Weekend Sober Thread: Shit's Gettin' Real in Egypt

Yeah, I was just making sure it meant something more than a "get to walking" sentiment or something lame. I expect more from my revolutionaries.

 

I guess Suleiman wanted his chance to piss people off too. Suicide pact?

 

Don't count them out yet. Stubborn old men historically make terrific butchers. Depending on how many people the army feels like killing tomorrow, you might get your civil war after all, short-lived and disastrous though it may be.

 

Before the speech, reasons Mubarak was late:
<a class="postlink" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23reasonsmubarakislate" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">https://twitter.com/search?q=%23reasonsmubarakislate</a>

This is going to go over well. Blood for the Blood God.

 

Just heard on AJE that it's not the regular army that's guarding the state TV office and the presidential palace, but rather the presidential guard. Could be a sign that there are divisions in the military. Also lowers the chance that the troops at these locations will remain on the sidelines.

 

CNN's reporting that they're starting to march on the presidential palace.


Now, I'm not all religious and shit, but does anyone else think that it's really cool and honorable that the protesters wait for all the nasty shit until after morning prayers?

 

Not really. There've also been reports of insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan stopping in the middle of battle to pray at the scheduled times. I don't really see the honour in it. I might consider it particularly civilized if they had all made a proper cup of tea beforehand. And then there's something kind of sinister about people combining the nasty shit with praying.

 

File this under Confuses Islamaphobes. It would appear that the prayers largely unified the crowd and helped keep things orderly in the absence of any other organization or leadership. Just look at the battle of the Nile Bridge on Jan 25. In the middle of a clash with the police, a large number of protesters at the front of the line stopped for prayers, while being assaulted with fire hoses.

 

CNN has the State TV feed. Untranslated, but you can at least get an idea of what sort of things they're showing. Hint: it's not people being shot by the state police.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream2&hpt=T1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live ... am2&hpt=T1</a>

 

So CNN just reported that "several thousand" protesters just arrived at the presidential palace. They were talking to one of the American-Egyptian protesters who said there were a bunch that already made it to the tv station.

Do you think that this separation of their... well, forces, is a good strategy? If they spread out in smaller groups (in as much as thousands of pissed off egyptians can be considered a "small group"), wouldn't it be easier for the military to take one out at a time?

I was kind of thinking/hoping they'd all go from one place to another, in a unison, scorched-earth campaign.

 

They showed before that they will not abandon the square. The demonstration earlier at Parliament were largely because they square was overcrowded. With the size of the demonstrations today, I imagine it's the same deal. People aren't getting to the square, it's too full, they just stand in the side streets.

If a group of a few thousand at the palace could be taken down, then a group of a few thousand at night in the square a few days ago would already be gone.

 

That seems to be the prevailing theme of his "argument". Christopher Hitchens agrees with you: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.slate.com/id/2283168/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.slate.com/id/2283168/</a>

You can't say "dictator" without the "dic(k)".

 

That article makes a lot of sense. What country doesn't have a struggling economy? Where is there not corruption? These things are fuel, but perhaps insults are the spark.

When a heavy handed government acknowledges what it's doing, I think it gives a sense that things might get better. They're self aware, and that creates the potential for self criticism. If you can't agree on what the problem is, you can't work towards a solution. Also, people get a lot of value out of their concerns being acknowledged, even if they get no result from it. It's the desire to "have your day in court." When Mubarak and Suleiman say that they're meeting the people's demands, the people feel not only like their feelings haven't been validated, but also that there's no chance of progress.

 

What the hell? So the Information Age is now progressing to the Revolutionary Age? This is all well and good, but holy shit there is a lot of unrest going on. Better that people are ready to have it out in the open, at least. I'm just concerned for those who would try to copy Egypt without the numbers to do it.

 

Great line from one of the April 6 movement guys:

"I have 3 PhDs in stubbornness and 2 PhDs in staying in Tahrir Square until he leaves."

 

Got this one on my Twitter:

"Damn girl, you got a Mubarak!" (An ass that won't quit.)

So far I've seen no report of violence outside the TV office or the presidential palace. Hopefully it lasts.

 

Dawn in Egypt.

 

I think I've been to the hooka bar the NYC correspondent on Al Jazeera was just talking to people at.