``This containment strategy has worked. By politically encircling the protesters, the regime prevented the conflict from extending beyond its grasp...'' (from Council of Foreign Affairs)
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``This containment strategy has worked.'' Now who's projecting?
This article is dated February 7, 2011, which was Monday. It was probably written Sunday evening of the 6th when it was a valid question, has the containment strategy worked?
I think the answer came back, no, not so far. On Tuesday the 8th, according to reports, Tahrir grew back to its big scale crowds and expanded to include the Parliament and Cabinet buildings---both evacuated. Strikes were announced for Cairo, Alexandria, Suez, Mahalla. Probably starting Wednesday 9th. AJE reporting is also caught in a time lag because Cairo is on the other side of the date line. The crowds and actions seem to swell in the afternoon. My guess is people get their errands done in the morning, then head to action centers. The call for strikes included canal workers, electrical workers, and various industries. The state media building has a sit-in of state paid journalists. Also the crowd changed somewhat from what I watched this morning to include what appear to be more of the middle class and professional people who had stayed home.
According to reports on AJE and Democracy Now, the army was responsible for most of the wave of arrests. Human Rights Watch activist reported she saw officiers and special units, military police doing the work. Since Suleiman is a general in charge of military intelligence, well, fill in the blanks. He is our man go-to man for renditions in Egypt.
CG