[DomusAlbion]

Bombings in Egypt resort.

AP

[SD_Scott]

I wonder if thats a shipping chokepoint. Saudi Arabia is right there.

[rockdoc123]

NO Sharm is probably the closest to a decadent spot that exists in much of the what most American's refer to as the Middle East (Sharm is sort of on the border between the Middle East and North Africa). Originally it got it's attraction because of the spectacular diving....the reefs there are fantastic and more sharks than you can shake a stick at. As time went on it attracted more and more Europeans and as time went further on it attracted more and more German and other European tourists who felt that topless was OK on any beach where they were no matter what country you were in....then the hotels started to get built up...the bars etc. I am quite surprised it didn't attract terrorist attention much earlier...certainly more decandent than Luxor and most of us remember the nasty machine gunning incident there about 10 years ago or so.
Sharm El Sheik was a incident waiting to happen. Mubarek has been incrediably good at controlling the fringe Muslim fundamentist/nutbag fringe in Egypt but Sharm is just too remote and to be honest...is mostly the holidaying ground of Europeans, who in my experience are generally quite rude to the Egyptians.
I love this country (not too pleased with how overbuilt Cairo has got but....) and have a number of good Egyptian friends.....my heart goes out to them because this is likely to be the start of some bad times, malesh.
By the way if you want to understand the spectacular scenary of this part of the world harken back to Lawrence of Arabia....remember the scene where the tribes rush toward Wadi Rum....it's sort of not that far away.

[VinceG]

At least 62 people are killed in a string of explosions in the Egyptian resort of Sharm al-Sheikh....Report

[Barbara]

Sharm bombing is an attack against Europe. That place is almost "reserved" for european holidays. There are about 20.000 (TWENTY THOUSANDS!!!) italians down there right now... same for french and germans.
Italians go and come from Sharm like the americans do with Florida.

That's really scaring... bombing Europe like hell.

[DomusAlbion]

Sharm bombing is an attack against Europe. That place is almost "reserved" for european holidays. There are about 20.000 (TWENTY THOUSANDS!!!) italians down there right now... same for french and germans.
Italians go and come from Sharm like the americans do with Florida.

That's really scaring... bombing Europe like hell.

Is there any news yet as to who the victims are?

[rockdoc123]

papers are reporting a mix of Europeans and Egyptians.

[VinceG]

Most of them just local Egyptians...

[Sixstrings]

Cairo, 25 Jan. (AKI) - Gamal Mubarak, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's son who is widely tipped as his successor, has fled to London with his family, Arabic website Akhbar al-Arab said on Tuesday. The report came as violent unrest broke out in Cairo and other Egyptian cities and hundreds of thousands of people reportedly took to the streets in a Tunisia-inspired day of revolt.

Officials did not immediately confirm the report that Gamal Mubarak has fled to the British capital with his wife and daughter aboard a private jet.

The jet with Mubarak, his family and 97 pieces of luggage on board left for London on Tuesday from an airport in western Cairo, according to the US-based Akhbar al-Arab.

Weeks of unrest in Tunisia eventually toppled president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali earlier this month. The anti-government protests in Egypt broke out after opposition groups waged an internet campaign inspired by the Tunisian uprising.

An anti-riot police officer was killed in clashes on Tuesday in central Cairo, Egyptian daily 'al-Wafd' reported. Egyptian security forces reported used tear gas, fire hoses, and clubs to disperse protesters in Tahrir Square, downtown Cairo.
Over 30,000 anti-government protesters had gathered. in Cairo's Maidan al-Tahrir square to take part in the 'day of anger', the spokesman for Egypt's '6 April' opposition movement, Mohammed Adel, told Adnkronos International (AKI) in an interview.

"Police used tear gas and water canon to break up our protest and they arrested 40 of us, but we don't have official figures on the numbers of arrests across Egypt," said Adel.

Supporters of the '6 April' movement, the opposition al-Ghad party, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, the al-Wafd party and supporters of former UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohammed El Baradei took part in the protest.
The protesters want Egypt to end its 30-year state of emergency and pass a law preventing a president from serving more than two terms, and want the interior minister Habib al-Adly, to resign.

Al-Wafd daily said police arrested 600 people during Tuesday's protests in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said, Tantan, al-Mahala, Asiut, al-Bahira and al-Quium.

Between 200,000 and 300,000 people took part in protests in these cities on Tuesday, according to the Rasad al-Ikhbari observatory, which is staffed by journalists and opposition activists.

Police set dogs on protesters in Port Said and charged protesters in Suez and al-Mahala, an unnamed activist from Rasad al-Ikhbari told AKI.
Protests are rare in Egypt, where Mubarak tolerates little dissent.
http://www.adnkronos.com/IGN/Aki/English/Security/Egypt-Presidents-son-and-family-have-fled-to-the-UK_311591050596.html

Hm, the unrest in Tunisia seems to be spreading. Zerhohedge has talked about the Tunisian president leaving with gold, and speculates the Egyptian first family might have made off with gold too:

What is unclear is how much gold, and other inedible commodities, the president-in-waiting had stowed away in his 97 pieces of luggage.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/its-official-egyptian-presidents-son-and-family-have-fled-uk

Might be getting interesting.. oil prices rising, talk of rationing in the UK, now spreading muslim unrest and presidents fleeing with bags of gold.

[Keith_McClary]

The Americans were quick to toss their corrupt Tunisian dictator pal under the bus. I wonder what happened there, not enough CIA death squads on the ground?

The pathetic Quisling stooge Abbas in Palestine is going down, with no possibility of replacement. The State of the Jewish People will de facto be an apartheid regime.

Karzai is driving the Afghan train wreck full steam ahead.

We'll soon see if the US actually withdraws from Iraq this year as they promised. If they renege, that war will be back on.

Any bright spots for US imperialism?

[Pretorian]

Wasnt he a bit too quick? I mean just 3 dead. And now they surely wont let him to come back.

[americandream]

The Americans were quick to toss their corrupt Tunisian dictator pal under the bus. I wonder what happened there, not enough CIA death squads on the ground?

The pathetic Quisling stooge Abbas in Palestine is going down, with no possibility of replacement. The State of the Jewish People will de facto be an apartheid regime.

Karzai is driving the Afghan train wreck full steam ahead.

We'll soon see if the US actually withdraws from Iraq this year as they promised. If they renege, that war will be back on.

Any bright spots for US imperialism?

China. Despite appearances, American capitalism has China by the short and curlies and will use it's standing in the Third World to bring any recalcitrant muslim nations back into line.

[nobodypanic]

The regime is in a state of panic. Eyewitnesses report that the internet, Twitter and phone calls were all blocked in Egypt, but they are returning intermittently now. The latest reports show that the insurrection is continuing and advancing to new levels. An eyewitness report states:

"As darkness begins to fall, the thousands who have occupied Cairo's central square are pouring forward towards the parliament building, prompting running battles with armed police. The air is filled with teargas and some youths are hurling rocks at the police lines; many of the rocks are being thrown back by security officers.

"A few moments ago a huge charge from demonstrators sent the riot police running, but they have now regrouped and are launching fresh assaults on the front wave of protesters, who are currently picking up the metal barricades installed by police and using them to set up barricades themselves. Large explosions are shaking the square, though it's not clear where they're coming from.”


Reports are spreading of protesters attacking the council of ministers building downtown, while several thousands are said to be marching towards Mubarak's presidential palace in Heliopolis. In Dar El Salaam, a densely-populated neighbourhood in southern Cairo, demonstrators claim they have taken over the police station.

[Sixstrings]

Now it's spread to Lebanon:

Meanwhile, in Lebanon, a prime minster backed by pro-Iranian Hezbollah was appointed sparking angry street protests and fears the move would plunge the country into a new crisis.

Billionaire businessman and former premier Najib Mikati, Hezbollah's chosen candidate, moved immediately to try and reassure the country declaring : 'My hand is extended to all Lebanese, Muslims and Christians, in order to build and not to destroy.'

But thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of major cities on what they also called a 'day of rage', accusing Hebzbollah of engineering the collapse of the previous unity government of outgoing Premier Saad Hariri.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1350459/Egypt-Lebanon-protests-Thousands-clash-police-streets.html

Interesting that each of these countries have unique local politics factoring in, yet they're all going off one after the other and it's moving west to east at that -- Tunisia, Egypt, now Lebanon.

[Sixstrings]

CAIRO IN CHAOS
Protesters Defy Government Ban.. Massive Detentions.. AP Journalists Arrested

But as crowds filled downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square - waving Egyptian and Tunisian flags and adopting the same protest chants that rang out in the streets of Tunis - security personnel changed tactics and the protest turned violent.

(snip)

There are still many Twitter reports saying that Facebook is being blocked in Egypt, but it has not been confirmed. A Facebook spokesman says the company has not received an unusual number of disruption of service complaints, but that users can monitor the site Herdict.org to keep tabs on complaints, reports cnet.com.

A quick trip over to Herdict shows that more people are reporting Facebook unaccessible than accessible in the country right now.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/25/egypt-protests-mubarak_n_813746.html

If this stuff hits Saudi Arabia, then it's SHTF.

[Keith_McClary]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/26/AR2011012608249.html

The Obama administration is openly supporting the anti-government demonstrations shaking the Arab Middle East, a stance that is far less tempered than the one the president has taken during past unrest in the region.

As demonstrations in Tunis, Cairo and Beirut have unfolded in recent days, President Obama and his senior envoys to the region have thrown U.S. support clearly behind the protesters, speaking daily in favor of free speech and assembly even when the protests target longtime U.S. allies such as Egypt.

If it gets to Saudi or the other oil states the US will change it's tune. Anyone remember the pro-democracy demonstrations in Saudi during Bush? They were rounded up and hauled off to the chopping block with nary a word from the freedom loving NeoCons.

[Keith_McClary]

If it gets to Saudi or the other oil states the US will change it's tune. Anyone remember the pro-democracy demonstrations in Saudi during Bush? They were rounded up and hauled off to the chopping block with nary a word from the freedom loving NeoCons.

It's started already:
U.S. shifts tone, bluntly urges Mubarak to reform now

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered the message at a news conference with the foreign minister of Jordan, another Arab country that watched the ouster of Tunisia's president in a popular revolt two weeks ago:
"We believe strongly that the Egyptian government has an important opportunity at this moment in time to implement political, economic and social reforms to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people"

Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Institution:
"The U.S. has a limited amount of time to, first, reassess its Middle East policy and, then, reorient it to ride with, rather than against, the tide of Arab popular rule. ... It can begin distancing itself from Mubarak by stepping up public criticism of regime repression and deepening contacts with the ... opposition - liberals, leftists, and, yes, Islamists alike," he added. "It is better to have leverage with opposition groups before they come to power than afterward."

[nobodypanic]

If this stuff hits Saudi Arabia, then it's SHTF.

no doubt! but does it have to get that far for major repercussions? if egypt topples, then there goes the suez canal, a major strategic asset for the US as well as a major economic artery. i won't pretend to know what sort of economic consequences cutting off the suez would have, but i doubt it'll be pretty.

on that note, i have to say i am rather surprised this thread isn't getting more play here.

[Timo]

on that note, i have to say i am rather surprised this thread isn't getting more play here.

Be patient. As soon as Texas, Arizona, and Wyoming all start their attempts to seceed from the US, then this thread will grow into a rope.

[Maddog78]

http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/ ... 3D28B0A491

Yemen joining in!
Watch this thread go now.