Egypt After the Cameras Leave

[David]

Numerous ominous signs already from Egypt. Radical mullahs returning from exile. Iranian war ships given passage through the Suez Canal. Ominous signs the junta is not planning to turn over power. This thread is going to be a long one.

Egypt protest hero Wael Ghonim barred from stage

Google executive Wael Ghonim, who emerged as a leading voice in Egypt's uprising, was barred from the stage in Tahrir Square on Friday by security guards, an AFP photographer said.

Ghonim tried to take the stage in Tahrir, the epicentre of anti-regime protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, but men who appeared to be guarding influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi barred him from doing so.

Ghonim, who was angered by the episode, then left the square with his face hidden by an Egyptian flag.

Qaradawi gave a Friday sermon in the square, where hundreds of thousands of people gathered a week after Mubarak's fall, in which he called for Arab leaders to listen to their people.

Ghonim, Google's head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa, administered a Facebook page that helped spark the uprising that toppled Mubarak's regime.

The 30-year-old also appeared in an emotional television interview shortly after he was released from police custody after 12 days in custody which is credited with re-energising the movement just as it seemed to be losing steam.

In an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" that aired on Sunday, Ghonim said the protests which led to Mubarak's ouster would not have happened without online social networks.

"If there was no social networks it would have never been sparked," he said.

"Because the whole thing before the revolution was the most critical thing. Without Facebook, without Twitter, without Google, without YouTube, this would have never happened."
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryP...nt/663996.aspx

[David]

Qaradawi’s message to “our brothers in Palestine”
February 20, 2011 10:14 A.M.
By Andrew C. McCarthy

… that would be, of course, to Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestinian branch.

As I mentioned Friday evening, the Brotherhood’s sharia guide, Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, returned to Egypt on Friday to the cheers and genuflections of hundreds of thousands. As I’ve suggested before, as between Iran 1979 and today’s Islamist Turkey, I expect Egypt to regress more along the lines of Turkey, albeit on a faster track. But Qaradawi’s appearance certainly does throw a wrench into the theory that Egypt won’t reprise Iran because there is no obvious, Khomeini-like charismatic figure to take over the revolution. Comparatively speaking, with his media ventures (the weekly al-Jazeera sharia show and Islam Online in particular), his academic credentials and output, his following among Sunni Muslims (far more numerous than Shiites), his many prominent offices, his Brotherhood PR engine, and his admirers in the Middle East, Europe and the U.S., Sheikh Qaradawi is a far more formidable figure than Ayatollah Khomeini appeared to be in 1979.

At Big Peace, the blogger al-Mutarjim is still working on a translation of the sheikh’s full speech from Friday, but he has posted an excerpt — Qaradawi’s exhortation to Hamas and call for the conquest of Jerusalem:

A message to our brothers in Palestine: I have hope that Almighty Allah, as I have been pleased with the victory in Egypt, that He will also please me with the conquest of the al-Aqsa Mosque, to prepare the way for me to preach in the al-Aqsa Mosque. May Allah prepare the way for us to (preach) in the al-Aqsa Mosque in safety–not in fear, not in haste. May Allah achieve this clear conquest for us. O sons of Palestine, I am confident that you will be victorious.

In another worrying sign, there are indications coming out of Egypt and Israel that the Egyptian military provided security for Qaradawi’s appearance before the throng. This, you might say, is to be expected in a potentially unstable situation with the government in flux and a throng of hundreds of thousands (at least) gathered in Tahrir Square. But the reports further suggest that the military let the Muslim Brotherhood take the lead in orchestrating Friday’s events and that opposition leaders who are not Islamists were not permitted to speak. I am not in a position to verify or disprove these reports, but if they are true that would be very ominous indeed.

SOURCE

[schaabdl]

Can anyone say 1979, just a slightly different flavor? Don't know what we can do but with this administration, I sure hope Israel can figure out its own defense. The ME is now exploding all around and there is a similar trend everywhere.

[BRamey]

But they just want peace and freedom. I think same was said about Iran in 1979. But don't bother Obama, he is too busy playing golf to notice.

[schaabdl]

1979 was Carter; 2009 was ignored by BHO

[luknikfan]

Cameras or not, most don't get it on this - or the ramifications.

As the revolts in Eastern European countries signaled the collapse of the Russian Empire the revolts across the levant are possibly signaling the same for the American Empire.

Ironically, the US and more specifically the neo-cons are getting a dose of the democracy they claimed to promote in the Mideast.

In reality America's vision of democracy there meant regimes obedient to the US that kept unruly elements from surfacing.

These "democracies" had repeated rigged elections which the US would wink and nod at.

The only 2 free democratic elections were quietly sabotaged by the US.

In Algeria in 1991 Islamists won a landside but America backed the Algerian army in crushing the vote and locking up the winners.

The other was the Palestinian vote in 2006. Hamas decisively defeated the PA and, as the recent document leak reveals, the PA was funded and guided by Isreal and the US during the election. The US locked out Hamas by locking them up in the Gaza.

The reason this foreshadows the collapse of the American Empire is that it could end one of the pillars of US world power. Control of oil via it's control of the government regimes in the region which gives the US massive leverage over Europe, China, India and Japan.

Just as the US trained the Shah's extremely brutal secret police - the Savak - the US trains and controls to a degree secret police in Egypt, Jordan and Morocco.

You can ignore Bush and Obama and Clinton's calls for democracy in the Middle East, the US has been the supporter and benefactor of dictatorship and repression in the Levant for 50 years.

Go deep into recent history and you'll be surprised what you find.

[wancow]

Originally Posted by luknikfan

Ironically, the US and more specifically the neo-cons are getting a dose of the democracy they claimed to promote in the Mideast.

One vote, ONCE... yes, real democracy.

What I think I'm looking at is this: the beginning of the end of Islam as a world religion... Once Sharia is installed across the Ummah, the backlash will be... epic!

[David]

Lugnut

Geopolitical expert too.

[David]

Obama hasn't a clue when it comes to foreign policy. There is nothing to be optimistic about when it comes to Israel's relationship with Egypt or other Arab neighbors. What is he thinking when he says Israel will benefit in the chaos that is Egypt. Didn't you catch the virulent anti Antisemitism oozing from those crowds? Lara Logan sexually assaulted as the animals yelled, "Jew, Jew, Jew." To Obama foreign affairs are a distraction.

SOURCE

Obama Upbeat About Israel’s Future

[schaabdl]

SOURCE
There is no hint of democracy in this revolt - this is the movement of thugs.

[schaabdl]

More on the protests - economy. The absence of an identifiable leader has always been the key element to dismiss a democracy movement. Statements such as supporting the rebels in Libya but who are you really supporting? The media and sadly, the administration, are mis-reading the events.
SOURCE

[GeronL]

The slaughter and oppression of Christians in Egypt has just barely begun

[David]

Yep. How is this democracy thing working out for Egypt's Christians?

Coptic Christians attacked by Egyptian military after suspending demonstrations

SOURCE

[GeronL]

What democracy? When did they hold an election?

[David]

CAIRO - Hundreds of Islamists hurled stones at secular opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei as he went to cast his ballot in a referendum in Egypt’s capital on Saturday, an AFP reporter said.

"We don’t want you," they shouted, forcing the former UN nuclear watchdog chief to retreat to his car and leave, but not before being hit by at least one stone in the back and drenched with water.

ElBaradei is widely respected on the world stage for his work as an international diplomat, but under the ousted regime of Hosni Mubarak, he came under repeated criticism for his frequent trips abroad.

He was also accused of being out of touch with the reality of Egyptian life

.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/technolo...#ixzz1H6KCbsDy

[GeronL]

ElBaradei is widely respected on the world stage for his work as an incompetent international diplomat

There, I fixed it.

[BRamey]

This will be like Vietnam and Cambodia if islam extremists take over Egypt. Like when our troops left Vietnam and the communists slaughtered the helpless millions and the liberals ignored that and pretended it didn't happen, same thing in Egypt. Look right now how they have all but ignored Egypt anymore so everything must be great and everyone holding hands and singing songs together.

[GeronL]

So the referendum passed.

What will the military and Muslim Brotherhood do now? Will they abide by the new democratic order?

[David]

NY Times wonders if the elections are too soon. Like Gaza, will Egyptians vote in the Islamofascists? Stay tuned.

Egyptian Voters Approve Constitutional Changes
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
Published: March 20, 2011


CAIRO, Egypt — Egyptian voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum on constitutional changes on Sunday that will usher in rapid elections, with the results underscoring the strength of established political organizations, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, and the weakness of emerging liberal groups.


SOURCE

[GeronL]

If there is no time for the opposition to organize before the election, then the only ones organized are the Muslim Brotherhood and the military.

One man, one vote, one time?