Category: 08 Wild Cards

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Leading Tunisian Islamist returns from exile

08 Wild Cards, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence
DefDog Recommends...

Leading Tunisian Islamist Rachid Ghannouchi returned home on Sunday from 22 years in exile, witnesses said. Thousands turned out to greet him at
the airport.

His return is the most powerful symbol to date of the change that has
swept this country since its president was toppled by popular protests
this month.

. . . . . .

Speaking to Reuters a day before his return, Ghannouchi said the party's role would be to help “anchor a democratic system, social justice and to put a limit to discrimination against banned groups.”

“We are taking part so we can move from a one-party system to a true multi-party system without corruption or oppression.”

Read entire article and view 18 photos….

Phi Beta Iota: The USA has a one-party system or a two-party tyranny, whatever you want to call it: corrupt politicians that work for special interests and betray the public trust.  There is no difference between Democratic and Republican politicians, and sadly, the good people who think of themselves as Democrats or Republicans have no idea they are being deceived, screwed, stolen from, and generally dismissed.

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EGYPT: China Concerned, USA Clueless

08 Wild Cards, Advanced Cyber/IO, Augmented Reality, Collective Intelligence, Communities of Practice, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Mobile, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence, Policies, Real Time, Threats
DefDog Recommends...

CHINA has blocked the word “Egypt” from the country's wildly popular
Twitter-like service, while coverage of the political turmoil has been
tightly restricted in state media.

China's ruling Communist Party is sensitive to any potential source of
social unrest.

A search for “Egypt” on the Sina microblogging service brings up a
message saying, “According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, the
search results are not shown.”

Read full article….

Throughout the week, as the crisis gathered storm in Egypt, the
administration had otherwise been slow to react, seemingly always one step
behind events. This was partly because neither the U.S. intelligence
community nor diplomats on the ground foresaw how swiftly the protests in
Egypt would gather momentum—even if everyone realized that virtually the
entire Arab world is a tinder box of pent-up frustration, with despotic
regimes unable to meet the needs of, especially, their youth.

Read full article….

Phi Beta Iota: Advanced Cyber/Information Operations are primarily about being in close touch with reality inclusive of history and culture as well as a full range of future holistic projections firmly grounded in a mature concept of intelligence that fully integrates “true cost” information for every service, product, and policy, and clearly appreciate the value of the human factor.  Cyber-security is largly a scam (think back to the Y2K scare), and to the extent that cyber-security vaporware reduces the commander's attention to substance (intelligence), it is a cancer.

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Regime Dominos–and Global Solidarity Protests

05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Government

Fearless protesters challenge regimes around Middle East

Los Angeles Times, 30 January 2011

The toppling of Tunisia's president is having a ricochet effect across the Arab world with demonstrators trading fear for solidarity.

. . . . . .

The uprisings are having a ricochet effect across the Arab world. People are watching the events unfolding on television and Facebook and identifying with the people in the streets.

. . . . . .

“It's political challenge to autocratic systems that have degraded and dehumanized people and humiliated them to the point where they just can't take it anymore and they finally started to erupt,” said Rami Khouri, a commentator and analyst affiliated with the American University of Beirut. “That's combined with intense social and economic pressures and disparities which are accentuated by the lavish lifestyles of the rich who made their money by being close to the regime.”

Read rest of this very fine overview….

`All repressive regimes must go!' — Asian socialists in solidarity with the uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia and the Middle East

January 29, 2011 — The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) would like to express its solidarity with the revolutionary masses in Egypt, as well as in Tunisia and other countries in North Africa and the Middle East, for their courageous struggle against repressive regimes which are mostly backed by US-led imperialist powers.

January 29, 2011 — The progressive movement and peoples of the Philippines stands in solidarity with the Egyptian people and the mass movement in the streets in these critical moments in their struggle for the ouster of the dictatorial Mubarak regime. We salute them for their tremendous courage in fighting a vicious regime, which has an infamous reputation for the brutality of its police and security forces, and that has been responsible for arbitrarily arresting and cruelly torturing government opponents. We support the people’s message that Mubarak must go and that the people no longer want his government and system.

We also salute the upsurge of the Tunisian peoples in overthrowing the US-backed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January 14, and how their victory has electrified and inspired the people of Egypt and the Middle East, while dictators shake with fear.

Phi Beta Iota: The repeated refrain associated with the regime change movements singles out the USA for its decades of support for oppressive regimes.  Two things are happening here: the public has lost its fear and found its solidarity; and the public is now thinking in historical context and holding the USA accountable for its role in supporting Israeli genocide against the Palestinians, and dictators all over the world (less North Korea and Cuba).

See Also:

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Abuse & Atrocities

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Anger

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Class War (Global)

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Corporate & Transnational Crime

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Corruption

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Culture

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Dissent

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Evil

Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Empire as Cancer Including Betrayal & Deceit

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Egypt’s Perfect Storm: Associated Press Shines

08 Wild Cards, Communities of Practice, Cultural Intelligence
Click Image to Enlarge

Egypt's uprising unites society in rage

(AP) – 5 hours ago

CAIRO (AP) — For Gamal Hassanein, it began with a slap.

The unemployed 24-year-old was arguing with a police officer when the man struck him across the face — a blow that seemed to sting for months.

Click Image to Enlarge

“He stole my dignity with that slap,” said Hassanein, who does odd jobs to make money. “We could never stand up to those officers before because we were afraid. But we're no longer willing to be silenced by our fear.”

The tens of thousands of protesters who have thrown Egypt's 30-year-old regime into tumult come from all walks of life — conservative Muslims and Christians, yuppies and the unemployed, young and old. For many, the protests demanding that President Hosni Mubarak step down were a catalyst for years or decades of repressed anger at mistreatment at the hands of the state.

Click Image to Enlarge

One after another, they describe a moment buried in their memory that came gushing to the surface as they saw others taking to the streets.

. . . . . .

“They are taking us lightly and they don't feel our frustration,” she said. “This is a uprising of the people and we will not shut up again.”

Click Image to Enlarge

Read rest of this SUPERB collage of deep insights…..

Phi Beta Iota: Especially noteworthy in this professional piece is the observation that the Muslim Brotherhood, while a key player, is not the whole enchilada–the public has been mobilized across the board by a whole range of preconditions and personal experiences.

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Egypt, Turkey, the Muslim Brotherhood…

05 Civil War, 08 Wild Cards
Youssef Qaradawi

Qaradawi Urges Mubarak To Leave Egypt

The widely respected Sunni Muslim cleric who holds Egyptian and Qatari nationalities, also encouraged Egyptians to keep up peaceful protests, in an interview with Al-Jazeera television. “President Mubarak … I advise you to depart from Egypt … There is no other solution to this problem but for Mubarak to go,” Qaradawi said on Saturday.

Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood Organizes More Anti-Government Protests

Egypt protests: America's secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising – Telegraph

This is a fluff article.  It represents the ignorance of both the media and the Western governments about reality on the ground.

Recommended by Berto Jongman:

Turkey, the Global Muslim Brotherhood, and the Gaza Flotilla

Phi Beta Iota: Turkey is making its move.  This has been years if not decades in the making, and what we are seeing in an extraordinary coming together of the Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey, and a wide variety of interested parties who see in Israel, the Arab dictators, and the USA's military presence in the region all they believe to be the Great Satan.  The fall of the dictators and the exit of the US from this region are, in our collective view, inevitable.  The fate of Israel hangs in the balance–they will be lucky to end up with a small separate state after giving up half the waterfront, the occupied lands, and all presence in and around Gaza.  Interestingly, because secular corruption has played so prominent a role in the region, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism is virtually assured, taking “blow-back” to the next level.  In this context, the Assisi Peace Summit and the prospects for inter-faith agreement on the need for multinational information-sharing and sense-making take on even more importance.

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CIA In Egypt: Silence of the Goats

05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, Corruption, Government
Who, Me?

A never ending goat rope!

What should the CIA do in Egypt?

By Jeff Stein

The ghost of the 1979 Iranian revolution is very much on the minds of veteran intelligence officials as Egypt explodes in street protests.

Most historians agree that the CIA was largely in the dark when anti-American students, radical Islamists and mullahs ignited street protests in Tehran because the U.S.-backed shah had forbidden the CIA to have contact with opposition groups.

Read the rest of this empty article….

Phi Beta Iota: Stein is a low-rent version of Ignatius, and most of his sources rarely have anything substantive to contribute.  This is puffery.  CIA is in the liaison business, not the espionage or the analytics business.  The Safari Club (the fifth CIA that does rendition and torture) is built around Egyptian intelligence officers whose idea of a good time is sodomizing drugged kids and taking photos to turn the kids against their fathers.  Not only is CIA worthless in Egypt and across the region, but the minute they are asked to do something they will out-source it because they have no internal bench–indeed, the place looks like a geriatric ward now, with annuitants all over the place.

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Revolution & Secession: The Game is ON!

08 Wild Cards, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Collective Intelligence, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government, InfoOps (IO), Intelligence (government), Military, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Officers Call, Peace Intelligence, Policies, Threats

NIGHTWATCH Complete Report for 28 January 2011

Jordan: Protesters across Jordan called for the government to step down. In Amman, more than 5,000 marched. Demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans, blamed the government for rising prices and called for the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai.

Egypt: Today was the Day of Rage and so it has been. Roughly an hour after Friday prayers, the demonstrations began in Cairo, Suez and Alexandria, then spread and continued into the night. Buildings were set alight; curfews ignored and the Army moved in. The night closed with President Mubarak's mildly concessional speech which promises to incite the protesters, more than placate them. Expect more confrontations on 29 January.

Special comment: Background. Research and analysis of more than 50 internal instability episodes since 1980, NightWatch has tracked order in what appears to be chaotic security situations. Once internal discontent metamorphoses into a breakdown of public order, the government begins searching for a set of responses that will halt the decline in its fortunes. A government will follow a three-phase cycle in applying different ideas and resources alternately to placate or crush an insurrection or to buy time to try to find “a line it can hold.” That phrase refers to a set of actions over an expanse of national territory that will stabilize internal conditions.

If the government finds a set of responses that match the protestors' grievances, the downward cycle can be halted. If not, it will continue until the government falls or is changed, usually by the Army, the ultimate guardians of the state.

Below the line: complete NightWatch analytics, followed by comment on Davies J-Curve and Power of the Powerless.

Continue reading “Revolution & Secession: The Game is ON!”