Egypt has had it rough for a long time. So much of the population has to deal with poverty. Even a large portion of the educated (doctors, engineers) can and do wind up working in jobs like taxi-driving. Mubarak is only concerned with making sure he pleases the powers that be so that his son can take over when he's gone. You can get arrested for blogging. The Matrix II was banned because it raised issues that were too philosphical. A lot of bullshit. Then you have Tunisia...
While I would be glad to see yet another US-puppet dictator gone from the area, I have this dread that it's going to end up being replaced with a pro-terrorism group.
Shit is getting pretty intense... it's even having an effect on the stock market and oil prices. I'm worried that the building fires and other stuff are going to push the security forces into (even more of) a no mercy kind of policy and things will get really bad
IMMEDIATE ATTENTION NEEDED: HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL DEAR SIR OR MADAM, I AM HOSNI MUBARAK, THE CURRENT PRESIDENT OF THE ARAB REPUBLIC OF EGYPT. THIS LETTER MIGHT COME AS A SURPRISE FOR YOU BECAUSE WE HAVE NOT MET NEITHER IN PERSON NOT BY CORRESPONDENCE. I CAME TO KNOW OF YOU IN MY SEARCH FOR A RELIABLE AND REPUTABLE PERSON TO HANDLE A VERY CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS TRANSACTION WHICH INVOLVES THE TRANSFER OF A HUGE SUM OF MONEY. FIRST, I MUST SOLICIT YOUR STRICTEST CONFIDENCE IN THIS TRANSACTION. THIS IS BY VIRTUE OF ITS NATURE AS BEING UTTERLY CONFIDENTIAL AND 'TOP SECRET'. I AM SURE AND HAVE CONFIDENCE OF YOUR ABILITY AND RELIABILITY TO PROSECUTE A TRANSACTION OF THIS GREAT MAGNITUDE INVOLVING A PENDING TRANSACTION REQUIRING MAXIMUM CONFIDENCE. I'M CURRENTLY BEING HELD TOGETHER WITH OTHER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN MY PRESIDENTIAL HEADQUARTERS WHICH IS SURROUNDED BY TERRORIST PROTESTERS. I CANNOT LEAVE BECAUSE MY PERSONAL TRANSPORTATION SERVICE HAVE JOINED THE PROTESTS AGAINST MY GOVERNMENT, AND THE ACCESS TO MY PRESIDENTIAL OVERSEAS BANK ACCOUNTS HAVE BEEN BLOCKED, SO WE CANNOT HIRE ANOTHER. THE DEPOSITS THAT ARE CURRENTLY BLOCKED AMOUNT TO $1,320,000,000 USD (ONE BILLION THREE HUNDER AND TWENTY MILLION U.S. DOLLARS). WE HAVE AGREED TO SHARE 20% OF THESE FUNDS WITH YOU IF YOU AGREE TO HELP US ACQUIRE FUNDS TO HIRE A NEW TRANSPORT. ALL YOU ARE REQUIRED TO DO IS SEND US FUNDS THAT WE CAN USE TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY. ONCE YOU DO THIS, AND ONCE WE HAVE LEFT THE COUNTRY, WE WOULD IMEDIATELLY BEGIN TO TRANSFER THE AGREED AMOUNT BACK TO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT. I WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT YOU SHOULD NOT CONTACT ME VIA OFFICIAL CHANNELS. CONTACT ME ONLY VIA THIS EMAIL ADDRESS. MY OFFICIAL LINES ARE NOT SECURE LINES AS THEY ARE PERIODICALLY MONITORED BY DEMOCRATIC FUNDAMENTALISTS. IF YOU GIVE ME POSITIVE SIGNALS I WILL INITIATE THIS PROCESS BY SENDING YOU THE DETAILS OF MY EGYPTIAN BANK ACCOUNTS WHERE YOU CAN DEPOSE THE MONEY. PLEASE OBSERVE THE CONFIDENTIALITY OF THIS MAIL RELIGIOUSLY. I AWAIT YOUR RESPONSE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. YOURS FAITHFULLY, HOSNI MUBARAK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2980432.stm first I heard of that they also complained about it being zionist. Coming from a nation that killed off all pigs to combat swine flu it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they felt the movie was zionist because the human city is called Zion. Mubarak is talking now on the live feed, gonna check it out now. Off to a very full of shit start...
damn the Matrix is so deep and complex, I've seen it something like 50 times and I've still totally missed all the parts where the movie deals with 'searching the origin of creation'
I think it's cuz of the part where he talks to the Creator and the Creator is kind of like "how do you know the REAL world is real? How do you know THIS isn't the real world? etc"
I've seen that movie a ton of times bro, I'm pretty sure that there wasn't any such dialogue with The Architect. I can see why they mention free will, though. I think you're right about the human city being called Zion ticking them off
I've only seen reloaded once, but isn't this scene in it: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H85hdn9a6KM"]YouTube - 06 Dialogue with Architect[/ame] Or is it in Revolutions? Cuz that scene definitely touches on those kind of philosophical issues. "Why am I here" "Choice... the problem is choice" etc.
Damn, hope Amr is doing ok, his last post doesn't install me with confidence. http://www.fiveeightforums.com/showpost.php?p=460775&postcount=23
Pretty sure he works/lives most of his life in Hong Kong. EDIT: Actually, I think he's back in Cairo right now. Fuuuuck. Facebook'd that sum bitch.
Apparently someone ordered the military and the police to leave the crowds alone while hooligans got loose looting the houses of random people, while the protesters are trying to stop them with no success. Cool. I'd write that down so can I do it if I ever need to force my power over a group of people who refuse it. Also the hooligans are armed.
Kinda annoying to go on fb and see people posting shit like "President Obama, say the D word!" This is the Egyptian people's revolution. It doesn't need to be sanctioned or approved by the US govt for legitimacy, and if/when they win their freedom they should not feel like they have to thank the USA for it.
Can't argue with that... I just feel like certain people seem to be discounting how much this is something at the level of the Egyptian people, not international politicians. I am proud of the Egyptians. They've been doing this for a week and are not backing down. When the law enforcement vacuum lead to looting and vandalism each residential block designated a team to protect the area. In another place people would have either let the looters run wild, or given up the protest so they could get the police back. In the US civil disobedience once had a place as part of the public voice, but people are no longer brave enough to get on the streets and face arrests if that's what it takes. Arab leadership throughout the region has been holding everybody back... all those guys want is to stay in power. That's why the Arab world is so divided and why simple problems don't go away even after decades. Mobarak might have been a good pres. at one point, but the years got to him. It's a similar story elsewhere.
Good lord, from my friends' recent email thread: "What do y'all think of Egypt situation, seems like a pyramid scheme to me." "I think they're all in deNile." "They should run to their mummies." "The president seems to be a real dick...tator, right?" "He passed too many Anubis bills." "STOP! These Egypt dad jokes are killing me!"
Thinking about what goes inside a dictator's head blows my mind. Now, I understand that having the full power is awesome, and that giving it up is hard, it would be hard thing for me to do if I had it, but how does someone assert that he considers himself more important than all the people together while he's faced with the people on the streets who refuse to put up with it and won't back down. This just doesn't compute for me. Fucking stubborn dictators, how do they work?
After that long enough two faced bastards have told him he's doing a great job and saving the country that he probably believes it. Status quo is better to him than an unknown scenario.
It's interesting to compare this situation to the Thaskin coup in Thailand in 2006. The country is still not completely settled from that, and the fears are it will blow up once the King dies. In Egypt there is no beloved figurehead to help stabilize the situation, but I think the result here will not be completely unlike Thailand. I think there will be years of difficulty ahead in installing a new government, and I can only hope that it is as relatively peaceful (despite some Army vs protester clashes) as the Thais have handled it so far.
It's tough cuz that one was a military coup... so at the end of the day there was one body deciding what would be good enough. In this case they have to appease a body of people who are united, but don't have a way to speak with one unanimous voice other than to say No Mobarak. There needs to be an election ASAP. Things would still be unstable, but if there is a fair election it should prevent a second incident.
The Egyptian army has been pretty awesome so far, keeping order but still allowing peaceful protests. I feel as though they will eventually have to pick a side and which side they pick will determine how bloodless this coup is.
Mubarak just made a speech where he essentially said that he won't run for re-election, but is nevertheless going to remain president until the end of his term. All of the crowd gathered on the streets answered with chants of "Get out!". Awesome. I don't think he'll be able to remain the president much more. However, I might say that the rest of the speech was more or less delusional, he talked about the chaos on the streets and how they were hurting the country, he talked about the hooligans who took advantage of the situation, and he talked about how the violence on the streets were incited by groups who wanted to mislead them, and all such crap. Of his whole speech, 5% were about the issues raised by the protests, and the rest was talking about how bad the situation outside was, and pointing fingers at people who were responsible for making it so. The best part is that he said that he'll stay in Egypt until death. What an invitation, eh? Apparently some of the protesters took it quite literally and started chanting "Thrash Till Death".
gently in the butt makes everything so much better! His latest statement seems too much like an empty promise made in the hope that the issue will fade into obscurity.
shit just got real. violence broke out after the speech then shots from egyptian military were fired in the air to try to break up the crowd. I think that the president was reasonable in saying that he would rather a baton pass among more peaceful and stable circumstances to maintain legitimacy. Honestly, its a real help to the successor to have the legitimacy so reestablishing relationships with the US and Israel (among others) go smoother. I think the president didnt address many of the concerns because he intended to stay out his term until the people decide what they want in a more democratic manner
I think I was watching at the same time. A tank made a run at the protestors in earnest but was stopped just short by a lightpole. A couple more feet and welcome to Shitstormland. Mub is playing out of Sun Tzu's book right now. All he needs to do is keep trolling by saying he'll stay til September, and have his military keep buffaloing the protestors with tanks and fighter jets until someone is provoked. That will give him his justification to crack down. (P.S.: I, too, would bone the al-Jazeera presenter who looks kinda like Vanessa Williams...gently in the butt.)
