Egypt

[Hasbinbad]

Nobody is talking about this here. I for one want to see what 100 racist interwebz trolls have to say about it.

I've heard that a large section of the Egyptian military have stripped their uniforms and joined the protesters.. Picture worth a thousand words much?

http://i52.tinypic.com/aepp2u.jpg

[Japan]

even as a racist internet troll I have to commend these brownies. In my hating the police I have been told many times that you can't easily separate the bad pigs from the good. This is a great example of how extreme circumstances can indeed sort these things out.

With any luck this will end in a reign of terror that leaves all the police who were late to disband underground, and the more loyal ones reinstated.

[Itchybottom]

I hope Zahi Hawass catches a bullet in the midst of this non-sense. It would make it the most important thing Egypt ever did as an Arab nation. That old windbag is constantly stopping real progress in Egyptology, and it shits me to tears. Otherwise, I don't think I can come up with any harsh remarks about the Egyptian people, and I hope they succeed in their goals.

[Slathar]

10 more years for Mubarak's prosperous reign of freedom, dignity, and democracy.

[purist]

Photos essay of Cairo revolt... including a close-up shot of a protestor shot in the head by sniper: http://totallycoolpix.com/2011/01/the-egypt-protests/

Incredible video showing Cairo demonstrators taking control of bridge, pushing back police: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqapTolGQy8

More footage of people power in Cairo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xWiBCIxjIk&feature=player_embedded#

Amazing footage of protesting Egyptians pausing in unison for sunset prayers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iSgFADXXcM

Al Jazeera's live blog: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/01/28/liveblog-egypts-protests-erupt

[boboo]

Im happy for them, decades of brutal US-supported dictatorships are coming to an end it seems, i hope saudi arabia is next. You can see them shaking in their boots as they call the protesters "Infiltrators"... you know, when youre infiltrating your own country.

[Glaani]

A helpful, simple and concise explanation of what's happening in Egypt: http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/01/whats-happening-egypt-explained

[baub]

Obviously there are more important things going on in the world

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/01/28/exp.pn.stripper.shortage.hln?hpt=T2

Seriously though, some crazy shit going down over there. My aunt works for CNN and is based in Cairo, she's already had two of her cameras broken by Egypt's "police force" and is currently bunkered down in a museum trying to protect it from looters

[Benebric]

How could you possibly care about Cairo when FLAVA FLAV HAS OPENED A CHICKEN JOINT IN IOWA! (http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2011/01/26/sbiz_flava_flav_fried_chic.cnnmoney/)

[Japan]

purist +rep for great fucking links

[citizen1080]

Those are some amazing pictures

[xshayla701]

Good video, don't think it was already posted

"We will not be silenced"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThvBJMzmSZI&feature=player_embedded

[SlankyLanky]

proof that a uniform doesnt make a person bad. people are just fucked.

[Hasbinbad]

The rumors of the demise of the power of the people have been greatly exaggerated.

Na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye.

[Wizard]

First Tunisia, Now Egypt. These are pretty exciting developments. Egypt has the largest population of any of the Arab countries. If they could peacefully achieve democracy then i really cant wait too see what the ripple effects will be in places like Tehran, Were there is a demonstration planned for Monday.

[purist]

Tunisia*

[Wizard]

Tunisia*

You are Right, It is Tunisia. Been watching to much CNN lately, Getting all mixed up : )

[Zexa]

100 racist interwebz trolls

Yeah yeah. This story is exciting and all, but I was mostly surprised to hear that these camel fuckers have facebook and twitter, much less internet.

[Slathar]

Yeah yeah. This story is exciting and all, but I was mostly surprised to hear that these camel fuckers have facebook and twitter, much less internet.

look at this internet racist, edgy bro sooo edgy

[KilyenaMage]

First Tunisia, Now Egypt. These are pretty exciting developments. Egypt has the largest population of any of the Arab countries. If they could peacefully achieve democracy then i really cant wait too see what the ripple effects will be in places like Tehran, Were there is a demonstration planned for Monday.

Maybe you're unaware...but Iran doesn't exactly let their people hold open demonstrations. The last time it happened, people were beaten and killed and that was long before the recent developments in Egypt. What do you think is gonna happen THIS time around!?!?

Where the Egyptian government promised not to harm/kill civilians, I'm sure the Iranian leadership will have no qualms at all using deadly force to put down a potentially coup-causing rebellion.

Also, unlike Egypt, Iran really doesn't care if civilian-shot video footage of people being beaten/killed makes international news. The only reason Egypt cared about stopping the release of such footage was because Mubarak actually thought he would be able to stay in his seat of unscrupulous power.

Ultimately though....we can be fairly certain that the Iranian leaders would not be so willing to peacefully step down -- really it's a wonder that Mubarak did. Unfortunately I think that such an event taking place in Tehran would result in some of the greatest human rights violations we've seen in recent years. Perhaps the end result of it all would be international condemnation of Iran -- but again, they're already disliked by most of the world community, they simply don't care.

[Slathar]

i hope these developments have the Saudi royal family shaking in their $1,000,000 gold lined boots. they're tied with the US in terms of blatant human rights violations for that sweet, sweet crude.

[KilyenaMage]

i hope these developments have the Saudi royal family shaking in their $1,000,000 gold lined boots. they're tied with the US in terms of blatant human rights violations for that sweet, sweet crude.

Troll or truest Slathar post on P1999!?!? America's smartest Indians and Asians no longer entering the medical field. Are they applying for Dictatorial positions back home instead !?!? All this and more at 11 !!!

And yeah....Mubarak's personal fortune estimated at $70 billion. And he did **nothing** for it; likewise I'm sure he'll do nothing beneficial WITH it either.

[purist]

What made the difference between Iran and Egypt is a very complex question and no doubt includes many factors that we just don't know. That said, those factors almost certainly include the more advanced level of organization in Egypt, and the fact that the Egyptian (and Tunisian) revolution had a much broader social base and less centralized leadership. Mousavi did connect with a broad sentiment in Iran but it was a much more top-down movement. The level of bottom-up initiative was much lower in Iran, making it easier for the regime to isolate top leaders and demobilize the movement.

[Wizard]

Maybe you're unaware...but Iran doesn't exactly let their people hold open demonstrations. The last time it happened, people were beaten and killed and that was long before the recent developments in Egypt. What do you think is gonna happen THIS time around!?!?

Where the Egyptian government promised not to harm/kill civilians, I'm sure the Iranian leadership will have no qualms at all using deadly force to put down a potentially coup-causing rebellion.

Also, unlike Egypt, Iran really doesn't care if civilian-shot video footage of people being beaten/killed makes international news. The only reason Egypt cared about stopping the release of such footage was because Mubarak actually thought he would be able to stay in his seat of unscrupulous power.

Ultimately though....we can be fairly certain that the Iranian leaders would not be so willing to peacefully step down -- really it's a wonder that Mubarak did. Unfortunately I think that such an event taking place in Tehran would result in some of the greatest human rights violations we've seen in recent years. Perhaps the end result of it all would be international condemnation of Iran -- but again, they're already disliked by most of the world community, they simply don't care.

Lol dude. Egypt didn't allow mass demonstrations either. Thats why the army was called in on the second day, The government sent mobs of pro-mubark thugs to beat up protesters, Attacked and Arrested Foreign Journalists, Shut down the Banks, Blocked Internet Access and brought down phone service to try and silence the masses. Sounds EXACTLY like Tehran 2009 to me. NO dictatorship "allows" mass public dissent, but when you have 300,000 people protesting in your capital city its pretty hard to make that just go away. The Tehran 2009 presidential election protests only involved tens of thousands instead of hundreds of thousands and eventually millions of people protesting. If the ripple effect countries, and 100,000s of thousands start to protest in Iran...then things are going to get very interesting.

[Hasbinbad]

The army wasn't called in, it inserted itself into Cairo to keep the peace because the police force largely abandoned their posts.

[Wizard]

The army wasn't called in, it inserted itself into Cairo to keep the peace because the police force largely abandoned their posts.

"After a day of increasingly violent protests throughout Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak ordered the military into the streets to reinforce police struggling to contain one of the most serious challenges to his long and autocratic rule."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/29/world/middleeast/29unrest.html?_r=1&hp

^ ^ ^

"President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt deployed the nation’s military and imposed a near-total blackout on communications to save his authoritarian government of nearly 30 years."

[Hasbinbad]

ok i heard a completely different story, but it was on cnn and i can't provide links, so w/e lol

[DetroitVelvetSmooth]

Egypt Army = Police The military command decided to side with the civilians for obvious reasons. This is not some kind of people's revolution, its standard "military vs. state apparatchik" thats been seen before in shit-poor countries over and over.

[fugazi]

Heh, Iran has a good chunk of highly religious zealots in its army. No way they'd let 'some heretic citizens' take their power away.

[Wizard]

ok i heard a completely different story, but it was on cnn and i can't provide links, so w/e lol

: P

[sidgb]

The jury is still out. The Egyptian people have probably just traded one dictator for another. Even if they have popular elections they will likely just end up with religious zealot leadership controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood that are little more than puppets of Iran. The new government will likely ride a regional hate of Israel and the US to temporary popularity. Its the women, non-muslims & gays that will end up worse off reguardless of how things shake out.

Anytime Iran and Hezballah are happy you have to believe things are probably going to get worse.

Don't get me wrong, pretty much all leadership in the region is about as bad as can be. But it can definately get worse. Just look at Iran, Lebanon and Gaza to see what locally controlled elections can bring. I fear and pray for the Egyptian people. I met a few when I traveled there and worry over their safety.