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

Fri Feb 11 08:58:33 CST 2011

I had to look up Quorum Sensing to see how clever this punning is.

Fisk's original use of "bacillus" implied a disease-causing organism (hope he's 
OK), so I hope you noticed the continuation of the  image in the next line of 
the psalm:

/Virga tua et baculus tuus, ipsa me consolata sunt: parasiti in conspectu meo 
mensam adversus eos qui tribulant me./

"Your rod and your staff have comforted me" - bacillus means a little rod, and 
Fisk says Mubarack was "sealed off from his (staff) like a bacillus" -

"but the parasites in my view are those who make trouble for my Smart Guy"  
[mensam - I suppose that means Suleiman]...

The complaint may be more general, so to speak, if "mensa" be taken as 
"organizational chart" [see "staff," above]...  --CGE

On 2/11/11 3:14 AM, E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
> "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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