Israel urges world to curb criticism of Egypt's Mubarak
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I've been waiting for Israel to say or do something stupid, so here it is.
This reveals something interesting because it means that US, Israel, the EU have no idea what they're doing. It doesn't matter what they say, do or think in relation to Egypt. They are irrelevant for the moment. I am not sure why AJE played Tony Blair's statement ... comic relief?
AJE has covered a fair amount of foreign commentary and all of it sounds completely clueless. Sulieman the new VP made a statement tonight (Egypt time) that was even more absurd.
A spokesman for the Egyptian military promised not to use force against protestors, which was to reassure them? They have a revolution on their hands not a protest problem. The military must be in deep do-do and probably split all the way up into the officier ranks.
The current plan from Tahrir square is a mass march to the presidential palace. Since the military are the only functioning arm of the state, now what? They are trapped between the people and no doubt a huge behind doors pressure from the US and EU military and intelligence agencies.
The old trick of engineering a military coup to suppress a popular revolution seems out of the question.
More people interested in revolutions should watch this. It's pretty damned terrific to see unfold hour to hour. At each point it seems the people make all the right choices in a rough kind of crowd concensus without any specific leadership. Spontaneous groups form and dissolve giving what they know and spreading it around for collective decision, some sense of acceptance...
At a guess, the immediate question is, do we march on the palace? They know Mubarak isn't there ... Boy that some heady stuff. If and when you get there, what next?
CG