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

[C. G. Estabrook]

  ?When I hear the word culture, I reach for my petri dish.


On 2/11/11 10:21 AM, E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
> I was poorly prepared, overlooked the parasiti, and elided and eluded the 
> critical i.
>
> the plan is clear though  (if you read a little further)
>
> -/inpinguasti in oleo caput/.
>
> fry 'em in margarine till they're "Kaput".
>
> in polite company they call that "marginalizing the opposition".
>
>
>
>
> On 2/11/2011 10:58 PM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>> 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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>>>
>>>
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