Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Register your religion “Muslim” as printed in Census form: Mushawarat


By TCN News,
New Delhi: All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat has appealed to Muslims to register their religion as “Muslim” – as it is printed in the Census 2011 form – and not insist on Islam as there is the word “Muslim” under religion section, not Islam.
“If you tell them your religion is Islam, not Muslim, it is most likely the illiterate Census workers will put your name in Other Religions section, and thus the actual number of Muslims will go down,” Dr Zafrul Islam Khan, Acting President of Mushawarat said in a statement today.
Commenting on the error in the Census form he said that the officials have erred to put Muslim as religion of Muslims. The religion of Muslims is Islam, not Muslim, he said. But he cautioned that correcting the error can be done only through court while the second and last part of the Census is going to start on 9th Feb 2011 so it is better to put your religion as Muslim for the greater interest of the community.
He appealed to the spread this message through statements and ads in newspapers, announcements from mosques and distributing handbills.

Northeast issues: Forum to draw national attention


By IANS,
Aizawl : Major political parties in northeast India have decided to form a joint forum to highlight the region's problems.
Leaders of the Naga People's Front (NPF), the Mizo National Front (MNF) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma met in New Delhi last week and decided to float a regional forum to underline the common issues of northeast India comprising eight states.
"There will be another summit in the national capital Feb 20 where leaders of all regional parties and MPs from the northeastern states would give the final shape to the proposed forum," MNF leader Zoding Sanga told reporters.
He said that the Feb 20 conference would also finalised the future course of action of the regional parties.
The NPF is the dominant partner of the ruling Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government in Nagaland while the MNF is the main opposition party in the Congress ruled Mizoram.
NCP is the main opposition party in the Congress ruled Meghalaya though it is the coalition partner of the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre.
"The regional party leaders in their meeting in Delhi have planned to launch the new forum before the upcoming Assam assembly elections, which are likely to be held in April," the MNF leader said.
"If all the recognised regional parties come under one umbrella, it could have influence in the national politics and draw attention of the central government about the problems of the region," he added.
MNF president and former Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga and Nagaland Chief Minister and NPF chief Neiphu Rio were among those also attended the meeting.

AGP suffers setback as its top leader joins BJP


By IANS,
Dibrugarh (Assam) : Assam's main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) Tuesday suffered a major setback when its firebrand leader and former MP Sarbananda Sonowal quit the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at a public rally here.
The rally was attended by a host of BJP leaders, including party president Nitin Gadkari and Varun Gandhi, who is the in-charge of the BJP's affairs in Assam.
"I was fed up with the AGP as the party leadership compromised on the core issue of Bangladeshi infiltration. I realised there is no space for me in the party that compromised on the issue of influx, and hence thought the best option was to join the BJP," Sonowal told the rally.
"During the past few months, the AGP leadership started hobnobbing with the AUDF (Asom United Democratic Front), which is opposed to our stand against infiltration. I realised the AGP leadership was simply interested in power and ready to compromise on their ideology by even teaming up with the AUDF," he said.
Sonowal has always been very vocal on the infiltration issue and was instrumental in getting the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act (IMDT) scrapped by the Supreme Court in 2006.
The apex court verdict scrapping the IMDT Act followed a petition of Sonowal. The act placed the onus of proving that a person is a foreign national on the complainant rather than the person so accused.
The act has now been replaced with the Foreigners Act, 1946, applicable across India, where the accused needs to prove his or her citizenship, if questioned.
Addressing the rally, the BJP president said the party was eyeing to capture power in Assam with assembly polls due in March-April.
"The Congress government in Assam has become a national burden with corruption being the hallmark. People in Assam are looking for a change and the BJP is here to give that change," Gadkari said.

Monday, February 07, 2011

Hillary! Take Notice: Egyptians Are Not Intimidated by the F-16s Flying on their Heads in Cairo

By Yvonne Ridley
Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, January 31, 2011
  
As people across Egypt continued resisting and rising against the brutal dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak it is quite clear they will not stop until he goes.
 Quite clear to everyone, that is, apart from the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is so out of touch with what is happening on the ground you have to wonder who on earth is advising her.
 She appears to have no idea of the burning resentment and hatred held towards America among the ordinary men and women of Egypt. More than 100 have paid the blood price, so far, for standing up to the US backed tyrant Mubarak and two thousand others are injured.
 It has been lost on no one that the empty shell casings from live ammunition and gas cannisters, which litter Tahrir Square and other streets across Egypt, were provided by the United States of America.
 The “Made in the USA” empty shell casings tell their own story not just of the innocents they have killed, but of their origins and of America’s deadly legacy of unwelcome foreign interference in the region.
The Egyptian people have been fed propaganda for 30 years, their evening news on State TV is sanitized and censored and many have been afraid to speak out freely under the US backed dictatorship of Mubarak.
But do not for one minute think the Egyptian people are stupid – sadly the US has once again completely misread and underestimated an entire population.
These demonstrations are as much a protest against US meddling in their affairs as they are against the Mubarak regime.
Despite all of this Clinton showed not one ounce of compassion or humility when she made her latest blundering speech.
With the sensitivity of a bull in a china shop, she called for an orderly transition but only after heaping praise on the Mubarak government which has “made and kept peace with Israel avoiding violence, turmoil and death in the region.”
 She told ABC News: "Democracy, human rights and economic reform are in the best interests of the Egyptian people." These are the same people her own government ignored as they continued to fund and back Mubarak with billions of US tax payers dollars over the decades.
The BBC's North America editor Mark Mardell says Clinton's comments are a sign that the Obama administration is edging towards accepting, if not openly endorsing, an end to Mubarak's rule. The truth is Mark, the Egyptian people do not want any more US interference – they do not want any more American weapons being used against them. America has no interest in the people of Egypt. Its only concern is for the man-made pariah state next door – Israel.
Clinton has been so out of step since this whole turmoil began to erupt. Both she and Obama remained completely silent for four whole weeks as scores of Tunisians died in that uprising and it was only when their man, Zine El Abedine Ben Ali took flight that they condemned his brutality.
When Egypt threatened to kick off Clinton said assuredly that the country was “stable.” That was a week ago and as she is beginning to learn, a week is a long time in politics. She says she wants democracy – but what sort of democracy Hillary? The sort that sees another tyrant take power? Or are you really going to let the people decide?
And by the way, the people are beginning to rise and resist right across the Maghreb, throughout the Middle East and Asia. US Foreign Policy has turned America in to the most hated country in the world and if Washington really told their own people the truth,. I know the millions upon millions of decent US citizens would be horrified by what is being done in their name.
 But the truth is the American people are kept well away from the truth and are among the most least informed people in the world today.
Few Americans have any idea that this and the previous Bush administrations do not want democracy in the region. In fact they have collectively punished the people of Gaza for exercising their democratic right by voting for a Hamas-dominated government.
This has not been lost on the Egyptian people Hillary who, by the way, have a great love for Palestine, a place in their heart for Gaza and an even deeper hatred and mistrust for the brutal Zionist State, which really does threaten peace and stability in the region.
As I write this F16 fighter jets and attack helicopters, made in America, are flying overhead to try and intimidate the Egyptian people. Too late – there isn’t an army in the world that can beat this peoples’ army. Their fear has gone.
 Your ill-informed advisers won’t tell you this Hillary, but I hate to see an empowered female make such a prat of herself, so here’s a piece of advice. The time has come when you really must step back and take a vow of silence. Every time you open your mouth you are looking and sounding even more stupid than the female presenter on Egyptian State TV who assures us all is at peace with the world and the streets of Egypt are empty and calm.
*British journalist Yvonne Ridley is the European President of the International Muslim Women’s Union
 http://aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20Editorials/2011/January/31%20o/Hillary%20Take%20Notice%20Egyptians%20Are%20Not%20Intimidated%20by%20the%20F-16s%20Flying%20on%20their%20Heads%20in%20Cairo%20By%20Yvonne%20Ridley.htm

Transformation Is Coming to the Arab World, Despite Biden's Defense of Dictators


By Mazin Qumsiyeh
Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, January 31, 2011
  
"Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things and he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing relationship with Israel.… I would not refer to him as a dictator” US Vice President Joe Biden ( a lackey of AIPAC)

I first visited Egypt 30 years ago in 1981 to do research for my master's thesis which was later published in my first book "The Bats of Egypt".  I visited Egypt twice since then and I recall vividly police abuse of their own people and yet the Egyptians I encountered mocked and joked about dictatorship.  We tried at least from a distance to support our Egyptian brothers and sisters as they struggle for freedom. Arabs everywhere (yes even here in occupied Palestine) are talking about a transformation and about revolution.  But all such transformations carry pain. Over 200 Egyptians were killed, thousands injured, and there is much destruction.  Yet in a nation of 85 million people this is still a relatively peaceful transformation.   While dealing with the present is critical we must also at this juncture start to look post dictatorship in the Arab world and plan the future.
I recall vividly a talk by a self-described "Liberal Zionist" (an oxymoron) at Duke University on 1 March 198l; at 77 year old he had no inhibitions in saying "Zionists do not want democracy in the Arab world."  He explained that if Egypt was a democracy, it would not have signed a peace deal with Israel since the sentiments of the Arab people does not accept such arrangements that could be done with someone like President Sadat or King Hussein.  On this point he was absolutely correct but in the long run such short-sighted perspective is self-destructive (1).
As I watched last night Hosni Mubarak make his (hopefully last) speech, I was very much reminded of the last speech of the Shah of Iran, Marcos of the Philippines, Bin Ali of Tunisia.  They all claimed after so many years of torturing their own people that they now want to "reform".  The US funded and supported the brutal Mubarak regime for over 30 years even as plenty of evidence from human rights organizations documented its abuse of its own citizens. See example videos of torture by Egyptian police (2).  This is also the same police who, on the instruction of the Mubarak dictatorship, beat international activists trying to provide humanitarian relief to besieged Gaza (3).  Mubarak then went on to for the first time appoint a vice president (his intelligence chief and ex-army buddy Omar Suleiman) and appoint another army officer as prime minister.   It is now recognized that his reign is ending and a new era is beginning.
It is rather amusing that the brutal dictator of "Saudi" Arabia (a country named after a ruling family!) called to support Mubarak and stated that the demonstrators are hooligans and criminals.  Anyone who knows anything about Egypt knows that this amazing and inspiring mostly nonviolent revolution is a true expression of the will of the Egyptian people regardless of their political or religious persuasions (leftist, Muslim Brotherhood, Nasserite Arab Nationalist, Christians, Muslims, etc). 
In other news in brief for those who don't keep up with internet news or those who watch mainly the (supine) Western Media:
-Large demonstrations by Egyptians and human rights defenders at Egyptian embassies around the world all demanding democracy
-Israeli embassy in Cairo essentially emptied (an apartheid state embassy in the largest Arab country is an abomination)
-Israeli pundits very worried about how Egypt might look after Mubarak.
-There are many signs that the Egyptian military (like the Tunisian military) may be critical in this struggle.  Already there are instances where the demonstrators were protected from the Egyptian police by the Egyptian military. See footage (4)
-A number of human rights groups and Egyptian community representatives abroad all called for ending the Egyptian police brutality. By contrast EU and US government officials are making feeble statements to hedge their bets and at best call for "peaceful" actions from "all sides". Slowly they were forced to modify their retorhic to talk about "change" but must finally call on their puppet Mubarak to leave power and insist that he and his sons and family return the billions stolen from the Egyptian people.
-A number of religious and civil organizations in Egypt broke their silence to support the ouster of the "last Pharaoh"
-The dictatorship cutting of web and mobile phone services and banning reporting by groups like Al-Jazeera did little to stem the tide of protest because people are living it daily in their homes and on the streets and they are not being incited from outside.
-Protests spread to Jordan and Yemen (two other Western supported governments).  There are now plans for large protests in Syria and other countries.
-On the Palestinian Authority TV news, they noted that Mahmoud Abbas called Mubarak and stated his support for stability of Egypt.  Other news outlets stated that he fully supports the Mubarak regime.  Hamas then came in to say that they support the Egyptian people.  Sadly, I think all rational human beings know which horse to bet on in this struggle between people and a western-supported dictator who accomplished nothing for his people and instead enriched his family (his sons are billionaires in a country in which tens of millions of people live on less than $1 a day).  
I wrote seven months ago that "The political leadership in the fragmented Arab countries and Palestinian authority have convinced themselves that they have no option but to endlessly try to talk to politicians from Tel Aviv and Washington (the latter also Israeli occupied territory) hoping for some 'gestures'….I know most politicians like to feel 100% safe (mostly for their position of power) and are afraid of any change.  But I wish they would realize that daring politicians make the history books and those who hang around trying to protect their seats will be forgotten.  Cowardice is never a virtue." And then I concluded that "In the demonstrations yesterday, a child in Gaza was carrying a sign that says 'we demand freedom' and a child in Cairo that says 'children in Egypt and in Gaza want the siege lifted'. That is our future - not elderly politicians meeting to do media damage control with empty words. "(5)
But make no mistake about it: no power transformation happens without a period of unrest, instability, and pain.  I believe in these difficult periods, humans are tested.  Some are weak and may even try to use the situations to make some quick personal profit. Others are of strong and decent character and this shows in their watching for their neighbors and their community.  I have seen countless pictures and heard countless stories of acts that can only be described as heroic (e.g. people protecting the national museum in Cairo or their neighbors' houses).  Intellectuals are stepping forward to articulate rational scenarios for the future.  People helping other people.   So I think we will weather the transition.  As to what the future holds.  Clearly, the era of ignoring the masses is gone.  It will not be easy since we have a legacy of decades of poor education (one that does not emphasize civic and individual responsibility etc). Getting rid of dictators is not enough. Building a civic participatory society is not easy (Europe's enlightenment did not come just from removing a few dictators). 
People's expectation raised for change will dash against the reality that it will take decades to create systems of governance, accountability, economic justice, etc to allow for unleashing the great potential in the Arab world.  And there is great potential (natural resources, water, educated hard-working middle class etc).  It is critical that people begin to chart this future honestly and pragmatically.  Slogans will not work.  We the people must take responsibility for our own lives and for our communities.  We need to take time to educate children in a very, very different way than we were educated.  The beginnings may be simple.  For example, in many Arab countries, people were thinking that as long as the country is not theirs (ruled by dictators), they can only watch over their own personal space and literally dump trash in the public space.  In the new era, they have to learn that public space is theirs too.  Order and respect for fellow citizens and for the country will have to be taught very early to our children.  This is but one example for laying a brick in the road to real freedom and real prosperity.  The bricks though are many and they will have to be fashioned and laid by the people.  It is very hard work but it is the only way forward.
(1) I challenged him on this in the Q&A and then wrote a follow-up letter that was published in the Duke Chronicle. Seehttp://www.qumsiyeh.org/zionistpositionfailstorecognizeotherside/
(2) Torture at Egyptian police stations, here are three examples (warning disturbing content!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhQRFz65M6s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCHM6LYiBsY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8KG5N_yq1s 
3) Egyptian police beat Free Gaza convoy activist on December 30, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT4tk2RiNIo 
4) See this associated press story about role of Egyptian military
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/29/ap/middleeast/main7296653.shtml
and this interesting footage of military shielding demonstrators
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfqcEsDwgYQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQD-X9G9xfk 
5) Mazin Qumsiyeh “Of Cowardice, Dignity and Solidarity” http://www.qumsiyeh.org/ofcowardicedignityandsolidarity/
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
http://qumsiyeh.org

http://aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20Editorials/2011/January/31%20o/Transformation%20Is%20Coming%20to%20the%20Arab%20World,%20Despite%20Biden's%20Defense%20of%20Dictators%20By%20Mazin%20Qumsiyeh.htm

Gazans Feed Hungry Egyptian Border Troops, Ayman Nofal Returns to Gaza


Gazans Feed Hungry Egyptian Troops
Press TV, Sat Feb 5, 2011 12:12PM
 An Egyptian border policeman stands guard on Rafah border. Over the last three days, Gazans have been giving food to Egyptian soldiers isolated on the Gaza border since the beginning of the popular revolution.

Underground tunnels, which were used to bring basic goods from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, are now working in the opposite direction.

Egyptian soldiers, who have been isolated on the Gaza border for the past 10 days, due to the internal upheaval, are getting bread, canned food and other supplies from the impoverished coastal enclave through the tunnels.

Gaza's merchants have also been sending vegetables, eggs and other staples into Egypt, where store owners have run out of stock because normal supplies are cut off by the unrest, Ha'aretz reported Friday.

Since 2006, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have resorted to the so-called feeding tubes to deliver their basic needs to the enclave which has been sealed off by an Israeli blockade.

Rafah is the main entry and exit post between Egypt and the coastal enclave.

Millions of people have been holding daily protests in Egyptian cities for the past 12 days. The demonstrators are demanding an immediate end to the 30-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak. The violence has claimed around 300 lives so far.

FTP/JM/MGH/MMN
Nofal: We got out of jail against the will of the oppressors
[ 06/02/2011 - 05:25 PM ]
GAZA, (PIC)--
 Qassam Brigades leader, Ayman Nofal, told the PIC on Saturday night that the Palestinian prisoners got out of the Egyptian jail "against the will of the oppressors".
He expressed appreciation for all those who arrived to his home in Gaza to congratulate him on his safe return from the Egyptian regime's captivity.
He also thanked the media that displayed solidarity with his case and with all the Palestinians who took part in rallies demanding his release.
Nofal said that they came under intensive fire by jailors during the escape and that he was slightly wounded in the incident.
The Qassam commander said that relatives of Egyptian detainees stormed the jail, which led to their release from captivity.
Qassam leader Nofal in Gaza after being released from Egyptian jails
[ 06/02/2011 - 01:21 PM ]
GAZ, (PIC)--
Top leader of Al-Qassam Brigades, Ayman Nofal, arrived on Saturday in the Gaza Strip after he was released from Egyptian jails.
An informed source told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that thousands of Palestinians received Nofal upon his arrival at his home in Nusayrat refugee camp and congratulated him on his release from Egyptian prisons.
The Egyptian security apparatuses kidnapped Nofal on January 27, 2008 when thousands of Gazans knocked down the border wall in Rafah area in order to buy basic needs from Egyptian stores.
He was reportedly exposed to severe torture at the hands of Egyptian interrogators in a bid to extract some information about the whereabouts of the Israeli occupation soldier and prisoner of war, Gilad Shalit,  and the activities of the Palestinian resistance.
Egypt's popular uprising
Many political analysts believe that the regime of Hosni Mubarak is falling apart and the events in Egypt are gradually moving towards imminent decisiveness in favor of millions of protestors who demand the removal of the whole political system.
The fig leaves covering the body of the ruling family has also started to fall, where Britain's Guardian newspaper revealed in a report a few days ago that Mubarak and his family have a fortune of about 70 billion dollars according to analysis by experts from the middle east.
Much of this family's wealth is in British and Swiss banks or tied up in real estate in London, New York, Los Angeles and along expensive tracts of the Red Sea coast.
After 30 years as president and many more as a senior military official, Mubarak has had access to investment deals that have generated hundreds of millions of pounds in profits. Most of those gains have been taken offshore and deposited in secret bank accounts or invested in up market homes and hotels, the newspaper said.
In Cairo, thousands of Egyptians has started since yesterday to flock into Al-Tahrir Square to participate in a mega rally in the context of a new week of protests to be held Sunday in support of the steadfastness of the young protesters there.
Christian leaders in Egypt also announced they would perform Sunday prayers in the square and would participate in the gathering calling for the removal of Mubarak.
Protesters were seen hanging banners with pictures of the victims who were killed in the events that broke out on January 25.
Jailed Hamas leader returns from Egypt
Hamas member arrives in Gaza after escaping Egypt jail
Published today (updated) 06/02/2011 15:21 GAZA CITY (Ma'an) --
A leader of Hamas' armed wing arrived in the Gaza Strip on Saturday after escaping from an Egyptian prison.

Thousands of prisoners broke out of jail in Egypt amid security chaos as ongoing anti-government protests spread across the country.

Al-Qassam Brigades member, Ayman Noufel, returned to the Al-Buraij refugee camp in central Gaza, where he was received by his family and senior Hamas leaders.

Noufel was detained three years ago in El-Arish, when thousands of Palestinians broke out of Gaza through the wall on Egypt's border.

He was one of eight Palestinians who escaped from Egyptian jails, six of whom have returned to Gaza.

The whereabouts of the remaining two is still unclear, but their families said they received unconfirmed information that Egyptian forces detained them at a checkpoint near Sheikh Zuwayid, a city 15 kilometers from the Gaza border.

According to official statistics in Gaza, 39 Palestinians were in Egyptian prisons before the protests broke out. More than a dozen had court orders mandating their release, but Egyptian security insisted on keeping them in custody.

The oldest detainee to escape was Mu’atasem Al-Quka, who spent seven years in Abu Za'abal prison accused of affiliation with Hamas.

He added he did not know at first what he was charged with but was later told it was for being a member of a movement banned in Egypt.

Al-Quka said he was ill-treated in Egyptian prisons especially in Abu Za’bal prison. He said prisoners were able to flee the jail because Egyptians demolished its walls.

http://aljazeerah.info/News/2011/February/6%20n/Gazans%20Feed%20Hungry%20Egyptian%20Border%20Troops,%20Ayman%20Nofal%20Returns%20to%20Gaza.htm

Omar Suleiman: From Shadowy Spy Chief to Key International Player


By Leela JACINTO (text)
France 24, 05/02/2011 -

When President Mubarak named spy chief Omar Suleiman the country’s first vice president in three decades, most analysts read it as a signal of an orderly transition. But given Suleiman’s background, it may not be the change Egyptians want.
On January 29, when embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak named him vice president, Omar Suleiman emerged from the shadows of Egypt’s extensive security-intelligence apparatus to become a pivotal international figure. But for many analysts and followers of US-Mideast policy, Suleiman was already a familiar figure. And not all of them felt reassured by the new appointment.
Suave, sophisticated, and fluent in English, Suleiman had been the country’s spy chief since 1993, when he took over as head of Egypt’s powerful General Intelligence Service (GIS) – or “Mukhabarat” as it is commonly known in Egypt.
A Soviet-trained, former army man, Suleiman looked set to fill the “shadowy intelligence chief” mould when he took over the GIS.
But all that changed with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the US.
In pictures: Major players in Egypt’s crisis
In 2009, US magazine Foreign Policy ranked Suleiman the Middle East's most powerful intelligence chief, ahead of Meir Dagan, the head of Israel’s Mossad.
When the whistleblower website WikiLeaks published US diplomatic cables last year, analysts learned that Suleiman had already been singled out by Egyptians as a likely Mubarak successor.
A May 14, 2007, leaked US cable reads more like prophesy than a diplomatic memo. “…in past years Soliman (sic) was often cited as likely to be named to the long-vacant vice-presidential post,” read the cable.
Suleiman in fact filled a post Mubarak vacated 30 years ago when he took over the presidency following the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat.
Just pick up the phone and talk
The Jan. 29 appointment of a new vice president was greeted with relief in some quarters, notably because it signalled that Mubarak had acknowledged the unpopularity of his son and widely rumoured successor, Gamal Mubarak.
ANALYSIS: OBAMA'S RESPONSE
EGYPT Fast change or smooth transition, that's the question
Privately, many US officials were relieved to have a man in Cairo they could phone and “level with”.
Indeed as the situation in Egypt subsequently deteriorated, Suleiman rapidly turned into Washington’s point-man in the Egyptian administration.
On Feb. 2, as pro-Mubarak demonstrators in Cairo’s Tahrir Square waged pitched battles against anti-government protesters, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton phoned Suleiman to urge him to investigate who was behind the day’s violence and hold them accountable.
Former US Ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner, who was dispatched to Cairo by Obama to try to diffuse the crisis, also met with Suleiman during his visit.
‘Not squeamish’ about ‘torture and so on’
Negotiations between Suleiman and US ambassadors go a long way back and have historically proved fruitful.
In her book “The Dark Side,” New Yorker correspondent Jane Mayer quotes then US Ambassador to Egypt Edward Walker describing Suleiman, as “very bright, very realistic”. Walker acknowledged that the GIS head was involved in “some of the negative things that the Egyptians engaged in, of torture and so on. But he was not squeamish, by the way”.
“The Dark Side” examines the murky chapter of US renditions under the Bush administration’s “war on terror”, when the CIA snatched suspected terrorists from across the world and turned them over to authorities criticised for using extensive torture.
Egypt, a country ruled by the same man under emergency laws for decades, was an enthusiastic partner in renditions, wrote Mayer as she followed the cases of terror suspects who claimed to have been captured by the US and sent to Egypt, where they were tortured.
Torture in Egypt has been a longstanding issue that has dominated human rights reports on the world’s largest Arab nation for decades.
As the Mukhabarat chief, Suleiman was considered the “hit man” for Mubarak’s regime, wrote Ron Suskind, author of the book, “The One Percent Doctrine”.
In an interview with the United States ABC News network, Suskind sarcastically described Suleiman as “a charitable man, friendly," before going on to add: "He tortures only people that he doesn't know."
‘Liars who only understand force’
Suleiman also played a key role in the Egyptian-negotiated indirect talks between Israel and Hamas over the past two years, paying official visits to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, where he met with Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.
He has extensive experience on the Palestinian dossier, which included a failed attempt by Egypt to negotiate a Palestinian unity government between rivals Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 2008.
Familiar with Hamas and PA leaders, Suleiman also played a critical role in demolishing underground smuggling tunnels from Gaza into Egypt.
As the spy chief of the Arab world’s largest Sunni Muslim nation, Suleiman concurred with Israeli and US policies on tightening the reins on Shiite Iran.
But most appealing for the US has been Suleiman’s reputation as an ardent anti-Islamist with a visceral dislike of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s officially banned but tolerated Islamist group.
According to British daily The Guardian, Suleiman has in the past described the Brotherhood as "liars who only understand force".
In his new role of vice president, Egypt’s former spy chief will now have to negotiate with a group he has traditionally considered the country’s most serious security threat. It will not be easy for the vice president, nor for his Islamist negotiating partner.
 http://aljazeerah.info/News/2011/February/6%20n/Omar%20Suleiman,%20From%20Shadowy%20Spy%20Chief%20to%20Key%20International%20Player.htm

Egyptian Protesters Insist on Departure of Mubarak, Opposition Parties Scramble for Talks with the Regime

Al-Jazeerah, CCUN Editor's Summation of events in Egypt:

February 6, 2011



The Egyptian regime has withstood the first attack by the revolutionary forces, absorbed it, and started its counter-attack, aiming at winning time until gradually subduing the revolution.

The security forces have come back after their collapse and the army has stood by the regime, as it is still under its supreme commander, President Mubarak, who is still in power.

The new vice president, Omar Sulaiman, is doing a superb job for the regime as the interlocutor of opposition parties and groups, who have scrambled to meet with him for talks that may result in their participation in power.

Sulaiman has earned an international reputation for his negotiation skills, which lead to continuous and endless negotiations for the sake of negotiations, such as what he did with the Palestinians for years without any results, ultimately serving the pro-Israeli status-quo.

The new prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, has presented himself as the man of the people, whose main job is to provide the people with stability and services, without corruption. He has been asking the Egyptian people, in the many press conferences and interviews he conducted, to give him a chance for at least six months or a year, then judge his work. In essence, he is buying time for President Mubarak to stay in power until the October elections, exactly like what Sulaiman is trying to do.

The views of the rulers of the World System, as expressed by their representatives in the US-EU governments, have been very clear: Mubarak should stay in power until the October elections.Statements by Biden, Clinton, Wisner, Cheney, and McCain represented these views despite the initial statements by Obama, who no longer insists on the change to happen "now."

Mubarak has been praised by Zionists in government and media as a "great friend of Israel," the only thing Zionists care about. He managed to give Israel thirty years of support for everything it did, including participation in the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip. Israeli leaders even announced the 2008-2009 war on Gaza from Cairo.

Moreover, he led the other Arab dictators to support the NATO invasion and occupation of the Arabian Peninsula, the occupation and destruction of the Iraqi state, facilitating for the Zionist state to maintain its sole hegemony over the world's oil-rich region.

Zionists never cared about the Egyptian people, their standard of living, or their freedom and democracy. All what they have cared about was making sure that the dictator maintains his tight grip on power in order for him to keep Egypt away from leading the Arab Nation towards a better future of freedom, democracy, and a higher standard of living.

Finally, the Mubarak regime has been an active participant in the Bush global war on "Terror," which destroyed the US financially and morally. The Mubarak regime tortured Muslims renditioned to Egypt by US government after September 11, 2001.

Are the Egyptians going to buy the trick of endless negotiations with the regime, which has oppressed and impoverished them for three decades?

Are they going to insist on the "regime change," the slogan which they started their revolution with?

Are they going to move in millions, on Thursday, to the Presidential Palace, to force Muabarak to leave, as announced by the Union of Egyptian Lawyers today?

The answers to these questions will show if the revolution will continue further to reach its full potential, or not.


===================================

Muslim Brotherhood wary after government reform talks
Egypt’s once banned Muslim Brotherhood left talks with President Hosni Mubarak’s regime on Sunday dissatisfied, saying that an offer to include opposition members on a panel to steer the country through democratic reform was not enough.
By William EDWARDS (video)
News Wires (text)
February 6, 2011
AFP - An offer by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's regime to include opposition members on a panel to pilot democratic reform does not go far enough, a Muslim Brotherhood head said after landmark talks Sunday.
EGYPT Expert details scenarios that could play out for Egypt as crisis continues
"The statement is insufficient," said Mohammed Mursi, who took part in a meeting between the government and representatives of several opposition groups protesting against Mubarak's rule.
The talks were historic in that the Brotherhood, which is still technically banned, has not officially met with the Egyptian state in 50 years.
Another senior Brotherhood figure, Essam al-Erian, told reporters: "Our demands are still the same. They didn't respond to most of our demands. They only responded to some of our demands, but in a superficial way."
Mahmud Ezzat, the number two leader in the Brotherhood, told AFP by telephone that the group had not pulled out of the talks because it felt it had made progress, but warned that protests would continue.
In his view, the government had by sitting down with the opposition "admitted that this is a popular revolution and its demands are legitimate. And part of our demands is that the president must leave.
Asked whether he believed that Mubarak would eventually step down, Ezzat said: "That hinges on popular pressure, and we support the popular pressure. It must continue."
Following the talks, the government announced an agreement that the parties would form a joint committee of jurists and politicians to oversee democratic reform with a view to holding eventual elections.
The government also agreed to open an office for complaints about the treatment of political prisoners, loosen media curbs, to lift an emergency law "depending on the security situation" and reject foreign interference.
But the demonstrators who have seized control of Tahrir Square in central Cairo, some of them Brotherhood supporters but many more unaffiliated secular protesters, have been adamant that Mubarak must step down immediately.
Many in the square were angry as night fell and the talks had failed to force Mubarak to quit his post and allow others to oversee the transition.
"It's bullshit. That's my honest opinion," said 25-year-old Nora Abul Samra. "When he leaves they can do whatever they want. They still believe there is a constitutional way to do it, but this is a revolution."
EGYPT Egyptian opposition agrees to create a committee for constitutional reform
EGYPT Egyptian opposition holds key talks with government
EGYPT Egypt's ruling party overhaul fails to appease protesters
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood begins dialogue with government
CAIRO, Feb. 6, 2011, (Xinhua) --
Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman Sunday held talks with representatives of political parties including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and protesters, a step to establish a national dialogue and ease the unrest in Egypt that entered its 13th day.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the Wafd party, Tagammu, members of a committee chosen by youth groups, as well as independent political and business figures were present at the meeting, state news agency MENA said.
According to state television, the opposition agreed with Suleiman to end the 30 years emergency law, constitutional change, ensure President Mubarak does not run again in September, stop crackdown on media and establish a national committee that follow up developments until new presidential elections which should be free and fair.
The Brotherhood who earlier refused to join talks unless the president leaves office first, said that the group decided to engage in negotiations as they are eager that the people's demands are met and wants to respect the sacrifices made by the young people.
"We decided to take part in a round of negotiations in order to test the officials' seriousness about people's demands and their interests to respond," said the group's supreme guide Mohamed Badie, in a statement on Sunday.
The move to join negotiations after the Brotherhood rejected previous calls came only a day after the top executive board of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) resigned including the Egyptian president's son Gamal Mubarak. Hossam Badrawi, a prominent physician and political figure was named as the new secretary general.
Rumors circulated that President Mubarak have also stepped down from his post as NDP chairman, but those rumors proved false by the minister of information, which angered Tahrir Square protesters demanding the president to end his 30 year rule of the country.
Meanwhile normal life began in Cairo streets except central Cairo's Tahrir square which remains packed, after a long standstill week as chaos took place around the capital.
The Egyptian government opened a limited number of banks, long lines formed outside the banks in downtown and other neighborhood. Moreover, traffic went back to normal as more people started to use public transportation.
Egyptian army commander addresses protestors in Tahrir Square
CAIRO, Feb. 5, 2011 (Xinhua) --
An Egyptian army commander on Saturday went to the Tahrir, or Liberation, Square, to persuade thousands of protestors to stop the demonstration which entered the 12th day demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.
The senior officer called Hassan said in a loud speaker that the crowd should go home and the army guaranteed the safety of protestors, a Xinhua reporter said. The address was responded with shouts from demonstrators.
Editor: yan
Egypt regime offers new concessions to opposition
Feb 6, 12:53 PM EST
By SARAH EL DEEB and MAGGIE MICHAEL
Associated Press
CAIRO (AP) --
Egypt's vice president met a broad representation of major opposition groups for the first time Sunday and offered new concessions including freedom of the press, release of those detained since anti-government protests began nearly two weeks ago and the eventual lifting of the country's hated emergency laws.
Two of the groups that attended the meeting said this was only a first step in a dialogue which has yet to meet their central demand - the immediate ouster of longtime President Hosni Mubarak.
"People still want the president to step down," said Mostafa Al-Naggar, a protest organizer and supporter of Mohamed El-Baradei, a Nobel Peace laureate and one of the country's leading democracy advocates.
"The protest continues because there are no guarantees and not all demands have been met," he added. "We did not sign on to the statement. This is a beginning of a dialogue. We approve the positive things in the statement but ... we are still demanding that the president step down."
The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest opposition group, made a similar statement after its representatives attended the meeting.
Vice President Omar Suleiman offered to set up a committee of judiciary and political figures to study proposed constitutional reforms that would allow more candidates to run for president and impose term limits on the presidency, the state news agency reported. The committee was given until the first week of March to finish the tasks.
The offer also included a pledge not to harass those participating in anti-government protests, which have drawn hundreds of thousands at the biggest rallies. The government agreed not to hamper freedom of press and not to interfere with text messaging and Internet.
The offer to eventually lift emergency laws with a major caveat - when security permits - would fulfill a longtime demand by the opposition. The laws were imposed by Mubarak when he took office in 1981 and they have been in force ever since. They give police far-reaching powers for detention and suppression of civil and human rights.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry hailed the talks with opposition groups and the promise to remove the emergency law as "frankly quite extraordinary." Kerry called on Mubarak to lay out a timetable for transition and new elections.
"He must step aside gracefully, and begin the process of transition to a caretaker government. I believe that is happening right now," Kerry told NBC's Meet the Press. "What's needed now is a clarity in this process."
Mubarak is insisting he cannot stand down now or it would only deepen the chaos in his country. The United States shifted signals and gave key backing to the regime's gradual changes on Saturday, warning of the dangers if Mubarak goes too quickly.
Sunday's meeting drew the broadest representation of Egypt's fragmented opposition to sit with the new vice president since the protests began on Jan. 25.
The new offer of concessions followed a series of others that would have been unimaginable just a month ago in this tightly controlled country. All appear geared to placate the protesters and relieve international pressure without giving in to the one demand that unites all the opposition - Mubarak's immediate departure. The latest agreement makes no mention of any plan for Mubarak to step before a new election is held later this year.
Since protests began, Mubarak has pledged publicly for the first time that he will not seek re-election. The government promised his son Gamal, who had widely been expected to succeed him, would also not stand. Mubarak appointed a vice president for the first time since he took office three decades ago, widely considered his designated successor. He sacked his Cabinet, named a new one and promised reforms. And on Saturday, the top leaders of the ruling party, including Gamal Mubarak, were purged.
There were signs that the paralysis that has gripped the country since the crisis began was easing Sunday, the first day of the week in Egypt. Some schools reopened for the first time in more than a week, and banks did the same for only three hours with long lines outside. However, there is still a night curfew, and tanks ringing the city's central square and guarding government buildings, embassies and other important institutions.
At the epicenter of the protests, Tahrir (Liberation) Square in central Cairo, some activists said they had slept under army tanks ringing the plaza for fear they would try to evict them or further confine the area for demonstrations. The crowd of thousands in the morning swelled steadily over the day to tens of thousands in the late afternoon. Many were exhausted and wounded from fighting to stand their ground for more than a week in the square.
"We are determined to press on until our number one demand is met," said Khaled Abdul-Hameed, a representative of the protesters.
He said the activists have formed a 10-member "Coalition of the Youths of Egypt's Revolution," to relay their positions to politicians and public figures negotiating with the regime.
"The regime is retreating. It is making more concessions everyday," Abdul-Hameed said.
The opposition groups represented at the meeting included the youthful supporters of ElBaradei, who are one of the main forces organizing the protests. ElBaradei was not invited and his brother said the statement by those who did attend does not represent his personal view.
The Muslim Brotherhood and a number of smaller leftist, liberal groups also attended, according to footage shown on state television.
The government offered to open an office that would field complaints about political prisoners, according to the state news agency. It also pledged to commission judicial authorities to fight corruption and prosecute those behind it. In another concession, authorities promised to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the yet unexplained disappearance of police from Cairo's streets more than a week ago, which unleashed a wave of lawless looting and arson.
The government agreed to set up a committee that includes public and independent figures and specialists and representatives of youth movements to monitor the "honest implementation" of all the new agreements and to report back and give recommendations to Suleiman.
"I think Mubarak will have to stop being stubborn by the end of this week because the country cannot take more million strong protests," said Muslim Brotherhood representative Issam Aryan
Mohammed Mursi, one of the Brothers who attended the talks, said: "Unless he moves fast to meet people's demands there is no point in the dialogue."
Mursi said what was issued was a position in principle, "a first step."
"All those attending the meeting agreed the protesters have a right to stay where they are without anyone assaulting them," he said. "People want real change, a change that includes the president, his government, his party and his regime," Mursi added.
He also said the group was expecting a second round of talks within a few days.
The fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which has been outlawed since 1954 but fields candidates in parliamentary elections as independents, did not organize or lead the protests currently under way and only publicly threw its support behind them a few days into the movement. It only ordered its supporters to take part when it sensed that the protesters, mostly young men and women using social networks on the Internet to mobilize, were able to sustain their momentum.
There have been no known discussions between the Brotherhood and the regime in years - one of many startling shifts in policy after years of crackdowns by the Western-backed regime against the Islamists.
Both Mubarak and Suleiman have blamed the Brotherhood as well as foreigners of fomenting the recent unrest. Mubarak is known to have little or no tolerance for Islamist groups and the decision to open talks with the Brotherhood is a tacit recognition by his regime of their key role in the ongoing protests as well as their wide popular base.
The Brotherhood aims to create an Islamic state in Egypt, but insists that it would not force women to cover up in public in line with Islam's teachings and would not rescind Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
The group, which fields candidates as independents, made a surprisingly strong showing in elections in 2005, winning 20 percent of parliament's seats. However, thousands of its members were arrested in crackdowns over the past decade and it failed to win a single seat in elections held late last year. The vote was heavily marred by fraud that allowed the National Democratic Party to win all but a small number of the chamber's 518 seats.
Al-Tahrir Square, hundreds performed the noon prayers and later offered a prayer for the souls of protesters killed in clashes with security forces. Later, Christians held a Sunday Mass and thousands of Muslims joined in.
Some of the worshippers broke down and cried as the congregation sang: "Bless our country, listen to the screams of our hearts."
"In the name of Jesus and Muhammad we unify our ranks," Father Ihab al-Kharat said in his sermon. "We will keep protesting until the fall of the tyranny," he said.
In the capital Cairo, home to some 18 million people, there were some signs of a return to normalcy. Traffic was back to near regular levels and more stores reopened across the city, including some on the streets leading to the Tahrir Square. Protesters greeted some store owners and people returning to work with flowers.
In Zamalek, an affluent island in the middle of the Nile that is home to many foreign embassies, food outlets reopened and pizza delivery boys checked their motorbikes. Employees at a KFC restaurant wiped down tables. Hairdressers and beauty salons called their patrons to let them know they were reopening.
-----
Associated Press reporter Salah Nasrawi contributed to this report from Cairo.
US noncommittal on Muslim group joining talks
By MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press
Feb 6, 2011,12:17 PM EST
MUNICH (AP) --
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday the Obama administration supports the transition to a new government now moving forward in Egypt, but she says it must be up to the Egyptian people to decide if the reforms go far enough.
With mass protests now in their 13th day, Clinton said the U.S. is encouraging talks between opposition leaders and Vice President Omar Suleiman aimed at ending the country's political crisis.
But she withheld judgment on the decision by the Muslim Brotherhood to enter into discussions with the embattled government. The group said it would insist that President Hosni Mubarak, an authoritarian leader who's been in power for nearly three decades, step aside immediately.
In an interview with National Public Radio, Clinton said the U.S. has been clear about what it expects as Egypt moves toward a new government.
"The Egyptian people are looking for an orderly transition that can lead to free and fair elections," she said. "That's what the United States has consistently supported. We are putting a lot into making sure the dialogue process that has begun is meaningful and transparent and leads to concrete actions."
The people of Egypt and the leaders of the various opposition groups would "ultimately determine if it is or is not meeting their needs," she said.
The transition should be as inclusive and transparent as possible, Clinton said.
While remaining non-committal about the Brotherhood's entry into the talks, she said "at least they are now involved in the dialogue."
"We are going to wait and see how this develops," she said.
Clinton's comment suggests the administration would be willing to work with a government that includes the Brotherhood, but only if certain conditions were met.
The group has been outlawed since 1954 and the talks would be the first known discussions between the government and the Brotherhood in years.
In Washington, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., hailed the Egyptian government's talks with the Brotherhood and other opposition groups as "quite extraordinary."
Speaking Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee called on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to lay out a timetable for transition and new elections in a second major address to his people.
"He must step aside gracefully and begin the process of transition to a caretaker government," Kerry said. "I believe that is happening right now," but he said what's needed is clarity in the process.
Leading democracy advocate Mohamed El-Baradei criticized the talks as "opaque" and "managed by the military." Also speaking on NBC, he said he had not been invited to them, and he warned that Egyptians still fear "that the government will retrench and come back with a vengeance."
The Egyptian ambassador to the U.S., Sameh Shoukry, insisted that the transition is under way and said "the Egypt of the future will look significantly different than Egypt of the past."
Clinton addressed in her interview the phenomenon of anti-government protests that began in Tunisia and then spread to Egypt and other Arab nations.
"Some leaders listen better than other leaders, but all leaders have to recognize now that the failure to reform, the failure to open up their economies and political systems, is just not an option any longer," she said.
Clinton said the "forces that are at work, particularly because of the advances in communications technology, are not reversible."
The U.S. understands that and wants to "play a constructive role in helping countries move in the direction of more openness and more democracy and participation and market access, the things that we stand for," she said.
Clinton also acknowledged that over the years the U.S. has had close relations with autocratic regimes that are not popular with their people and run counter to American ideas and ideals.
"There is no easy answer to how we pursue what's in America's interests because ultimately my job, the president's job is to protect the security, the interests of the United States," she said.
"Do we do business with, do we have relations with, do we support governments over the past 50 years that we do not always see eye to eye with? Of course. That's the world in which we live, but our messages are consistent," she said.
http://aljazeerah.info/News/2011/February/6%20n/Egyptian%20Protesters%20Insist%20on%20Departure%20of%20Mubarak,%20Opposition%20Parties%20Scramble%20for%20Talks%20with%20the%20Regime.htm