Protests in Egypt and the Region
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-02-02/protests-egypt-and-region
In the second week of upheaval in Egypt, pro-government groups have begun to clash with protesters. This raises fears that a largely peaceful movement to oust President Mubarak could turn violent. Mubarak announced yesterday that he will not run for re-election. But for many anti-government protesters, Mubarak's concession is too little, too late. The uprising in Egypt follows mass protests in Tunisia which brought down the government there. Growing calls for reform in other Arab nations have leaders on edge. Yesterday Jordan's King Abdullah dismissed his government. What's next for Egypt and the Arab world.
Guests
Shashank Bengali
Cairo correspondent, McClathchy Newspapers.
David Makovsky
senior fellow and director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and co-author with Dennis Ross of "Myths, Illusions and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East."
Nancy Youssef
Pentagon correspondent, McClatchy newspapers.
Samer Shehata
assistant professor of Arab politics, Georgetown University Center for Contemporary Arab Studies.
Comments
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I am currently residing in Riyadh. I have spent major part of my life in Saudi Arabia, and I could tell that Government are bracing for a possible mass protest scenario. Infact, there were two protests, which were held recently in the Saudi port city of Jeddah because of recent flooding and bad city arrangements. Though all the protesters were arrested, people had showed courage to raise voice against strict monarchy.
Please check the news link http://www.arabianbusiness.com/dozens-detained-in-saudi-arabia-over-floo...
As for the recent Husn Mobbarak commitment, no one has seen september, maybe the situations are created that it would be inevitable for him to step down.
Please discuss the economic repercussions on Egypt. Are Egyptians going to work? Are the protests significantly effecting the economy? How long will it take for the upheaval to cause serious economic turmoil?
Can you please point out that the Mulsim Brotherhood is not listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the State Department? I'm afraid that there there may be a significant misunderstanding of the group.
Internet News , RussaToday, has reported 300 dead and thousands injured.
The United States government is not a unitary organization.
From domestic political assassinations and the conspiracies of 9/11, and the Bailout we can tell there exists a secret government not responsive to public opinion.
Agents of these factions have not given up on Mubarak.
Violent counterinsurgency methods witnessed this morning in Cairo come directly from our paramilitary playbook.
If the American people flooded the urban streets we'd be treated even worse.
Right now when peaceful groups seek redress at American political conventions and trade summits they are relegated to monkey cages far from events.
I carry a pocket Constitution in my vest pocket like Congressman Kucinich, but I do not expect it to ward off these fascist vampires.
As a medical consumer, I am not confident in drug companies because of the amount of advertising they do as well as money spent on lobbying activities. If those funds were spent on research to discover the reasons for the increase for diseases such as autism, I would be pleased.
I want to thank the Diane Rehm Show for allowing my post above. It was later rejected at WBUR's On Point. Not all talk shows are created equal, or have the same courage.
I find it overreaching for Obama or any US politician to demand publicly what elected officials in Egypt should do, no matter how democratic the country. We look first like fools for changing our story constantly; at least since the weekend. But we also look like the dumb bully interferring in internal matters of other countries. We should be noting what democracies strive to be and enouraging others to get there peacefully and that's it.
This discussion was generally excellent but I hope that Ms. Rehm will correct in a subsequent segment one misleading statement made by David Makovsky. He stated that a December Pew Poll found that 59% of respondents identified with religion over modernity when there was a conflict (this is as I heard it). This, he seemed to suggest, indicated that there is a lot of support for a religiously oriented state in Egypt.
But, as Juan Cole points out in his most recent blog, the 59% applies not to the full universe of those polled, but only to the 31% of the total who said there was, or could be, a struggle between religion and modernism. Those who said there was were then asked if they favoured religion or modernism in that event; and 59% of those identified with religion in that 'struggle' . The full poll results can be found here:
(http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1874/egypt-protests-democracy-islam-influenc...)
This puts a rather different cast on the matter: only 18% of the total number of people polled indicated a preference for religion over modernism. In fact, 59% of all those polled said that democracy was better than all alternative forms of government (I wonder if the portion would be much higher in the U.S.). Sounds considerably less ominous...