Protesters stormed and ransacked the Cairo headquarters of President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group early Monday, in an attack that could spark more violence as demonstrators gear up for a second day of mass rallies aimed at forcing the Islamist leader from power.
Organizers of the protests, meanwhile, gave Morsi until 5 p.m. on Tuesday to step down and called on the police and the military to clearly state their support for what the protest movement called the popular will.
Sunday saw millions of Egyptians flood the streets nationwide in a massive outpouring of anger and frustration with the president andthe Brotherhood, the Islamist group that propelled Morsi to power. The protests were largely peaceful, although in a sign of the volatility of the country's divisions, clashes erupted in the evening around the Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters between armed Morsi supporters barricaded inside the building and young protesters pelting it with firebombs and rocks.
The protest rallies against Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi staged across Egypt Sunday June 30, a year after he took power, offered two surprises. Rather than an outpouring of anti-Islamist rage, the tenor of the banners, placards and chants raised over Cairo’s Tahrir Square echoed the slogans of pan-Arab, nationalism, socialism and xenophobia, with which the charismatic Gemal Abdel Nasser caught the Arab world by storm half a century ago. The Muslim Brotherhood rule in Egypt, thrown up by the Arab Revolt, may face the challenge of a neo-Arab nationalistic uprising, a throwback to the Nasserist era.
There was also a strong strain of anti-American sentiment.
In Cairo, placards of US Ambassador Anne Patterson, accused of currying favor with the Muslim Brotherhood, were hoisted alongside those of President Morsi – both defaced with large red exes.
The second surprise was the less-than expected turnout – hundreds of thousands - at most one millon - rather than 3-5 million the organizers hoped to rally in Cairo alone and no more than two-to-two and a half million in all the main city centers combined.
The second surprise was the less-than expected turnout – hundreds of thousands - at most one millon - rather than 3-5 million the organizers hoped to rally in Cairo alone and no more than two-to-two and a half million in all the main city centers combined.
According to the Egyptian Interior Ministry, 17 million demonstrators counting supporters and opponents of the president, were in the streets Sunday night.
No one is even trying to guess what sort of Egypt will emerge from this new turbulence, or who will rule the country when it subsides. Some facts and figures may offer some clues to where Egypt is heading:
The next stage planned is for a shutdown of public transportation, factories, financial companies and the flow of oil and gas in and out of Egypt. Within days, the country will face electricity and water outages and start the grim descent into complete chaos.
The uprising has a leader, the Nassersit Hamdeen Sabahi, who came in third place after Morsi in last year’s presidential election. But the trouble for the protest leaders is that he is virtually faceless on the national scene and has never made his mark as a figure able to inspire the masses to rise up against the government. Without a strong figure, the uprising may soon lose traction.
When the Black Death exploded in Arabia in the 14th century, killing an estimated third of the population, it spread across the Islamic world via infected religious pilgrims. Today, the Middle East is threatened with a new plague, one eponymously if not ominously named the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV, or MERS for short). This novel coronavirus was discovered in Jordan in March 2012, and as of June 26, there have been 77 laboratory-confirmed infections, 62 of which have been in Saudi Arabia; 34 of these Saudi patients have died.
This fall, millions of devout Muslims will descend upon Mecca, Medina, and Saudi Arabia's holy sites in one of the largest annual migrations in human history. In 2012, approximately 6 million pilgrims came through Saudi Arabia to perform the rituals associated with umrah, and this number is predicted to rise in 2013. Umrah literally means "to visit a populated place," and it's the very proximity that has health officials so worried. In Mecca alone, millions of pilgrims will fulfill the religious obligation of circling the Kaaba. And having a large group of people together in a single, fairly confined space threatens to turn the holiest site in Islam into a massive petri dish.
The disease is still mysterious. Little is understood about how it is transmitted and even less regarding its origins. But we do know that MERS is deadly, with a mortality rate of about 55 percent -- a remarkably higher lethality than that posed by its close cousin, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus, which in 2003 terrified travelers across the globe but posed a fatality rate of only 9.6 percent. The MERS coronavirus is new to our species, so mild and asymptomatic infections seem to be rare, but the human immune response to infection is itself so extreme that it can prove deadly in some cases.
Like SARS, the MERS virus spreads between people via close contact, shared medical instruments, and coughing. Once inside the human lung, the MERS virus sparks a series of reactions that all but destroy normal lung function. Patients can descend into pneumonia so severe that they require machine-assisted breathing to stay alive, in as little as 12 days. Unlike SARS, the MERS virus is also capable of attacking the kidneys and can be passed on to others via exposure to contaminated urine. And for some of those who survive acute MERS, years of rehabilitation may be necessary, just like for some of the 2003 SARS victims.
The ministry also must deal with the distinct possibility that pilgrims from abroad could bring other diseases to the kingdom, especially polio. (Saudi Arabia has been polio-free since 1995, but there was an importation as recently as 2004.) Polio is still endemic in several Muslim countries, including Nigeria and Pakistan, and outbreaks this year have surfaced in Somalia and Kenya. It has been eliminated in Saudi Arabia, but pilgrims from outside could carry the disease back into the region. Worryingly, live polio viruses identical to those circulating in Pakistan were discovered in the sewers of Cairo in January and in Israel in June.
The Catholic news service quotes local sources who report that the radical Al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, or Al-Nusra Front, was behind the savage killing.
In video posted by Live Leak purporting to show the execution, dozens of men and boys are seen cheering on as three men are seated on the ground awaiting their grisly fate.
The men are methodically beheaded one at a time by men holding what appears to be a simple kitchen knife after which the heads are placed on top of the bodies.
According to Catholic Online, the first victim was Murad.
A frenzy ensues, with dozens drawing out their smartphones to capture the bloody scene, as a chorus of Allahu Akbar (“Allah is the greatest”) are sung with jihadi rapture. Several observers are seen moving within inches of the bodies in an effort to capture close-up photos.
French President Francois Hollande said it must "immediately stop", while a spokesman for Germany's Angela Merkel said "bugging friends is unacceptable".
US Secretary of State John Kerry said earlier that activities to protect national security were "not unusual" in international relations.
EU officials have warned the affair could put a massive trade pact at risk.
The first round of talks on the trade pact, the biggest bilateral deal ever negotiated, are due to start in Washington DC on 8 July.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said Germany wanted the deal to go ahead but that "mutual trust is necessary in order to come to an agreement".
"We are no longer in the Cold War," he added
EU politicians have questioned the future of trade talks and demanded explanations from Washington after Der Spiegel revelations that EU offices in Brussels, New York and Washington are bugged by American intelligence.
The telephone lines and computer networks of EU offices in Brussels were tapped by the American National Security Agency (NSA) under its so-called Prism surveillance programme, German daily Der Spiegel reports, based on new documents leaked by fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden.
An NSA document from September 2010 describes Europeans as specific targets, the German magazine says.
In addition, a series of bogus phone calls to the Justus Lipsius building, which hosts the EU Council, were traced back to Nato headquarters in Brussels where NSA agents are based, indicating an attack on the EU communications security, Spiegel writes.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Sunday that Edward Snowden— the former National Security Agency and CIA contractor still holed up in a Moscow airport after leaking classified national security information to media outlets — has more secrets to reveal, and that there is nothing the U.S. government can do to stop him.
“Look, there is no stopping the publishing process at this stage. Great care has been taken to make sure that Mr. Snowden can’t be pressured by any state to stop the publication process,” Mr. Assange said during an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”
The latest revelations attributed to Mr. Snowden were reported by the German outlet Der Spiegel, which claims leaked documents show the U.S. spied on European Union officials in Washington, New York and Brussels.
Reaction was swift from European allies, who said the allegations could scuttle ongoing negotiations on a proposed major trans-Atlantic trade treaty.
“Partners do not spy on each other,” said EU Justice CommissionerViviane Reding. European Parliament President Martin Schulz said he was “deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of U.S. authorities spying on EU offices.”
Germany's Federal Prosecutors' Office confirmed to SPIEGEL on Sunday that it is looking into whether systematic data spying against the country conducted by America's National Security Agency violated laws aimed at protecting German citizens.
Nevertheless, the spokeswoman said that "criminal complaints" relating to the scandal appear "likely". One criminal complaint has already been filed in Germany. SPIEGEL has learned that a provision was used at the local public prosecutor's office in the city of Giessen to lodge a criminal complaint against an unknown perpetrator over the spying.
According to the content of documents viewed by SPIEGEL, spying by the American National Security Agency (NSA) has been far more widespread than previously believed. Secret NSA documents show that authorities systematically monitored and saved a large share of Internet and telephone connection data. Internal NSA statistics show that around 500 million communications connections in Germany are monitored monthly by the agency. The NSA also classifies Germany as a "target" for spying.
In addition, SPIEGEL reported this weekend that the NSA has buggedEuropean Union diplomatic offices in the United States for eavesdropping purposes and that it has infiltrated EU computer networks. The revelations come from material about the NSA's Prism and Britain's Tempora programs compiled by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
In addition, SPIEGEL reported this weekend that the NSA has buggedEuropean Union diplomatic offices in the United States for eavesdropping purposes and that it has infiltrated EU computer networks. The revelations come from material about the NSA's Prism and Britain's Tempora programs compiled by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
I have an EMT [emergency medical technician] friend up here in Northern Idaho, whom I trust implicitly. He has told me he has seen Russian soldiers in Montana multiple times. I believe him. But talk like this has been deemed ‘conspiracy’ fodder for years. Until now…
When I first saw this today, I was not planning on writing a post. However, this convinced me otherwise. Obama has been openly building his own private ‘Brown Shirt’ forces under the IRS, FEMA and DHS. It would seem that he will have help from his friend Putin in Russia. I wrote on thislast week and the week before, that what you see with Snowden and the NSA disclosures is smoke and mirrors – things are not what they seem. The NSA is corrupt and that needs to be addressed, but Obama and the Progressives are the root of the current corruption and are using Snowden to discredit our alphabet agencies, the military and America in general. He is a toady of Obama’s making.
America has now invited Russian ‘security’ experts to take part in our emergency drills on American soil. A major emergency would be used as an excuse to bring in the aid of foreign boots on our soil, to “help” Americans. And by “help,” I mean “police.” The rumors morphed into fact last week when representatives of President Barrack Obama and Vladimir Putin met in Washington D.C. That sound you didn’t hear was the media crickets choir. Not one outlet reported on this. Not one.
A press release posted on The Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense and Emergencies reports that the United States and Russia will now cooperate in disaster response operations that will include the exchange of “experts” during “joint rescue operations,” a term that has been broadly defined under the new agreement.
The list includes rescuers, trainers and even military “security” teams. Remember, we just agreed to drastically reduce our nuclear weapon’s arsenal while Russia and China are expanding theirs. No one seems to notice that Russia, China and Iran (and others) are forming an alliance that will eventually attack us. They are enemies all. What manner of suicide is this? The kind Obama wants with America on her knees, possibly split apart and under international rule. The most powerful man in the world is America’s enemy within.
Obama has just authorized FEMA to deploy foreign troops on U.S. soil during a mass emergency event, defined broadly and in the very vaguest of terms, including, but not limited to, declarations of martial law. Emergencies that our government has been simulating, war gaming and arming the alphabet agencies in preperation for now for years. Tyranny isn’t coming, it’s here.
The Press Releases are important enough to read in full. From EMERCOM of Russia:
The fourth meeting of the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission Working Group on Emergency Situations and seventeenth meeting of Joint U.S.-Russia Cooperation Committee on Emergency Situations took place on 25 June 2013 in Washington.
Addressing the present at the meeting, Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations Mr. Vladimir Puchkov noted that U.S.-Russian cooperation in the area of protection against natural and man-made disasters was of strategic importance and directly supported by the Presidents of Russian and USA. The Minister pointed out that the cooperation was developing very fast and efficiently and there are new areas of cooperation, which allowed not only high-level support, but constant extension. This year particularly one of the priorities in joint activity of the two countries was monitoring and forecasting emergency situations.
In general, the Russian Minister was satisfied with the development of U.S.-Russian partnership in emergency response and prevention.
Inviting Russian boots to help or police on American soil is nothing less than inviting one of our chief enemies into our country, our cities, our towns and our homes. It is help we obviously do not need or want — it is the imposing of a foreign military force upon the American public. It goes far beyond violating the Constitution, straight into the territory of treason.
With the decimation of our military capabilities now almost complete, Obama bares our national throat to our enemies and is holding the door open for them to come in. He has already brought radical Islam into the White House and Marxists into every corner of our government and higher institutions.
Increasingly it is becoming “ordinary” and “routine” and “commonplace” for foreign nationals to be involved in our domestic affairs. Once the public becomes desensitized to the incongruity of domestic functions performed by foreign uniforms, their presence will no longer be noteworthy, the sight of “loaner” troops helping local cops will become “routine,” and at length it will seem normal and proper. You know, almost as though they belong here. “Helping” during the unexpected civil disorder. And it’s “not an invasion,” if we think they belong here.
GULAG NOTE
See the category on militarization below, for more reading, especially note as referenced in our sidebar: “Police Militarization, Abuses of Power, and the Road to Impeachment” and our earlier, “Marxist President’s Military Exercises in These U.S. Cities; Yours One?”
Also note the massive military exercise in Los Angeles, a few weeks ago and our 2012 report on joint U.S./Russian training within U.S. borders, “CONFIRMED: Russian Troops in USA Joint Exercises, Training to Target ‘Terrorists’“
Also see:
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