February 24, 2011
Shock Doctrine, U.S.A.
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Here’s a thought: maybe Madison, Wis., isn’t Cairo after all. Maybe it’s Baghdad — specifically, Baghdad in 2003, when the Bush administration put Iraq under the rule of officials chosen for loyalty and political reliability rather than experience and competence.
As many readers may recall, the results were spectacular — in a bad way. Instead of focusing on the urgent problems of a shattered economy and society, which would soon descend into a murderous civil war, those Bush appointees were obsessed with imposing a conservative ideological vision. Indeed, with looters still prowling the streets of Baghdad, L. Paul Bremer, the American viceroy, told a Washington Post reporter that one of his top priorities was to “corporatize and privatize state-owned enterprises” — Mr. Bremer’s words, not the reporter’s — and to “wean people from the idea the state supports everything.”
The story of the privatization-obsessed Coalition Provisional Authority was the centerpiece of Naomi Klein’s best-selling book “The Shock Doctrine,” which argued that it was part of a broader pattern. From Chile in the 1970s onward, she suggested, right-wing ideologues have exploited crises to push through an agenda that has nothing to do with resolving those crises, and everything to do with imposing their vision of a harsher, more unequal, less democratic society.
Which brings us to Wisconsin 2011, where the shock doctrine is on full display.
In recent weeks, Madison has been the scene of large demonstrations against the governor’s budget bill, which would deny collective-bargaining rights to public-sector workers. Gov. Scott Walker claims that he needs to pass his bill to deal with the state’s fiscal problems. But his attack on unions has nothing to do with the budget. In fact, those unions have already indicated their willingness to make substantial financial concessions — an offer the governor has rejected.
What’s happening in Wisconsin is, instead, a power grab — an attempt to exploit the fiscal crisis to destroy the last major counterweight to the political power of corporations and the wealthy. And the power grab goes beyond union-busting. The bill in question is 144 pages long, and there are some extraordinary things hidden deep inside.
For example, the bill includes language that would allow officials appointed by the governor to make sweeping cuts in health coverage for low-income families without having to go through the normal legislative process.
And then there’s this: “Notwithstanding ss. 13.48 (14) (am) and 16.705 (1), the department may sell any state-owned heating, cooling, and power plant or may contract with a private entity for the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids, for any amount that the department determines to be in the best interest of the state. Notwithstanding ss. 196.49 and 196.80, no approval or certification of the public service commission is necessary for a public utility to purchase, or contract for the operation of, such a plant, and any such purchase is considered to be in the public interest and to comply with the criteria for certification of a project under s. 196.49 (3) (b).”
What’s that about? The state of Wisconsin owns a number of plants supplying heating, cooling, and electricity to state-run facilities (like the University of Wisconsin). The language in the budget bill would, in effect, let the governor privatize any or all of these facilities at whim. Not only that, he could sell them, without taking bids, to anyone he chooses. And note that any such sale would, by definition, be “considered to be in the public interest.”
If this sounds to you like a perfect setup for cronyism and profiteering — remember those missing billions in Iraq? — you’re not alone. Indeed, there are enough suspicious minds out there that Koch Industries, owned by the billionaire brothers who are playing such a large role in Mr. Walker’s anti-union push, felt compelled to issue a denial that it’s interested in purchasing any of those power plants. Are you reassured?
The good news from Wisconsin is that the upsurge of public outrage — aided by the maneuvering of Democrats in the State Senate, who absented themselves to deny Republicans a quorum — has slowed the bum’s rush. If Mr. Walker’s plan was to push his bill through before anyone had a chance to realize his true goals, that plan has been foiled. And events in Wisconsin may have given pause to other Republican governors, who seem to be backing off similar moves.
But don’t expect either Mr. Walker or the rest of his party to change those goals. Union-busting and privatization remain G.O.P. priorities, and the party will continue its efforts to smuggle those priorities through in the name of balanced budgets.
Sabtu, 26 Februari 2011
Selasa, 22 Februari 2011
moment of truth, for the 42yrs Lybia conqueror : 250211
Kamis, 20/10/2011 19:08 WIB
NTC Klaim Khadafi Tewas Tertembak!
Fitraya Ramadhanny - detikNews
Sirte - Penangkapan mantan pemimpin Libya, Muammar Khadafi sangat mengejutkan. Tak berhenti di situ, pejabat Dewan Transisi Nasional (NTC) kini mengklaim Khadafi tewas tertembak.
"Khadafi meninggal karena luka yang dideritanya dalam penangkapan di dekat Sirte," ujar pejabat militer senior NTC seperti dilansir Reuters, Jumat (20/10/2011).
Tidak hanya itu, komandan Brigade 11 Abdul Hakim Al Jalil, mengatakan kepala angkatan bersenjata Khadafi, Abu Bakr Younus Jabr, telah tewas. "Saya lihat dengan mata saya sendiri," kata dia sambil menunjukkan foto tubuh Jabr.
Tidak hanya itu, komandan Libya juga mengklaim Jubir Pemerintahan Khadafi, Moussa Ibrahim, ikut ditangkap. Sebelumnya pasukan revolusioner menggempur kota persembunyian Khadafi, Sirte.
"Moussa Ibrahim juga tertangkap dan keduanya dibawa ke markas," kata Jalil.
Mereka mengumumkan Khadafi telah tertangkap ketika bersembunyi di sebuah lubang persembunyian. Khadafi disebut tertembak di bagian kaki. Namun, pemerintah AS belum mau mengkonfirmasi tertangkap dan tewasnya Khadafi. "Kami belum bisa mengkonfirmasinya," kata Jubir Kemlu AS Beth Gosselin.
(fay/irw)
Oct. 20, 2011, 7:41 a.m. EDT
Moammar Gadhafi captured by NTC fighters: reports
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Moammar Gadhafi, the former embattled leader of Libya, has reportedly been captured by Libyan Republic National Transitional Council fighters following the fall of Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, according to an unconfirmed media report Thursday by the Aljazeera news agency, which cited Libyan State TV. Separately, Abdel Majid, an NTC official, reportedly told the Reuters news agency that Gadhafi had been wounded in both legs. The exact whereabouts of Gadhafi have been unknown since NTC fighters took control of Tripoli earlier this year.
October 20, 2011
Libyan Fighters Say Qaddafi Stronghold Has Fallen
By KAREEM FAHIM
TRIPOLI, Libya — Libyan fighters said on Thursday that they had routed the last remaining forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi from the coastal town of Surt, ending weeks of fierce fighting that had prevented Libya’s interim rulers from declaring the country liberated and starting the transition to an elected government.
A military spokesman for the interim government, Abdel Rahman Busin,said “Surt is fully liberated.”
Libya’s interim leaders had said they believed that some Qaddafi family members — possibly including Colonel Qaddafi and several of his sons — were hiding in Surt or in Bani Walid, another loyalist bastion that the anti-Qaddafi forces captured several days ago. Al Jazeera, citing Libyan television, said that the Libyan leader had been captured as fighters seized Surt on Thursday. But previous reports of the capture of high-level Qaddafi officials have proven false, and there was no confirmation from the interim government.
As rumor of his capture spread in the capital, Tripoli, many celebrated in the streets.
Gunfire could still be heard in Surt on Thursday, as former rebel fighters searched houses and chased fleeing loyalist fighters. The anti-Qaddafi fighters killed at least 20 loyalist soldiers trying to escape down the coastal highway, and captured at least 16, The A.P. reported.
There was no immediate comment the city’s capture from Mustapha Abdul Jalil, the interim government’s top official. If confirmed, the fall of Surt would allow Mr. Abdul Jalil to declare the country liberated and in control of its borders, and to start a process that would lead to a general election for a national council within eight months.
The battle for Surt was supposed to have been a postscript to the Libyan conflict, but for weeks soldiers loyal to Colonel Qaddafi, Libya’s deposed leader, fiercely defended the city, first weathering NATO airstrikes and then repeated assaults by anti-Qaddafi fighters. Former rebel leaders were caught off guard by the depth of the divisions in western Libya, where the colonel’s policy of playing favorites and stoking rivalries has resulted in a series of violent confrontations.
Surt emerged as the stage for one of the war’s bloodiest fights, killing and injuring scores on both sides, decimating the city and leading to fears that the weak transitional leaders would not be able to unify the country.
The battle turned nearly two weeks ago, after a prolonged stalemate, when the anti-Qaddafi fighters laid siege to an enormous convention center that the pro-Qaddafi troops had used as a base.
The interim leaders had claimed that the ongoing fighting had prevented them from focusing on other pressing concerns, including the proliferation of armed militias that answered to no central authority.
Jumat, 25/02/2011 17:37 WIB
Inggris Akan Sita Aset Khadafi Senilai Rp 285 Triliun
Rita Uli Hutapea - detikNews
London - Setelah Swiss, pemerintah Inggris juga memerintahkan pembekuan aset-aset pemimpin Libya Muammar Khadafi. Para menteri Inggris telah mengidentifikasi miliaran pounds yang disimpan Khadafi dan rezim Libya di London.
Dana tersebut diperkirakan akan disita dalam beberapa hari. Kementerian Keuangan Inggris telah membentuk unit kerja untuk menelusuri aset-aset Khadafi di Inggris, yang diperkirakan mencakup miliaran dolar dana di rekening-rekening bank, properti bisnis dan sebuah mansion senilai 10 juta pounds di London.
Totalnya, rezim Libya disebut-sebut memiliki sekitar 20 miliar pounds (sekitar Rp 285 triliun) dalam bentuk aset-aset likuid, kebanyakan di London. Aset-aset tersebut akan dibekukan sebagai bagian dari upaya internasional untuk memaksa Khadafi mundur.
"Prioritas utama adalah membawa warga Inggris keluar dari Libya. Namun kami juga siap untuk bergerak atas aset-aset Khadafi, pekerjaan itu tengah berlangsung," demikian sumber pemerintah Inggris seperti dilansir harian Telegraph, Jumat (25/2/2011).
Belum lama ini, sebuah kabel diplomatik yang dirilis WikiLeaks membeberkan jumlah dana rezim Libya yang tersimpan dalam rekening-rekening bank asing, khususnya di London.
Dalam kabel diplomatik itu, Mohamed Layas dari Libyan Investment Authority, yang memiliki kantor-kantor di London, mengatakan pada dubes AS tahun lalu: "Kami memiliki US$ 32 miliar dalam likuiditas."
(ita/nrl)
Gaddafi defies revolt with tanks, planes
8:08am EST
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's Muammar Gaddafi used tanks, helicopters and warplanes to quell a growing revolt, witnesses said on Tuesday, as the veteran leader scoffed at reports he was fleeing after four decades in power.
Warplanes bombed portions of the capital Tripoli on Tuesday in new attacks in the Mediterranean coastal city, and mercenaries fired on civilians, Al Jazeera reported.
In the eastern town of Al Bayda, resident Marai Al Mahry told Reuters by telephone that 26 people including his brother Ahmed had been shot dead overnight by Gaddafi loyalists.
"They shoot you just for walking on the street," he said, sobbing uncontrollably as he appealed for help.
Protesters were being attacked with tanks and warplanes, he said.
"The only thing we can do now is not give up, no surrender, no going back. We will die anyways, whether we like it or not. It is clear that they don't care whether we live or not. This is genocide," said Mahry, 42.
Security forces have cracked down fiercely on demonstrators across the country, with fighting now spreading to Tripoli after erupting in Libya's oil-producing east last week following uprisings that have toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt.
Human Rights Watch says at least 233 people have been killed and opposition groups put the figure much higher but independent verification is impossible.
The revolt in OPEC member Libya has driven oil prices sharply higher, with U.S. crude for April delivery rising at one stage to almost $99, around a two-and-a-half-year high.
As the fighting has intensified across the country, cracks appeared among Gaddafi supporters. Some ambassadors resigning and calling for his removal, the justice minister resigned in protest and a group of army officers urged soldiers to "join the people." Two pilots flew their warplanes to nearby Malta.
DEFIANCE AND CONDEMNATION
Gaddafi's son Saif on Sunday vowed his father would keep fighting "until the last man standing" and the Libyan leader appeared on television after days of seclusion to dismiss reports he had fled to Venezuela, ruled by his friend President Hugo Chavez.
"I want to show that I'm in Tripoli and not in Venezuela. Do not believe the channels belonging to stray dogs," said Gaddafi, who has ruled Libya with a mixture of populism and tight control since taking power in a military coup in 1969.
World powers have condemned the use of force against protesters, with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accusing Libya of firing on civilians from warplanes and helicopters.
"This must stop immediately," said Ban, adding he had spoken to Gaddafi and urged him to halt attacks on protesters. The Security Council was to discuss Libya at 1400 GMT, diplomats said.
Arab League ambassadors were to meet in emergency session in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss Libya, and the United States and Europe have demanded a halt to the killing of protesters.
The violence has triggered a revolt by Libya's diplomats, its ambassador to India, Ali al-Essawi, resigning over the crackdown and telling Reuters that African mercenaries had been recruited to help put down protests.
"The fall of Gaddafi is the imperative of the people in streets," he said.
Demonstrations have spread to Tripoli from the second city Benghazi, cradle of the revolt that has engulfed a number of towns and which residents say is now in the hands of protestors.
Residents said anxious shoppers were queuing outside stores to try to stock up on food and drink. Some shops were closed.
In Tripoli, one resident said locals were patrolling their neighborhood at night to protect it from roaming mercenaries, reporting sniper fire and the use of military transport helicopters to ferry security forces about.
"Gaddafi obviously does not have any limits. We knew he was crazy, but it's still a terrible shock to see him turning mercenaries on his own people and just mowing down unarmed demonstrators," one resident told Lisa Goldman, a Canadian-Israeli journalist based in Tel Aviv.
Cairo said Libyan guards had withdrawn from their side of the border. Egypt's new military rulers -- who took power following the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak on February11 -- said the main crossing would be kept open round-the-clock to allow the sick and wounded to enter.
ENERGY DISRUPTION
Trade sources reported operations at Libyan oil ports had been disrupted due to the unrest and others said gas supplies from Libya to Italy had slowed since Late Monday [ID:nWEB0662]. An Italian minister said supplies had not yet been interrupted.
Shell said it was pulling out its expatriate staff from Libya temporarily because of the unrest.
The upheavals which deposed the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt have shaken the Arab world and inspired protests across the Middle East and North Africa, threatening the grip of long-entrenched autocratic leaders.
A flamboyant figure with his flowing robes and bevy of female bodyguards, Gaddafi was famously branded a "mad dog" by one U.S. president and has long been accused by the West of links to terrorism and revolutionary movements.
But this changed when Libya renounced its weapons of mass destruction to secure an end to its international isolation and a rapprochement with western governments, keen to tap its oil and gas wealth and lucrative trade and investment deals.
(Reporting by Tarek Amara, Christian Lowe, Tarek Amara, Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Souhail Karam; Brian Love, Daren Butler; Hnery Foy in New Dehli; Writing by Jon Boyle; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Giles Elgood)
Inggris Akan Sita Aset Khadafi Senilai Rp 285 Triliun
Rita Uli Hutapea - detikNews
London - Setelah Swiss, pemerintah Inggris juga memerintahkan pembekuan aset-aset pemimpin Libya Muammar Khadafi. Para menteri Inggris telah mengidentifikasi miliaran pounds yang disimpan Khadafi dan rezim Libya di London.
Dana tersebut diperkirakan akan disita dalam beberapa hari. Kementerian Keuangan Inggris telah membentuk unit kerja untuk menelusuri aset-aset Khadafi di Inggris, yang diperkirakan mencakup miliaran dolar dana di rekening-rekening bank, properti bisnis dan sebuah mansion senilai 10 juta pounds di London.
Totalnya, rezim Libya disebut-sebut memiliki sekitar 20 miliar pounds (sekitar Rp 285 triliun) dalam bentuk aset-aset likuid, kebanyakan di London. Aset-aset tersebut akan dibekukan sebagai bagian dari upaya internasional untuk memaksa Khadafi mundur.
"Prioritas utama adalah membawa warga Inggris keluar dari Libya. Namun kami juga siap untuk bergerak atas aset-aset Khadafi, pekerjaan itu tengah berlangsung," demikian sumber pemerintah Inggris seperti dilansir harian Telegraph, Jumat (25/2/2011).
Belum lama ini, sebuah kabel diplomatik yang dirilis WikiLeaks membeberkan jumlah dana rezim Libya yang tersimpan dalam rekening-rekening bank asing, khususnya di London.
Dalam kabel diplomatik itu, Mohamed Layas dari Libyan Investment Authority, yang memiliki kantor-kantor di London, mengatakan pada dubes AS tahun lalu: "Kami memiliki US$ 32 miliar dalam likuiditas."
(ita/nrl)
Gaddafi defies revolt with tanks, planes
8:08am EST
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's Muammar Gaddafi used tanks, helicopters and warplanes to quell a growing revolt, witnesses said on Tuesday, as the veteran leader scoffed at reports he was fleeing after four decades in power.
Warplanes bombed portions of the capital Tripoli on Tuesday in new attacks in the Mediterranean coastal city, and mercenaries fired on civilians, Al Jazeera reported.
In the eastern town of Al Bayda, resident Marai Al Mahry told Reuters by telephone that 26 people including his brother Ahmed had been shot dead overnight by Gaddafi loyalists.
"They shoot you just for walking on the street," he said, sobbing uncontrollably as he appealed for help.
Protesters were being attacked with tanks and warplanes, he said.
"The only thing we can do now is not give up, no surrender, no going back. We will die anyways, whether we like it or not. It is clear that they don't care whether we live or not. This is genocide," said Mahry, 42.
Security forces have cracked down fiercely on demonstrators across the country, with fighting now spreading to Tripoli after erupting in Libya's oil-producing east last week following uprisings that have toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt.
Human Rights Watch says at least 233 people have been killed and opposition groups put the figure much higher but independent verification is impossible.
The revolt in OPEC member Libya has driven oil prices sharply higher, with U.S. crude for April delivery rising at one stage to almost $99, around a two-and-a-half-year high.
As the fighting has intensified across the country, cracks appeared among Gaddafi supporters. Some ambassadors resigning and calling for his removal, the justice minister resigned in protest and a group of army officers urged soldiers to "join the people." Two pilots flew their warplanes to nearby Malta.
DEFIANCE AND CONDEMNATION
Gaddafi's son Saif on Sunday vowed his father would keep fighting "until the last man standing" and the Libyan leader appeared on television after days of seclusion to dismiss reports he had fled to Venezuela, ruled by his friend President Hugo Chavez.
"I want to show that I'm in Tripoli and not in Venezuela. Do not believe the channels belonging to stray dogs," said Gaddafi, who has ruled Libya with a mixture of populism and tight control since taking power in a military coup in 1969.
World powers have condemned the use of force against protesters, with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon accusing Libya of firing on civilians from warplanes and helicopters.
"This must stop immediately," said Ban, adding he had spoken to Gaddafi and urged him to halt attacks on protesters. The Security Council was to discuss Libya at 1400 GMT, diplomats said.
Arab League ambassadors were to meet in emergency session in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss Libya, and the United States and Europe have demanded a halt to the killing of protesters.
The violence has triggered a revolt by Libya's diplomats, its ambassador to India, Ali al-Essawi, resigning over the crackdown and telling Reuters that African mercenaries had been recruited to help put down protests.
"The fall of Gaddafi is the imperative of the people in streets," he said.
Demonstrations have spread to Tripoli from the second city Benghazi, cradle of the revolt that has engulfed a number of towns and which residents say is now in the hands of protestors.
Residents said anxious shoppers were queuing outside stores to try to stock up on food and drink. Some shops were closed.
In Tripoli, one resident said locals were patrolling their neighborhood at night to protect it from roaming mercenaries, reporting sniper fire and the use of military transport helicopters to ferry security forces about.
"Gaddafi obviously does not have any limits. We knew he was crazy, but it's still a terrible shock to see him turning mercenaries on his own people and just mowing down unarmed demonstrators," one resident told Lisa Goldman, a Canadian-Israeli journalist based in Tel Aviv.
Cairo said Libyan guards had withdrawn from their side of the border. Egypt's new military rulers -- who took power following the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak on February11 -- said the main crossing would be kept open round-the-clock to allow the sick and wounded to enter.
ENERGY DISRUPTION
Trade sources reported operations at Libyan oil ports had been disrupted due to the unrest and others said gas supplies from Libya to Italy had slowed since Late Monday [ID:nWEB0662]. An Italian minister said supplies had not yet been interrupted.
Shell said it was pulling out its expatriate staff from Libya temporarily because of the unrest.
The upheavals which deposed the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt have shaken the Arab world and inspired protests across the Middle East and North Africa, threatening the grip of long-entrenched autocratic leaders.
A flamboyant figure with his flowing robes and bevy of female bodyguards, Gaddafi was famously branded a "mad dog" by one U.S. president and has long been accused by the West of links to terrorism and revolutionary movements.
But this changed when Libya renounced its weapons of mass destruction to secure an end to its international isolation and a rapprochement with western governments, keen to tap its oil and gas wealth and lucrative trade and investment deals.
(Reporting by Tarek Amara, Christian Lowe, Tarek Amara, Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Souhail Karam; Brian Love, Daren Butler; Hnery Foy in New Dehli; Writing by Jon Boyle; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Giles Elgood)
Jumat, 18 Februari 2011
etika poligami ala indon
Jumat, 18/02/2011 15:15 WIB
DPR Tolak Kode Etik Larangan Poligami
Elvan Dany Sutrisno - detikNews
Jakarta - Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR) menolak pasal larangan poligami dimasukkan ke dalam kode etik DPR. Poligami dinilai menjadi hak sesuai dengan keyakinan masing-masing anggota DPR.
"Poligami sulit diatur dalam kode etik. Jangan kode etik mengatur keyakinan orang misalnya dilarang poligami dan saya tidak setuju kalau tidak patut," ujar Wakil Ketua DPR, Priyo Budi Santoso, kepada wartawan di Gedung DPR, Senayan, Jakarta, Jumat (18/2/2011).
Apalagi, menurut Priyo, banyak anggota DPR kader PKS. Wakil Ketua DPR Anis Matta, misalnya juga dikenal poligami.
"Nanti pimpinan DPR jadi nggak kompak lah, itu kan keyakinan," terang Priyo sambil tersenyum.
Priyo sendiri mengaku tidak berani mencoba-coba poligami. Walaupun demikian ia merasa larangan poligami tak perlu diterapkan di DPR.
"Kalau kehendak saya nggak berani, tempat yang kurang pas saya kira kalau anggota DPR diatur demikian," terangnya.
(van/ndr)
DPR Tolak Kode Etik Larangan Poligami
Elvan Dany Sutrisno - detikNews
Jakarta - Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR) menolak pasal larangan poligami dimasukkan ke dalam kode etik DPR. Poligami dinilai menjadi hak sesuai dengan keyakinan masing-masing anggota DPR.
"Poligami sulit diatur dalam kode etik. Jangan kode etik mengatur keyakinan orang misalnya dilarang poligami dan saya tidak setuju kalau tidak patut," ujar Wakil Ketua DPR, Priyo Budi Santoso, kepada wartawan di Gedung DPR, Senayan, Jakarta, Jumat (18/2/2011).
Apalagi, menurut Priyo, banyak anggota DPR kader PKS. Wakil Ketua DPR Anis Matta, misalnya juga dikenal poligami.
"Nanti pimpinan DPR jadi nggak kompak lah, itu kan keyakinan," terang Priyo sambil tersenyum.
Priyo sendiri mengaku tidak berani mencoba-coba poligami. Walaupun demikian ia merasa larangan poligami tak perlu diterapkan di DPR.
"Kalau kehendak saya nggak berani, tempat yang kurang pas saya kira kalau anggota DPR diatur demikian," terangnya.
(van/ndr)
Senin, 14 Februari 2011
1 MENDAHULUI, 1 TUJUAN
Amerika Minta Iran Ikuti Mesir
Selasa, 15 Februari 2011 | 14:05 WIB
TEMPO Interaktif, Washington - Menteri Luar Negeri Amerika Serikat Hillary Clinton secara tegas menyatakan dukungannya kepada ribuan pendemo di Iran. "Mereka layak mendapatkan seperti yang mereka lihat di Mesir," katanya di Washington DC, hari ini. Iran harus membuka sistem politiknya.
Hillary mengatakan pemerintah Amerika secara jelas dan langsung memberikan dukungan kepada pendemo. Apa yang mereka lakukan menunjukkan keberanian rakyat Iran.
Hillary juga mengatakan Amerika menyampaikan pesan kepada pemerintah Iran seperti pesan yang disampaikan kepada pemerintah Mesir, dimana Presiden Mesir Hosni Mubarak dipaksa turun dari jabatannya oleh aksi massa besar-besaran.
"Kami menentang kekerasan dan akan meminta tanggungjawab pemerintah Iran yang menggunakan kekuatan keamanannya untuk menyerang dan mencegah keberlangsungan kebebasan ekspresi dan ide rakyatnya," kata Hillary.
Menurut dia, di Iran dibutuhkan komitmen untuk membuka sistem politik yang terbuka, untuk mendengarkan suara oposisi dan masyarakat sipil.
Dalam aksi demonstrasi di Teheran, Iran, kemarin seorang pendemo ditembak dan sejumlah orang lainnya luka-luka. Lusinan pendemo ditangkap dan para pemimpin oposisi berada dalam tahanan rumah.
Pemerintah Iran juga melarang aksi demonstrasi di beberapa kota antara lain Isfahan, Mashhad dan Shiraz.
BBC| Aqida Swamurti
Tehran streets mostly empty after protesters clash with police
Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Tens of thousands of demonstrators who marched in Tehran in defiance of the Iranian government were largely cleared from the city's streets by nightfall.
Patrolling security forces had battled protesters with batons and tear gas for much of the day.
The wave of people who marched along Revolution Avenue on Monday had remained largely silent as they walked toward the capital's Azadi Square, though at times they clashed with Iranian security forces who tried to disperse the marchers and divert them from the square.
By day's end, dozens of demonstrators had been detained while internet videos showed others had been chased and beaten.
One person was shot and killed during the protests, according to Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency. Several others were injured and listed in serious condition as a result of the shooting, which the Iranian government blamed on "agitators and seditionists."
Uniformed security forces and pro-government Basij militiamen had earlier advanced on crowds who chanted "Death to the dictator!" during demonstrations in the city's Imam Hossein Square -- the planned starting point of a scheduled rally, a witness said.
"We definitely see them as enemies of the revolution and spies, and we will confront them with force," said Cmdr. Hossein Hamedani of the Revolutionary Guard, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
Thousands of security personnel lined Revolution Avenue, allowing the march to continue but preventing the marchers from congregating in Azadi Square -- considered a rallying point by opposition groups.
"You can't take two steps without running into security personnel," one witness said. "They're all over the place."
Several protesters who were diverted by police to side streets were beaten with batons and gassed by security officers who were waiting at those locations, witnesses said.
At least 40 people were detained as riot police on motorcycles continue to patrol Tehran, one witness said.
Video uploaded to YouTube showed throngs of demonstrators marching, burning posters of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and in one instance beating a man who appeared to try to remove a poster from the hands of protesters.
Other YouTube video showed police in riot gear pursuing dozens of people running away from the baton-wielding officers.
CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of the videos and witnesses declined to be named for fear of retribution.
Reporting from Iran proved extremely difficult Monday, as foreign journalists were denied visas, accredited journalists living in the country were restricted from covering the demonstrations and internet speeds slowed to a crawl in an apparent attempt to both limit protest organizing and restrict information from being transmitted out of the country.
The Iranian government had blocked the homes of opposition leaders after they called for rallies in support of the uprising in Egypt that toppled a near three-decade-long rule of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
About 200 protesters -- some of whom chanted "death to Khamenei" and "death to the dictator" -- set fire to several trash bins in the capital city and threw rocks at security forces, who tried unsuccessfully to subdue them, witnesses said. The chanting protesters apparently were referring to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme religious leader.
Clashes also erupted in front of Tehran University, where security forces dispersed crowds by firing tear gas and paint-ball guns, a witness said.
"There needs to be a commitment to open up the political system," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday after a meeting with U.S. House Speaker John Boehner.
Clinton said the crackdown is "an indictment of the hypocrisy of the Iranian regime" that constantly "hailed" the protests in Egypt but "once again illustrate their true nature."
The head of Iran's National Security Council and other Iranian authorities had earlier compared "the Egyptian Revolution with the victory of Iran's Islamic Revolution," according to Iranian state-run media.
Last week, the Iranian government rounded up activists after opposition leaders Mehdi Karrubi and Mir Hossein Moussavi called for supporters to gather at Azadi Square -- the site of mass protests by Iran's opposition movement after the disputed 2009 presidential elections.
Security forces also blocked roads leading to Moussavi's home, his opposition website, Kaleme, reported. The website also said phone lines and cell phone service to the area had been cut off.
Plainclothes security forces blocked Moussavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, from leaving their home Monday, according to Kaleme and another opposition website, Saham News.
"This is what we've been told do," security forces said when Rahnavard asked why she couldn't leave, Saham reported. "We're sorry."
Surveillance cameras installed outside Karrubi's home have been stolen and destroyed, Kaleme reported.
About 50 riot police on motorcycles were seen near Azadi Square, while 100 more were stationed at Ferdowsi Square in the city center.
Iranian authorities had warned against holding the rally, according to state-run media.
"They are scared," then-U.S. press secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday, hours after Mubarak stepped down from power.
"That's why they threatened to kill anybody that tries to do this," Gibbs said of the Iranian government. "That's why they have shut off all measure of communication."
Over the weekend, Iranian authorities blocked the word "Bahman" -- the 11th month on the Iranian calendar -- from internet searches within the country, according to an opposition website.
The measure appeared to be an effort by Iranian authorities to obstruct access to several opposition websites promoting the rally using the name of the month to draw mass demonstrations, Saham News reported Saturday.
CNN's Reza Sayah contributed to this report
February 14, 2011
Officials in Iran Use Force as Unrest Spreads Across Mideast
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR and ALAN COWELL
Hundreds of riot police officers deployed in key locations in central Tehran and other major Iranian cities on Monday, beating protesters and firing tear gas to thwart opposition marches that marked the most significant street protests since the end of 2009, news reports and witnesses’ accounts from Iran said.
The size of the protests was unclear, although witnesses and opposition groups estimated that there were perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 demonstrators across the country. While the protests were ostensibly in solidarity with the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, Iranian domestic repression quickly became the focus. But Iran, unlike Egypt, used force to quell them.
Elsewhere, protests continued to spread across the Arab world. The police in Bahrain shot into crowds of peaceful protesters, shooting rubber bullets at women and volleying so much tear gas that the police themselves vomited. In Yemen, hundreds of student protesters clashed with pro-government forces in the fourth straight day of protests there.
“Mubarak, Ben Ali, now it’s time for Sayyid Ali!” Iranian protesters chanted in Persian on videos posted online that appeared to be from Tehran, referring to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the Egyptian and Tunisian leaders overthrown by massive protest movements.
In the central city of Isfahan many demonstrators were arrested after security forces clashed with them, reports said, and sporadic messages from inside Iran indicated that there had also been protests in Shiraz, Mashhad and Rasht. Numbers were hard to assess, given government threats against journalists who tried to cover the protests. Aliakbar Mousavi Khoeini, a former member of Parliament now living in exile in the United States, said that 20,000 to 30,000 people had taken part across Iran.
Ayatollah Khamenei and the Iranian establishment have been trying to depict the Arab movements as a long-awaited echo of the 1979 Iranian revolution, despite the low profile of Islamist parties. The opposition has been painting the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings as an echo of 2009 with citizens demanding basic rights like freedom of assembly and freedom of speech as they did after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that year.
Mehdi Karroubi, an opposition leader, said in an interview last week that the opposition had decided to organize a day of demonstrations to underscore the double standard of the government in lauding protesters in Arab countries while suppressing those at home. Mr. Karroubi has been put under house arrest with outside communication links severed, opposition reports said, as has Mir Hossein Mousavi, the other main opposition leader.
The Fars news agency, a semiofficial service linked to the Revolutionary Guard, indirectly confirmed the protests by saying an unspecified number of demonstrators had been arrested. It called participants “hypocrites, monarchists, ruffians and seditionists” and ridiculed them for not chanting slogans about Egypt, the nominal reason for the protests.
The authorities’ tactics on Monday indicated that they were resolved to stifle unrest — starting with the refusal to issue a permit for a nationwide demonstration. Reports that did emerge suggested that security forces had tried to prevent people from gathering by blocking the access routes to main squares in major cities and closing metro stations in Tehran.
The crackdown came as protests flared in Yemen and Bahrain. While those outbreaks were reported in some official Iranian state media, which also covered the 18-day Egyptian uprising selectively, there was no immediate mention of the clashes in Tehran and elsewhere on such state broadcasters as the English-language Press TV in Tehran.
Iran’s Islamic regime gradually stamped out the 2009 protests through shooting demonstrators, mass trials, torture, lengthy jail sentences and even executions of those taking part.
Reports from inside Iran on Monday were harvested off a special Facebook page called 25 Bahman set up for the day, Twitter feeds, telephone calls and opposition Web sites. They indicated that one tactic for sympathizers hoping to avoid a beating at the hands of the police was to drive to the demonstrations, with massive traffic jams reported in Tehran. Security forces on motorcycles tried to run down protesters, witnesses said.
Callers to the BBC Persian service television program called “Your Turn” said demonstrators had tried to gather in small knots until the police turned up in force, at which point they would run into traffic to seek refuge with strangers who opened their car doors. “It has not turned into a big demonstration mostly because they never managed to arrive at the main squares,” said Pooneh Ghoddosi, the program’s host.
Cellular telephone service was shut off around the main squares and the Internet slowed to a crawl, activists said. Echoing tactics in Egypt and Tunisia, sympathizers outside Iran set up the 25 Bahman Facebook page — Monday’s date on the Iranian calendar — to collect videos, eyewitness accounts and any information. Twitter feeds informed demonstrators to gather quickly at a certain intersection and then disperse as rapidly—one video showed them burning a government poster as the chant against Ayatollah Khamenei rang out.
The authorities had made no secret of their resolve to stop the demonstrators.
“The conspirators are nothing but corpses,” Hossein Hamadani, a top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said last week in comments published by the official IRNA news agency. “Any incitement will be dealt with severely.” Monday’s clashes erupted as the Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, arrived in Iran. Speaking at a news conference alongside President Ahmadinejad, he said, “We see that sometimes when the leaders and heads of countries do not pay attention to the nations’ demands, the people themselves take action to achieve their demands.”
A Reuters report said he did not refer directly to Iran. “My view is that what is happening should in no way be regarded as a surprise,” he said in a response to a question about events in the Middle East. “In this age of communication, in an age where everybody is aware of each other, the demands and desires of the people are very realistic.”
In Washington Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, ”We wish the opposition and the brave people in the streets across cities in Iran the same opportunity that they saw their Egyptian counterparts seize in the last week.” She added, ”We are against violence and we would call to account the Iranian government that is once again using its security forces and resorting to violence to prevent the free expression of ideas from their own people,”
Artin Afkhami contributed reporting from Washington.
Selasa, 15/02/2011 04:32 WIB
Demonstrasi di Iran Mulai Makan Korban, 1 Tewas
Laurencius Simanjuntak - detikNews
Tehran - Demonstrasi anti-pemerintah di Iran mulai memakan korban. Satu orang ditembak mati dan beberapa luka-luka dalam aksi massa di Tehran, yang dilarang pemerintah itu.
"Satu orang tewas ditembak mati dan beberapa terluka oleh pendukung oposisi yang menggelar demo di Tehran," demikian laporan Kantor Berita Fars seperti dikutip Reuters, Selasa (15/2/2011).
Laporan tersebut menyebutkan, orang yang tewas itu adalah pengamat yang terkena tembakan ketika "Elemen penghasut dan kelompok teroris bayaran Monafeghin memulai kerusuhan dengan menembaki para pengamat."
Tembakan menyebabkan, "Kematian seorang penduduk dan melukai sejumlah penduduk kita," kata laporan tersebut.
Monafeghin (pengkhianat) adalah istilah standar rezim Iran untuk penyalahgunaan kelompok terlarang, Mujahidin Rakyat.
Laporan juga menyebutkan, "Pertemuan ilegal para penghasut, Monafeghin, monarkis dan preman di beberapa ruas jalan menyebabkan kerusuhan, tetapi kehadiran orang memaksa unsur penghasut dan Monafeghin pergi."
Ribuan orang pendukung oposisi bergerak ke jalan-jalan di Tehran Senin waktu setempat untuk menggelar protes anti-pemerintah.
Seperti dilansir AFP, polisi Iran terlibat bentrok dengan massa anti-pemerintah. Polisi bergerak dan menembakkan gas air mata ke arah massa oposisi yang berkumpul di Azadi Square (Lapangan Kebebasan).
Massa menyanyikan "Kematian untuk Diktator", sebuah slogan yang digunakan untuk menentang Presiden Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, setelah hasil pemilu 2009 yang sempat ricuh itu, memberikan kesempatan kepadanya untuk memerintah kedua kalinya.
Situs dari pemimpin oposisi Mir Hossein Mousavi, kaleme.com, mengatakan, "Berdasarkan laporan yang belum terkonfirmasi, ratusan pemrotes ditahan di Tehran." (lrn/lrn)
Selasa, 15 Februari 2011 | 14:05 WIB
TEMPO Interaktif, Washington - Menteri Luar Negeri Amerika Serikat Hillary Clinton secara tegas menyatakan dukungannya kepada ribuan pendemo di Iran. "Mereka layak mendapatkan seperti yang mereka lihat di Mesir," katanya di Washington DC, hari ini. Iran harus membuka sistem politiknya.
Hillary mengatakan pemerintah Amerika secara jelas dan langsung memberikan dukungan kepada pendemo. Apa yang mereka lakukan menunjukkan keberanian rakyat Iran.
Hillary juga mengatakan Amerika menyampaikan pesan kepada pemerintah Iran seperti pesan yang disampaikan kepada pemerintah Mesir, dimana Presiden Mesir Hosni Mubarak dipaksa turun dari jabatannya oleh aksi massa besar-besaran.
"Kami menentang kekerasan dan akan meminta tanggungjawab pemerintah Iran yang menggunakan kekuatan keamanannya untuk menyerang dan mencegah keberlangsungan kebebasan ekspresi dan ide rakyatnya," kata Hillary.
Menurut dia, di Iran dibutuhkan komitmen untuk membuka sistem politik yang terbuka, untuk mendengarkan suara oposisi dan masyarakat sipil.
Dalam aksi demonstrasi di Teheran, Iran, kemarin seorang pendemo ditembak dan sejumlah orang lainnya luka-luka. Lusinan pendemo ditangkap dan para pemimpin oposisi berada dalam tahanan rumah.
Pemerintah Iran juga melarang aksi demonstrasi di beberapa kota antara lain Isfahan, Mashhad dan Shiraz.
BBC| Aqida Swamurti
Tehran streets mostly empty after protesters clash with police
Tehran, Iran (CNN) -- Tens of thousands of demonstrators who marched in Tehran in defiance of the Iranian government were largely cleared from the city's streets by nightfall.
Patrolling security forces had battled protesters with batons and tear gas for much of the day.
The wave of people who marched along Revolution Avenue on Monday had remained largely silent as they walked toward the capital's Azadi Square, though at times they clashed with Iranian security forces who tried to disperse the marchers and divert them from the square.
By day's end, dozens of demonstrators had been detained while internet videos showed others had been chased and beaten.
One person was shot and killed during the protests, according to Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency. Several others were injured and listed in serious condition as a result of the shooting, which the Iranian government blamed on "agitators and seditionists."
Uniformed security forces and pro-government Basij militiamen had earlier advanced on crowds who chanted "Death to the dictator!" during demonstrations in the city's Imam Hossein Square -- the planned starting point of a scheduled rally, a witness said.
"We definitely see them as enemies of the revolution and spies, and we will confront them with force," said Cmdr. Hossein Hamedani of the Revolutionary Guard, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
Thousands of security personnel lined Revolution Avenue, allowing the march to continue but preventing the marchers from congregating in Azadi Square -- considered a rallying point by opposition groups.
"You can't take two steps without running into security personnel," one witness said. "They're all over the place."
Several protesters who were diverted by police to side streets were beaten with batons and gassed by security officers who were waiting at those locations, witnesses said.
At least 40 people were detained as riot police on motorcycles continue to patrol Tehran, one witness said.
Video uploaded to YouTube showed throngs of demonstrators marching, burning posters of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and in one instance beating a man who appeared to try to remove a poster from the hands of protesters.
Other YouTube video showed police in riot gear pursuing dozens of people running away from the baton-wielding officers.
CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of the videos and witnesses declined to be named for fear of retribution.
Reporting from Iran proved extremely difficult Monday, as foreign journalists were denied visas, accredited journalists living in the country were restricted from covering the demonstrations and internet speeds slowed to a crawl in an apparent attempt to both limit protest organizing and restrict information from being transmitted out of the country.
The Iranian government had blocked the homes of opposition leaders after they called for rallies in support of the uprising in Egypt that toppled a near three-decade-long rule of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
About 200 protesters -- some of whom chanted "death to Khamenei" and "death to the dictator" -- set fire to several trash bins in the capital city and threw rocks at security forces, who tried unsuccessfully to subdue them, witnesses said. The chanting protesters apparently were referring to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme religious leader.
Clashes also erupted in front of Tehran University, where security forces dispersed crowds by firing tear gas and paint-ball guns, a witness said.
"There needs to be a commitment to open up the political system," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday after a meeting with U.S. House Speaker John Boehner.
Clinton said the crackdown is "an indictment of the hypocrisy of the Iranian regime" that constantly "hailed" the protests in Egypt but "once again illustrate their true nature."
The head of Iran's National Security Council and other Iranian authorities had earlier compared "the Egyptian Revolution with the victory of Iran's Islamic Revolution," according to Iranian state-run media.
Last week, the Iranian government rounded up activists after opposition leaders Mehdi Karrubi and Mir Hossein Moussavi called for supporters to gather at Azadi Square -- the site of mass protests by Iran's opposition movement after the disputed 2009 presidential elections.
Security forces also blocked roads leading to Moussavi's home, his opposition website, Kaleme, reported. The website also said phone lines and cell phone service to the area had been cut off.
Plainclothes security forces blocked Moussavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, from leaving their home Monday, according to Kaleme and another opposition website, Saham News.
"This is what we've been told do," security forces said when Rahnavard asked why she couldn't leave, Saham reported. "We're sorry."
Surveillance cameras installed outside Karrubi's home have been stolen and destroyed, Kaleme reported.
About 50 riot police on motorcycles were seen near Azadi Square, while 100 more were stationed at Ferdowsi Square in the city center.
Iranian authorities had warned against holding the rally, according to state-run media.
"They are scared," then-U.S. press secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday, hours after Mubarak stepped down from power.
"That's why they threatened to kill anybody that tries to do this," Gibbs said of the Iranian government. "That's why they have shut off all measure of communication."
Over the weekend, Iranian authorities blocked the word "Bahman" -- the 11th month on the Iranian calendar -- from internet searches within the country, according to an opposition website.
The measure appeared to be an effort by Iranian authorities to obstruct access to several opposition websites promoting the rally using the name of the month to draw mass demonstrations, Saham News reported Saturday.
CNN's Reza Sayah contributed to this report
February 14, 2011
Officials in Iran Use Force as Unrest Spreads Across Mideast
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR and ALAN COWELL
Hundreds of riot police officers deployed in key locations in central Tehran and other major Iranian cities on Monday, beating protesters and firing tear gas to thwart opposition marches that marked the most significant street protests since the end of 2009, news reports and witnesses’ accounts from Iran said.
The size of the protests was unclear, although witnesses and opposition groups estimated that there were perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 demonstrators across the country. While the protests were ostensibly in solidarity with the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, Iranian domestic repression quickly became the focus. But Iran, unlike Egypt, used force to quell them.
Elsewhere, protests continued to spread across the Arab world. The police in Bahrain shot into crowds of peaceful protesters, shooting rubber bullets at women and volleying so much tear gas that the police themselves vomited. In Yemen, hundreds of student protesters clashed with pro-government forces in the fourth straight day of protests there.
“Mubarak, Ben Ali, now it’s time for Sayyid Ali!” Iranian protesters chanted in Persian on videos posted online that appeared to be from Tehran, referring to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the Egyptian and Tunisian leaders overthrown by massive protest movements.
In the central city of Isfahan many demonstrators were arrested after security forces clashed with them, reports said, and sporadic messages from inside Iran indicated that there had also been protests in Shiraz, Mashhad and Rasht. Numbers were hard to assess, given government threats against journalists who tried to cover the protests. Aliakbar Mousavi Khoeini, a former member of Parliament now living in exile in the United States, said that 20,000 to 30,000 people had taken part across Iran.
Ayatollah Khamenei and the Iranian establishment have been trying to depict the Arab movements as a long-awaited echo of the 1979 Iranian revolution, despite the low profile of Islamist parties. The opposition has been painting the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings as an echo of 2009 with citizens demanding basic rights like freedom of assembly and freedom of speech as they did after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that year.
Mehdi Karroubi, an opposition leader, said in an interview last week that the opposition had decided to organize a day of demonstrations to underscore the double standard of the government in lauding protesters in Arab countries while suppressing those at home. Mr. Karroubi has been put under house arrest with outside communication links severed, opposition reports said, as has Mir Hossein Mousavi, the other main opposition leader.
The Fars news agency, a semiofficial service linked to the Revolutionary Guard, indirectly confirmed the protests by saying an unspecified number of demonstrators had been arrested. It called participants “hypocrites, monarchists, ruffians and seditionists” and ridiculed them for not chanting slogans about Egypt, the nominal reason for the protests.
The authorities’ tactics on Monday indicated that they were resolved to stifle unrest — starting with the refusal to issue a permit for a nationwide demonstration. Reports that did emerge suggested that security forces had tried to prevent people from gathering by blocking the access routes to main squares in major cities and closing metro stations in Tehran.
The crackdown came as protests flared in Yemen and Bahrain. While those outbreaks were reported in some official Iranian state media, which also covered the 18-day Egyptian uprising selectively, there was no immediate mention of the clashes in Tehran and elsewhere on such state broadcasters as the English-language Press TV in Tehran.
Iran’s Islamic regime gradually stamped out the 2009 protests through shooting demonstrators, mass trials, torture, lengthy jail sentences and even executions of those taking part.
Reports from inside Iran on Monday were harvested off a special Facebook page called 25 Bahman set up for the day, Twitter feeds, telephone calls and opposition Web sites. They indicated that one tactic for sympathizers hoping to avoid a beating at the hands of the police was to drive to the demonstrations, with massive traffic jams reported in Tehran. Security forces on motorcycles tried to run down protesters, witnesses said.
Callers to the BBC Persian service television program called “Your Turn” said demonstrators had tried to gather in small knots until the police turned up in force, at which point they would run into traffic to seek refuge with strangers who opened their car doors. “It has not turned into a big demonstration mostly because they never managed to arrive at the main squares,” said Pooneh Ghoddosi, the program’s host.
Cellular telephone service was shut off around the main squares and the Internet slowed to a crawl, activists said. Echoing tactics in Egypt and Tunisia, sympathizers outside Iran set up the 25 Bahman Facebook page — Monday’s date on the Iranian calendar — to collect videos, eyewitness accounts and any information. Twitter feeds informed demonstrators to gather quickly at a certain intersection and then disperse as rapidly—one video showed them burning a government poster as the chant against Ayatollah Khamenei rang out.
The authorities had made no secret of their resolve to stop the demonstrators.
“The conspirators are nothing but corpses,” Hossein Hamadani, a top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said last week in comments published by the official IRNA news agency. “Any incitement will be dealt with severely.” Monday’s clashes erupted as the Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, arrived in Iran. Speaking at a news conference alongside President Ahmadinejad, he said, “We see that sometimes when the leaders and heads of countries do not pay attention to the nations’ demands, the people themselves take action to achieve their demands.”
A Reuters report said he did not refer directly to Iran. “My view is that what is happening should in no way be regarded as a surprise,” he said in a response to a question about events in the Middle East. “In this age of communication, in an age where everybody is aware of each other, the demands and desires of the people are very realistic.”
In Washington Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said, ”We wish the opposition and the brave people in the streets across cities in Iran the same opportunity that they saw their Egyptian counterparts seize in the last week.” She added, ”We are against violence and we would call to account the Iranian government that is once again using its security forces and resorting to violence to prevent the free expression of ideas from their own people,”
Artin Afkhami contributed reporting from Washington.
Selasa, 15/02/2011 04:32 WIB
Demonstrasi di Iran Mulai Makan Korban, 1 Tewas
Laurencius Simanjuntak - detikNews
Tehran - Demonstrasi anti-pemerintah di Iran mulai memakan korban. Satu orang ditembak mati dan beberapa luka-luka dalam aksi massa di Tehran, yang dilarang pemerintah itu.
"Satu orang tewas ditembak mati dan beberapa terluka oleh pendukung oposisi yang menggelar demo di Tehran," demikian laporan Kantor Berita Fars seperti dikutip Reuters, Selasa (15/2/2011).
Laporan tersebut menyebutkan, orang yang tewas itu adalah pengamat yang terkena tembakan ketika "Elemen penghasut dan kelompok teroris bayaran Monafeghin memulai kerusuhan dengan menembaki para pengamat."
Tembakan menyebabkan, "Kematian seorang penduduk dan melukai sejumlah penduduk kita," kata laporan tersebut.
Monafeghin (pengkhianat) adalah istilah standar rezim Iran untuk penyalahgunaan kelompok terlarang, Mujahidin Rakyat.
Laporan juga menyebutkan, "Pertemuan ilegal para penghasut, Monafeghin, monarkis dan preman di beberapa ruas jalan menyebabkan kerusuhan, tetapi kehadiran orang memaksa unsur penghasut dan Monafeghin pergi."
Ribuan orang pendukung oposisi bergerak ke jalan-jalan di Tehran Senin waktu setempat untuk menggelar protes anti-pemerintah.
Seperti dilansir AFP, polisi Iran terlibat bentrok dengan massa anti-pemerintah. Polisi bergerak dan menembakkan gas air mata ke arah massa oposisi yang berkumpul di Azadi Square (Lapangan Kebebasan).
Massa menyanyikan "Kematian untuk Diktator", sebuah slogan yang digunakan untuk menentang Presiden Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, setelah hasil pemilu 2009 yang sempat ricuh itu, memberikan kesempatan kepadanya untuk memerintah kedua kalinya.
Situs dari pemimpin oposisi Mir Hossein Mousavi, kaleme.com, mengatakan, "Berdasarkan laporan yang belum terkonfirmasi, ratusan pemrotes ditahan di Tehran." (lrn/lrn)
Jumat, 11 Februari 2011
NATAL yang paganistis
Ternyata Umat Kristen Pernah Larang Natal
Oleh: Billy A. Banggawan
Teknologi - Sabtu, 12 Februari 2011 | 07:11 WIB
INILAH.COM, Jakarta – Hari Natal selalu dirayakan umat Kristen di seluruh dunia. Namun hari keagamaan ini dulu pernah dilarang selama beberapa dekade di AS oleh umatnya.
Perang Natal dimulai sejak abad 16-17 oleh Puritan atau Kristen Protestan yang meyakini bahwa orang butuh aturan ketat untuk menjadi relijius, dan perayaan semacam Natal dianggap penuh dosa.
Menurut Shocked by the Bible yang diterbitkan Thomas Nelson Inc. (2008), “Memang mengejutkan, pengikut Yesus Kristus di Amerika Serikat (AS) dan Inggris membantu hukum membuat ilegal Natal. Mereka yakin Natal merupakan hinaan pada Tuhan yang berhubungan dengan paganisme kuno”.
"Kebanyakan orang Amerka masa kini tak menyadari Natal dilarang di Boston dari 1659-1681”. Semua kegiatan Natal, termasuk menari, permainan musiman, game, nyanyian, perayaan ramai dan terutama minum-minum dilarang oleh Parliament of England yang didominasi Puritan pada 1644.
Menurut Once Upon a Gospe (Twenty-Third Publications, 2008), Natal dilarang di Boston, dan koloni Plymouth membuat perayaan Natal menjadi tindak pidana. Pohon Natal dan dekorasinya dianggap ritual pagan kudus, dan Puritan melarang makanan tradisional Natal seperti pai dan puding.
Hukum Puritan mengharuskan toko dan bisnis tetap buka sepanjang Natal, dan penduduk kota berjalan melalui jalan-jalan di malam Natal dan berteriak “Tak ada Natal, tak ada Natal!”
Di Inggris, larangan libur Natal dicabut pada 1660 ketika Charles II mengambil alih tahta. Namun Puritan tetap ada di New England dan Natal tak menjadi hari libur hingga 1856. Bahkan, beberapa sekolah terus mengadakan pengajaran pada 25 Desember hingga 1870.
Meski perubahan bertahap, orang-orang mulai merayakan libur Natal hingga Natal seperti yang kita kenal saat ini (lengkap dengan mistletoe, eggnog dan permen tongkat) dirayakan di seluruh koloni dunia. [vin]
Oleh: Billy A. Banggawan
Teknologi - Sabtu, 12 Februari 2011 | 07:11 WIB
INILAH.COM, Jakarta – Hari Natal selalu dirayakan umat Kristen di seluruh dunia. Namun hari keagamaan ini dulu pernah dilarang selama beberapa dekade di AS oleh umatnya.
Perang Natal dimulai sejak abad 16-17 oleh Puritan atau Kristen Protestan yang meyakini bahwa orang butuh aturan ketat untuk menjadi relijius, dan perayaan semacam Natal dianggap penuh dosa.
Menurut Shocked by the Bible yang diterbitkan Thomas Nelson Inc. (2008), “Memang mengejutkan, pengikut Yesus Kristus di Amerika Serikat (AS) dan Inggris membantu hukum membuat ilegal Natal. Mereka yakin Natal merupakan hinaan pada Tuhan yang berhubungan dengan paganisme kuno”.
"Kebanyakan orang Amerka masa kini tak menyadari Natal dilarang di Boston dari 1659-1681”. Semua kegiatan Natal, termasuk menari, permainan musiman, game, nyanyian, perayaan ramai dan terutama minum-minum dilarang oleh Parliament of England yang didominasi Puritan pada 1644.
Menurut Once Upon a Gospe (Twenty-Third Publications, 2008), Natal dilarang di Boston, dan koloni Plymouth membuat perayaan Natal menjadi tindak pidana. Pohon Natal dan dekorasinya dianggap ritual pagan kudus, dan Puritan melarang makanan tradisional Natal seperti pai dan puding.
Hukum Puritan mengharuskan toko dan bisnis tetap buka sepanjang Natal, dan penduduk kota berjalan melalui jalan-jalan di malam Natal dan berteriak “Tak ada Natal, tak ada Natal!”
Di Inggris, larangan libur Natal dicabut pada 1660 ketika Charles II mengambil alih tahta. Namun Puritan tetap ada di New England dan Natal tak menjadi hari libur hingga 1856. Bahkan, beberapa sekolah terus mengadakan pengajaran pada 25 Desember hingga 1870.
Meski perubahan bertahap, orang-orang mulai merayakan libur Natal hingga Natal seperti yang kita kenal saat ini (lengkap dengan mistletoe, eggnog dan permen tongkat) dirayakan di seluruh koloni dunia. [vin]
Kamis, 10 Februari 2011
MOMENT of TRUTH
Mubarak is "definitely not going to step down," information minister tells Reuters shortly before Mubarak is to speak to the nation (breaking news Reuters) 11/02/11
Lengsernya Mubarak Mirip Skenario untuk Indonesia
JUM'AT, 11 FEBRUARI 2011 | 23:49 WIB
Hosni Mubarak. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih
TEMPO Interaktif, Kairo - Sehari sebelum Presiden Mesir Husni Mubarak menyatakan mundur, Presiden Amerika Serikat Barack Obama telah memberikan sinyal-sinyal bahwa AS mendukung turunnya Mubarak.
"Kita akan melihat sejarah baru di Mesir," begitu kata Obama, Kamis 10 Februari, sehari sebelum Mubarak lengser.
Mubarak akhirnya resmi mundur pada 11 Februari 2011 dan menyerahkan kekuasannya kepada Dewan Tertinggi Militer.
Keputusan itu tak terlalu mencengangkan, mengingat Amerika Serikat juga sudahmempersiapkan tiga skenario untuk Mesir. Pertama skenario seperti penggulingan Shah Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlevi. Kedua, skenario seperti lengsernya Soerhato di Indonesia. Ketiga, skenarioa seperti Rumania.
Dari ketiga skenario itu, senario Indonesia adalah yang paling cocok buat Mesir. Terbukti, Mubarak mundur dan menyerahkan kekuasaannya dengan damai kepada militer. Di Indonesia Soeharto mundur, lalu diserahkan kepada wakil presiden B.J. Habibie. Inilah detail kesamaan Mesir dan Indonesia:
Pada tahun 1998, kekuasaan otoriter Presiden Soeharto selama 32 tahun berakhir. Dia adalah sekutu lama AS yang penghentiannya sangat ditakuti di Gedung Putih. Tetapi pada akhirnya, negara Muslim yang paling padat penduduknya itu membuat transisi berantakan dan panjang menuju demokrasi. Dan sampai sekarang tetap menjadi mitra utama dari Amerika Serikat.
Thomas Carothers, wakil presiden untuk studi di Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, merujuk pengalaman Indonesia sebagai skenario yang lebih mungkin untuk Mesir dibanding skenario Iran. Meski hal itu, menurut dia, jalan itu masih akan sulit. Tetapi ada kesamaan antara Mesir dan Indonesia: tradisi yang relatif sekuler, militer yang kuat yang (sejauh ini) menolak untuk menindas pengunjuk rasa, dan pemberontakan yang dipimpin oleh campuran dari pemuda dan masyarakat sipil.
Hal yang sama juga diungkapkan Tom Malinowski dari Human Rights Watch. Menurut dia, pemulihan kebebasan politik di Mesir akan memberdayakan kekuatan politik lebih moderat untuk muncul, seperti di Indonesia, dengan militer membantu untuk memberikan stabilitas selama transisi.
REUTERS | BURHAN
"Kita akan melihat sejarah baru di Mesir," begitu kata Obama, Kamis 10 Februari, sehari sebelum Mubarak lengser.
Mubarak akhirnya resmi mundur pada 11 Februari 2011 dan menyerahkan kekuasannya kepada Dewan Tertinggi Militer.
Keputusan itu tak terlalu mencengangkan, mengingat Amerika Serikat juga sudahmempersiapkan tiga skenario untuk Mesir. Pertama skenario seperti penggulingan Shah Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlevi. Kedua, skenario seperti lengsernya Soerhato di Indonesia. Ketiga, skenarioa seperti Rumania.
Dari ketiga skenario itu, senario Indonesia adalah yang paling cocok buat Mesir. Terbukti, Mubarak mundur dan menyerahkan kekuasaannya dengan damai kepada militer. Di Indonesia Soeharto mundur, lalu diserahkan kepada wakil presiden B.J. Habibie. Inilah detail kesamaan Mesir dan Indonesia:
Pada tahun 1998, kekuasaan otoriter Presiden Soeharto selama 32 tahun berakhir. Dia adalah sekutu lama AS yang penghentiannya sangat ditakuti di Gedung Putih. Tetapi pada akhirnya, negara Muslim yang paling padat penduduknya itu membuat transisi berantakan dan panjang menuju demokrasi. Dan sampai sekarang tetap menjadi mitra utama dari Amerika Serikat.
Thomas Carothers, wakil presiden untuk studi di Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, merujuk pengalaman Indonesia sebagai skenario yang lebih mungkin untuk Mesir dibanding skenario Iran. Meski hal itu, menurut dia, jalan itu masih akan sulit. Tetapi ada kesamaan antara Mesir dan Indonesia: tradisi yang relatif sekuler, militer yang kuat yang (sejauh ini) menolak untuk menindas pengunjuk rasa, dan pemberontakan yang dipimpin oleh campuran dari pemuda dan masyarakat sipil.
Hal yang sama juga diungkapkan Tom Malinowski dari Human Rights Watch. Menurut dia, pemulihan kebebasan politik di Mesir akan memberdayakan kekuatan politik lebih moderat untuk muncul, seperti di Indonesia, dengan militer membantu untuk memberikan stabilitas selama transisi.
REUTERS | BURHAN
tepat seperti prediksiku bahwa Mubarak NUNUT Soeharto : http://yesussangmesiasnaif.blogspot.com/2011/01/mubarak-nunut-soeharto-pasca-30-tahunan.html
Mengapa CIA Salah Menginformasikan Pengunduran Diri Mubarak
SABTU, 12 FEBRUARI 2011 | 03:40 WIB
TEMPO Interaktif, Kairo - Presiden Amerika Serikat Barack Obama ada di mana ketika Presiden Mesir Hosni Mubarak resmi mundur? Obama ternyata sedang berjalan menuju ruang oval ketika Wakil Presiden Mesir Omar Suleiman mengumumkan pengunduran diri Mubarak Jumat kemarin. Juru bicara Dewan Keamanan Nasional, Tommy Vietor, mengatakan Obama kemudian bergabung dengan stafnya yang sedang menonton liputan televisi tentang Mesir. Ia menyimak berita pengunduran itu selama beberapa menit.
Apakah Obama baru tahu pengunduran diri Mubarak saat itu atau beberapa waktu sebelumnya? Belum ada konfirmasi soal ini. Yang jelas, Kamis kemarin, Obama dinilai telah mendapat informasi intelijen yang salah ketika ia mengatakan "Kita akan melihat sejarah baru di Mesir hari ini." Pernyataan ini jelas hendak menyebut bahwa Mubarak akan mundur Kamis malam itu. Tapi ternyata Mubarak, dalam pidatonya, justru berkukuh menolak mundur.
Beberapa menit sebelum Obama memberi pernyataan, Direktur CIA Leon Panetta juga menginformasikan pada anggota Kongres Amerika bahwa "Mubarak turun malam ini". Ucapan inilah yang kemudian dikutip media di seluruh dunia untuk menguatkan pernyataan petinggi Mesir tentang rencana Mubarak mengumumkan pengunduran dirinya Kamis malam. Kenyataannya informasi CIA itu salah.
Wartawan yang berada di pesawat Air Force One, Kamis, pun buru-buru mempertanyakan bobot informasi yang disampaikan Panetta kepada juru bicara Gedung Putih, Robert Gibbs. Gibbs menjawab, "Kami sedang melihat situasi yang sangat cair."
Saat ia terus didesak dengan pertanyaan: apakah Presiden tahu Mubarak berencana untuk mundur, ia kembali menjawab, "Sekali lagi, kita sedang menyaksikan hal ini sama seperti Anda."
Pernyataan Gibbs itu mengisyaratkan bahwa pemerintahan Obama tak tahu secara akurat apa yang sesungguhnya terjadi di Kairo. Ketidaktahuan ini dinilai sebagai sebuah kenaifan kesekian dari dinas intelijen termodern di dunia itu.
Beberapa hari sebelumnya kolega Panetta juga berkomentar naif dengan menyebut anggota Ikhwanul Muslimin "sebagian besar sekuler". James Clapper, Direktur Intelijen Nasional, yang membuat pernyataan salah itu di Kongres kemudian meralatnya dengan mengakui bahwa Ikhwanul Muslimin merupakan kelompok berbasis agama dan "bukan organisasi sekuler."
Lalu apa yang menyebabkan kenaifan-kenaifan itu terus terulang? Dari mana sebenarnya informasi-informasi keliru itu didapatkan CIA? Apakah kepala CIA mengandalkan sumber yang mereka percaya di Mesir atau justru dari laporan-laporan media?
Seorang pejabat pertahanan di Washington mengatakan Amerika sebenarnya telah mengerahkan berbagai aset intelijen untuk melihat apa yang terjadi di Kairo dan kota-kota Mesir lainnya. Untuk mengumpulkan informasi tentang pergerakan demonstran dan pengerahan pasukan keamanan Mesir. misalnya, intelijen Amerika menggunakan apa yang mereka kemukakan sebagai "perangkat teknis nasional". Ungkapan ini untuk menyebut satelit pengintai.
Di pusat kekuasaan, CIA juga memiliki sumber informasi yang amat dipercaya. Ada Wakil Presiden Omar Suleiman yang pernah menjalani pendidikan intelijen di Amerika selama beberapa tahun. Suleiman adalah mantan kepala intelijen Mesir. Berikutnya ada Hussein Tantawi, menteri pertahanan, yang segera diminta terbang ke Washington ketika demonstrasi besar pertama kali terjadi. Tantawi pula yang memimpin 24 jenderal mendesak Mubarak mundur. Ada lagi Letnan Jenderal Sami Anan, kepala staf angkatan bersenjata yang membawahi 468 ribu personel militer Mesir. Ia diminta Gedung Putih untuk aktif menjadi mediator antara Mubarak dengan demonstran.
Karena itu sangat ganjil jika dengan seluruh aset dan sumber intelijen tersebut, Amerika salah membaca krisis Mesir. Sejumlah pengamat mengatakan faktor kegagalan CIA memastikan hari, jam, dan detik-detik akhir kekuasaan Mubarak itu bersumber dari Mubarak sendiri. Dengan cepat Mubarak berbalik arah tanpa bisa dibaca orang-orang sekitarnya. Perubahan sikap presiden 82 tahun itu bisa dibaca sejak Amerika berbelok tak lagi berniat mempertahankannya. Mubarak praktis memutuskan kontak dengan Washington setelah itu. Ia merasa dikhianati dan menyebut Obama sebagai tak tahu budaya Mesir.
Pada Kamis malam itu, misalnya, sumber militer sudah memastikan Mubarak akan mundur. Begitu pula perdana menteri. Tapi situasi berubah cepat. Mubarak memanggil Suleiman di menit-menit akhir sebelum pidato. Ia hanya mau bicara dengan Suleiman. Sang wapres pun tak sempat berbicara dengan para petinggi militer. Dan ketika ia berpidato menyatakan menolak mundur, seluruh dunia terkejut, tak terkecuali Panetta, sang bos CIA.
Hal yang sama mungkin saja terjadi ketika Mubarak akhirnya memutuskan mundur Jumat kemarin. Tak ada yang tahu, kecuali Mubarak sendiri.
CNN | The Australian | YR
Apakah Obama baru tahu pengunduran diri Mubarak saat itu atau beberapa waktu sebelumnya? Belum ada konfirmasi soal ini. Yang jelas, Kamis kemarin, Obama dinilai telah mendapat informasi intelijen yang salah ketika ia mengatakan "Kita akan melihat sejarah baru di Mesir hari ini." Pernyataan ini jelas hendak menyebut bahwa Mubarak akan mundur Kamis malam itu. Tapi ternyata Mubarak, dalam pidatonya, justru berkukuh menolak mundur.
Beberapa menit sebelum Obama memberi pernyataan, Direktur CIA Leon Panetta juga menginformasikan pada anggota Kongres Amerika bahwa "Mubarak turun malam ini". Ucapan inilah yang kemudian dikutip media di seluruh dunia untuk menguatkan pernyataan petinggi Mesir tentang rencana Mubarak mengumumkan pengunduran dirinya Kamis malam. Kenyataannya informasi CIA itu salah.
Wartawan yang berada di pesawat Air Force One, Kamis, pun buru-buru mempertanyakan bobot informasi yang disampaikan Panetta kepada juru bicara Gedung Putih, Robert Gibbs. Gibbs menjawab, "Kami sedang melihat situasi yang sangat cair."
Saat ia terus didesak dengan pertanyaan: apakah Presiden tahu Mubarak berencana untuk mundur, ia kembali menjawab, "Sekali lagi, kita sedang menyaksikan hal ini sama seperti Anda."
Pernyataan Gibbs itu mengisyaratkan bahwa pemerintahan Obama tak tahu secara akurat apa yang sesungguhnya terjadi di Kairo. Ketidaktahuan ini dinilai sebagai sebuah kenaifan kesekian dari dinas intelijen termodern di dunia itu.
Beberapa hari sebelumnya kolega Panetta juga berkomentar naif dengan menyebut anggota Ikhwanul Muslimin "sebagian besar sekuler". James Clapper, Direktur Intelijen Nasional, yang membuat pernyataan salah itu di Kongres kemudian meralatnya dengan mengakui bahwa Ikhwanul Muslimin merupakan kelompok berbasis agama dan "bukan organisasi sekuler."
Lalu apa yang menyebabkan kenaifan-kenaifan itu terus terulang? Dari mana sebenarnya informasi-informasi keliru itu didapatkan CIA? Apakah kepala CIA mengandalkan sumber yang mereka percaya di Mesir atau justru dari laporan-laporan media?
Seorang pejabat pertahanan di Washington mengatakan Amerika sebenarnya telah mengerahkan berbagai aset intelijen untuk melihat apa yang terjadi di Kairo dan kota-kota Mesir lainnya. Untuk mengumpulkan informasi tentang pergerakan demonstran dan pengerahan pasukan keamanan Mesir. misalnya, intelijen Amerika menggunakan apa yang mereka kemukakan sebagai "perangkat teknis nasional". Ungkapan ini untuk menyebut satelit pengintai.
Di pusat kekuasaan, CIA juga memiliki sumber informasi yang amat dipercaya. Ada Wakil Presiden Omar Suleiman yang pernah menjalani pendidikan intelijen di Amerika selama beberapa tahun. Suleiman adalah mantan kepala intelijen Mesir. Berikutnya ada Hussein Tantawi, menteri pertahanan, yang segera diminta terbang ke Washington ketika demonstrasi besar pertama kali terjadi. Tantawi pula yang memimpin 24 jenderal mendesak Mubarak mundur. Ada lagi Letnan Jenderal Sami Anan, kepala staf angkatan bersenjata yang membawahi 468 ribu personel militer Mesir. Ia diminta Gedung Putih untuk aktif menjadi mediator antara Mubarak dengan demonstran.
Karena itu sangat ganjil jika dengan seluruh aset dan sumber intelijen tersebut, Amerika salah membaca krisis Mesir. Sejumlah pengamat mengatakan faktor kegagalan CIA memastikan hari, jam, dan detik-detik akhir kekuasaan Mubarak itu bersumber dari Mubarak sendiri. Dengan cepat Mubarak berbalik arah tanpa bisa dibaca orang-orang sekitarnya. Perubahan sikap presiden 82 tahun itu bisa dibaca sejak Amerika berbelok tak lagi berniat mempertahankannya. Mubarak praktis memutuskan kontak dengan Washington setelah itu. Ia merasa dikhianati dan menyebut Obama sebagai tak tahu budaya Mesir.
Pada Kamis malam itu, misalnya, sumber militer sudah memastikan Mubarak akan mundur. Begitu pula perdana menteri. Tapi situasi berubah cepat. Mubarak memanggil Suleiman di menit-menit akhir sebelum pidato. Ia hanya mau bicara dengan Suleiman. Sang wapres pun tak sempat berbicara dengan para petinggi militer. Dan ketika ia berpidato menyatakan menolak mundur, seluruh dunia terkejut, tak terkecuali Panetta, sang bos CIA.
Hal yang sama mungkin saja terjadi ketika Mubarak akhirnya memutuskan mundur Jumat kemarin. Tak ada yang tahu, kecuali Mubarak sendiri.
CNN | The Australian | YR
Kamis, 03 Februari 2011
friday of departure
WASHINGTON, Feb 7, 2011 (AFP)
US President Barack Obama said Monday he believed there was progress in Egypt a day after Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman met with opposition groups to appease an anti-government revolt.
"Obviously, Egypt has to negotiate a path and they're making progress," he told journalists after addressing the US Chamber of Commerce.
On Sunday, Suleiman -- key lieutenant and possible successor to beleaguered President Hosni Mubarak -- invited several opposition groups to join him on a panel to pilot democratic reform.
But the demonstrators were unimpressed and vowed to maintain their two-week vigil in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
Opposition parties, including the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, repeated their demand that Mubarak himself must stand down or immediately delegate his powers to Suleiman.
At the White House, Obama's spokesmsan Robert Gibbs stressed that the United States will be a partner to a new Egypt but its future leadership will need to "uphold" existing treaties, in apparent reference to that country's peace deal with Israel.
Washington "will be a partner" to an Egyptian government "we would expect that that partner would uphold particularly the treaties and the obligations that the government of Egypt, and ultimately the people of Egypt, have entered into."
The spokesman was responding to a question about the possible participation of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood in the transition to a new Egyptian government.
Gibbs said, however, that the Obama administration has not been in contact with the Muslim Brotherhood, noting significant disagreements with the powerful Islamist movement that has long been officially banned from Egyptian politics.
"We have many disagreements with the rhetoric of some of the leaders in that organization."
Some Western observers have expressed concern the Brotherhood could sweep to power and institute an Islamist regime that would be no more democratic and might break Egypt's close alliance with Washington.
There are also worries, particularly in Israel, that under the Brotherhood Egypt could adopt a much more hostile stance towards the Jewish state, even tearing up their 1979 peace treaty, signed after four wars.
Mubarak has been a key diplomatic figure in regional diplomacy in his three decades in power, mediating between the Israelis and the rest of the Arab world, and the Palestinians in particular.
The longtime leader has refused to immediately step down but announced last week he would not seek re-election.
Mubarak's announcement was quickly rejected by the Muslim Brotherhood, which rejected his offer to leave after his mandate ends in September.
Muslim Brotherhood says won't bid for presidency in Egypt
Topic: Clashes in Egypt
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Riots in EgyptRiots in Egypt
Riots in Egypt
© REUTERS/ Goran Tomasevic
Riots in Egypt
© RIA Novosti. Andrei Stenin
10:53 04/02/2011
Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood movement has no plans to put forward a candidate to stand in presidential elections set for September, spokesman Mohammed al-Beltagi told the Al Jazeera TV channel on Friday.
"We have said clearly that we have no ambitions to run for the presidency, or posts in a coalition government," he said.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been under the spotlight amid mass anti-government protests in Egypt, which broke out on January 25. The disorder has already claimed the lives of up to 300 people, with another 4,000 reported injured. A number of observers have voiced concern that the banned Islamic movement could eventually take power in Egypt.
Saying that government representatives had invited the Muslim Brotherhood to talks on political reform, al-Beltagi hinted that the group would receive official recognition as a party.
"We are ready to negotiate after [the end of] the [president Hosni] Mubarak regime," al-Beltagi said.
The deeply conservative Islamic movement, which wants to move Egypt from secularism and return to the rules of the Quran, failed to win a single seat in the 2010 Egyptian parliamentary elections.
MOSCOW, February 4 (RIA Novosti)
Suleiman Transition Talks With Egypt Opposition Win Clinton's Endorsement
By Ola Galal, Mariam Fam and Alaa Shahine - Feb 5, 2011
Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman met with opposition leaders to discuss how to transition power away from President Hosni Mubarak before elections in September, a process backed by the White House and allies.
As the Wafd and Tagammu parties met Suleiman yesterday in Cairo, Mubarak’s son resigned as head of the ruling National Democratic Party. Gamal Mubarak’s leadership of the party’s policy committee was taken by Hossam Badrawi, who also replaced Safwat el-Sherif as secretary-general, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported.
Suleiman will name today a committee of 25 people to prepare constitutional amendments, the state-run Al Ahram newspaper reported, citing Nabil Zaki, spokesman for the Tagammu party. Egyptian opposition groups say they want the government to ease constitutional curbs that make it difficult for independents to run for president.
The U.S. administration voiced support and kept up the pressure.
“It’s important to support the transition process announced by the Egyptian government, actually headed now by Vice President Omar Suleiman,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a speech at a security conference in Munich.
Vice President Joe Biden, in a telephone call with Suleiman yesterday, “stressed the need for a concrete reform agenda, a clear timeline and immediate steps that demonstrate to the public and the opposition that the Egyptian government is committed to reform,” according to a White House statement.
Obama Calling
In Washington, President Barack Obama telephoned leaders including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates, Prime Minister David Cameron of the U.K. and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, according to a White House statement.
Last week, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate start to the transition and the EU issued a statement calling on the Mubarak government to enter “serious and open dialogue” with the opposition. A reformed political order “needs to start now,” Cameron said in Munich, adding that the choice of a new leader was up to Egypt.
Demonstrations continued in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square yesterday for a 12th day. The army cordoned off the historic site with barbed wire, allowing only Egyptian citizens and journalists inside.
The orderly scene contrasted with rallies Feb. 2 and Feb. 3 when Mubarak supporters clashed violently with protesters, resulting in 11 deaths, according to official Egyptian figures.
Suez Security
Meanwhile, Egypt tightened security along the Suez Canal, based on information that members of Hamas and Hezbollah infiltrated the country, the state-run Al Ahram newspaper reported, citing an unnamed security official. The Islamic militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah are classified as terrorist organizations by the U.S.
Egypt’s banks planned to open today for the first time in more than a week, the central bank announced.
Yields on Egypt’s treasury bills may surge about a third, said Shahinaz Foda, head of treasury at BNP Paribas Egypt. The country plans to auction 11 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.9 billion) this week in T-bills. Credit Agricole CIB expects the pound to slump 20 percent in the short term.
With the violence ebbing, oil prices fell on Friday. Egyptian credit-default swaps also fell, indicating a declining risk of default, as Finance Minister Samir Radwan said the country would honor its obligations.
Bourse Closed
While banks are opening, Egypt’s stock market will remain closed today, Hisham Turk, communications manager at the exchange, said by telephone in Cairo yesterday. It may open during the week, he said.
Egypt’s courts are also to resume business today, Al Arabiya television reported, citing the Justice Ministry. Railways are now working normally after being halted due to the demonstrations, Egyptian state television reported.
A transition that would have Mubarak give up his power to Suleiman, 74, who has run Egypt’s intelligence service since 1993, would avoid dealing with complex provisions of the Egyptian constitution that likely would take months to change.
Among possible steps Suleiman discussed with military leaders was moving Mubarak to his home in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the New York Times reported, citing unidentified Egyptian and American officials. Germany would admit Mubarak for medical treatment, Bild am Sonntag reported, citing government sources the newspaper didn’t identify. Mubarak had surgery in Germany last year.
‘Rigged Parliament’
The opposition Wafd party was in talks with Suleiman “to pave the way for a peaceful power transition as fast as possible,” party spokesman Mohamed Sherdy said. Wafd also “wants to see the current parliament dissolved,” he said. “This is a rigged parliament.”
Tagammu party head Refaat El-Saeed also met with the vice president, party spokesman Nabil Zaki said. Suleiman told El- Saeed that the Egyptian government planned to issue a statement tomorrow to pledge carrying out constitutional amendments and to form a 25-member committee to draft potential constitutional changes, Zaki said in a telephone interview.
The prospect of a disruption to shipments through the Suez Canal sent North Sea Brent above $100 a barrel for the first time since October 2008 last week. Brent crude dropped $1.90 to $99.86 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London as of 5:19 p.m. local time Feb. 4.
Pipeline Explosion
An Egyptian pipeline that carries natural gas to Israel exploded in the northern Sinai desert, the Middle East News Agency reported. It said that “subversive elements” were behind the explosion. Earlier, the oil ministry reported that it was caused by a gas leak. Repairs to the pipeline, which carries gas to Israel and Jordan, may take two weeks, according to the Oil Ministry.
Concern that turmoil in Egypt would spread sent the Dubai Financial Market General Index down 4.3 percent on Jan. 30. Since then, the index has recovered and closed on Feb. 3 at 1581.01, down 2 percent from 1612.63 on Jan. 27.
Other Arab countries have been gripped by spreading instability in the Middle East. In Yemen, police used tear gas against anti-government protests Feb. 3, and Jordan sacked its government this week. Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said Feb. 3 that a 19-year-old state of emergency will be lifted “in the very near future.” The protests began in Tunisia, where President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced from office last month after two decades in power.
‘Strategic Necessity’
Clinton said in Munich that governments in the Middle East must make the transition to openness and democracy “a strategic necessity,” warning that “all of our interests will be at risk” if they don’t.
The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that as many as 2,000 people have been injured over the past few days, and some reports put the number as high as 5,000.
Radwan, the finance minister, said the North African nation would meet all its debt commitments. “We are not defaulting on any obligations,” he said yesterday by phone in Cairo.
The cost of insuring Egypt’s debt for five years with credit-default swaps fell 14 basis points to 365 after hitting 430 on Jan. 28, the highest since April 2009, CMA prices in London show. The contracts remain 62 basis points higher than before thousands of protesters took to the streets Jan. 25.
Jumat, 04/02/2011 11:30 WIB
Demo Besar di Mesir Usai Salat Jumat, WNI Dievakuasi ke Posko di Kairo
Indra Subagja - detikNews
Jakarta - Demo besar di Mesir diperkirakan akan dilakukan usai Salat Jumat. Kabar ini sudah menyebar di seantero Mesir, demikian pula di media setempat. KBRI di Kairo pun melakukan antisipasi. Warga yang rentan seperti mahasiswi dan anak-anak dibawa ke posko di Kairo.
"Informasinya setelah salat Jumat," kata Atase Penerangan KBRI di Kairo, Ali Andika saat dihubungi detikcom, Jumat (4/2/2011). Perbedaan waktu Indonesia dan Mesir, Jakarta lebih cepat 5 jam.
KBRI mencoba mengeluarkan WNI dari kota-kota di sekitar Kairo, yang berjarak 20-30 km, untuk diamankan di posko di Kairo.
"Saat ini sudah ada rombongan dari Kota Alexandria, ada 24 mahasiswi dan keluarganya yang kita evakuasi," imbuhnya.
Selanjutnya, setelah dibawa dari kota-kota di luar Kairo, akan dibawa dengan menggunakan pesawat, dievakuasi ke Indonesia.
"Pengamatan kami, demonstrasi besar terpusat di satu titik, tidak meluas. KBRI masih tetap mengimbau warga negaranya tidak mendekati unjuk rasa di Kairo, di Lapangan Tahrir. Kita tidak ingin warga kita terkena dampak, alhamdulillah warga kita mematuhi imbauan," terangnya.
Untuk evakuasi, KBRI menggunakan kendaraan-kendaraan sewa dan kendaraan KBRI. "Kami khawatir kondisi memanas, dan melakukan antisipasi. Kita utamakan ibu-ibu dan anak-anak," imbuhnya.
Sementara itu, saat ini, meski di sejumlah titik relatif tenang. Warga Mesir di malam hari melakukan pengamanan swakarsa di lingkungan masing-masing.
"Masyarakat ronda mengamankan lingkungannya," tutupnya.
(ndr/fay)
Mubarak says resigning would bring chaos
By Jonathan Wright and Marwa Awad
CAIRO | Thu Feb 3, 2011 5:49pm EST
CAIRO (Reuters) - President Hosni Mubarak said on Thursday he wanted to quit but that he feared his resignation would bring chaos to Egypt, as protesters demanding an end to his 30-year rule clashed with his supporters on Cairo's streets.
Mubarak's government has struggled to regain control of a nation angry about poverty, recession and political repression, inviting Islamist opponents to talks and apologizing for bloodshed in Cairo that left 10 people dead.
A bloody confrontation gripped central Cairo where armed government loyalists fought pro-democracy demonstrators on Thursday in an uprising which is reshaping the modern history of this key U.S. ally and the Arab world's most populous nation.
"I am fed up. After 62 years in public service, I have had enough. I want to go," Mubarak, 82, who remains inside his heavily guarded palace in Cairo, said in an interview with ABC.
"If I resign today, there will be chaos," he added. Asked to comment on calls for him to resign, he said: "I don't care what people say about me. Right now I care about my country."
Protesters, who numbered some 10,000 in Tahrir (Liberation) Square during the day, prepared to defy a curfew and sleep there ahead of a big demonstration they are calling the "Friday of Departure" to mark last week's bloody "Day of Wrath" protest.
In a move to try to calm the disorder, Vice President Omar Suleiman said on Thursday the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most organized opposition movement, had been invited to meet with the new government as part of a national dialogue with all parties.
An offer to talk to the banned group would have been unthinkable before protests erupted on January 25, indicating the giant strides made by the reformist movement since then. But scenting victory, they have refused talks until Mubarak goes.
ARMY ROLE CRITICAL
Protesters in Tahrir Square, dominated now by a youthful hard core including secular middle-class graduates and mostly poorer Islamist activists from the Brotherhood, barely listened, saying the concessions were too little and too late.
"Suleiman has not listened to the people's needs. We want Mubarak to leave immediately, not to stick around for another six months," said Mohamed Anis, 29, who works at the bourse.
"We have refused dialogue and negotiation with Suleiman until Mubarak steps down," he added.
Opposition leaders including the liberal figurehead Mohamed ElBaradei and the Muslim Brotherhood said again that Mubarak, who wants to stay on until September elections, must go before they would negotiate with the government.
The overture came after new Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq apologized for the violence and the breakdown in law and order. Shafiq said he did not know who was responsible for the bloodshed, blamed by protesters on undercover police.
United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay said up to 300 people may have died in the bloody uprising.
Egypt's Mubarak Says He Won't Bow to Demands to Quit
By Ahmed A. Namatalla, Alaa Shahine and Caroline Alexander - Feb 3, 2011
Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman asked protesters demanding the end of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime to go home, after opposition groups rejected talks with the government and held a 10th day of demonstrations.
“I say to the young people, we thank you for what you did, you are the flame that ignited reform,” Suleiman said in an interview broadcast live on state television late today. “The state has heeded all the demands that were made, please give a chance to the state to carry out its duty.”
Mubarak, in an interview on ABC News, rejected demands that he step down immediately. He said he was “fed up” with his job but feared “there will be chaos” if he quit, according to a summary posted on ABC’s website.
While Egypt’s stock market remains closed, crude oil has risen 3.7 percent since Jan. 24 to $91.15 a barrel in New York and in Dubai the benchmark index was down 0.9 percent on the continued violence.
Clashes between pro- and anti-Mubarak demonstrators continued in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square. Journalists, human rights activists and aid workers were attacked by pro-government mobs.
Foreigners continued to flee the country, costing Egypt at least $1 billion in tourist dollars, Suleiman said, urging the protesters to allow order to return and a political transition to begin.
Opposition groups rejected any deal before the removal from office of Mubarak, who told ABC News his premature departure would usher into power the Muslim Brotherhood.
In Washington, President Barack Obama’s spokesman condemned the targeting of journalists for attack and detentions today and said the Egyptian government must ensure the rights of its citizens to protest peacefully.
‘World is Watching’
Mubarak, in an interview with ABC News correspondent Christiane Amanpour, said today he told President Barack Obama that the U.S. doesn’t “understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now,” according to an ABC News account of the interview on its website.
The Egyptian leader, who has been in power for nearly 30 years, said he was “fed up with being president” and “never intended to run again. I never intended Gamal to be president after me,” ABC News quoted him as saying. Gamal Mubarak is the president’s son, who was widely seen by Egyptians and U.S. diplomats as being groomed to succeed his father.
“The world is watching the actions that are taking place right now in Egypt,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters traveling with the president to an event in Pennsylvania. The Egyptian government must make good on its promise to hold accountable those responsible for attacks on demonstrators, he said.
800 Injured
Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik told reporters today that some Mubarak supporters instigated the clashes in the square yesterday, in which more than 800 were injured, and that those responsible would be prosecuted. He heads a new Cabinet appointed by Mubarak in the past week as the president sought to placate protesters calling for his resignation.
The political turmoil that has engulfed the Middle East spread to Yemen, where thousands of demonstrators gathered today in the capital and police used tear gas in the port city of Aden. European leaders called for a quick transition toward democracy in Egypt, the most populous Arab country and a key ally of the U.S. and Israel. Persian Gulf shares fell, oil prices rose and Fitch lowered its rating on Egyptian debt. The unrest continued in downtown Cairo as night fell.
Egypt’s stock market, closed since Jan. 27 after a 16 percent plunge in the benchmark index last week, is provisionally due to resume trading Feb. 7, a day after banks are scheduled to reopen. The bourse said it may impose limits to prevent price fluctuations, and curtail trading sessions.
Markets React
Dubai’s benchmark share index dropped 0.9 percent at the close of trading, and the cost of insuring Egyptian debt rose 9 basis points to 386, according to CMA prices for credit-default swaps.
Crude oil has climbed 3.7 percent in New York trading since Jan. 24, to $91.15 a barrel. By comparison, Iran’s 1979 revolution sent the price of Saudi Arabia’s Arab light crude to about $34 a barrel at the end of 1980 from $14 two years earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The army set up a barrier in Tahrir Square after yesterday’s clashes at the square, the focus of protests that began Jan. 25. Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition group, said they were not prepared to negotiate with the government as it had instigated the violence.
Talks Rejected
“We are not ready to talk because of the current situation and what is happening in Tahrir Square, where citizens are being hurt and shot,” Mohamed Saad el-Katatni, member of the Guidance Council, the group’s top executive body, said by telephone from Cairo. “Enough of this regime. Enough of Hosni Mubarak.”
El-Katatni said he didn’t know if tomorrow would see a repeat of the mass gatherings after Friday prayers on Jan. 28, when protesters in Cairo and other major cities fought with security forces. “We don’t call on the youths to protest, but we will sure take part if there are protests,” he said.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it had reports of local and foreign journalists being detained in Cairo by security police. “We have multiple reports of dozens being arrested today and we are looking to confirm these reports,” Gypsy Guillen Kaiser, spokeswoman for the group, said in a telephone interview. “This is very serious.”
Hotels Stormed
Supporters of President Hosni Mubarak stormed hotels in the capital searching for journalists, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya television channels reported today. Many members of the foreign press have been staying in hotels near Tahrir Square, a focal point for nine consecutive days of protests aimed at forcing Mubarak to resign.
Egypt has sought to curb the flow of information since rallies began. Authorities Jan. 29 cut off access to the Internet for five days, and mobile services were down for at least two. Al Jazeera said it had to switch its transmission to another frequency as its signal on Nilesat was jammed.
The army has maintained a presence in the center of Cairo since police and security forces withdrew from the streets after the Jan. 28 clashes.
“The most important player is the army right now,” Kate Nevens, an analyst in the Middle East and North Africa program at the Chatham House research institute in London, said today. “Things have really taken a turn for the worse. The army definitely sees itself as the protector of the state and its people rather than the regime,” and may be prepared to side against the pro-Mubarak supporters, she said.
Oil Markets
“All eyes in the oil market are on the riots and protests in Egypt right now,” said Robert Montefusco, senior broker at Sucden Financial in London. “That’s keeping prices strong, though there hasn’t been any disruption to supplies.”
Egypt’s stock market, closed since Jan. 27 after a 16 percent plunge in the benchmark index last week, is provisionally due to resume trading Feb. 7, a day after banks are scheduled to reopen. The bourse said it may impose restrictions to prevent price fluctuations, and curtail trading sessions.
International companies including Heineken NA have halted operations in the country and evacuated expatriate staff since the protests began. BG Group said it had suspended infill drilling activities, though its offshore production & LNG operations continue unaffected by the unrest.
The economy lost at least $1 billion in the past nine days as 1 million tourists fled the country as a result of the unrest, Suleiman said today.
Opposition Rejects Suleiman
The opposition has rejected the president’s response to the crisis, which included the appointment of Suleiman, the intelligence chief, as his first-ever vice president. Mubarak also said he ordered the Cabinet to loosen curbs that make it hard for the Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition candidates to run for office.
Mubarak hasn’t spoken publicly since the Feb. 1 televised address in which he announced that he won’t seek re-election in September and warned that the country must choose between “chaos and stability.”
The protest movement, whose disparate factions range from secular activists who organize support online to the religiously oriented Brotherhood, needs to coalesce around a concrete program to break the stalemate, and “it has to happen very soon,” said Christopher Davidson, who teaches Middle East politics at Durham University in the U.K.
What’s Next?
The anti-government demonstrators “have to get a published timetable with a basic manifesto to give the world an idea of what is coming next: a gentle authoritarian government with a transition toward democracy,” he said. “The protesters are right to think they could outlast the regime, because they can, but at the same time, a lot of instability and violence could be spared by some very simple acts.”
John McCain, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said it’s “almost inevitable” that Mubarak will go, and violence will escalate if he doesn’t. “The army has to play the lead role,” McCain said in a Bloomberg Television interview today.
Mubarak, though, is a military man himself who “will not flee the battlefield,” said Naguib Sawiris, Egyptian billionaire and chief executive officer of Orascom Telecom Holding SAE, in another Bloomberg TV interview. A better solution would be for Mubarak to dissolve parliament, form “a unity government” with the opposition and “hold free elections under international supervision within six months,” he said.
Regional Unrest
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of the other five largest Western European countries called for a “quick and orderly transition” in a joint statement, echoing a similar call by U.S. President Barack Obama. None of those leaders has openly said that Mubarak should step down earlier than his announced date of September.
Obama said today that he prays for peace in Egypt and for the fulfillment of the “rights and aspirations of Egyptians.”
The regional unrest began in Tunisia, where President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted and forced to flee last month after two decades in power. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said yesterday he won’t seek to extend his term ends in 2013. Jordan’s King Abdullah sacked his government this week, and police and protesters have clashed in Algeria.
Shafik warned that further unrest in Egypt may damage the economy, which relies on tourism and foreign investment. Growth has slowed since the global economic crisis to less than the 7 percent that the government says is necessary to reduce unemployment.
High Unemployment
Egypt’s “unemployment, underemployment and informal work have remained among the highest in the world,” and have “triggered this historic outpouring of popular demands,” International Labour Organization Director-General Juan Somavia said today in an e-mailed statement.
Egypt is the worst performer among 12 Middle Eastern, North African and Gulf countries in terms of gross domestic product growth per capita. Egyptian average GDP per capita increased to $2,160.04 in 2009 from $2,155.49 in 1989, according to data from the International Monetary Fund, and about 40 percent of Egyptians live below the poverty line.
Reopening the financial system won’t create problems because the country’s lenders are “very liquid,” Deputy Central Bank Governor Hisham Ramez said in a telephone interview from Cairo today. He said government debt auctions will resume next week and the Finance Ministry will announce a schedule. Two planned sales were canceled this week.
Fitch Downgrade
Fitch Ratings today cut Egypt’s bonds to BB, two steps below investment grade, from BB+, matching similar moves by other ratings companies. The central bank may increase rates to avoid an outflow of bank deposits and capital, Standard & Poor’s said yesterday. Yields on Egypt’s dollar bonds maturing in 2020 fell 2 basis points to 6.59 percent today.
The Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, is functioning normally, Shafik said today. Concern that oil supplies through the canal may be disrupted has helped push crude prices higher this week.
“At present, the canal remains open and, despite reports of isolated incidents, the ports are largely functioning as normal,” Lloyd’s Market Association said today in an e-mailed statement. “Unless the situation changes drastically, and there is extensive disruption over an extended period, the current situation is unlikely to have a major impact for insurances.”
Suez Traffic
While Suez is a key artery carrying some 8 percent of global sea trade, it’s Egypt’s role in the Middle East peace process that has made it central to U.S. policy in the region since 1979, when Egypt signed a U.S.-brokered peace treaty with Israel. Since then it has been one of the biggest recipients of American aid, receiving about $1.5 billion last year. Most of the aid has been earmarked for Mubarak’s security forces.
Mubarak has backed efforts to encourage Arab acceptance of Israel, oppose Iran’s nuclear program and isolate Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.
U.S. administration officials are sticking to Obama’s insistence that the new leadership of Egypt is a matter for the Egyptian people. “We do not have a favorite candidate or candidates. We are not going to anoint any successor to President Mubarak. These are decisions to be made by the Egyptian people,” State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said in Washington.
US President Barack Obama said Monday he believed there was progress in Egypt a day after Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman met with opposition groups to appease an anti-government revolt.
"Obviously, Egypt has to negotiate a path and they're making progress," he told journalists after addressing the US Chamber of Commerce.
On Sunday, Suleiman -- key lieutenant and possible successor to beleaguered President Hosni Mubarak -- invited several opposition groups to join him on a panel to pilot democratic reform.
But the demonstrators were unimpressed and vowed to maintain their two-week vigil in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
Opposition parties, including the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, repeated their demand that Mubarak himself must stand down or immediately delegate his powers to Suleiman.
At the White House, Obama's spokesmsan Robert Gibbs stressed that the United States will be a partner to a new Egypt but its future leadership will need to "uphold" existing treaties, in apparent reference to that country's peace deal with Israel.
Washington "will be a partner" to an Egyptian government "we would expect that that partner would uphold particularly the treaties and the obligations that the government of Egypt, and ultimately the people of Egypt, have entered into."
The spokesman was responding to a question about the possible participation of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood in the transition to a new Egyptian government.
Gibbs said, however, that the Obama administration has not been in contact with the Muslim Brotherhood, noting significant disagreements with the powerful Islamist movement that has long been officially banned from Egyptian politics.
"We have many disagreements with the rhetoric of some of the leaders in that organization."
Some Western observers have expressed concern the Brotherhood could sweep to power and institute an Islamist regime that would be no more democratic and might break Egypt's close alliance with Washington.
There are also worries, particularly in Israel, that under the Brotherhood Egypt could adopt a much more hostile stance towards the Jewish state, even tearing up their 1979 peace treaty, signed after four wars.
Mubarak has been a key diplomatic figure in regional diplomacy in his three decades in power, mediating between the Israelis and the rest of the Arab world, and the Palestinians in particular.
The longtime leader has refused to immediately step down but announced last week he would not seek re-election.
Mubarak's announcement was quickly rejected by the Muslim Brotherhood, which rejected his offer to leave after his mandate ends in September.
Muslim Brotherhood says won't bid for presidency in Egypt
Topic: Clashes in Egypt
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Riots in EgyptRiots in Egypt
Riots in Egypt
© REUTERS/ Goran Tomasevic
Riots in Egypt
© RIA Novosti. Andrei Stenin
10:53 04/02/2011
Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood movement has no plans to put forward a candidate to stand in presidential elections set for September, spokesman Mohammed al-Beltagi told the Al Jazeera TV channel on Friday.
"We have said clearly that we have no ambitions to run for the presidency, or posts in a coalition government," he said.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been under the spotlight amid mass anti-government protests in Egypt, which broke out on January 25. The disorder has already claimed the lives of up to 300 people, with another 4,000 reported injured. A number of observers have voiced concern that the banned Islamic movement could eventually take power in Egypt.
Saying that government representatives had invited the Muslim Brotherhood to talks on political reform, al-Beltagi hinted that the group would receive official recognition as a party.
"We are ready to negotiate after [the end of] the [president Hosni] Mubarak regime," al-Beltagi said.
The deeply conservative Islamic movement, which wants to move Egypt from secularism and return to the rules of the Quran, failed to win a single seat in the 2010 Egyptian parliamentary elections.
MOSCOW, February 4 (RIA Novosti)
Suleiman Transition Talks With Egypt Opposition Win Clinton's Endorsement
By Ola Galal, Mariam Fam and Alaa Shahine - Feb 5, 2011
Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman met with opposition leaders to discuss how to transition power away from President Hosni Mubarak before elections in September, a process backed by the White House and allies.
As the Wafd and Tagammu parties met Suleiman yesterday in Cairo, Mubarak’s son resigned as head of the ruling National Democratic Party. Gamal Mubarak’s leadership of the party’s policy committee was taken by Hossam Badrawi, who also replaced Safwat el-Sherif as secretary-general, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported.
Suleiman will name today a committee of 25 people to prepare constitutional amendments, the state-run Al Ahram newspaper reported, citing Nabil Zaki, spokesman for the Tagammu party. Egyptian opposition groups say they want the government to ease constitutional curbs that make it difficult for independents to run for president.
The U.S. administration voiced support and kept up the pressure.
“It’s important to support the transition process announced by the Egyptian government, actually headed now by Vice President Omar Suleiman,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a speech at a security conference in Munich.
Vice President Joe Biden, in a telephone call with Suleiman yesterday, “stressed the need for a concrete reform agenda, a clear timeline and immediate steps that demonstrate to the public and the opposition that the Egyptian government is committed to reform,” according to a White House statement.
Obama Calling
In Washington, President Barack Obama telephoned leaders including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates, Prime Minister David Cameron of the U.K. and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, according to a White House statement.
Last week, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate start to the transition and the EU issued a statement calling on the Mubarak government to enter “serious and open dialogue” with the opposition. A reformed political order “needs to start now,” Cameron said in Munich, adding that the choice of a new leader was up to Egypt.
Demonstrations continued in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square yesterday for a 12th day. The army cordoned off the historic site with barbed wire, allowing only Egyptian citizens and journalists inside.
The orderly scene contrasted with rallies Feb. 2 and Feb. 3 when Mubarak supporters clashed violently with protesters, resulting in 11 deaths, according to official Egyptian figures.
Suez Security
Meanwhile, Egypt tightened security along the Suez Canal, based on information that members of Hamas and Hezbollah infiltrated the country, the state-run Al Ahram newspaper reported, citing an unnamed security official. The Islamic militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah are classified as terrorist organizations by the U.S.
Egypt’s banks planned to open today for the first time in more than a week, the central bank announced.
Yields on Egypt’s treasury bills may surge about a third, said Shahinaz Foda, head of treasury at BNP Paribas Egypt. The country plans to auction 11 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.9 billion) this week in T-bills. Credit Agricole CIB expects the pound to slump 20 percent in the short term.
With the violence ebbing, oil prices fell on Friday. Egyptian credit-default swaps also fell, indicating a declining risk of default, as Finance Minister Samir Radwan said the country would honor its obligations.
Bourse Closed
While banks are opening, Egypt’s stock market will remain closed today, Hisham Turk, communications manager at the exchange, said by telephone in Cairo yesterday. It may open during the week, he said.
Egypt’s courts are also to resume business today, Al Arabiya television reported, citing the Justice Ministry. Railways are now working normally after being halted due to the demonstrations, Egyptian state television reported.
A transition that would have Mubarak give up his power to Suleiman, 74, who has run Egypt’s intelligence service since 1993, would avoid dealing with complex provisions of the Egyptian constitution that likely would take months to change.
Among possible steps Suleiman discussed with military leaders was moving Mubarak to his home in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the New York Times reported, citing unidentified Egyptian and American officials. Germany would admit Mubarak for medical treatment, Bild am Sonntag reported, citing government sources the newspaper didn’t identify. Mubarak had surgery in Germany last year.
‘Rigged Parliament’
The opposition Wafd party was in talks with Suleiman “to pave the way for a peaceful power transition as fast as possible,” party spokesman Mohamed Sherdy said. Wafd also “wants to see the current parliament dissolved,” he said. “This is a rigged parliament.”
Tagammu party head Refaat El-Saeed also met with the vice president, party spokesman Nabil Zaki said. Suleiman told El- Saeed that the Egyptian government planned to issue a statement tomorrow to pledge carrying out constitutional amendments and to form a 25-member committee to draft potential constitutional changes, Zaki said in a telephone interview.
The prospect of a disruption to shipments through the Suez Canal sent North Sea Brent above $100 a barrel for the first time since October 2008 last week. Brent crude dropped $1.90 to $99.86 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London as of 5:19 p.m. local time Feb. 4.
Pipeline Explosion
An Egyptian pipeline that carries natural gas to Israel exploded in the northern Sinai desert, the Middle East News Agency reported. It said that “subversive elements” were behind the explosion. Earlier, the oil ministry reported that it was caused by a gas leak. Repairs to the pipeline, which carries gas to Israel and Jordan, may take two weeks, according to the Oil Ministry.
Concern that turmoil in Egypt would spread sent the Dubai Financial Market General Index down 4.3 percent on Jan. 30. Since then, the index has recovered and closed on Feb. 3 at 1581.01, down 2 percent from 1612.63 on Jan. 27.
Other Arab countries have been gripped by spreading instability in the Middle East. In Yemen, police used tear gas against anti-government protests Feb. 3, and Jordan sacked its government this week. Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said Feb. 3 that a 19-year-old state of emergency will be lifted “in the very near future.” The protests began in Tunisia, where President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced from office last month after two decades in power.
‘Strategic Necessity’
Clinton said in Munich that governments in the Middle East must make the transition to openness and democracy “a strategic necessity,” warning that “all of our interests will be at risk” if they don’t.
The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that as many as 2,000 people have been injured over the past few days, and some reports put the number as high as 5,000.
Radwan, the finance minister, said the North African nation would meet all its debt commitments. “We are not defaulting on any obligations,” he said yesterday by phone in Cairo.
The cost of insuring Egypt’s debt for five years with credit-default swaps fell 14 basis points to 365 after hitting 430 on Jan. 28, the highest since April 2009, CMA prices in London show. The contracts remain 62 basis points higher than before thousands of protesters took to the streets Jan. 25.
Jumat, 04/02/2011 11:30 WIB
Demo Besar di Mesir Usai Salat Jumat, WNI Dievakuasi ke Posko di Kairo
Indra Subagja - detikNews
Jakarta - Demo besar di Mesir diperkirakan akan dilakukan usai Salat Jumat. Kabar ini sudah menyebar di seantero Mesir, demikian pula di media setempat. KBRI di Kairo pun melakukan antisipasi. Warga yang rentan seperti mahasiswi dan anak-anak dibawa ke posko di Kairo.
"Informasinya setelah salat Jumat," kata Atase Penerangan KBRI di Kairo, Ali Andika saat dihubungi detikcom, Jumat (4/2/2011). Perbedaan waktu Indonesia dan Mesir, Jakarta lebih cepat 5 jam.
KBRI mencoba mengeluarkan WNI dari kota-kota di sekitar Kairo, yang berjarak 20-30 km, untuk diamankan di posko di Kairo.
"Saat ini sudah ada rombongan dari Kota Alexandria, ada 24 mahasiswi dan keluarganya yang kita evakuasi," imbuhnya.
Selanjutnya, setelah dibawa dari kota-kota di luar Kairo, akan dibawa dengan menggunakan pesawat, dievakuasi ke Indonesia.
"Pengamatan kami, demonstrasi besar terpusat di satu titik, tidak meluas. KBRI masih tetap mengimbau warga negaranya tidak mendekati unjuk rasa di Kairo, di Lapangan Tahrir. Kita tidak ingin warga kita terkena dampak, alhamdulillah warga kita mematuhi imbauan," terangnya.
Untuk evakuasi, KBRI menggunakan kendaraan-kendaraan sewa dan kendaraan KBRI. "Kami khawatir kondisi memanas, dan melakukan antisipasi. Kita utamakan ibu-ibu dan anak-anak," imbuhnya.
Sementara itu, saat ini, meski di sejumlah titik relatif tenang. Warga Mesir di malam hari melakukan pengamanan swakarsa di lingkungan masing-masing.
"Masyarakat ronda mengamankan lingkungannya," tutupnya.
(ndr/fay)
Mubarak says resigning would bring chaos
By Jonathan Wright and Marwa Awad
CAIRO | Thu Feb 3, 2011 5:49pm EST
CAIRO (Reuters) - President Hosni Mubarak said on Thursday he wanted to quit but that he feared his resignation would bring chaos to Egypt, as protesters demanding an end to his 30-year rule clashed with his supporters on Cairo's streets.
Mubarak's government has struggled to regain control of a nation angry about poverty, recession and political repression, inviting Islamist opponents to talks and apologizing for bloodshed in Cairo that left 10 people dead.
A bloody confrontation gripped central Cairo where armed government loyalists fought pro-democracy demonstrators on Thursday in an uprising which is reshaping the modern history of this key U.S. ally and the Arab world's most populous nation.
"I am fed up. After 62 years in public service, I have had enough. I want to go," Mubarak, 82, who remains inside his heavily guarded palace in Cairo, said in an interview with ABC.
"If I resign today, there will be chaos," he added. Asked to comment on calls for him to resign, he said: "I don't care what people say about me. Right now I care about my country."
Protesters, who numbered some 10,000 in Tahrir (Liberation) Square during the day, prepared to defy a curfew and sleep there ahead of a big demonstration they are calling the "Friday of Departure" to mark last week's bloody "Day of Wrath" protest.
In a move to try to calm the disorder, Vice President Omar Suleiman said on Thursday the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most organized opposition movement, had been invited to meet with the new government as part of a national dialogue with all parties.
An offer to talk to the banned group would have been unthinkable before protests erupted on January 25, indicating the giant strides made by the reformist movement since then. But scenting victory, they have refused talks until Mubarak goes.
ARMY ROLE CRITICAL
Protesters in Tahrir Square, dominated now by a youthful hard core including secular middle-class graduates and mostly poorer Islamist activists from the Brotherhood, barely listened, saying the concessions were too little and too late.
"Suleiman has not listened to the people's needs. We want Mubarak to leave immediately, not to stick around for another six months," said Mohamed Anis, 29, who works at the bourse.
"We have refused dialogue and negotiation with Suleiman until Mubarak steps down," he added.
Opposition leaders including the liberal figurehead Mohamed ElBaradei and the Muslim Brotherhood said again that Mubarak, who wants to stay on until September elections, must go before they would negotiate with the government.
The overture came after new Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq apologized for the violence and the breakdown in law and order. Shafiq said he did not know who was responsible for the bloodshed, blamed by protesters on undercover police.
United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay said up to 300 people may have died in the bloody uprising.
Egypt's Mubarak Says He Won't Bow to Demands to Quit
By Ahmed A. Namatalla, Alaa Shahine and Caroline Alexander - Feb 3, 2011
Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman asked protesters demanding the end of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime to go home, after opposition groups rejected talks with the government and held a 10th day of demonstrations.
“I say to the young people, we thank you for what you did, you are the flame that ignited reform,” Suleiman said in an interview broadcast live on state television late today. “The state has heeded all the demands that were made, please give a chance to the state to carry out its duty.”
Mubarak, in an interview on ABC News, rejected demands that he step down immediately. He said he was “fed up” with his job but feared “there will be chaos” if he quit, according to a summary posted on ABC’s website.
While Egypt’s stock market remains closed, crude oil has risen 3.7 percent since Jan. 24 to $91.15 a barrel in New York and in Dubai the benchmark index was down 0.9 percent on the continued violence.
Clashes between pro- and anti-Mubarak demonstrators continued in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square. Journalists, human rights activists and aid workers were attacked by pro-government mobs.
Foreigners continued to flee the country, costing Egypt at least $1 billion in tourist dollars, Suleiman said, urging the protesters to allow order to return and a political transition to begin.
Opposition groups rejected any deal before the removal from office of Mubarak, who told ABC News his premature departure would usher into power the Muslim Brotherhood.
In Washington, President Barack Obama’s spokesman condemned the targeting of journalists for attack and detentions today and said the Egyptian government must ensure the rights of its citizens to protest peacefully.
‘World is Watching’
Mubarak, in an interview with ABC News correspondent Christiane Amanpour, said today he told President Barack Obama that the U.S. doesn’t “understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now,” according to an ABC News account of the interview on its website.
The Egyptian leader, who has been in power for nearly 30 years, said he was “fed up with being president” and “never intended to run again. I never intended Gamal to be president after me,” ABC News quoted him as saying. Gamal Mubarak is the president’s son, who was widely seen by Egyptians and U.S. diplomats as being groomed to succeed his father.
“The world is watching the actions that are taking place right now in Egypt,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters traveling with the president to an event in Pennsylvania. The Egyptian government must make good on its promise to hold accountable those responsible for attacks on demonstrators, he said.
800 Injured
Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik told reporters today that some Mubarak supporters instigated the clashes in the square yesterday, in which more than 800 were injured, and that those responsible would be prosecuted. He heads a new Cabinet appointed by Mubarak in the past week as the president sought to placate protesters calling for his resignation.
The political turmoil that has engulfed the Middle East spread to Yemen, where thousands of demonstrators gathered today in the capital and police used tear gas in the port city of Aden. European leaders called for a quick transition toward democracy in Egypt, the most populous Arab country and a key ally of the U.S. and Israel. Persian Gulf shares fell, oil prices rose and Fitch lowered its rating on Egyptian debt. The unrest continued in downtown Cairo as night fell.
Egypt’s stock market, closed since Jan. 27 after a 16 percent plunge in the benchmark index last week, is provisionally due to resume trading Feb. 7, a day after banks are scheduled to reopen. The bourse said it may impose limits to prevent price fluctuations, and curtail trading sessions.
Markets React
Dubai’s benchmark share index dropped 0.9 percent at the close of trading, and the cost of insuring Egyptian debt rose 9 basis points to 386, according to CMA prices for credit-default swaps.
Crude oil has climbed 3.7 percent in New York trading since Jan. 24, to $91.15 a barrel. By comparison, Iran’s 1979 revolution sent the price of Saudi Arabia’s Arab light crude to about $34 a barrel at the end of 1980 from $14 two years earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The army set up a barrier in Tahrir Square after yesterday’s clashes at the square, the focus of protests that began Jan. 25. Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition group, said they were not prepared to negotiate with the government as it had instigated the violence.
Talks Rejected
“We are not ready to talk because of the current situation and what is happening in Tahrir Square, where citizens are being hurt and shot,” Mohamed Saad el-Katatni, member of the Guidance Council, the group’s top executive body, said by telephone from Cairo. “Enough of this regime. Enough of Hosni Mubarak.”
El-Katatni said he didn’t know if tomorrow would see a repeat of the mass gatherings after Friday prayers on Jan. 28, when protesters in Cairo and other major cities fought with security forces. “We don’t call on the youths to protest, but we will sure take part if there are protests,” he said.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it had reports of local and foreign journalists being detained in Cairo by security police. “We have multiple reports of dozens being arrested today and we are looking to confirm these reports,” Gypsy Guillen Kaiser, spokeswoman for the group, said in a telephone interview. “This is very serious.”
Hotels Stormed
Supporters of President Hosni Mubarak stormed hotels in the capital searching for journalists, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya television channels reported today. Many members of the foreign press have been staying in hotels near Tahrir Square, a focal point for nine consecutive days of protests aimed at forcing Mubarak to resign.
Egypt has sought to curb the flow of information since rallies began. Authorities Jan. 29 cut off access to the Internet for five days, and mobile services were down for at least two. Al Jazeera said it had to switch its transmission to another frequency as its signal on Nilesat was jammed.
The army has maintained a presence in the center of Cairo since police and security forces withdrew from the streets after the Jan. 28 clashes.
“The most important player is the army right now,” Kate Nevens, an analyst in the Middle East and North Africa program at the Chatham House research institute in London, said today. “Things have really taken a turn for the worse. The army definitely sees itself as the protector of the state and its people rather than the regime,” and may be prepared to side against the pro-Mubarak supporters, she said.
Oil Markets
“All eyes in the oil market are on the riots and protests in Egypt right now,” said Robert Montefusco, senior broker at Sucden Financial in London. “That’s keeping prices strong, though there hasn’t been any disruption to supplies.”
Egypt’s stock market, closed since Jan. 27 after a 16 percent plunge in the benchmark index last week, is provisionally due to resume trading Feb. 7, a day after banks are scheduled to reopen. The bourse said it may impose restrictions to prevent price fluctuations, and curtail trading sessions.
International companies including Heineken NA have halted operations in the country and evacuated expatriate staff since the protests began. BG Group said it had suspended infill drilling activities, though its offshore production & LNG operations continue unaffected by the unrest.
The economy lost at least $1 billion in the past nine days as 1 million tourists fled the country as a result of the unrest, Suleiman said today.
Opposition Rejects Suleiman
The opposition has rejected the president’s response to the crisis, which included the appointment of Suleiman, the intelligence chief, as his first-ever vice president. Mubarak also said he ordered the Cabinet to loosen curbs that make it hard for the Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition candidates to run for office.
Mubarak hasn’t spoken publicly since the Feb. 1 televised address in which he announced that he won’t seek re-election in September and warned that the country must choose between “chaos and stability.”
The protest movement, whose disparate factions range from secular activists who organize support online to the religiously oriented Brotherhood, needs to coalesce around a concrete program to break the stalemate, and “it has to happen very soon,” said Christopher Davidson, who teaches Middle East politics at Durham University in the U.K.
What’s Next?
The anti-government demonstrators “have to get a published timetable with a basic manifesto to give the world an idea of what is coming next: a gentle authoritarian government with a transition toward democracy,” he said. “The protesters are right to think they could outlast the regime, because they can, but at the same time, a lot of instability and violence could be spared by some very simple acts.”
John McCain, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said it’s “almost inevitable” that Mubarak will go, and violence will escalate if he doesn’t. “The army has to play the lead role,” McCain said in a Bloomberg Television interview today.
Mubarak, though, is a military man himself who “will not flee the battlefield,” said Naguib Sawiris, Egyptian billionaire and chief executive officer of Orascom Telecom Holding SAE, in another Bloomberg TV interview. A better solution would be for Mubarak to dissolve parliament, form “a unity government” with the opposition and “hold free elections under international supervision within six months,” he said.
Regional Unrest
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of the other five largest Western European countries called for a “quick and orderly transition” in a joint statement, echoing a similar call by U.S. President Barack Obama. None of those leaders has openly said that Mubarak should step down earlier than his announced date of September.
Obama said today that he prays for peace in Egypt and for the fulfillment of the “rights and aspirations of Egyptians.”
The regional unrest began in Tunisia, where President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted and forced to flee last month after two decades in power. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said yesterday he won’t seek to extend his term ends in 2013. Jordan’s King Abdullah sacked his government this week, and police and protesters have clashed in Algeria.
Shafik warned that further unrest in Egypt may damage the economy, which relies on tourism and foreign investment. Growth has slowed since the global economic crisis to less than the 7 percent that the government says is necessary to reduce unemployment.
High Unemployment
Egypt’s “unemployment, underemployment and informal work have remained among the highest in the world,” and have “triggered this historic outpouring of popular demands,” International Labour Organization Director-General Juan Somavia said today in an e-mailed statement.
Egypt is the worst performer among 12 Middle Eastern, North African and Gulf countries in terms of gross domestic product growth per capita. Egyptian average GDP per capita increased to $2,160.04 in 2009 from $2,155.49 in 1989, according to data from the International Monetary Fund, and about 40 percent of Egyptians live below the poverty line.
Reopening the financial system won’t create problems because the country’s lenders are “very liquid,” Deputy Central Bank Governor Hisham Ramez said in a telephone interview from Cairo today. He said government debt auctions will resume next week and the Finance Ministry will announce a schedule. Two planned sales were canceled this week.
Fitch Downgrade
Fitch Ratings today cut Egypt’s bonds to BB, two steps below investment grade, from BB+, matching similar moves by other ratings companies. The central bank may increase rates to avoid an outflow of bank deposits and capital, Standard & Poor’s said yesterday. Yields on Egypt’s dollar bonds maturing in 2020 fell 2 basis points to 6.59 percent today.
The Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, is functioning normally, Shafik said today. Concern that oil supplies through the canal may be disrupted has helped push crude prices higher this week.
“At present, the canal remains open and, despite reports of isolated incidents, the ports are largely functioning as normal,” Lloyd’s Market Association said today in an e-mailed statement. “Unless the situation changes drastically, and there is extensive disruption over an extended period, the current situation is unlikely to have a major impact for insurances.”
Suez Traffic
While Suez is a key artery carrying some 8 percent of global sea trade, it’s Egypt’s role in the Middle East peace process that has made it central to U.S. policy in the region since 1979, when Egypt signed a U.S.-brokered peace treaty with Israel. Since then it has been one of the biggest recipients of American aid, receiving about $1.5 billion last year. Most of the aid has been earmarked for Mubarak’s security forces.
Mubarak has backed efforts to encourage Arab acceptance of Israel, oppose Iran’s nuclear program and isolate Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.
U.S. administration officials are sticking to Obama’s insistence that the new leadership of Egypt is a matter for the Egyptian people. “We do not have a favorite candidate or candidates. We are not going to anoint any successor to President Mubarak. These are decisions to be made by the Egyptian people,” State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said in Washington.
Rabu, 02 Februari 2011
Mubarak, STOP, n0w
Editorial
Beyond Mubarak
Published: February 1, 2011
The announcement from President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt that he would not run for re-election was welcome, if he means it, but it was unlikely to be enough. It is up to the Egyptian people to decide. But as a proud nationalist, Mr. Mubarak can best contribute to Egypt’s stability and future by stepping aside and letting an interim government take over until truly free elections can be held.
Mr. Mubarak spoke after President Obama’s special envoy urged him not to run again. On Tuesday evening, Mr. Obama said that he had told the Egyptian leader that “an orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now.” That should be a clear warning to Mr. Mubarak that his time has passed.
On Tuesday, the eighth day of demonstrations, hundreds of thousands went to Liberation Square in Cairo to demand Mr. Mubarak’s ouster. The protests were the largest and most diverse so far.
The demonstration was peaceful. The army had announced that it would not use force, a decision Mr. Obama praised on Tuesday night. Egyptians have expressed their gratitude, but the generals should not misread that enthusiasm. Egypt needs a real democracy, not another strongman. Washington, which provides $1.5 billion in military aid annually, should be sending that message to the army’s leaders.
Presidential elections are scheduled for September. We are skeptical they can be credible with Mr. Mubarak even nominally in charge. Whatever happens in coming days, the Egyptian government and the opposition will need to work together to create conditions for a fair vote.
The government must start by lifting the blackout on Internet and cellphone service. The 30-year-old state of emergency that has allowed it to detain and censor all critics must end. Egypt will need a truly independent electoral commission and international monitors to ensure an honest vote. All participants will have to agree to abide by the final results.
This is made far more complicated by the fact that Egypt has few opposition groups — the result of Mr. Mubarak’s 30 years of authoritarian rule. The best organized is the banned Muslim Brotherhood. Mohamed ElBaradei, the former top nuclear inspector for the United Nations and a Nobel laureate, is eager to lead.
Those with political ambitions must quickly explain their vision for Egypt — beyond ousting Mr. Mubarak. What rights would they guarantee in law? Will the Coptic Christian minority be protected and have a voice in their country? Will there be freedom of access to the Suez Canal? Will the government abide by the 1979 peace treaty with Israel?
Critics here and in Egypt have complained that President Obama has been too slow to cut his ties with Mr. Mubarak. Balancing national security concerns against moral responsibilities is never pretty. The United States has an important role in encouraging a swift and peaceful transition. President Obama is right to take pains to avoid any impression that Washington is orchestrating events.
The Iranian revolution is seared in our memories. There are no guarantees that Egypt’s next government will be as friendly to Washington as this one. And no guarantee that it will treat its own people any better. But Mr. Mubarak’s efforts to hold on to power, at all costs, will lead to more instability and fury. If Egypt devolves into chaos, it will feed extremism throughout the region.
February 2, 2011
Arab World Faces Its Uncertain Future
By ANTHONY SHADID
CAIRO — The future of the Arab world, perched between revolt and the contempt of a crumbling order, was fought for in the streets of downtown Cairo on Wednesday.
Tens of thousands of protesters who have reimagined the very notion of citizenship in a tumultuous week of defiance proclaimed with sticks, home-made bombs and a shower of rocks that they would not surrender their revolution to the full brunt of an authoritarian government that answered their calls for change with violence.
The Arab world watched a moment that suggested it would never be the same again — and waited to see whether protest or crackdown would win the day. Words like “uprising” and “revolution” only hint at the scale of events in Egypt, which have already reverberated across Yemen, Jordan, Syria and even Saudi Arabia, offering a new template for change in a region that long reeled from its own sense of stagnation. “Every Egyptian understands now,” said Magdi al-Sayyid, one of the protesters.
The protesters have spoken for themselves to a government that, like many across the Middle East, treated them as a nuisance. For years, pundits have predicted that Islamists would be the force that toppled governments across the Arab world. But so far, they have been submerged in an outpouring of popular dissent that speaks to a unity of message, however fleeting — itself a sea change in the region’s political landscape. In the vast panorama of Tahrir Square on Wednesday, Egyptians were stationed at makeshift barricades, belying pat dismissals of the power of the Arab street.
“The street is not afraid of governments anymore,” said Shawki al-Qadi, an opposition lawmaker in Yemen, itself roiled by change. “It is the opposite. Governments and their security forces are afraid of the people now. The new generation, the generation of the Internet, is fearless. They want their full rights, and they want life, a dignified life.”
The power of Wednesday’s stand was that it turned those abstractions into reality.
The battle was waged by Mohammed Gamil, a dentist in a blue tie who ran toward the barricades of Tahrir Square. It was joined by Fayeqa Hussein, a veiled mother of seven who filled a Styrofoam container with rocks. Magdi Abdel-Rahman, a 60-year-old grandfather, kissed the ground before throwing himself against crowds mobilized by a state bent on driving them from the square. And the charge was led by Yasser Hamdi, who said his 2-year-old daughter would live a life better than the one he endured.
“Aren’t you men?” he shouted. “Let’s go!”
As the crowd pushed back the government’s men, down a street of airline offices, banks and a bookstore called L’Orientaliste, Mr. Abdel-Rahman made the stakes clear. “They want to take our revolution from us,” he declared.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition force, has entered the fray. In a poignant moment, its followers knelt in prayer at dusk, their faces lighted by the soft glow of burning fires a stone’s throw away. But Mr. Abdel-Rahman’s description of the uprising as a revolution suggested that the events of the past week had overwhelmed even the Brotherhood, long considered the sole agent of change here.
“Dignity” was a word often used Wednesday, and its emphasis underlined the breadth of a movement that is, so far, leaderless. Neither the Brotherhood nor a handful of opposition leaders — men like Mohammed ElBaradei or Ayman Nour — have managed to articulate hopelessness, the humiliations at the hands of the police and the outrage at having too little money to marry, echoed in the streets of Palestinian camps in Jordan and in the urban misery of Baghdad’s Sadr City. For many, the Brotherhood itself is a vestige of an older order that has failed to deliver.
“The problem is that for 30 years, Mubarak didn’t let us build an alternative,” said Adel Wehba, as he watched the tumult in the square. “No alternative for anything.”
The lack of an alternative may have led to the uprising, making the street the last option for not only the young and dispossessed but also virtually every element of Egypt’s population — turbaned clerics, businessmen from wealthy suburbs, film directors and well-to-do engineers. Months ago, despair at the prospect of change in the Arab world was commonplace. Protesters on Wednesday acted as though they were making a last stand at what they had won, in an uprising that is distinctly nationalist.
“He won’t go,” President Hosni Mubarak’s supporters chanted on the other side. “He will go,” went the reply. “We’re not going to go.”
The word “traitor” rang out Wednesday. The insult was directed at Mr. Mubarak, and it echoed the sentiment heard in so many parts of the Arab world these days — governments of an American-backed order in most of the region have lost their legitimacy, built on the idea that people would surrender their rights for the prospect of security and stability. In the square on Wednesday, protesters offered an alternative, their empowerment standing as possibly the most remarkable legacy of a people who often lamented their apathy.
Everyone seemed joined in the moment, fists, batons and rocks banging any piece of metal to rally themselves. A man stood on a tank turret, urging protesters forward. Another cried as he shouted at Mr. Mubarak’s men. “Come here!” he said. “Here is where’s right.” Men and women ferried rocks in bags, cartons and boxes to the barricades. Bassem Yusuf, a heart surgeon, heard news of the clashes on television and headed to the square at dusk, stitching wounds at a makeshift clinic run by volunteers.
“We’re not going to destroy our country,” said Mohammed Kamil, a 48-year-old, surging with the crowd. “We’re not going to let this dog make us do that.”
From minute-by-minute coverage on Arabic channels to conversations from Iraq to Morocco, the Middle East watched breathlessly at a moment as compelling as any in the Arab world in a lifetime. For the first time in a generation, Arabs seem to be looking again to Egypt for leadership, and that sense of destiny was voiced throughout the day.
“I tell the Arab world to stand with us until we win our freedom,” said Khaled Yusuf, a cleric from Al Azhar, a once esteemed institution of religious scholarship now beholden to the government. “Once we do, we’re going to free the Arab world.”
For decades, the Arab world has waited for a savior — be it Gamal Abdel-Nasser, the charismatic Egyptian president, or even, for a time, Saddam Hussein. No one was waiting for a savior on Wednesday. Before nearly three decades of accumulated authority — the power of a state that can mobilize thousands to heed its whims — people had themselves.
“I’m fighting for my freedom,” Noha al-Ustaz said as she broke bricks on the curb. “For my right to express myself. For an end to oppression. For an end to injustice.”
“Go forward,” the cries rang out, and she did, disappearing into a sea of men.
Nada Bakri contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.
Beyond Mubarak
Published: February 1, 2011
The announcement from President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt that he would not run for re-election was welcome, if he means it, but it was unlikely to be enough. It is up to the Egyptian people to decide. But as a proud nationalist, Mr. Mubarak can best contribute to Egypt’s stability and future by stepping aside and letting an interim government take over until truly free elections can be held.
Mr. Mubarak spoke after President Obama’s special envoy urged him not to run again. On Tuesday evening, Mr. Obama said that he had told the Egyptian leader that “an orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now.” That should be a clear warning to Mr. Mubarak that his time has passed.
On Tuesday, the eighth day of demonstrations, hundreds of thousands went to Liberation Square in Cairo to demand Mr. Mubarak’s ouster. The protests were the largest and most diverse so far.
The demonstration was peaceful. The army had announced that it would not use force, a decision Mr. Obama praised on Tuesday night. Egyptians have expressed their gratitude, but the generals should not misread that enthusiasm. Egypt needs a real democracy, not another strongman. Washington, which provides $1.5 billion in military aid annually, should be sending that message to the army’s leaders.
Presidential elections are scheduled for September. We are skeptical they can be credible with Mr. Mubarak even nominally in charge. Whatever happens in coming days, the Egyptian government and the opposition will need to work together to create conditions for a fair vote.
The government must start by lifting the blackout on Internet and cellphone service. The 30-year-old state of emergency that has allowed it to detain and censor all critics must end. Egypt will need a truly independent electoral commission and international monitors to ensure an honest vote. All participants will have to agree to abide by the final results.
This is made far more complicated by the fact that Egypt has few opposition groups — the result of Mr. Mubarak’s 30 years of authoritarian rule. The best organized is the banned Muslim Brotherhood. Mohamed ElBaradei, the former top nuclear inspector for the United Nations and a Nobel laureate, is eager to lead.
Those with political ambitions must quickly explain their vision for Egypt — beyond ousting Mr. Mubarak. What rights would they guarantee in law? Will the Coptic Christian minority be protected and have a voice in their country? Will there be freedom of access to the Suez Canal? Will the government abide by the 1979 peace treaty with Israel?
Critics here and in Egypt have complained that President Obama has been too slow to cut his ties with Mr. Mubarak. Balancing national security concerns against moral responsibilities is never pretty. The United States has an important role in encouraging a swift and peaceful transition. President Obama is right to take pains to avoid any impression that Washington is orchestrating events.
The Iranian revolution is seared in our memories. There are no guarantees that Egypt’s next government will be as friendly to Washington as this one. And no guarantee that it will treat its own people any better. But Mr. Mubarak’s efforts to hold on to power, at all costs, will lead to more instability and fury. If Egypt devolves into chaos, it will feed extremism throughout the region.
February 2, 2011
Arab World Faces Its Uncertain Future
By ANTHONY SHADID
CAIRO — The future of the Arab world, perched between revolt and the contempt of a crumbling order, was fought for in the streets of downtown Cairo on Wednesday.
Tens of thousands of protesters who have reimagined the very notion of citizenship in a tumultuous week of defiance proclaimed with sticks, home-made bombs and a shower of rocks that they would not surrender their revolution to the full brunt of an authoritarian government that answered their calls for change with violence.
The Arab world watched a moment that suggested it would never be the same again — and waited to see whether protest or crackdown would win the day. Words like “uprising” and “revolution” only hint at the scale of events in Egypt, which have already reverberated across Yemen, Jordan, Syria and even Saudi Arabia, offering a new template for change in a region that long reeled from its own sense of stagnation. “Every Egyptian understands now,” said Magdi al-Sayyid, one of the protesters.
The protesters have spoken for themselves to a government that, like many across the Middle East, treated them as a nuisance. For years, pundits have predicted that Islamists would be the force that toppled governments across the Arab world. But so far, they have been submerged in an outpouring of popular dissent that speaks to a unity of message, however fleeting — itself a sea change in the region’s political landscape. In the vast panorama of Tahrir Square on Wednesday, Egyptians were stationed at makeshift barricades, belying pat dismissals of the power of the Arab street.
“The street is not afraid of governments anymore,” said Shawki al-Qadi, an opposition lawmaker in Yemen, itself roiled by change. “It is the opposite. Governments and their security forces are afraid of the people now. The new generation, the generation of the Internet, is fearless. They want their full rights, and they want life, a dignified life.”
The power of Wednesday’s stand was that it turned those abstractions into reality.
The battle was waged by Mohammed Gamil, a dentist in a blue tie who ran toward the barricades of Tahrir Square. It was joined by Fayeqa Hussein, a veiled mother of seven who filled a Styrofoam container with rocks. Magdi Abdel-Rahman, a 60-year-old grandfather, kissed the ground before throwing himself against crowds mobilized by a state bent on driving them from the square. And the charge was led by Yasser Hamdi, who said his 2-year-old daughter would live a life better than the one he endured.
“Aren’t you men?” he shouted. “Let’s go!”
As the crowd pushed back the government’s men, down a street of airline offices, banks and a bookstore called L’Orientaliste, Mr. Abdel-Rahman made the stakes clear. “They want to take our revolution from us,” he declared.
The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition force, has entered the fray. In a poignant moment, its followers knelt in prayer at dusk, their faces lighted by the soft glow of burning fires a stone’s throw away. But Mr. Abdel-Rahman’s description of the uprising as a revolution suggested that the events of the past week had overwhelmed even the Brotherhood, long considered the sole agent of change here.
“Dignity” was a word often used Wednesday, and its emphasis underlined the breadth of a movement that is, so far, leaderless. Neither the Brotherhood nor a handful of opposition leaders — men like Mohammed ElBaradei or Ayman Nour — have managed to articulate hopelessness, the humiliations at the hands of the police and the outrage at having too little money to marry, echoed in the streets of Palestinian camps in Jordan and in the urban misery of Baghdad’s Sadr City. For many, the Brotherhood itself is a vestige of an older order that has failed to deliver.
“The problem is that for 30 years, Mubarak didn’t let us build an alternative,” said Adel Wehba, as he watched the tumult in the square. “No alternative for anything.”
The lack of an alternative may have led to the uprising, making the street the last option for not only the young and dispossessed but also virtually every element of Egypt’s population — turbaned clerics, businessmen from wealthy suburbs, film directors and well-to-do engineers. Months ago, despair at the prospect of change in the Arab world was commonplace. Protesters on Wednesday acted as though they were making a last stand at what they had won, in an uprising that is distinctly nationalist.
“He won’t go,” President Hosni Mubarak’s supporters chanted on the other side. “He will go,” went the reply. “We’re not going to go.”
The word “traitor” rang out Wednesday. The insult was directed at Mr. Mubarak, and it echoed the sentiment heard in so many parts of the Arab world these days — governments of an American-backed order in most of the region have lost their legitimacy, built on the idea that people would surrender their rights for the prospect of security and stability. In the square on Wednesday, protesters offered an alternative, their empowerment standing as possibly the most remarkable legacy of a people who often lamented their apathy.
Everyone seemed joined in the moment, fists, batons and rocks banging any piece of metal to rally themselves. A man stood on a tank turret, urging protesters forward. Another cried as he shouted at Mr. Mubarak’s men. “Come here!” he said. “Here is where’s right.” Men and women ferried rocks in bags, cartons and boxes to the barricades. Bassem Yusuf, a heart surgeon, heard news of the clashes on television and headed to the square at dusk, stitching wounds at a makeshift clinic run by volunteers.
“We’re not going to destroy our country,” said Mohammed Kamil, a 48-year-old, surging with the crowd. “We’re not going to let this dog make us do that.”
From minute-by-minute coverage on Arabic channels to conversations from Iraq to Morocco, the Middle East watched breathlessly at a moment as compelling as any in the Arab world in a lifetime. For the first time in a generation, Arabs seem to be looking again to Egypt for leadership, and that sense of destiny was voiced throughout the day.
“I tell the Arab world to stand with us until we win our freedom,” said Khaled Yusuf, a cleric from Al Azhar, a once esteemed institution of religious scholarship now beholden to the government. “Once we do, we’re going to free the Arab world.”
For decades, the Arab world has waited for a savior — be it Gamal Abdel-Nasser, the charismatic Egyptian president, or even, for a time, Saddam Hussein. No one was waiting for a savior on Wednesday. Before nearly three decades of accumulated authority — the power of a state that can mobilize thousands to heed its whims — people had themselves.
“I’m fighting for my freedom,” Noha al-Ustaz said as she broke bricks on the curb. “For my right to express myself. For an end to oppression. For an end to injustice.”
“Go forward,” the cries rang out, and she did, disappearing into a sea of men.
Nada Bakri contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.
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