jpyaks3

Yeah definitely rough out in the Eastern province. If anything big is going to happen its going to have to be country wide because a Saudi response to a Shi'ite protest in the east is going to be Ghaddafi levels of messed up ****.

Protests called for in Saudi Arabia for Friday for a Day of Rage. Tomorrow could be a very interesting day.

Little late but finally got some of my videos up on a friends youtube channel from the protests in Cairo on the 25th through the 30th if anyone is interested here they are. http://www.youtube.com/user/oeun9000#p/u/11/GFLjzW4gB_g Here is my channel with a few others uploaded. http://www.youtube.com/user/jpyaks

More on the Alexandria protests http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/201134228359128.html Around 1,500 protesters have stormed Alexandria's state security headquarters after earlier clashes with police, gaining control of its lower floors and driving police officers to hide in the upper floors of the building, witnesses and protesters told Al Jazeera. Hundreds of the protesters stormed the building on Friday night, after petrol bombs and gunfire were reported as emanating from within the building. One witness said that demonstrators had smashed pieces of furniture on the ground floor of the building, adding that army troops were guarding the upper floors of the four-storey building. Ahmed Hatem, a protester on the scene, said that the army had told demonstrators that they had orders to arrest the members of the state security agency, but that they would not do so unless they could guarantee that the arrests could be made safely. Hatem said the army had been "rather cooperative with the demonstrators". He said that security officers had used live ammunition and petrol bombs to try and disperse protesters, seriously injuring at least two people. The Associated Press, quoting a medic, put that number at three. Egyptian local media and protesters on the ground in Alexandria said that police personnel in the building were seen setting fire to and shredding sensitive documents, including passports and national identification cards. A witness said that soliders warned police officers not to fire on demonstrators from within the building, but the police did not comply. Demonstrators then laid siege to the building. Gunfire was heard in the area during the standoff, and tear gas was also used by the police to try and disperse protesters. Earlier, state security forces had reportedly opened fire to try and push demonstrators away, which prompted the army to move in and secure the building. Hatem said there was a large army presence around the building now, including the deployment of tanks. Protesters smashed the windows of several cars belonging to the state security service, including two armoured vehicles, while petrol bombs thrown from the building set fire to four other vehicles, witnesses said. The activists who called the protests say they are demanding the abolition of the state security apparatus and an end to emergency laws. They alleged that the Egyptian security agencies have arrested and tortured thousands of activists and killed many during the 30 years of Hosni Mubarak, the former president's, rule. The Egyptian interior ministry confirmed to Al Jazeera that protesters had forced state security agency members to take refuge in the building, but did not substantiate the allegations that they had used live ammunition to fire on protesters. Earlier in the day, Essam Sharif, the newly appointed Egyptian prime minister, spoke to thousands of pro-democracy campaigners in Cairo's Tahrir Square. During his brief speech, Sharif said the state security apparatus must work for the good of the people.

Protesters trying to dissolve the security forces apparently. Considering the abuse and corruption from that group not terribly surprising.

I think Yemen is going to fall, Libya as well. Bahrain is going to be interesting and things appear to be kicking off in Oman. I think we will see at least a few more governments fall before its all said and done.

Unfortunately I think the Saudi's won't hesitate to crack down hard on protesters. But if/when Ghaddafi goes down then that might show the people it doesn't matter because the people can win out. Who knows though.

Saudi Arabia next? http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/02/28/yes_it_could_happen_here

What do you think are their goals?

The Brotherhood has also renounced violence. The stuff you are citing was 30 or so years ago and even farther back from that (also Sadat wasn't killed by the Brotherhood it was an offshoot), a hell of a lot has changed since then. The Muslim Brotherhood is a social organization through and through there is no militant wing or terrorist wing or whatever. They are basically a political party that is banned in Egypt. Everything before the mid 1980's is pretty irrelevant because they took a major change in direction when the majority of their leadership was imprisoned.

Plain clothes thugs hired by the government are beating protesters but apparently major protests are still going on in Cairo. I saw some reasonably large ones outside the Lawyers and Journalist syndicates before the police tear gassed the crowd and the thugs beat/grabbed protesters. Apparently Suez is a war zone right now, hearing that the police station is on fire and the army is on hand but not intervening. There are massive protests planned for Friday afternoon immediately following afternoon prayers. Definitely a different atmosphere tonight then last night but this thing is still going on. Edit: Twitter and facebook are blocked in Egypt.

I am not Egyptian. I am in for the night, too much going on and too exhausted from being tense all day, but right now there still protests going on throughout Egypt (its 1230 here so it seems like its an all nighter). http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/video-of-protests-in-egypt-on-youtube/ here are some videos including a few shot by a friend on mine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dl16QnROt4&feature=player_embedded

Freedom. Egypt is a police state, its elite have become extremely wealthy while everyone else has suffered. There is no free press, there is plenty to ask for. Free and fair elections would probably be a good starting point.

This is not a Muslim Brotherhood driven thing, this is an extremely diverse group of Egyptians protesting. Mubarak may try and paint it as a Muslim Brotherhood thing but it wasn't. ---------- Post added January-25th-2011 at 03:01 PM ---------- I would have said so before today, but I honestly think this is something bigger, these are by far the biggest protests since the Bread Riots over 2 decades ago. This is also occuring all throughout Egypt in enormous numbers. ---------- Post added January-25th-2011 at 03:07 PM ---------- Picture from Tahrir

I was in Tahrir square all day, just returned home but there are thousands still in there. Streets are on lockdown. The protests were peaceful until the government ran through with a water cannon on top of a troop carrier someone jumped on the roof and ripped it off which just made the protests that much more intense. Then the troops boxed us in shot tear gas. When I left it had been subdued after an attempt to storm the Parliament building was put down with what must have been 30 or 40 rounds of tear gas. Seems like both sides were regrouping for the night.

Hearing estimates of around 50,000 in Cairo and 40,000 in Alexandria, absolutely crazy atmosphere here. People aren't afraid of the police anymore. There are still thousands in Tahrir Square. Here is a twitter stream http://tweetchat.com/room/jan25 Here is a sight that is live updating http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/4773.aspx

Yes, they are. In the 1960's and 1970's no they weren't but since then they have moved significantly towards the middle. They are very conservative, but they are pretty moderate as a whole. There was a major leadership shake up in the early 1980's and their entire organizational structure changed, they renounced violence and most of their more violent and radical members splintered off. Currently, they are a moderate Islamist non-party (since they aren't allowed to be a party) focused mainly on social works and gaining greater political freedoms in Egypt. ---------- Post added January-25th-2011 at 04:27 AM ---------- I think today is going to tell us a lot about if anything is going to happen in Egypt. There are plans for massive protests across Cairo and Alexandria and from what I have heard from Egyptians and long time ex-pats is that the Tunisian revolution actually changed the status quo a bit. People are a lot more freely denouncing Mubarak and the current government and there is a feeling of unity residual from the Alexandria church bombings which brought about a lot more anti-government rhetoric. Now I am not saying that anything is going to happen but it does seem like there has been a change and I wouldn't rule out something big happening in the near future. Mubarak has kind of backed himself into a corner with this upcoming Presidential election as well so there is quite a lot that can happen and as we saw in Tunisia it can happen pretty quickly. That said, the Egyptian government has been extremely effective and controlling and quashing dissident and opposition forces, from the Islamic radicals to the left wing of the political spectrum, so more than likely nothing will come of this but the possibility is still there.

Well the Tunisian Islamist population is very small right now so I doubt that. I think an Islamist group would not be able to hold with the general population, I mean there is no way that they will be less difficult to bring down than a ruler with an enormous army, police, and secret police force. I think a much more likely situation is the United States or France or whoever throwing support behind another leader in the same style as Ben Ali someone who will rule with an iron fist and prevent any "Islamists" or anyone who doesn't agree with our policy from gaining ground in the country. I think its going to be a rough ride for Tunisia until they can get their feet under them, the unity government is already having some problems. But at what point do you say enough repression, violence, economic stagnation, and lack of basic freedoms is it worth overthrowing a dictator if there is the slight possibility that an radical Islamist group might take power. I know from the people I have talked to they are ready to take that chance, because in quite a few cases the only thing worse than Islamist taking over is the current government. We make the moderates take control by pushing on dictators to open up the political process, thats what the United States needs to do if it wants to avoid radicals. Unfortunately we rarely take that track instead supporting whoever will support our interests in the short term without a long term plan. I think Robert Fisk makes some good points in his article about the bigger problems with the wests foreign policy towards the region. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/the-brutal-truth-about-tunisia-2186287.html I also think that is one of the main reasons why the United States needs to start taking a responsible position towards the Middle East and instead of supporting any dictator who will suppress "Islamists" push for free and fair elections and actually honor the results. Otherwise there is the potential for radical groups to take advantage of a situation where there is no legitimate means of changing the ruling class.

I am sorry but I don't really see a situation where an Islamist group that isn't moderate think Muslim Brotherhood not al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya comes to power. Also I think at least for the United States the biggest risk is an Iran situation where we burned ourselves badly by supporting a dictator over democracy. If a moderate Islamic party comes to power so be it, look at the AKP in Turkey right now I think anything is better then the situation right now where the government suppresses the ability of moderates from playing a role in the political process to prevent Islamization but instead gives the radical and the violent factions more power because they can see that the political path isn't working so they try another path.

Kind of surprised to see nothing in here about a revolution in an Arab state after all the stuff about the Iranian protests last summer. For those who don't know an unemployed graduate set himself on fire outside a government building to protest economic conditions and the governments actions this sparked off protests and government repression that continued with increasing fury until protests started in Tunis which eventually led to Ben Ali saying he wouldn't run again in 2014 and eventually fleeing the capital where a unity government has been formed. This seems to have sent some shockwaves across the Middle East as both leaders and the people have been put on notice that this is a possibility. Here is a timeline of the unrest and revolution http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/tunisia/2011/01/201114142223827361.html Everyone here (in Cairo) is talking about it and there have been at least a half dozen self immolation attempts in Cairo or Alexandria. Similar protests have been in Algeria and to a lesser extent Libya and Jordan (although they appear to be growing) and there is going to be a big protest in Cairo on the 25th with a government counter-protest. While I wouldn't call the revolution and the subsequent protests a sweeping force of democracy but it definitely opened up some space in the Middle East. This coupled with Lebanons government falling and succession issues and a Presidential election in Egypt has the potential for a year that can absolutely change the game in the Middle East as we know it. Here are a few articles about the revolution and some of its possible influences in the region. http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/01/2011115135046129936.html http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/01/20111167156465567.html So what does everyone think? Will we see major changes in the Middle East or will it be the same old across the region?