[Peace-discuss] Mubarak Clings On... What Now For Egypt?

[E. Wayne Johnson]

"sealed off from his ministers _*like a bacillus*_"

(like a bacillus???)

Not sure that I can verify the verisimilitude of the simile but it is 
worth a smile.

Mu Barak always did remind me of some sort of single cell lifeform but I 
would have
thought him more like an Amoeba or maybe a Giardia.

This probably accounts for the lack of Quorum Sensing?

"Virga tua et baculus tuus ipsa me consolata sunt."



On 2/11/2011 11:05 AM, Morton K. Brussel wrote:
> Here is Fisk's report of the happenings on Feb.10, 2011. He says "/Yet 
> for Mubarak's opponents, today will not be a day of joy and rejoicing 
> and victory but a potential bloodbath."/
> Everyone is holding their breath.
> --mkb
>
>
>   As Mubarak Clings On... What Now For Egypt?
>
> The fury of a people whose hopes were raised and then dashed
>
> February 11, 2011
>
> By *Robert Fisk*
> Source: Independent
>
> Robert Fisk's ZSpace Page <http://zcommunications.org/zspace/robertfisk>
>
>
> To the horror of Egyptians and the world, President Hosni Mubarak – 
> haggard and apparently disoriented – appeared on state television last 
> night to refuse every demand of his opponents by staying in power for 
> at least another five months. The Egyptian army, which had already 
> initiated a virtual coup d'état, was nonplussed by the President's 
> speech which had been widely advertised – by both his friends and his 
> enemies – as a farewell address after 30 years of dictatorship. The 
> vast crowds in Tahrir Square were almost insane with anger and resentment.
> Mubarak tried – unbelievably – to placate his infuriated people with a 
> promise to investigate the killings of his opponents in what he called 
> "the unfortunate, tragic events", apparently unaware of the mass fury 
> directed at his dictatorship for his three decades of corruption, 
> brutality and repression.
> The old man had originally appeared ready to give up, faced at last 
> with the rage of millions of Egyptians and the power of history, 
> sealed off from his ministers like a bacillus, only grudgingly 
> permitted by his own army from saying goodbye to the people who hated him.
> Yet the very moment that Hosni Mubarak embarked on what was supposed 
> to be his final speech, he made it clear that he intended to cling to 
> power. To the end, the President's Information Minister insisted he 
> would not leave. There were those who, to the very last moment, feared 
> that Mubarak's departure would be cosmetic – even though his 
> presidency had evaporated in the face of his army's decision to take 
> power earlier in the evening.
> History may later decide that the army's lack of faith in Mubarak 
> effectively lost his presidency after three decades of dictatorship, 
> secret police torture and government corruption. Confronted by even 
> greater demonstrations on the streets of Egypt today, even the army 
> could not guarantee the safety of the nation. Yet for Mubarak's 
> opponents, today will not be a day of joy and rejoicing and victory 
> but a potential bloodbath.
> But was this a victory for Mubarak or a military coup d'état? Can 
> Egypt ever be free? For the army generals to insist upon his departure 
> was as dramatic as it was dangerous. Are they, a state within a state, 
> now truly the guardians of the nation, defenders of the people – or 
> will they continue to support a man who must be judged now as close to 
> insanity? The chains which bound the military to the corruption of 
> Mubarak's regime were real. Are they to stand by democracy – or cement 
> a new Mubarak regime?
> Even as Mubarak was still speaking, the millions in Tahrir Square 
> roared their anger and fury and disbelief. Of course, the millions of 
> courageous Egyptians who fought the whole apparatus of state security 
> run by Mubarak should have been the victors. But as yesterday 
> afternoon's events proved all too clearly, it was the senior generals 
> – who enjoy the luxury of hotel chains, shopping malls, real estate 
> and banking concessions from the same corrupt regime – who permitted 
> Mubarak to survive. At an ominous meeting of the Supreme Council of 
> the Egyptian Armed Forces, Defence Minister Mohamed Tantawi – one of 
> Mubarak's closest friends – agreed to meet the demands of the millions 
> of democracy protesters, without stating that the regime would itself 
> be dissolved. Mubarak himself, commander-in-chief of the army, was not 
> permitted to attend.
> But this is a Middle Eastern epic, one of those incremental moments 
> when the Arab people – forgotten, chastised, infantilised, repressed, 
> often beaten, tortured too many times, occasionally hanged – will 
> still strive to give the great wheel of history a shove, and shake off 
> the burden of their lives. Last night, however, dictatorship had still 
> won. Democracy had lost.
> All day, the power of the people had grown as the prestige of the 
> President and his hollow party collapsed. The vast crowds in Tahrir 
> Square began yesterday to move out over all of central Cairo, even 
> moving behind the steel gates of the People's Assembly, setting up 
> their tents in front of the pseudo-Greek parliament building in a 
> demand for new and fair elections. Today, they were planning to enter 
> the parliament itself, taking over the symbol of Mubarak's fake 
> "democracy". Fierce arguments among the army hierarchy – and 
> apparently between Vice-President Omar Suleiman and Mubarak himself – 
> continued while strikes and industrial stoppages spread across Egypt. 
> Well over seven million protesters were estimated to be on the streets 
> of Egypt yesterday – the largest political demonstration in the 
> country's modern history, greater even than the six million who 
> attended the funeral of Gamal Abdul Nasser, the first Egyptian 
> dictator whose rule continued through Anwar Sadat's vain presidency 
> and the three dead decades of Mubarak.
> It was too early, last night, for the crowds in Tahrir Square to 
> understand the legal complexities of Mubarak's speech. But it was 
> patronising, self-serving and immensely dangerous. The Egyptian 
> constitution insists that presidential power must pass to the speaker 
> of parliament, a colourless Mubarak crony called Fatih Srour, and 
> elections – fair ones, if this can be imagined – held within 60 days. 
> But many believe that Suleiman may choose to rule by some new 
> emergency law and then push Mubarak out of power, staking out a 
> timetable for new and fraudulent elections and yet another terrible 
> epoch of dictatorship. The truth, however, is that
> the millions of Egyptians who have tried to unseat their Great 
> Dictator regard their constitution – and the judiciary and the entire 
> edifice of government institutions – with the same contempt as they do 
> Mubarak. They want a new constitution, new laws to limit the powers 
> and tenure of presidents, new and early elections which will reflect 
> the "will of the people" rather than the will of the president or the 
> transition president, or of generals and brigadiers and state security 
> thugs.
> Last night, a military officer guarding the tens of thousands 
> celebrating in Cairo threw down his rifle and joined the 
> demonstrators, yet another sign of the ordinary Egyptian soldier's 
> growing sympathy for the democracy demonstrators. We had witnessed 
> many similar sentiments from the army over the past two weeks. But the 
> critical moment came on the evening of 30 January when, it is now 
> clear, Mubarak ordered the Egyptian Third Army to crush the 
> demonstrators in Tahrir Square with their tanks after flying F-16 
> fighter bombers at low level over the protesters.
> Many of the senior tank commanders could be seen tearing off their 
> headsets – over which they had received the fatal orders – to use 
> their mobile phones. They were, it now transpires, calling their own 
> military families for advice. Fathers who had spent their lives 
> serving the Egyptian army told their sons to disobey, that they must 
> never kill their own people.
> Thus when General Hassan al-Rawani told the massive crowds yesterday 
> evening that "everything you want will be realised – all your demands 
> will be met", the people cried back: "The army and the people stand 
> together – the army and the people are united. The army and the people 
> belong to one hand."
> Last night, the Cairo court prevented three ministers – so far 
> unnamed, although they almost certainly inc-lude the Minister of 
> Interior – from leaving Egypt.
> But neither the army nor Vice-President Suleiman are likely to be able 
> to face the far greater demonstrations planned for today, a fact that 
> was conveyed to 83-year-old Mubarak by Tantawi himself, standing next 
> to Suleiman. Tantawi and another general – believed to be the 
> commander of the Cairo military area – called Washington, according to 
> a senior Egyptian officer, to pass on the news to Robert Gates at the 
> Pentagon. It must have been a sobering moment. For days, the White 
> House had been grimly observing the mass demonstrations in Cairo, 
> fearful that they would turn into a mythical Islamist monster, 
> frightened that Mubarak might leave, even more terrified he might not.
> The events of the past 12 hours have not, alas, been a victory for the 
> West. American and European leaders who rejoiced at the fall of 
> communist dictatorships have sat glumly regarding the extraordinary 
> and wildly hopeful events in Cairo – a victory of morality over 
> corruption and cruelty – with the same enthusiasm as many East 
> European dictators watched the fall of their Warsaw Pact nations. 
> Calls for stability and an "orderly" transition of power were, in 
> fact, appeals for Mubarak to stay in power – as he is still trying to 
> do – rather than a ringing endorsement of the demands of the 
> overwhelming pro-democracy movement that should have struck him down.
> *Timeline...*
> *11.00* As demonstrators mass in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the Foreign 
> Minister warns of a military coup if protests continue
> *15.15* The Egyptian Prime Minister, Ahmed Shafiq, tells the BBC 
> Arabic Service that Mubarak may step down
> *15.20* The secretary general of the ruling NDP party, Hossan Badrawy, 
> says he expects Mubarak to make an announcement that will satisfy 
> protesters' demands
> *15.30* An Egyptian army commander tells protesters in Tahrir Square 
> that: "Everything you want will be realised"
> *15.45* Egypt's military council releases a statement saying it is in 
> continuous session and the army will take necessary measures to 
> "safeguard the homeland", in the clearest sign that Mubarak will be on 
> his way out soon
> *16.04* The Information Minister, Anas el-Fekky, says Mubarak is in 
> fact not stepping down and remains Egypt's President
> *16.15* Al Arabiya television station carries an unconfirmed report 
> that Mubarak has travelled to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh 
> with his army chief of staff
> *17.11* A senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest 
> opposition group, says he fears the army is staging a coup
> *20.50* Defying expectations Mubarak speaks on state TV, giving no 
> indication that he will step down soon
> Source: The Independent 
> <http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-as-mubarak-clings-on-what-now-for-egypt-2211287.html>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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