U.S. Shifts Tone on Egypt

[IDemo]

Source: Wall Street Journal

By JONATHAN WEISMAN

WASHINGTON—With events moving rapidly in Egypt, the Obama administration sharply shifted its tone Friday, expressing "deep concern" over "unfolding" actions and urging "open communications" after Egyptian President Hsni Mubarak shut down Internet and cell services in the world's largest Arab country.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley took to the social-networking site Twitter to say, "Events unfolding in Egypt are of deep concern. Fundamental rights must be respected, violence avoided and open communications allowed."

That message was a change from Thursday's calls for restraint, which were accompanied by mild expressions of support for Mr. Mubarak.

On PBS Thursday night, Vice President Joe Biden said, "Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things. And he's been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing relationship with—with Israel. …I would not refer to him as a dictator."

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703956604576110010191338884.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[justiceischeap]

1. Hillary speaking live soon per M$NBC (eom)

[dipsydoodle]

4. Speaking live

or throwing up in a hissyfit at the thought of losing a puppet.

[decidedlyso]

5. This may be a Sunni defeat that along with Lebanon and Tunisia

changes the balance of power across the Mideast. Makes me wonder just how powerful Iran is.

[dipsydoodle]

6. I gave up listening to her - I usually do.

Usual old shit. Odd she didn't mention this : http://wikileaks.ch/Egyptian-Military-Succession-Plans.html :rofl:

She suggests they protest peacefully.

Presumably she expects them to sit in the road and sing We Will Overcome. :sarcasm:

[decidedlyso]

7. I did too, long ago. And if it happens here, niceness will get us

nowhere either.

[StallionLeft62]

12. The Egyptian People Don't Want Gamal Mubarak

Check this out:

Egypt president's son, family flee to Britain
IANS, Jan 26, 2011, 12.55pm IST

"CAIRO: Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's son, who is considered as his successor, has fled to Britain along with his family, a US-based Arabic website reported. The plane with Gamal Mubarak, his wife and daughter on board left for London Tuesday from an airport in western Cairo, the website Akhbar al-Arab said. The report came as violent unrest broke out in Cairo and other Egyptian cities and hundreds of thousands of people reportedly took to the streets in a Tunisia-inspired day of revolt."

Read the article @:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Egypt-presidents-son-family-flee-to-Britain/articleshow/7365922.cms

[pschoeb]

14. Tunisia has 2% Shia, Egypt 1% Shia

Egypt has way more Christians (10%) than Shia, your point is delusional.

[decidedlyso]

16. So was the probable event of a public uprising in Egypt. I'll stick to

my prognostication. And today's Christians are somewhat willowy under duress.

[xchrom]

2. mubarak wasn't very responsible creating an uncorrupted government. nt

[golddigger]

3. Biden opens mouth and inserts foot again.

[closeupready]

8. What'd he say?

n/t

[Laelth]

9. Too late. The administration would be better served siding with the people of Egypt now.

I'd put odds on Mubarak being gone within three days. No use trying to prop him up now.

-Laelth

[StallionLeft62]

10. Egyptian government on last legs, says ElBaradei

Egyptian government on last legs, says ElBaradei
Exclusive: Mohamed ElBaradei says he is sending a message 'to the Guardian and to the world'

By Jack Shenker in Cairo and Haroon Siddique guardian.co.uk, Friday 28 January 2011 09.47 GMT

"....The Egyptian dissident Mohamed ElBaradei warned President Hosni Mubarak today that his regime is on its last legs, as tens of thousands of people prepared to take to the streets for a fourth day of anti-government protests….The Nobel peace prize winner's comments to the Guardian represented his strongest intervention against the country's authoritarian government since he announced his intention to return to Egypt to join the protests. "I'm sending a message to the Guardian and to the world that Egypt is being isolated by a regime on its last legs," he said….His words marked an escalation of the language he used on arrival in Cairo last night, when he merely urged the Mubarak government to "listen to the people" and not to use violence….ElBaradei has already criticised the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, for describing the Egyptian government as stable and he stepped up his calls for the rest of the world to explicitly condemn Mubarak, who is a close ally of the US...."

Read the Exclusive Article @:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/28/egyptian-government-last-legs-elbaradei

[oberliner]

13. ElBaradei put under house arrest as Egypt's regime clamps down harder

Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera reported earlier in the day that ElBaradei had been detained at a mosque in Cairo following traditional Friday prayers and was being prevented from joining the protests by security forces. He was later released and joined a peaceful demonstration in the capital.

However, Egyptian security sources later confirmed that police had taken ElBaradei to his house in a suburban area of the capital and told him that he could not leave. No time frame was given.

“(ElBaradei’s) detention has no credible basis. It also will not serve Egypt’s interests at this critical juncture”, Crisis Group President Louise Arbour said in a statement released to Deutsche Welle. “In a situation as tense as this, repression and abuse can only further inflame the situation. Rather than resort to repression, the authorities should heed demands of the population for dramatic political, social and economic transformation.”

As news of ElBaradei’s incarceration spread, mass protests calling for President Hosni Mubarak to stand down continued across Egypt. Tens of thousands of demonstrators defied a government ban to gather in Cairo, Suez and other major cities. Eyewitnesses said police used water canons and fired warning shots to disperse the protesters while internet and cell phone services were disrupted under orders of the regime.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6420152,00.html

[Lorien]

11. You might not refer to him as a dictator, but that doesn't change the fact

that he is one.

[goforit]

15. This administration is once again speaking before it thinks.

[harvey007]

17. The U.S. needs to stop supporting evil dictatorships!

Stand with the people, Mr. Obama.

http://www.hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/egypt

[katty]

18. they have to get out in front of this, but Biden doesn't need

bolster Mubarak in the public square.