Africa

NOVANEWS Zionist Agents provocateur taunt Egyptian nationalists CAIRO — President Obama’s calls for a rapid transition to a new order in Egypt seemed eclipsed on Wednesday as a choreographed surge of thousands of people chanting support for the Zionist Hosni Mu-Barak fought running battles with a larger number of antigovernment protesters in and around Cairo’s Tahrir Square. By ANTHONY SHADID, DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and KAREEM FAHIM in the NYT - Al Jazaeera reports: Earlier, witnesses said the military allowed thousands of pro-Mubarak supporters, armed with sticks and knives, to enter the square. Opposition groups said Mubarak had sent in thugs to suppress anti-government protests. Our correspondent said the army seemed to be standing by and facilitating the clashes. Latest reports suggest...

NOVANEWS   Karl Remarks     Published with permission from Karlremaks     The sheer exhilaration that I felt in response to the Egyptian uprising, admittedly as a voluntarily-implicated observer, has been somewhat dampened by the reaction of Western elites to this phenomenal display of courage and yearning for change. On the one hand, it seemed that the Egyptian people have managed, despite extremely adverse circumstances, to translate the universal ideals of liberty and autonomy into concrete political actions that have inspired millions around the world. But on the other hand it seems to have exposed how little faith in those very same ideals there is in the West today, as exemplified by the strange debates that are being conducted about the prospects of the Egyptian uprising. The most...

NOVANEWS   (Reuters) - The United States has given Egypt an average of $2 billion annually since 1979, much of it military aid, according to the Congressional Research Service. The combined total makes Egypt the second largest recipient of U.S. aid after Israel. The White House said on Friday it would review U.S. aid to Egypt based on events in the coming days amid mass protests aimed at ending President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. Here are some facts about the aid: -- In 2010, $1.3 billion went to strengthen Egyptian forces versus $250 million in economic aid. Another $1.9 million went for training meant to bolster long-term U.S.-Egyptian military cooperation. Egypt also receives hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of excess military hardware annually from the Pentagon. -- The ...

NOVANEWS These are some serious times. All I can see around us is just violence and crime... Two million people in Tahrir Square clearly wasn’t enough. “President” Mu-Barak still hasn’t got the message. On Wednesday, undercover police officers hired by the Mu-Barak dictatorship attacked the demonstrators occupying the Square. Since then, at least five people have been killed, and over eight hundred injured. The widely-cited media-friendly phrase is “pro-Mu-Barak crowds”, failing to mention the small fact that these people are being paid by the regime; the same regime the American government have been paying to keep in power for the last thirty-one years. The idea of a popular uprising in support of Mu-Barak, when half of the population of eighty million live on less than one dollar per day...

NOVANEWS   By Tom Curry Though it may be weeks before the outcome of the protests in Egypt is clear, the turmoil that erupted there raises an obvious question: If the $68 billion in aid the U.S. has sent to Egypt since 1948 is seen as an investment in political stability in the Middle East, has the investment benefited U.S. interests, or is it failing or perhaps even backfiring? Under both Democratic and Republican presidents for the past 60 years the United States has sent economic and military aid to Egyptian governments. In fiscal 2009, the United States spent about $1.5 billion on aid to Egypt, 86 percent of it military aid. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Friday that the U.S. aid package would be reviewed in light of how Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government responds t...

NOVANEWS   Over a Million Egyptians Rally to Overthrow Mu-Barak by James Buchanan A recent news article reports “At least one million Egyptians took to the streets on Tuesday in scenes never before seen in the Arab nation’s modern history, roaring in unison for President Hosni Mubarak and his new government to quit. The army’s pledge on Monday not to use force against demonstrators emboldened Egyptians to push for the biggest shake-up of the political system since 1952 when army officers deposed King Farouk. More than 200,000 Egyptians crowded into Tahrir Square in central Cairo and 20,000 marched in the eastern city of Suez. Demonstrations were held in Alexandria on the north coast, Ismailia and cities in the Nile Delta such as Tanta, Mansoura and Mahalla el-Kubra. Across the country t...

NOVANEWS crescentandcross      Is a "Greater IsraHell" now a greater possibility than ever before? MCP continues with his discussion of Egypt and how the situation there reflects IsraHell's long-term geo strategic goals. Listen Here

NOVANEWS   For the journalists, the villains are those governments that challenge – or pretend to challenge – Western policies. But for the people, the tyrants are those who exploit and humiliate them. by Thierry Meyssan Egypts unprecedented anti-government protests Image/ Al Jazeera The mainstream media are enthralled by the demonstrations in Egypt and are heralding the advent of a Western-style democracy throughout the Middle East. Thierry Meyssan refutes this interpretation. According to him, antagonistic forces have been set in motion, the outcome of which will turn against the order imposed by the United States in the region. For the past week, western media have echoed reports about the demonstrations and repression rattling major Egyptian cities. They draw a parallel with the eve...

NOVANEWS   by Michael Leon  The oldest established North American bookmaker, appropriately named Bookmaker.com, has releasedodds on what will happen next to Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak. From Gambling 911 Demonstrations in the Arab world’s most populated nation continued for a [ninth] straight day with calls for Mubarak to step down. Odds on Mubarak resigning were set at even odds.  Good news for the people of Egypt, odds were set at -130 on Mubarak not just stepping down but ultimately leaving the country.  His failure to resign had odds of +130, paying $13 for every $10 bet.  Of the three options, this was the least likely according to the oddsmakers, though it is hardly a “lock”.

NOVANEWS    by Michael Leon    Pieter Bruegel's Netherlandish Proverbs (The Topsy Turvy World) - Just a matter of time before Americans begin asking what the Egyptian revolution means for them—Americans, the unthinking rabble who matter. Economists are there to deliver the imperialist [and dumbed-down] perspective on the revolution after Americans dig out from a major blizzard and check their betting pools on the Super Bowl. So we can get back to business as usual in case this democracy craze were to cause some inconvenience. For an amusing aside, read President Obama’s remarks which make clear that Mubarak has become a decided inconvenience … to us. President Obama uses the word, “change,” three times. Perhaps readers can be forgiven for not taking that word at face value any more. All...