and asked one of our senior news editors to run the operation there. “They are all used to operating in difficult conditions. Their safety is the first thing we consider when we’re looking at the day’s newsgathering, and it remains at the forefront of all our minds as we discuss how to cover the moving story.” Arabic language news channels al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya appear to have suffered some of the worst of the attacks. Pro-government protesters charged the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news network’s Cairo office yesterday afternoon. Several of its staff were left bloodied and beaten in the assault, and its correspondent Ahmed Abdullah had to be taken to a nearby hospital with severe head injuries. Dan Nolan, al-Jazeera’s United Arab Emirates correspondent, said the there was ” so much anti-Jazeera sentiment ” among the president’s supporters that it was “not safe to be outside” for the broadcaster’s reporters. Cooper, CNN’s star reporter based in Cairo, described how he was “roughed up by thugs” late yesterday in the pro-Mubarak crowd. “It was pandemonium. There was no control. Suddenly a man would come up to you and punch you in the face,” he said . Cooper’s CNN colleague, Hala Gorani, today recounted the incident: “I got slammed against the gates and was threatened by one of the pro-Mubarak protesters who was telling me to ‘get out, get out!’. The pro-Mubaraks, whoever they are, whoever sent them, are being threatening toward camera crews, journalists, anybody who looks like they may be onlookers.” The leaders of France, Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain today said they view the “deterioration” of the situation in Egypt with “extreme concern”. The attacks on foreign media, which have mostly taken place in and around Cairo’s Tahrir Square, were “unacceptable”, the leaders added in a joint statement. •
Continue reading …The iPhone 4 has finally arrived on Verizon, and what that means is … now you can actually make successful phone calls on your iPhone. Reviewers give it a thumbs-up: “The Verizon iPhone is nearly the same as AT&T’s iPhone 4—but it doesn’t drop calls. For several million Americans,…
Continue reading …