Egypt: Internet down, police counterterror unit up

reply to post by TheLynx


Don't think thats going to happen. Wish it weren't going to turn out bad, but this is not about nationalism anymore. Its about survival.

All I can say is... the Egyptian President had better pack his bags and leave the country soon or he will likely find himself being dragged through the streets of Cairo behind a pickup truck...

Originally posted by discuzz
At least one Egyptian ISP, Noor Group, has not complied with the blackout.

The shutting down of the four main ISPs was to ensure that the Internet would not be available to anyone. The reason why the Noor Group still operates is because their dialup system is relied upon by the banks and financial institutions over there. Without that infrastructure, the entire country would economically collapse. Therefore, the Egyptian government would have ensured it's protection from shutdown.

America already has blood on its hands.. Egypt pic

Although it was reported, that the military closed some entrances to Tahrir Square with barbed wire, more and more people are gathering there again.
Many women with children, a journalist called it "like a family picnic". Everybody is offered food.

Five Al Jazeera journalists have been arrested by the military. Whatever that means...

Im watching CNN about it atm, amazing how they keep calling it protests, and, in the same sentence:

"An APC is driving trough the crowds firing 50cal machine gun rounds to 'disperse' them"

Looks more like a full blown revolution to me.

Egyptoan totalitarian regime slowly turns into a Fascist one. On orders of Mubarak the police killed 100+ PEOPLE. Today Al Jazeera 6 journalists are arrested, for continuing their unbiased work to show us what happens on the streets, after Mubarak ordered them to shut up yesterday. That is a new level of alert because Al Jazeera is a FOREIGN MEDIA. Mubarak shows he will not stop before anything to preserve his grasp on power. Something like a pharao.

On the other side, we see Al Baradei, an international specialist and a figure in Egyptian politics as well, who asks for negotiations for peaceful transition. Will he get that, or will he be the next arrested?

Will USA continue its support of a failed regime, thus undermining the very principles of a democracy that USA so generously preaches throughout the Middle East? Mubarak had a chance to turn Egypt towards a slightly more democratic state, and that is long overdue. No one except for Hilary and Obama keeps any illusion of what this regime could do and whether the asked and promised democratic changes will ever take place. Just see the newly appointed vice-president - the head of intelligence, or the new interior minister - the head of the prison system! That is an absurd! Whatever interests USA and Israel might have had with the Mubarak regime for those long 30 years, these interests cannot be met TODAY with the current situation when an 82 years old man and his closest war-buddies are turning the biggest Arab country into a fascist state. We had enough examples of that, including Saddam who was aided by France in the past. Let USA together with its allies, shows it indeed defends the democracy, not in words but in actions. Until now, not even the words of US officials are enough. They do not encourage the people of Egypt to continue towards democratic changes, rather these words who backed the regime existence betray the 100 new martyrs. Perhaps Mubarak would not give the orders to police and army to kill, if he didn't have US politicians speak like that. Or we'd better turn to Putin next time when we want to see the success of a peaceful democratic movement in the next police state. Putin didn't come to power with 1 million votes less.

Originally posted by TribeOfManyColours

America already has blood on its hands.. Egypt pic

oh please, how many ak47s have killed people? how many famas' or any foreign weapon for that matter has killed people?

its the person whos finger is on the trigger, not the weapon..

reply to post by Question Fate


Your opinion. I respect that. But the AK's are from Russia, aren't they?

But I guess it stimulates the us economy, to shoot those cans at innocent people. I mean to provide the local Egyptian police with the cans.

EU warns Egypt against 'extremism'
Foreign ministers urge Egyptian citizens to choose democracy ahead of meeting in Brussels to discuss situation.
english.aljazeera.net...
Al Jazeera journalists released, equipment seized.
twitter.com...

Mubarak may choose to step down if any dignity left, and to spend the rest of his life with his billions in London where his two sons already landed, or to share the fate of other dictators, the closest of which was Saddam Hussein.

If the dead counter turns 1000, God forbid, other things may happen, as for example Islamic revolution. Why not USA intervene in such cases where it is clear there is a dictator against his own population, and not in cases like Saddam's Iraq where no such bloody revolution has been taking place on the streets immediately before the US invasion? No nukes were found either. Is it all about interests? How about Saudi Arabia - the most dictatorial monarchy in the world?

Al Jazeera just showed for a first time video on the bridge full of people how a police van runs over the people, dozen struck. I searched for youtube video, but seems that particular portion has been just released on air. Seems after the arrest of the 6 Al Jazeera reporters today, freed later, cameras seized, seems that aAl Jazeera has decided to oppose the regime much more forsefully by showing all it didn't show until now. Watch online in English english.aljazeera.net...

Not even Saddam killed Iraqis on the streets of Bagdad like that. Yes he used chemical weapons against minorities regions. But not in Bagdad, before the foreign cameras. Mubarak uses brutal force right in the heart of Egypt, in the biggest Arab country 82 millions, in a way the entire world to see. If he succeeds, we get the first fascist government in Arab world, with vice-president intelligence chief, and interior minister - general of prison system.

Iran? They have elections, more or less. Mubarack, 82, is going to become the real dictator in Arab world (Iran isn't Arab anyway). USA may use that to intervene? What if a puppet US govt is established? and what if an Islamic fundamental government is established after thousands more are killed? I don't know the outcome. If Tunisia had the first Arab revolution (doubtfully successful yet a change occurred), Egypt could be the first Arab state with counter-revolution succeeded.

reply to post by Gliese581


Not taking sides with any of you. Humanity, controlled by its carnal will, has caused nothing but misery, suffering, death, and destruction on this earth. It won't end well for carnal humanity, period.

not sure if this has already been mentioned in this thread, but the article below says that 5 Al-Jazeera journalists have just been arrested (as of 4+ hrs ago).

5 Al-Jazeera journalists just got arrested in Egypt. Over the weekend, Al-Jazeera had its Cairo bureau shut down, though the network has still been able to keep reports going via call-ins and other on-the-ground dispatches. The network has also had a camera at Tahrir Square, though it's not clear how long they'll be able to keep that going.

Link

Here's an interesting quote about security in Egypt. (Emphasis mine.)

With a deep investment in the status quo, Israel is watching what a senior official calls "an earthquake in the Middle East" with growing concern. The official says the Jewish state has faith that the security apparatus of its most formidable Arab neighbor, Egypt, can suppress the street demonstrations that threaten the dictatorial rule of President Hosni Mubarak. Source

Umm...what?

reply to post by TribeOfManyColours

Oh, it definitely stimulates the economy. And comes with a huge lesson in moral relativism. www.abovetopsecret.com...

Tell the people to step back and USA can deliver some more Shock and Awe to Mr Mubarak.

Just drop a bomb on whatever building he is in. Clearly he is a mad man out of control, killing his political opponents, just like Saddam Hussain.

I don't see any difference.


edit: I forgot we need a UN resolution .... dam

News out of Egypt is being heavily censored and edited in the US. Just reported on CNN that US special forces marines were inside one of the Egyptian compounds in Cairo, perhaps the main museum there, while Egyptian military personel were stationed on the outside.

"The U.S. Marines have a pair of warships -- the USS Kearsarge and the USS Ponce -- just hanging around the southern end of the Red Sea waiting to see if they're needed to rescue U.S. diplomats and citizens from Cairo. They're half of the Marines' 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a mini-armada that recently dispatched 1,400 of its 2,000 Marines into Afghanistan. But they've got a "fair number" of helicopters, and Marines, still aboard. "They're not in the on-deck circle yet," a military official says. "They're kind of getting ready to come out of the dugout." Meetings in Washington through Friday night and into the weekend will determine if they're ordered to carry out a NEO -- a non-combat (but potentially dicey) evacuation operation."

swampland.blogs.time.com...

reply to post by radionactive


Thanks for that!

Vodafone Egypt has 6.000 (wow) staff, and they cover the customer and technical support for customers in Australia, New Zealand, Germany and the UK! Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I keep hearing stories about giant corporations threatening to pull out of countries if governments do not bend over backwards to be accommodating to them. Not in this case, it seems.

From October 2010:

Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Tarek Kamel said that “the increasing desire of world companies to increase their investments in Egypt, most notably Vodafone’s, is a confirmation that the ICT sector in Egypt is just on the right track and is still able to assimilate much more investments”.

You bet'cher

As it seems, the last door to the world via Noor Group now is down also. It was kept open for the trading market, as was said.
Also rumour goes, that all phones will be shut down before the big march of the million tomorrow.

reply to post by Siddharta

Well, the Egypt stock Exchange has been closed yesterday and today, and won't be open tomorrow either, so they could probably dispense withe Noor Group's services. Bit of a blow for its company clients such as Coca-Cola, Pfizer and Exxon Mobile, and domestically, for Egypt Air.

Not to put all the blame solely on the poor shoulders of Vodafone, France Telecom-Orange had no problems either closing down its network in Egypt. They've got 4.800 local staff there.

As I said before, it is time the head offices of these companies were told by telecoms regulators that they offer a public service: if they can't handle the responsibility, fine, loose the business.