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10 Feb 2011 21:52

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Biz: Did Mubarak’s insane speech help Wall Street today?

  • YES the speech helped stocks make a late-day rally source
  • » Why did that happen? Simply put, the stock market liked the fact that Mubarak said he was giving up much of his authority in Egypt to Omar Suleiman – not enough for protesters, but apparently enough for money managers. “The moment Mubarak said he would be giving up duties to his vice president, the market said it was a good thing and rose,” said Michael Holland, whose company manages billions in funds on the market.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Feb 2011 21:37

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Politics: Mubarak’s speech made Obama, Leon Panetta look like fools

Uh-oh, someone bought into the narrative. (At a speech in Michigan, Obama suggested Egypt’s transition was imminent. Panetta did the same earlier in the day.) But so did everyone else. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Feb 2011 21:21

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World: “The Worst Speech Ever”: Where do we go from Mubarak’s rant?

  • He offered a vaguely worded delegation of power to Vice President Omar Suleiman, long after everyone in Egypt had stopped listening. It is virtually impossible to conceive of a more poorly conceived or executed speech.
  • Foreign Policy writer Marc Lynch • Scoring the speech at home and saying the obvious. We could have made a better speech than Hosni Mubarak, and we suck at public speaking! That’s why we use the internet! Lynch notes that the speech from Omar Suleiman was as damaging, if not moreso than Mubarak’s, because it inextricably tied an unpopular figure to his potential successor – especially since he implicitly blamed Al Jazeera for his problems. “It solidified the already deep distrust of his role among most of the opposition and of the protestors,” Lynch wrote, “and tied his fate to that of Mubarak.” From here, things will only get worse for everyone involved – especially the United States, who have a hard game of chess ahead, and the protesters on the ground, who may grow more unruly and already have a protest planned for tomorrow. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Feb 2011 20:57

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World: Mubarak’s speech: Why the United States needs to look inward

  • “I can not and will not accept to be dictated orders from outside, no matter what the source is.” What makes a leader, in the face of international, media and local scrutiny, choose not to listen to repeated calls to resign? Who essentially shames his allies? A man whose statements are so transparent that not even his own people believe them? And why is it that the world allowed him to gain so much authority that he can’t easily be toppled from his position? There are a lot of questions tonight, and we’ve been parsing through them all afternoon. The fact that Mubarak was effectively supported by the United States makes the question marks much more pointed. As Americans, we need to learn how to encourage democracy at all costs, and focus less on what we gain – leverage in Israel, influence in a region, whatever. We can’t support another military state created by the United States. It’s ended in tears multiple times, and every time, Americans lose out monetarily, civilians lose their rights, and our world becomes a little more unstable. No more. This has to stop. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Feb 2011 13:25

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World: Mubarak may go, but what will Egypt’s military do with the power?

  • yes Hosni Mubarak is expected to announce his long-awaited resignation tonight. Hats off to the Egyptian people, who’ve displayed astonishing resolve and spirit.
  • but The Egyptian military is rumored to be taking over the reins, which especially in light of recent reports of torture is causing some valid concern for the protesters. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Feb 2011 10:59

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World: Report: Egyptian military detaining, torturing protesters

  • Their range is very wide, from people who were at the protests or detained for breaking curfew to those who talked back at an army officer or were handed over to the army for looking suspicious or for looking like foreigners even if they were not. It’s unusual and to the best of our knowledge it’s also unprecedented for the army to be doing this.
  • Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights director Hossam Bahgat • Describing the nature of some of the arrests and detainment taking place in Egypt at the moment. Bahgat’s words go against the narrative suggesting that the military is on the side of the people in the current spate of protests, and instead paint a picture that they are in fact taking part in incidents more commonly associated with the country’s notorious state security intelligence. One protester, only offering to go by his first name, Ashraf, put his experience as such: “I was on a sidestreet and a soldier stopped me and asked me where I was going. I told him and he accused me of working for foreign enemies and other soldiers rushed over and they all started hitting me with their guns.” Harrowing. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Feb 2011 10:46

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World: Roundup: Reports confirming Mubarak’s possible departure

  • BBC Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq told BBC Arabic that the possibility of Hosni Mubarak’s departure was being discussed, without giving a timetable.
  • Ch. 4 Reporter Lindsey Hilsum says that she got word from Hossam Badrawy, the new leader of Mubarak’s National Democratic Party, that he could be out tonight.
  • NBC The network says that they got confirmation that he is leaving from a source inside the presidential office, then confirmed it with another source. Hmm. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

10 Feb 2011 10:21

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World: Protesters get their wish? Hosni Mubarak may leave office tonight

A Channel 4 reporter who spoke to National Democratic Party secretary-general Hossam Badrawy says that Mubarak could be out as soon as today. Whoa, this is big. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 21:32

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World: Egypt gets strong scolding from U.S. over emergency law

  • Hey Egypt, your strongest ally is yelling at you. Here’s why. See, Egypt has this emergency law in place that allows them to detain protesters and other folks they don’t like without charge. And the United States doesn’t like this. Especially in the wake of comments that vice president Omar Suleiman made about the country not being ready for democracy. It also doesn’t help that he suggested that the government might step in to quell the protests. What does the U.S. think? Well, a few things, which they released in a statement today. First – Stop screwing with protesters. Second – Rescind an emergency law that allows the government to detain anyone for any reason. Third – Broaden the dialogue to allow opposition voices. And finally – Invite the opposition to the bargaining table. This hard line was needed before Suleiman was around, guys. Why did this guy get the golden ring, anyway? He’s terrible. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Feb 2011 14:43

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World: Iranian opposition figure Mousavi calls for solidarity march

  • Undoubtedly, the starting point of what we are witnessing in the streets of Tunis, Sana’a, Cairo, Alexandria and Suez should be seen in the Iranian protests.
  • Iranian “Green” leader Mir Hossein Mousavi • The opposition leader, whose unsuccessful run against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked anti-government protests within Iran, has called for demonstrations to be held in solidarity with revolutionary movements in other states. That this sort of call has gone out isn’t especially surprising in a geopolitical climate of profound uncertainty in the wake of Egypt’s civil uprising. With an increasingly modern, culturally westernized population block that is nearly 50% under the age of 30, the extent to which Iran is ripe for such an upheaval has been a weighty topic since the protests over 2009’s fraudulent election. Seeing other oppressors fall by the wayside can, one suspects, only help this possibility. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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