Egypt Faces The Future - Sunday 13th Feb

Priceless Objects Stolen From Egypt Museum


just posted a thread on the egypt main forum

Hello BB

since Babsi is from Germany, i would guess she has "only" some sort of working visa/greencard, insted of egyptn citizenship ?

BelgianBoy wrote:How come u can't vote, Babsi?

Because I'm not egyptian - I'm german, just live here since 8 years and have a business here with hubby...

Gamal Mubarak behind leader's surprise attempt to retain power

HOSNI Mubarak was supposed to announce his resignation.

The Egyptian military expected it. The new head of his ruling party pleaded to him face-to-face to do it. But despite more than two weeks of massive demonstrations by protesters unmoved by lesser concessions, the president still didn't get it.

Mubarak's top aides and family - including his son Gamal, widely viewed as his intended successor - told him he could still ride out the turmoil. So the televised resignation speech the rest of Egypt had expected became a stubborn - and ultimately humiliating - effort to cling to
power
[..]

Their account portrayed Mubarak as unable, or unwilling, to grasp that nothing less than his immediate departure would save the country from the chaos generated by the protests that began January 25. A senior government official said Mubarak lacked the political machinery that could give him sound advice about what was happening in the country.

"He did not look beyond what Gamal was telling him, so he was isolated politically," said the official. "Every incremental move (by Mubarak) was too little too late."
[..]

Full:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/gamal-mubarak-behind-leaders-surprise-attempt-to-retain-power/story-e6frg6so-1226005194176?from=public_rss

Britain under Pressure to trace Mubarak's money
---------
AP: LONDON -- Britain's government is under pressure to trace and freeze the assets of deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak

full:
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/02/13/general-eu-britain-egypt_8306140.html

Lovely people of LSN - I have now a meeting to attend, so I will check in with you all later.

Emirates' openings for exiles in spotlight after fall of Egypt's leader

For political figures in exile, the United Arab Emirates has been a luxury refuge, a base for plotting attempted comebacks and _ for at least one unable to escape assassins _ a final stage. There is no shortage of speculation that Egypt's Hosni Mubarak could join the list.

Full:
http://www.newser.com/article/d9lbucug0/emirates-openings-for-exiles-in-spotlight-after-fall-of-egypts-leader.html

Babsi wrote:Lovely people of LSN - I have now a meeting to attend, so I will check in with you all later.

Farewell Babsi

this was posting nr. 400 from you

Lurker wrote:the wikileaks cables from last week about the demonization of MB:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/06/omar-suleiman-muslim-brotherhood_n_819341.html

Babsi Janey,I'm going to play devils advocate here,Egypt has had one of most ruthless policies against any political dissident activity
for decades. there is a strong case that it worked extremely well based on your statements above.The methods used were barbaric
but arguably very successful.

8 pieces confirmed stolen from Egyptian museum including statue of Tutankhamen - AFP 5 mins ago

(Reuters) - Prized artifacts are missing from the Egyptian Museum after looters broke in during unrest last month, including a statue of King Tutankhamun and objects from the time of the rebel Pharaoh Akhenaten, the country's top Egyptologist said on Sunday.

The thieves apparently knew exactly which pieces they wanted, because they descended to the museum's lower floor and grabbed the objects from glass cases while ignoring others nearby, a second Egyptologist said

(CNN) -- Israel's defense minister said Sunday he is not concerned the relationship between his nation and Egypt will fray with the departure of longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, but cautioned against rushing into elections.

"I don't think the relationship between Israel and Egypt is under any risk or that there is any kind of operational risk awaiting us," Ehud Barak told ABC's "This Week."

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/13/egypt.israel/

Following the intensity ,anxiety,fear and finally jubilation of your posts I was reminded of reading my father's letters sent home from the battle front during WW11.
We cherish these letters and are so grateful that they survived through the years.
It was these memories that got me to thinking about the preservation of all you wrote during the 18 days of the Egyptian uprising.
If you haven't already please consider somehow printing them out,I would never want to see them lost somehow due to a long term power outage or whatever could affect our computers and backup ware.
You have a treasure here and it would be wonderful to see them remain as part of yours and your families history.
Blessings to you and all kindred spirits in Egypt.

Claudia

Claudia wrote:Following the intensity ,anxiety,fear and finally jubilation of your posts I was reminded of reading my father's letters sent home from the battle front during WW11.
We cherish these letters and are so grateful that they survived through the years.
It was these memories that got me to thinking about the preservation of all you wrote during the 18 days of the Egyptian uprising.
If you haven't already please consider somehow printing them out,I would never want to see them lost somehow due to a long term power outage or whatever could affect our computers and backup ware.
You have a treasure here and it would be wonderful to see them remain as part of yours and your families history.
Blessings to you and all kindred spirits in Egypt.

Claudia

Claudia, what a great idea, a text record for posterity of our discussing these events. I will ask around and see if we can back them up!

Janey wrote:(CNN) -- Israel's defense minister said Sunday he is not concerned the relationship between his nation and Egypt will fray with the departure of longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, but cautioned against rushing into elections.

"I don't think the relationship between Israel and Egypt is under any risk or that there is any kind of operational risk awaiting us," Ehud Barak told ABC's "This Week."

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/13/egypt.israel/

Some truth and some wrongs in this article. Israel should take a breath and stop fearmongering now.

2 things they said are wrong. First of all, it is wrong to assume that the MB are the quickest to ready for presidential campaign. Quite the contrary. They have been illegal since 50 years and have no politicians that are known and can seriously gain majority votes. Second, elections are not being held in 90 days. Where they get that number from I have no clue. Under the old constitution there is an Amendment that states if the President is handing down power it would go to the Prime Minster (we never had a VP before so that wasn't changed), and then elections would have to be held within 60 days.
However, since this didn't happen and the constitution was thrown out, the Military today called for elections to take place in September as planned all along.
This will now give enough time for other opposition groups like the Wafd party, Kafaya, NAC and their leaders to prepare for campaign. MB has no more advantage than them, and actually will be hard for them to produce a true political leader that can win the sympathy of a majority of egyptians-why? They've been illegal since 1952 I believe, at least for 50 years and have been constantly blamed for anything that went wrong and were imprisoned. There's a small group here that's really just doing charity in the poor and underdeveloped parts of the country. Nobody will elect a long bearded gallabeya turban wearing guy who shouts like the guy in the meeting with Sillyman, lol.

Lets see which party will start first and which guys will start to announce that they're running for Presidency. Now it gets interesting.

PS: Just now saw footage of the HUGE Mubarak portrait being removed when the Cabinet met...

Lurker wrote:

Babsi wrote:Lovely people of LSN - I have now a meeting to attend, so I will check in with you all later.

Farewell Babsi

this was posting nr. 400 from you

Wow, really? I know I talk too much....

the MB will not come to power, maybe hold a seat in parliament... ALJ interviewed some poor people who were mad at the unrest.. cause they need to make money but said they were happy it happened.. they also stated that they do not fear an islamic govt as most poor in egypt work in the tourism industry and are not stupid to vote one in.

edit it was cnn lol.. but doesnt matter what news.. and they also said the Israeli peace treaty needs to be honored.. cause they wanna make $$$ not war... so i highly doubt a islamic group that wants war will take power.. and im pretty sure the military wont allow it either.

Lurker wrote:Gamal Mubarak behind leader's surprise attempt to retain power

HOSNI Mubarak was supposed to announce his resignation.

The Egyptian military expected it. The new head of his ruling party pleaded to him face-to-face to do it. But despite more than two weeks of massive demonstrations by protesters unmoved by lesser concessions, the president still didn't get it.

Mubarak's top aides and family - including his son Gamal, widely viewed as his intended successor - told him he could still ride out the turmoil. So the televised resignation speech the rest of Egypt had expected became a stubborn - and ultimately humiliating - effort to cling to
power
[..]

Their account portrayed Mubarak as unable, or unwilling, to grasp that nothing less than his immediate departure would save the country from the chaos generated by the protests that began January 25. A senior government official said Mubarak lacked the political machinery that could give him sound advice about what was happening in the country.

"He did not look beyond what Gamal was telling him, so he was isolated politically," said the official. "Every incremental move (by Mubarak) was too little too late."
[..]

Full:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/gamal-mubarak-behind-leaders-surprise-attempt-to-retain-power/story-e6frg6so-1226005194176?from=public_rss

Very cool article Lurker - Danke!!

This finally gives us an idea and actually it confirmed my suspicions why he was to detached from everything. Makes sense...people like his son were not giving him the whole truth. Instead they were running the show to try to safe their power and money. Bastages failed terribly by underestimating the people. And Sillyman's "threat" of a coup was actually something that empowered the people more. They wanted the military to step in all along...idiot thought he would make ppl scared and go home...lol.

Here's one for ya guys who are now under house arrest or hiding:

miamikat wrote:the MB will not come to power, maybe hold a seat in parliament... ALJ interviewed some poor people who were mad at the unrest.. cause they need to make money but said they were happy it happened.. they also stated that they do not fear an islamic govt as most poor in egypt work in the tourism industry and are not stupid to vote one in.

Thank you for that report, actually says something if even the lower class say they don't want the MB. Egyptians aren't dumb, they know what's good for their country!

Claudia wrote:Following the intensity ,anxiety,fear and finally jubilation of your posts I was reminded of reading my father's letters sent home from the battle front during WW11.
We cherish these letters and are so grateful that they survived through the years.
It was these memories that got me to thinking about the preservation of all you wrote during the 18 days of the Egyptian uprising.
If you haven't already please consider somehow printing them out,I would never want to see them lost somehow due to a long term power outage or whatever could affect our computers and backup ware.
You have a treasure here and it would be wonderful to see them remain as part of yours and your families history.
Blessings to you and all kindred spirits in Egypt.

Claudia

Thank you, that's very sweet of you and a good idea.

And I love your avi - noticed the quote I have in my signature? Big fan

Watched the movie the Yacoubian Building last night good movie. It is based on the novel may have to read the book now.

There is lots of Corruption in Egypt but hey that is pretty much everywhere.

Hope all goes well.

Norse wrote:Watched the movie the Yacoubian Building last night good movie. It is based on the novel may have to read the book now.

There is lots of Corruption in Egypt but hey that is pretty much everywhere.

Hope all goes well.

Thank you Norse:)

That is a good movie and was quite controversial...and didn't even show the real extent of corruption.

Here's an example, just 1, what happened to hubby and me and that sort of thing doesn't happen in many other countries:

The electric company came to our office while we were not there to read the meter, nothing unusual. Except that they broke the seal and gave our employee a piece of paper and said my husband has to go to the electric company.
When he went, a Police Officer sat at the desk and told him that he had tempered with the meter and stole electricity in amount of 55,000 Egyptian Pounds! Horrendous figure for us here. Of course this was total BS...so the police threatened to arrest him and we know what treatment you get there. Or he can pay 13,000 Egyptian Pounds and the story is forgotten. The way things were going at that time everybody knows you just better bite the bullet and pay the mafia, otherwise you're arrested, beaten, court case forged and you end up paying 55,000 LE or they burn your place down.

Lovely ain't it? Now that's just a small example...this can get to you alot, especially when you work hard to make a living and these thugs take everything from you. We are all hopeful these type of things will now stop.

cab123 wrote:

Lurker wrote:the wikileaks cables from last week about the demonization of MB:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/06/omar-suleiman-muslim-brotherhood_n_819341.html

Babsi Janey,I'm going to play devils advocate here,Egypt has had one of most ruthless policies against any political dissident activity
for decades. there is a strong case that it worked extremely well based on your statements above.The methods used were barbaric
but arguably very successful.

While your basic statement is certainly true and obvious to those of us following all of this, I would be skeptical of anything in Huffington. Since Ariana merged with AOL, I see corporatist-propaganda written all over this. I also tend to be very skeptical of Wikileaks. While I do not question to cables themselves, I do question the ones chosen for release. Bottom line--the left is demonstrating that it is just as good at fear-mongering as Bush and the boys. Let's not lose faith in the Egyptians quite yet.

FoolOnTheHill wrote:

cab123 wrote:

Lurker wrote:the wikileaks cables from last week about the demonization of MB:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/06/omar-suleiman-muslim-brotherhood_n_819341.html

Babsi Janey,I'm going to play devils advocate here,Egypt has had one of most ruthless policies against any political dissident activity
for decades. there is a strong case that it worked extremely well based on your statements above.The methods used were barbaric
but arguably very successful.

While your basic statement is certainly true and obvious to those of us following all of this, I wold be skeptical of anything in Huffington. Since Ariana merged with AOL, I see corporative-propoganda written all over this. I also tend to be very skeptical of Wikileaks. While I do not question to cables themselves, I do question the ones chosen for release. Bottom line--the left is demonstrating that it is just as good at fear-mongering as Bush and the boys. Let's not lose faith in the Egyptians quite yet.

This article was initially posted by Reuters, not Huffington. Both sides are backed by corporate lobbyists, Bush or Obama it is one and the same. Egypt has a very tough road ahead, and we need to ensure we "the west" are working closely with Egyptian authorities, not to push OUR agenda, however to ensure open and democratic elections are held.

[quote="Praetorian"][quote="FoolOnTheHill"]

cab123 wrote:

This article was initially posted by Reuters, not Huffington. Both sides are backed by corporate lobbyists, Bush or Obama it is one and the same. Egypt has a very tough road ahead, and we need to ensure we "the west" are working closely with Egyptian authorities, not to push OUR agenda, however to ensure open and democratic elections are held.

Basically I agree on all of that. I guess I am uncertain who in the West is with the Egyptian people. Maybe a few in congress such as Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinage (sp?), but most have sold out to the corporate police state, IMO.