Comments on: Fire in Cairo

By: Donagh

Donagh — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 23:15:43 +0000

Hi Sean, trust you to come up with a much better musical selection. Yeah, I guess those young lads with the eyeliner were only putting on an exotic fez (or should I say tarboosh?) over their lacquered hair on that one.

@Leftatthecross, at this stage no one believes the reports on the TV, do they?

The deteriorating security situation in Cairo and throughout the country has shown Mubarak’s weakening grip on the country. But it may also be his boldest gambit.

Some analysts believe the 83-year-old dictator, with his back against the wall, ordered all police forces out of the main cities to undermine the momentum of anti-regime demonstrations. With no police opposition, the euphoric protesters soon dispersed as a shocking rise in crime made security their foremost concern.

“The security vacuum serves Mubarak’s interest as people want to see a quick end to the situation and want law and order restored,” explains Moustafa Kamel El-Sayed, professor of political science at Cairo University.

By: Sean Baite

Sean Baite — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 08:53:09 +0000

Conor -
When did the BBC stop being the BBC?
Dunno - around when John Peel died ? …. bad timing from them this week in announcing they’re wielding the hatchet in the World Service - mostly the foreign language parts of it. Good news for tinpot dictatorships the world over
Donagh - maybe Oum Kalsoum (sic) might be a more appropriate choice - far less hairspray than your boys - what with all that live ammo flying through the air :

Back to our own shitehole - did the Sodgers of Destiny not take inspiration from Ben Ali and his gang ?? Knowing them they’d have gotten the Irish taxpayer to foot the bill of the one-way flight to Saudi…

By: LeftAtTheCross

LeftAtTheCross — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:47:52 +0000

It’s great Tv of course, same as the fall of the Berlin Wall was great TV, or the Iranian revolution in the 70s, as were a multitude of other big history events in the past few decades, Tiananmen Square, Yeltsin on the tank in front of the White House (the other one). My cynicism today comes from squaring the great TV aspect of it with the reality after all of those other great TV moments once the novelty of the anti-dictator “revolutions” has evaporated, that mostly another dictator takes over and that for most people the revolution didn;t add up to a hill of beans and in many cases there are significant aspects of their lives that are worse afterwards. Not being anti-revolution in making the comment. Venezuela I suppose is a recent example of a revolution going in the right direction. Bah humbug, it’s been a long week.

By: Conor McCabe

Conor McCabe — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 19:07:59 +0000

MY satellite dish picks up PressTV, which is the English language broadcast version of the national news channel of Iran, as well as al-jazeera, and watching the coverage of the events in Tunisia and, indeed, Egypt, on these channels is a great tonic to the bilge on RTE and even the BBC I’m sad to say.

When did the BBC stop being the BBC?

By: LeftAtTheCross

LeftAtTheCross — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:59:25 +0000

Always loved that song. Very appropriate for the day that’s in it. Thanks for planting it in my head. (Totally inane reaction to the events across the Arab world I know, but it feels surreal to be watching the live stream on Al Jazeera. Did it for a while this afternoon and stopped. So far removed from the realities here in this part of the world, for the moment. Will be interesting to see if it’s hijacked by a new “big man”, isn’t it always.)