Rock the Casbah: Arab-World Revolutions

[DesertSpada]

The be able to witness this is simply amazing. I know I'm the umpteenth person to say this, but we are here watching this unfurl. Egypt is quite literally transforming before our eyes with the people moving with extreme swiftness and organization. Also, to hear that the military is actively for the people here is awesome.

[Insider2000]

Crap. I passed out from my brother-in-law boring the shit out of me. They've taken over Cairo? Damn!

when I first logged on I didn't see the thread where I expected it to be, and thought it'd been deleted.

Same here. I thought the servers were down because everyone and their mother was on this thread, crowding like crazy. And then once everything was back up, I couldn't find the thread, and assumed it was closed to end the clutter.

Glad I was wrong in every aspect.

I also heard that one of the major museums was on fire and was put out. And that protestors were making a huge ring around it to avoid looting.

I mean this is Egypt we're talking about, they have probably the most famous artifacts and so forth in the world. Both a matter of important tourism dollars and national pride.

Imagine all the upheaval and change the pyramids have seen.

I'm glad they have the respect and kindness to protect their history. I may not be a history nut, but I've always had a liking toward artifacts and relics.

Its really really easy to go "I live in X country, how does this affect me?" But damn. This is so incredibly important and... I don't even know how to describe it. World politics aren't my thing usually, but... I can't think of anything in memory thats comparable.

Agreed.

This is amazing.

[Rogues' Gallery]

The Museum will be fine? YAY!~

The events over there in Egypt was (finally) reported on the nightly news channels, but not in a 100% positive way. I explained to my dad about this thread, and how the fall of this Egyptian Government is actually a good thing for the people, but my parents can't really see it. They just take one look at all the people protesting and rioting and think that "the world's going to hell in a hand basket"....

[Mugiwara_no_Ice]

I'd say we make trapped official news anchor of Apforums.

Thanks for the continuous news flashes.

comments:
I've read that Mubarak's speech was a carbon copy of the Iranian Shah's speech before he stepped down. So this is a sign for the better.

About the expired canisters. I watched a video where we see this young Egyptian cursing like in the movies in english: Yo I'm getting fucking teargassed, by fucking regime who uses fucking expired canisters from fucking america, Fuck you! and he ends with a middle finger to the camera.

I found this funny cause it shows how western culture is affecting these young people. Heck they aren't satisfied with movies, dreams and products now, they want the whole package: democracy, freedom of speech, meritocracy, etc...

[trappedolphin]

I saw a picture of a lone protestor standing in the middle street flipping off riot police forces.

UPDATE [tweeted two hours ago]: At least 25 protesters have been murdered all across #Egypt and at least 1,030 have been wounded in the city of #Cairo alone. #Jan25

[MagneticMonkey]

The revolution shouldn't stop. Everyone in egypt should wake up and go out. That's the only way to finish a corrupt regime.
FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS!

[trappedolphin]

We've got to let Americans know what's going on with #Mubarak in #Egypt so here goes - #Kardashian #Snooki #CharlieSheen <-- I know it's a stereotype, but I just had to laugh. The current trending topics on Twitter are:

• #wheniwaslittle
• #knockitoff
• #hipstersitcoms
• BritneyAtGrammys
• Eddie Murphy Raw
• WeLoveTokioHotel
• Dang Dang
• Zack Merrick
• Jay Leno
• Don Fede

Tweeted from Cairo:

So in general everything around here is quiet, there is healthy traffic but less than your average Saturday #Jan25

There is ZERO police presence, and saw two army vehicles on the street, they're just sitting there #Jan25

[ChesCa]

I don't think this is new, but I just heard NPR state this:
'Obama has promised to help assist the Egyptian president with reform.'
I don't like the sound of that 'assist'. I knew that Obama's stance was bad and cowardly, but that sounds...'direct.'

[trappedolphin]

From al Mihwar TV ! Mubarak is either on Switzerland or in a very bad health condition ! #25jan #jan25 #egypt #freeEgypt #palestine #jordan <-- no idea on how reliable this is yet.

CNN Wolf Blister: "Which way will Egypt go? Pro US or pro Islam?" You idiot. How about pro #Egypt? #Jan25 [rolls eyes]

Cousin in #egypt was beaten w/baton, hospitalized. As soon as he got out of hospital went back to streets. What a balla warrior! #jan25

Egypt25Jan: Military armory with "#Mubarak Down" written on it http://goo.gl/CHZa6 #jan25 #egypt

mobile phone services partially back in #Egypt #Aljazeera

EDIT:

in #suez citizens giving food to army #jan25 #egypt confrontation between them seen as doubtful. expecting peaceful demos there today

Cell phones are working in #Cairo - so, TWITTER is working in Cairo !!!!!! #Jan25 #Egypt

Mobile phones are back online, but people chant: يسقت حسني مبار We, the people, silent no more. #OpEgypt Jan25

[trappedolphin]

What it looks like:

There were two burnt and damaged security trucks next to Mostafa Mahmoud mosque #Jan25

The home of the minister of interior was missing the police that was ALWAYS there #Jan25 <-- should be a good sign?

TE Data office in Shehab st, govt internet provider with 70% of Egypt's internet capacity, had smashed windows #Jan25

Al Jazeera: demonstrators are taking to the streets of Mansura in approx. 1 hour #egypt #25jan #jan25

AJE reporter said most of the bodies were young and some had bullet wounds. People are angry and shouting outside the morgue. #egypt

[23 bodies have been sent to the Alexandria morgue since yesterday, most were shot with bullets]

[ChesCa]

in #suez citizens giving food to army #jan25 #egypt confrontation between them seen as doubtful. expecting peaceful demos there today

AJE reporter said most of the bodies were young and some had bullet wounds. People are angry and shouting outside the morgue. #egypt

[23 bodies have been sent to the Alexandria morgue since yesterday, most were shot with bullets]

Will the anger feed more violence, or will peace and love win out?
So interesting.

[Darkstorm]

BBC is reporting tanks being deployed, and the army using tear gas & being sent out to intersections and radio stations.

[JERK DISEASE]

I've heard the Switzerland Mubarak rumor as well.

Al Jazeera on new day so far.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/mi...149942894.html

PS: In the US it's various times of past midnight lol, but some we still up

[tarrin4ever]

I've read that Mubarak's speech was a carbon copy of the Iranian Shah's speech before he stepped down. So this is a sign for the better.

Lets hope that trend ends at the part where the hated leader steps down. I'd hate for Egypt to go the Iranian route and adopt a fundamentalist government.

[JERK DISEASE]

There's no Ayatollah whipping people into a anti-western radical Islamic frenzy.

[Dryish]

The muslim brotherhood could do just that, but thus far they haven't shown any signs of movement like that. Egypt really has potential to become a working muslim democracy.

[Ubiq]

The equivocation and moral cowardice from the Obama Administration is depressing, but not surprising. Let's turn off our souls for a minute and look at this strictly from a purely political standpoint.

Let's say the Obama endorses protestors. Well, first, he's going to get slammed for dissing a long-standing American ally. Then let's say that Egypt winds up going down the same road as Iran or, at the very least, winds up with a government heavily dominated by theocrats. His endorsement of the protests is going to be spun as Obama forwarding his secret Muslim agenda.
If you think that the 2012 Republican candidate wouldn't use Obama's endorsement of protestors that eventually formed an Islamist government against him, you're insane.

Now, that's going to happen regardless of whatever happens, but this Administration still clings to the ridiculous notion that they can somehow appeal to people who have been quite successful from doing nothing but obstruct and undermine him.

Now, let's expand that outward. Would his endorsement of the protestors affect things on the ground? Maybe, maybe not. The people already protesting themselves are probably not going to care, but that sort of endorsement might give some of the other elements in the country pause to know that the United States approves of their actions and might even undermine support from people who aren't quite committed yet. That's the reason the US took such a hands off approach during the Iranian situation a while back. It's unlikely that something as simple as that could repair the image of the United States in the region. Five decades of meddling already did the damage even before the previous Administration went out of its way to piss off everybody in Saharan Africa and the Middle East in general (Sub-Saharan Africa isn't so much a problem; they loved Bush after all).

Is siding with the protestors the right thing to do? Unquestionably. Should he have already done it? Without a doubt. Is not doing it cowardly? Certainly. But the cold political truth is that there's no real political upside to doing so in the short term.

The only really viable political option here is to offer some support to the protestors while continuing to affirm our support of the current government while working behind the scenes to pressure Mubarak into leaving the country relatively peaceably rather than massacring protestors. We know the first half is what they are doing and we can only hope that the second has been going on for a while now.

[Mastello]

Latest tweets... Seems like it's now relatively calm before a new storm.

Live Phonecall: Egy media reports of looting felt strategically exaggerated to many on the ground. #Jan25 #Jan28 #Egypt

Live Phonecall: army is present, massed in strategic areas like the Corniche. Waiting for 3pm. #Jan25 #Jan28 #Egypt

Checking SMSing. Random poll suggests that like internet, it is down. #Jan25 #Jan28

Live phone call: Tahrir protesters are massing in 1000s, but word being passed that the BIG demo is at 3pm. #Jan25 #Jan28 #Egypt

Live Call from Tahrir demonstrator: calm. Only army visible. Handshakes with some soldiers. But helicopters and black smike (origin?) #Jan25

Quiet now in many areas, news circulating by phone that events may begin within 1 hour. #Jan25 #Jan28 #Egypt

[Mugiwara_no_Ice]

Lets hope that trend ends at the part where the hated leader steps down. I'd hate for Egypt to go the Iranian route and adopt a fundamentalist government.

I doubt that would happen, first of all like it has been mentioned here before this is a peoples revolt, they aren't afraid anymore, they aren't going to take crap from anyone from here on, they are convinced now they have the power and not some guys who take leadership. Once they succeed this conviction will only get stronger.

2ndly, the islamists of Egypt aren't Iranian islamist or Moroccan islamists or Turkish islamists. If you catch my drift every islamic movement has his own identity and agenda. You know that Erdogan is called an islamist in Europe and in Turkey itself, but he isn't turning Turkey into Iran or Afghanistan.

From what I feel and see, I think that the muslimbrotherhood has a lot of smart elements in its ranks that won't let a democracy slide into any kind of theocracy, and I hope they'll try to implement what's really important in Islam and that is a "just" society, freedom, no corruption and meritocracy.

3rd point is that the sunnis don't have religious leaders like in the shiite tradition - and the sunni scholars who are respected don't want to meddle in politics or power.

4th point and that is maybe the most important is that the islamist movements learned their lessons from what happened in Algeria in 1991, when the FIS an islamist party won the elections and tried to establish an islamic state. What happened afterwards was one fucked up civil war. And NO ONE, and I said NO ONE wants to see that happen anywhere again.

[dasia]

LOL Mubarak "a darker force at work trying to destabilize Egypt"

Better tell your kids dinosaurs trully went extinct on January 2011.