Update : Gamal Mubarak has resigned from the NDP !!!
General Omar Soliman who seemed to be our real acting president currently is going to address the public again later tonight.
The stated owned Egyptian TV claims that our former spy chief has said today :
- All the constitution articles can be changed not only 76 and 77.
- President Mubarak and his son “he did not specify which one though” are not going to run for presidency.
I feel that they are so scared from the Departure Friday , already the prime minister
Allegedly Soliman started his talks with the political powers and parties in Egypt ,I do no know which political parties actually he is speaking with because the Egyptian TV claimed that he was having talks with Ayman Nour while Nour was speaking against the negotiations in BBC Arabic. Also I do not understand the position of Al Wafd , are they going to have part in the talk or not as every day there is a new decision about their participation.
Will these talks include the Muslim brotherhood or not !!? Will these talks include Mohamed ElBaradei ?? Already I agree with ElBaradei that no talks except after Mubarak’s departure to avoid any manipulation and deception.
I can’t believe that General Soliman will sit down with Mohamed Abdel Aal and Raged Halal Hamida !!
There were unconfirmed rumors that Soliman had a meeting with three young people allegedly from Youth political groups among them one girl but not as representatives of these groups which denounced the move. I speculate that this girl is Asama Mahfouz of 6 April youth who called for #Jan25 that came on Al Mehwar and said that she was ready to form a delegation of 10 young people from the protesters and have direct negotiations with the regime.
I respect Asma Mahfouz but I did not like her interview in Al Mehwar at all.
A group called “ The youth of Egypt’s revolution” has issued a statement stating that this young lady has jump to the wagon and does not represent the protesters
When it comes to Omar Soliman , I support ElBaradei suggestions to have him a interim president under the supervision of experts council for specific months. Soliman seemed to be in control for real unlike Mubarak and again there are talks that we are having Bourghiba – Ben Ali scenario in secret.
Thanks for keeping us updated. If you need any gelp to twitter, always prepared to do so.
ReplyDeleteTom
Praying for you and Egypt, Zeinobia.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Ayman Nour, how's his head?
ReplyDeleteI don't understand ElBaradei's tactic. If Soliman becomes interim president the future will look dark for people like ElBaradei and Egypt. In his interview on state TV Soliman today has proven many times that he is a staunch Mubarak friend and hardliner. He is no different to Mubarak at all. No surprise with his vita. No matter what he says to fool the people, he fools, you can read that in every line. And he keeps evading the question, why for more than 16 hrs the terror killing innocent people was allowed to happen. He just evades that and keeps saying, they will find out "who started it". But that is not the question. Who allowed it? That is the question. And that he does not answer. For very good reasons... He is just as guilty as Mubarak is! He would be a catstrophy for the country. The whole lot must go, not only Mubarak. Or everything will end in a farce and the sacrifices of the brave people at Tahrir will have been in vain. Don't forget: these are really cunning foxes with decades of training. Is ElBaradei not aware of this? He won't stand a chance against this man.
ReplyDeleteAljazeera reported this afternoon by the way, that Soliman had met with Al Wafd. Can't verify.
PEOPLE ARE MISSING A MASSIVE POINT NOTHING WILL CHANGE UNLESS THE
ReplyDeleteEMERGENCY LAW IS LIFTED
EMERGENCY LAW MUST BE LIFTED
IT HAS TO BE LIFTED
IF NOT THE REGIME CAN DO WHAT EVER THE HELL IT LIKES AGAIN AND THIS IS A DISASTER BECAUSE OMAR SULEIMAN IS A HORRID MAN ANYWAY
PLEASE ZEINOBIA SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THE EMERGENCY LAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A close Mubarak adviser has informed Hassanein Haikal that Mubarak admitted that he holds a PhD in stubbornness.
ReplyDeletehe is not the same as Mubarak you can't really have this precise judgment from only 1 interview ... and we all know that Omar Suleiman was 1 of the best men qualified to rule our country in this critical time ,don't judge him like that just because you're against Mubarak ...
ReplyDeleteHow do we explain the position of the Egyptian military during the revolution? Well let us go back to Tunisia first in order to understand how the Military generals make decisions. In Tunisia, “America took control of the situation.” This quote is attributed to Michèle Alliot-Marie, France’s Foreign minister According to Le Canard Enchaîné, she admitted in private last Monday that American generals spoke to their Tunisian counterparts and put
ReplyDeletepressure on them to turn on Ben Ali. It seems this is what sparked the Tunisian President’s sudden departure from the country. But in what way can that illustrate the position of the Egyptian Generals, First we need to understand the dynamics of the revolution in Egypt from the US perspective which the Egyptian Generals understood well. To the US, The egyptian revolution appears split into two camps one that sees it as a pure people's revolution left to its own devices will develop into a multi party democracy. The other camp looks at it from the Muslim Brotherhood position which can only harm the revolution. And this is where the US understood that it needs to do a balancing act and this is where the Military came in, so the US had two options either to do something
or do nothing knowing that this revolt could either be the best or worst thing to happen to the Middle East in the modern era. The US knows that the Muslim Brotherhood poses a great threat to the region, so the calculation is that If Mubarak goes and a power vacuum is created, the Brotherhood will best be
postionned to take over especially if the Egyptians detected an outside intervention to prevent it, and I have to say that the brotherhood knew this all along. The other calculation is that the US knew that the majority of the protestors represent all segments of the population including the brotherhood, and all these are protesting
not on behalf of the brotherhood but in the context of a popular revolution in its purest sense with one uniting theme that Mubarak should go and thus the US should take advantage of that to do its balancing act. The US therefore looked at two sides of the same coin, that either this revolution will lead to a democratic Egypt benefiting from US support or this is an Islamist revolt that needs to be crushed by supporting Mubarak (which is what Israel wanted),and this is what explains the fighting on the 2nd of February when the Army stood by enhancing the manufactured US charade between pro-and against Mubarrak. So what the US did was whatever the U.S. had to do so that the revolutiont leads to a secular and
pluralistic society, which many Egyptians would accept. The Egyptian generals did visit their counterpart in the US and as is the case in Tunisia a recommendation was made. The logic that the Military on both side understand
is that the secularists are here. So now is the time to support them. Without Western support, the Muslim Brotherhood will take over Egypt simply because there is a power vacum. What this means is that the Middle East will be changed in ways that will not please the US or Europe for a long time to come reminding them of the 60's and maybe even a closer ties with Iran, which the financially and materially comfortable Egyptian Generals would not tolerate.. So who manufactured the fighting in Tahrir square? well if you did not get it by now, you never will.
On the 2nd of February, the generals had to sit back and let the opposing parties slug it out in full view issuing no orders,
but in the back of their minds, the decision was already made that just like Ben Ali, Mubarak had to go, and Mubarrak
knew it, and resisted it...for a while. He knew all along that the Generals his own friends, wanted him out.
I am a sceptic, Revolution in Tunisia without an inspirational leader, same in Egypt, armies that turn back on the president, security forces killing pro democracy demonstrators, fighting in the street then calm, coalition governments and all political opponents invited back as part of an amnesty, there are far too many coinciding variables with specific timing almost like following a script. Then of course the West and the US would not make statement accept that pro democracy demonstrators should be left to demonstrate, a Tunisian and Egyptian youth sparked the demonstrations in both countries. I dont buy it, what gives it away are the Armies of Tunisia and Egypt, both have close ties with the US, the Egyptian generals well paid and equipped by the US, an easy life with plenty of F16's and modern US tanks yet paid for by the US no wars to fight what could be better for the Army.Its all almost like science fiction.
ReplyDeleteP
Where was it reported that Gamal Mubarak resigned? I would like to read more about that.
ReplyDeleteThe emergency law definitely must be repealed. I've never understood how something lasting 30 years could be an emergency!
Dear Zeinobia,
ReplyDeleteI have been following the news with great interest from Montreal, Canada through Al-Jazeera and other news outlets. The Egyptian people are living through traumatic, but historically important events. Like Herodotus, I believe that consensus among a people is more than a democratic government. The consensus of Egypt is now broken, but people are talking and forging a new one. How this will be, I do not know! I liked the Paul Amar's piece posted on the Al-Jazeera website. He is one of the few American university professors ( U of C at Santa-Barbara) to be specialized on Egypt. He has an interesting take on the Vice-President of Egypt and the army. I also learned in it about the opposition and many players on both sides. Reading your blog has also proven very interesting. It is now among my favourites. In Montreal, about five hundred people held an assembly to support the opposition. Until now, I have felt no sympathy for my part with it because I was very afraid that Dr. Ayman Muhammad Rabaie al-Zawahiri would return from exil in Iran to his own country. No, I realize that it is very unlikely. Bread is far more important for most Egyptians. NDP and the opposition each represent about 10% of the population, while the rest sympatize with the opposition after supporting Mubarak for 29 years. Mubarak with his phase 3 or 4 cancer has little to lose (saying in one of his recent speeches that he wants to die in Egypt), but at least the opposition is just as determine. Whether it is Germany or or his house at the Egyptian sea-side resort is now only the matter of disaggreement. Whatever government of Egypt that comes out from the September election will have to use the funds to appease the army and its cronies and keep the prize of bread low. The lesson of the French revolution is clear; it continued because of outside interference (the treat of war from the coalitions) and the unability of the various government to keep the price of bread low. If your revolution gets more money from the US and Saudi Arabia, it will survive. If it gets suspicion, it is where I worry. Jean-Luc Gauville