"The danger to America and Israel is that the Egyptian revolution will destroy this false choice of secular dictator-or-crazy Islamists by showing that Arabs are smart articulate people who can handle real democracy if they get to make it themselves."

Thousands of people in Egypt who flooded streets in riots calling for President Hosni Mubarak to step down were joined Saturday by relatives and supporters at protests in major American cities. "Mubarak will go. If not today, then tomorrow," Magdy Al-Abady, 39, of Chicago, said during a demonstration downtown in front of the Egyptian consulate's office. The genomics researcher, with an Egyptian flag draped over his shoulders, said his brother and parents were protesting in Egypt and he was speaking often with his brother. Protesters also gathered outside the United Nations complex in New York City, filled the street in front of the Egyptian embassy in Washington and marched through downtown San Francisco to show solidarity with the uprising. In Chicago, picketers marched and chanted, "Hey Mubarak you will see, all Egyptians will be free." They held signs that said "Victory to the Egyptian people" and "Freedom and Justice for all Egyptians."

Åbent Brev til den Danske Justitsminister Med forundring og harme har vi, Den Internationale Føderation af Modstandskæmpere (FIR) – forbundet af antifascister, som repræsenterer de overlevende kæmpere mod og forfulgte af naziregimet samt deres familier og nutidens antifascister med medlemsorganisationer i 25 europæiske lande og Israel – erfaret, at statsadvokaten i Kongeriget Danmark har rejst sigtelse mod Horserød Stutthof Foreningen med den absurde påstand, at den støtter terroristiske organisationer.

En agtet medlemsorganisation Horserød Stutthof Foreningen er en agtet medlemsorganisation af FIR. Foreningen er sammenslutningen af tidligere fanger fra Stutthof og deres familier. I årtier har Horserød Stutthof Foreningen understøttet arbejdet for at fastholde de historiske erindringer. Den går ind for, at de overlevendes politiske motto: »Tilintetgørelse af nazismen og dens rødder! Sikre skabelsen af en ny, en fredens og frihedens verden« bliver til virkelighed. FIR’s medlemsorganisationer går ind for en retfærdig verdensorden på grundlag af deklarationen om menneskerettigheder og de Forenede Nationers beslutninger og dermed imod social og militær undertrykkelse. Vore forbundsfæller er de nationale befrielsesbevægelser og sociale kræfter, der organiserer hjælp til mennesker, der er ofre for krig og undertrykkelse. Det er vores medlemsorganisationers egen politiske afgørelse, hvem de vil engagere sig for. Horserød Stutthof Foreningen har blandt andet engageret sig i humanitær hjælp i Gaza. Når sådanne uafhængighedsbevægelser, efter den amerikanske Bush-regerings antidemokratiske Patriots Act, over en kam dæmoniseres som »terroristiske«, er det en skandale. At det danske justitsvæsen mener at kunne forfølge en organisation af tidligere nazistisk forfulgte og deres familier på et sådant grundlag, er en uhyrlighed, som vi ikke kan acceptere.

Vi støtter Højtærede hr. justitsminister Barfoed, vi forventer, at De udnytter alle de muligheder, der er til Deres rådighed, for at forhindre en så skandaløs retssag. Vi vil give Dem vores støtte dertil, idet vi vil gøre ikke blot den danske offentlighed opmærksom på sagen og på vores protest mod det skete, men derudover også underrette vore medlemsorganisationer i andre europæiske lande og i Israel. Kongeriget Danmark er en vigtig del af det forenede Europa, og vi ønsker, at Europas politiske grundlag også i fremtiden bliver præget af respekten for de fælles erfaringer i kampen mod nazisme og besættelse, mod racisme og antisemitisme og for en demokratisk og fredelig udvikling. I den ånd ser vi frem til Deres svar.

Med højagtelse,
Dr. Ulrich Schneider, Generalsekretær for FIR
FIR er udnævnt som FN-fredsambassadør og har NGO-status ved UNESCO.
Dagbladet Arbejderen
29. Jan 2011

H/T: Patrick Mac Manus Copenhagen (Denmark)
UriasPosten: 1970: Horserød-Stutthof Foreningen – Modstand mod frihedskæmpere
Dagbladet Arbejderen: Frihedskamp er ikke terror
DR.dk: Foreninger tiltalt for terrorfinansiering

"Regardless of whether you are a Christian, a Muslim, or an Atheist, you will demand your goddamn rights, and you will have them one way or the other."

Al Jazeera: Live Streams

Egyptian, Tunisian and Yemeni protesters all say that inequality is one of the main reasons they're protesting. However, the U.S. actually has much greater inequality than in any of those countries. Specifically, the "Gini Coefficient" - the figure economists use to measure inequality - is higher in the U.S. Gini Coefficients are like golf - the lower the score, the better (i.e. the more equality). According to the CIA World Fact Book, the U.S. is ranked as the 42nd most unequal country in the world, with a Gini Coefficient of 45. In contrast: Tunisia is ranked the 62nd most unequal country, with a Gini Coefficient of 40.
Yemen is ranked 76th most unequal, with a Gini Coefficient of 37.7. And Egypt is ranked as the 90th most unequal country, with a Gini Coefficient of around 34.4. And inequality in the U.S. has soared in the last couple of years, since the Gini Coefficient was last calculated, so it is undoubtedly currently much higher. So why are Egyptians rioting, while the Americans are complacent?

China has blocked the word "Egypt'' from the country's wildly popular Twitter-like service, while coverage of the political turmoil has been tightly restricted in state media. China's ruling Communist Party is sensitive to any potential source of social unrest. A search for "Egypt'' on the Sina microblogging service brings up a message saying, "According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, the search results are not shown". The service has more than 50 million users. News on the Egypt protests has been limited to a few paragraphs and photos buried inside major news websites, but China Central Television had a report on its midday broadcast.

Via TPM's intriguing new "Egypt wire", this:

President Obama was reportedly briefed for 40 minutes on the situation in Egypt today. Here, a photo of his meeting with National Security Advisor Tom Donilon; Chief of Staff Bill Daley; Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communication Ben Rhodes; Tony Blinken, National Security Advisor to the Vice President; National Security Council Chief of Staff Denis McDonough; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism; and Robert Cardillo, Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Intelligence Integration.

What is notable is the absence of anyone in the group who has any serious knowledge about either Egypt or the broader region. So thorough-going has been the witch-hunt that AIPAC and its attack dogs have conducted over the past 25 years against anyone with real Middle East expertise that the U.S. government now contains no-one at the higher (or even mid-career) levels of policymaking who has any in-depth understanding of the region or of the aspirations of its people.

The campaign against anyone with regional expertise-- the so-called "State Department Arabists"-- was launched in the public sphere by the dreadful know-nothing Robert Kaplan, in the 1980s. It got a strong foothold throughout the federal bureaucracy-- and far more broadly than in just the State department-- with the arrival of Pres. Clinton in 1993. Clinton, that is, who brought along as his key advisers on the affairs of the whole region the two long-time pro-Israel activists Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk! Then, of course, under GWB, we had Elliott Abrams and rest of the neocons running regional affairs for the government.

And what was happening inside the State Department during all those years? Only hacks like Jeffrey Feltman or Donald Blome-- the list is endless... -- who could prove their unswerving loyalty to the pro-Israel agenda got promoted or retained. Throughout those 16 years of the Clinton and GWB presidencies, a generation of career diplomats grew up whose main mantra was to do nothing that might question or even upset Israel. (There were, of course, those heroic few who questioned the prevailing, AIPAC-fueled "wisdom" on the advisability of invading Iraq in 2003, who resigned their posts at the time.)

So now, in the Oval Office, we have the blind leading the blind and the blind advising the blind. [H/T Xymphora]

In Cairo, Alexandria, and Suez hundreds of thousands of Egyptians defied a government-imposed curfew to continue their protests, which have grown to involve every section of the country. Many of the police have come over to the side of the people, and the military had to be sent in. The army was welcomed by the protesters. The headquarters of the ruling NDP party was burnt down in Cairo. The government headquarters was burnt down. Around Egypt more than twenty police stations were set afire. In some places police stations were seized by the people and armories were looted. Five people have been killed in Cairo; eleven were killed in Suez; 170 have been wounded in Suez and 1,030 in Cairo.

At least 100 Egyptian protesters have been killed during clashes with police as the explosion of anger at President Hosni Mubarak continues to rock the North African country. Medical sources stated on Saturday that over 100 people, including 23 protesters in the port city of Alexandria have lost their lives in streets fighting with police forces across Egypt since the outbreak of anti-government protests, while 13 people were killed and 75 others injured in the flash point city of Suez, along the strategic Suez Canal. According to medical sources, at least 1,030 protesters have been injured as mass protests remain unabated across the country for a fifth consecutive day.

TENS of thousands of demonstrators have started a silent protest in the Albanian capital Tirana, a week to the day after clashes during an opposition rally killed three. The demonstrators, headed by the leadership of the opposition Socialists and the families of the victims, started a march on the government buildings. People continued to pour into the downtown area near the government, bringing traffic in central Tirana to a standstill. Many protesters carried flowers. In the square in front of the government, a stage was set up, and opposition leader Edi Rama, the mayor of the capital, was expected to address the crowds later. Pictures of the three fatalities of the last rally were placed on stage, with the word "justice" written on them in Albanian and English. There was a huge police presence in the capital, with two cordons surrounding the government buildings and 30 elite officers guarding the entrance.

You can lease a river in Chhattisgarh for 22 years. At just Rupees. 1 per annum. While thousands go thirsty. THE SALE of Chhattisgarh’s rivers began in 1998 when the then MP government handed a 23.6 km stretch of Sheonath river in Durg to RWL, pleading shortage of funds for supplying water to industries. In a shocking story of “corruption and favouritism”, as an Assembly nominated committee discovered later, the Rs. 9 crore project was signed on 5 October 1998 between MPAKVN and RWL on a build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) basis. The plan was to build a barrage on the Sheonath to supply up to 30 million litres per day (mld) to the Borai Industrial Centre. Construction was completed in two years and operations began in January 2001.

An Israeli agent arrested in Iran over the assassination of Iranian nuclear physicist Massoud Ali-Mohammadi says Tel Aviv places high importance on the elimination of Iranian nuclear scientists. Majid Jamali Fashi, the self-confessed Israeli agent who carried out the assassination of Dr. Ali-Mohammadi, says he underwent extensive training in Israel before the operation. 26-year-old Jamali Fashi said in his confessions that an Israeli commander described to him how vital his undertaking was for Tel Aviv. The Israeli commander “spoke with me in private, praised me and said that this was a very important operation with heavy costs. He said that many people are involved in the operation and that they rely on me. He said that if I am not successful all of these people will lose their lives,” Jamali Fashi said in his confessions aired primarily on Press TV on Friday. He further recounted various trainings he received in Israel and how he carried out the assassination of Dr. Ali-Mohammadi in January 2010.

Jewish radical extremist group in France. They physically attack people who dare to oppose Israel, Zionism or the genocide of Palestinians performed by Jews -like the Nazi Stormtruppen did in Hitler Germany.

Yesterday Al Jazeera released the final cache of the Palestine Papers, the network's publication of secret documents culled from the last ten years of negotiations between the Palestinian Authority, Israel and the United States. Among some of the latest revelations are agreements between all three parties to push the United Nations Human Rights Council to delay a vote on the Goldstone report, the fact-finding probe of alleged war crimes committed during Israel's winter 2008-09 attacks on the Gaza Strip. Approximately 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the 22-day assault, and more than 5,000 were wounded. Al Jazeera reported that documents prove the Palestinian Authority sacrificed potential legal accountability for Palestinian victims of Israel's attacks "in exchange for favorable assurances on negotiations from the United States and, they hoped, from Israel" ("PA stonewalled the Goldstone vote," S. Farhan Mustafa, 26 January 2011). Reporting for Al Jazeera, S. Farhan Mustafa wrote yesterday:

"What the Palestine Papers demonstrate is that, in the weeks preceding the vote, the United States apparently urged the PA to stall the report as a means of restarting negotiations with Israel."

[Remember this one?] "He may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch." "This famous quote was uttered by Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State from 1933-1944. Hull was referring to Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Molino Trujillo. Hull was also a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945 for his work in originating the United Nations. The quotation is in line with the United States' foreign policy during the Cold War. Trujillo -- and many other Banana Republic dictators -- was oppressive, brutal, corrupt and greedy. The people they ruled generally lived wretched lives in abject poverty -- while the dictator, his family, and cronies had wealth beyond reason. But as long as US business interests were untouched and communism kept at bay, the US placed little pressure on these tyrants to reform. Often these regimes received economic and military aid from the US. Many would say that,"He may be a son-of-a-bitch, but he is our son-of-a-bitch," is still a major consideration behind US foreign policy decisions." [everything2.com]

Vice President Joe Biden spoke to the PBS NewsHour tonight with the most direct US governent comments yet about the gathering Egypt protests against President Hosni Mubarak's 29-year reign. Mr. Biden's comments are unlikely to be well-received by regime opponents, as they fit a narrative of steadfast US support for a government they want to bring down. About eight protesters and one policeman have died this week as Egypt has sought to bring down the heavy hand of the state against opponents. Since the US provides about $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt a year, the repressive apparatus of the state is seen by many in Egypt as hand in glove with the US.

WikiLeaks/Aftenposten: 14/05/2007: PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION IN EGYPT

"Regardless of whether you are a Christian, a Muslim, or an Atheist, you will demand your goddamn rights, and you will have them one way or the other."

Al Jazeera: Live Streams

Egyptian security officials say police have put Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei under house arrest. Police stationed outside his suburban Cairo home told him he cannot leave the house after he joined tens of thousands of protesters in the capital Friday. ElBaradei returned to the country Thursday night from a month abroad and declared he was ready to lead the protesters to a regime change.

Government shuts down internet and mobile phones ahead of planned protests against President Mubarak's 30-year rule. Egypt is on edge as activists pressing for a change in government prepare to stage the biggest day of protests in the Middle East's most populous nation amid a security clampdown. Security forces are on high alert and internet, mobile phone and SMS services have been disrupted ahead of the planned demonstrations following Friday prayers. Dan Nolan, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from the capital, Cairo, said that internet access had been blocked across the country and the government had effectively wiped the country off the global digital map in a bid to prevent protesters from organising themselves. For the past three days, cities across Egypt have witnessed unprecedented protests against the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, the president. Apparently inspired by the recent turmoil in Tunisia, the determined protesters have stood their ground against heavily-armed police and are refusing to relent until there is a change in government. The violence has so far left seven people dead.

CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt's interior ministry warned of "decisive measures" as dissidents planned to rally after Friday noon prayers for a fourth day in a row in the country's most serious anti-government protests in decades. The warning came as Internet services and cell phone text messaging, both used by organisers of this week's protests that led to deadly clashes between police and demonstrators, were cut across the country. As the unrest continued, US President Barack Obama warned that violence was not the answer, urging restraint on both sides, and also pressing President Hosni Mubarak to adopt political reforms.

The country's largest opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, said late Thursday that it would participate in Friday's protests, in a departure from the cautious approach it took towards the protests that started on Tuesday. At least 20 members of the Muslim Brotherhood were arrested overnight Friday, its lawyer Abdelmoneim Abdel Maqsoud told AFP. Among those arrested at their homes were five former members of parliament and five members of the political bureau, whose best known leaders are Essam El-Eriane and Mohammed Moursi. The country's leading dissident, Nobel Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, also said he would take part in the protests after arriving late Thursday from a visit to Vienna.

"It is a critical time in the life of Egypt. I have come to participate with the Egyptian people," El Baradei, a vocal critic of Mubarak, said before leaving Cairo airport. "The desire for change must be respected," he said. "The regime must not use violence in the demonstrations."

Earlier, in Vienna, he told reporters he was ready to "lead the transition" in Egypt if asked.

● Twitter: We will soon release numerous cables on Egypt
● Newsvine: Provider: Egypt's Internet suffers severe outages
● ReadWriteWeb: Complete Internet Blackout in Egypt
● Yahoo: The day part of the Internet died: Egypt goes dark
● The Independent: The day that Egypt unplugged the Internet
● Yahoo: Egypt's online movement takes to the streets
● Businessweek: Egypt Holds Islamists, Restrict Internet Before Rally

Suez is burning, North Sinai is burning and Egypt is a state of zero tolerance. The government that justifies killing its own people does not have any right to exist, and it must be taken down! [AP Raw footage of a man shot down in protests]

The Algerian opposition is regrouping after thousands of police were deployed on Saturday to suppress several hundred demonstrators. They too are inspired by the Tunisian revolution. With public protests being so strongly suppressed some Algerians have turned to a more drastic demonstration of their opposition to the status quo. At least four people in Algeria have attempted self-immolation, some successfully, since Tunisia freed itself of Ben Ali. As with Tunisia and Egypt, activist in Algeria have been able to make creative use of the Internet to organize in spite of the governments best efforts to stop them.

Libya's Moamer Gaddafi may have hailed WikiLeaks for exposing US 'hypocrisy' back in December but since the cablegate exposures helped rally the people to throw out Ben Ali in January, he has been singing a different tune. Yesterday Gaddafi "said he feared that the Tunisian revolution which overthrew president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was being exploited by 'foreign interests'" according to France24. In an interview, he told the private Tunisian Nessma TV station “I fear for the Tunisian revolution." Because Libya has 5.9 million cell phone users but less than 400,000 Internet users, Anonymous OpLibya is adopting strategies that focus more on spreading information via SMS.

Tens of thousands of people, inspired by events in Tunisia, protest in Sanaa to demand President Saleh's resignation. Inspired by recent events in Tunisia and Egypt, opposition members and youth activists rallied at four different locations in Sanaa on Thursday, chanting for Saleh, who has been in power for 32 years, to step down.

"Enough being in power for [over] 30 years," protesters shouted during the demonstrations.

They also referred to the ouster of Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, saying he was "gone in just [over] 20 years".

"No to extending [presidential tenure]. No to bequeathing [the presidency]," they chanted.

An opposition activist said that the staging of the demonstration in four separate parts of the capital was aimed at distracting the security forces. One area chosen for the protest was outside Sanaa University. Security measures at the demonstrations appeared relaxed, but were tight around the interior ministry and the central bank.

Pakistani media say the US embassy official charged with the murder of two Pakistani citizens [allegedly] is an agent for the notorious security firm, Blackwater. The US official identified by police as Raymond Davis shot dead two men riding on a motorcycle in Lahore on Thursday in what he claimed was "self-defense" during an attempt robbery. A third Pakistani was run over and killed in the incident after being hit by a US consulate vehicle rushing to the scene to the American's aid. The US embassy in Islamabad has confirmed the man involved was a consular official [Blackwater staff cannot be consular officials. The CIA has infiltrated the US embassy/consular system, dominating it completely. -So this thug is a CIA agent.] and says it is carrying out an investigation. Trying to avoid an anti-American reaction, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Thursday that Washington will fully cooperate with Pakistani authorities and will explain about the incident to the Pakistani people. The issue of American diplomats carrying weapons inside Pakistan was a hot-button subject last year among certain politicians and sections of the media purportedly worried about the country's sovereignty. Many Pakistanis regard the United States with suspicion or outright enmity because of its occupation of neighboring Afghanistan.

PressTV: US official to face trial in Pakistan

Accused of killing 73 in an airline bombing, Luis Posada Carriles charged with immigration violations, not terrorism. On October 6, 1976 a bomb exploded on Cubana Airlines flight 455, blowing it out of the sky and into the waters off Barbados, killing everyone on board, including Fernandez's father, the captain of Cuba's national fencing team. Posada, 82, a Cuban-born Venezuelan-citizen, was considered the mastermind— a CIA-trained explosives expert who would stop at nothing in his personal vendetta against Cuban president Fidel Castro. Planned in Venezuela, the attack killed mostly Cuban nationals.

"The terrorist activities of Posada Carriles are part of the [current US court] indictment, but they are not what he is being prosecuted for," said José Pertierra, a Cuban-born Washington lawyer who is representing Venezuela's interests at the trial. "He is only being prosecuted for lying about them [attacks]… to an immigration judge in a naturalisation hearing."

Venezuela jailed Posada for the bombing, but the wily operative escaped from prison disguised as a priest and eventually fled to the US, stopping in other Latin American countries along the way where he continued his anti-Castro activities. Venezuela has repeatedly called for his extradition.

"For many years, the truth has been hidden," Fernandez said. "But I want people to learn that there are a lot of victims of terrorism in Cuba as well as in the US and other countries."

Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama's former chief of staff at the White House, will be allowed to stand for mayor of Chicago after the Illinois supreme court overturned an earlier ruling that he was ineligible under residency requirements. The decision of the highest court in the state clears the way for the famously straight-talking Chicagoan to press ahead with his bid to run the third most populous city in the US. There was jubilation at his campaign headquarters, and the candidate received a call on Thursday night from President Obama. The ruling comes not before time for Emanuel: early voting for the mayor's position opens on Monday, and the vote itself is on 22 February.

Stephen Lendman: Chicago's Mayoral Race: Rahm Emanuel's Eligibility At Issue