Al Jazeera
Mubarak concessions 'insufficient'
Egypt protesters continue to demand president's immediate ouster, as US calls for urgent transition and reforms plan.
"Chants of 'Down with the regime! Down with the president!' started up again about 30 seconds after he was done with the speech," Ashraf Khalil, a journalist based in Cairo, told Al Jazeera.
"Talking to the protesters in Tahrir Square, those who are remaining have made it clear that his latest concessions are unacceptable. They have no intention of giving him some sort of eight month farewell tour. They want him gone immediately and they plan to keep the pressure up," Khalil said.
"But to those demanding he leave Egypt, Mubarak said on Tuesday: "This is my country ... and I will die on its soil."
"Reaction to Mubarak's speech has been strong and swift. Immediately afterwards, Barack Obama, US president, said "orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now."
read the rest of the article:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/20112272918301323.html
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
UK: US force change in Egypt
The Telegraph
Egypt protests: Washington forces Hosni Mubarak to step down
President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt was on Tuesday night forced by Washington to announce he would step down at elections later this year.
By Richard Spencer, Cairo
"Mr Mubarak was due in the late evening to appear on state television to announce his departure, which followed mass demonstrations against his rule in Cairo and other major cities.
"But he was likely to refuse to bow to demands by hundreds of thousands of protesters that he quit immediately.
"Mr Mubarak was finally compelled to act after a direct intervention by Barack Obama. The US president sent a special envoy, Frank Wisner, to tell Mr Mubarak that he had lost support and that it was “critical” he oversee a transition to free and fair elections in September.
"Western leaders have repeatedly expressed a desire for a controlled transfer of power. They had been alarmed by Mr Mubarak’s refusal to confirm that neither he nor his unpopular son Gamal would try to stand in September. This raised the risk of greater instability and the seizure of power by radical Islamist forces."
read the rest of the article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8297151/Egypt-protests-Washington-forces-Hosni-Mubarak-to-step-down.html
Egypt protests: Washington forces Hosni Mubarak to step down
President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt was on Tuesday night forced by Washington to announce he would step down at elections later this year.
By Richard Spencer, Cairo
"Mr Mubarak was due in the late evening to appear on state television to announce his departure, which followed mass demonstrations against his rule in Cairo and other major cities.
"But he was likely to refuse to bow to demands by hundreds of thousands of protesters that he quit immediately.
"Mr Mubarak was finally compelled to act after a direct intervention by Barack Obama. The US president sent a special envoy, Frank Wisner, to tell Mr Mubarak that he had lost support and that it was “critical” he oversee a transition to free and fair elections in September.
"Western leaders have repeatedly expressed a desire for a controlled transfer of power. They had been alarmed by Mr Mubarak’s refusal to confirm that neither he nor his unpopular son Gamal would try to stand in September. This raised the risk of greater instability and the seizure of power by radical Islamist forces."
read the rest of the article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8297151/Egypt-protests-Washington-forces-Hosni-Mubarak-to-step-down.html
Australia: Business back Obama's economic plans
The Sydney Morning Herald
article printed in its entirety
Technology cos. commit funds to Obama program
Three of the biggest U.S. technology companies are committing hundreds of millions of dollars to an initiative backed by President Barack Obama to encourage job creation and economic growth by supporting small businesses.
The program, called the Startup America Partnership, is aimed at helping entrepreneurs start businesses and help them grow. In his State of the Union address last week, the president encouraged such efforts to stimulate the economy.
Intel Corp. said Monday it is giving $200 million to the campaign, while IBM Corp. is investing $150 million. Hewlett-Packard Co. is also participating, but did not disclose if it was committing funds to the partnership. A Hewlett-Packard representative could not be immediately reached for comment.
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IBM said its funds will be used in part to help mentor start-up companies, support software developers and expand mentorship programs.
Startup America is an independent private-sector alliance, working with the White House to support entrepreneurial businesses.
It will be chaired by Revolution LLC CEO and AOL Inc. co-founder Steve Case, whose Case Foundation along with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation will provide launch funding for the partnership.
The White House is making an effort to move away from the heavy government spending that it relied on to pull the economy out of recession to a business-friendly strategy to make the U.S. more competitive in the global marketplace.
The week, Obama will discuss innovation with technology business leaders on Tuesday.
Kauffman Foundation CEO Carl Schramm will be one of Startup America's founding board members.
"This partnership will bring together partners from across the private, public and non-profit sectors, working together toward a common goal: supporting the entrepreneurs who are the lifeblood of our economy," Schramm said in a statement.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-technology/technology-cos-commit-funds-to-obama-program-20110201-1abbn.html
article printed in its entirety
Technology cos. commit funds to Obama program
Three of the biggest U.S. technology companies are committing hundreds of millions of dollars to an initiative backed by President Barack Obama to encourage job creation and economic growth by supporting small businesses.
The program, called the Startup America Partnership, is aimed at helping entrepreneurs start businesses and help them grow. In his State of the Union address last week, the president encouraged such efforts to stimulate the economy.
Intel Corp. said Monday it is giving $200 million to the campaign, while IBM Corp. is investing $150 million. Hewlett-Packard Co. is also participating, but did not disclose if it was committing funds to the partnership. A Hewlett-Packard representative could not be immediately reached for comment.
Advertisement: Story continues below
IBM said its funds will be used in part to help mentor start-up companies, support software developers and expand mentorship programs.
Startup America is an independent private-sector alliance, working with the White House to support entrepreneurial businesses.
It will be chaired by Revolution LLC CEO and AOL Inc. co-founder Steve Case, whose Case Foundation along with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation will provide launch funding for the partnership.
The White House is making an effort to move away from the heavy government spending that it relied on to pull the economy out of recession to a business-friendly strategy to make the U.S. more competitive in the global marketplace.
The week, Obama will discuss innovation with technology business leaders on Tuesday.
Kauffman Foundation CEO Carl Schramm will be one of Startup America's founding board members.
"This partnership will bring together partners from across the private, public and non-profit sectors, working together toward a common goal: supporting the entrepreneurs who are the lifeblood of our economy," Schramm said in a statement.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-technology/technology-cos-commit-funds-to-obama-program-20110201-1abbn.html
UK: Too Early for a Huntsman presidential run
The Economist
The perils of hype
"JON HUNTSMAN was a successful governor, is a successful ambassador, is personable, handsome, accomplished, fluent in Mandarin and has all the makings of a major-party presidential candidate sometime in the future. Apparently, Mr Huntsman seems to have decided that the future is now: he will resign as ambassador to China in May and appears poised to run for president next year. This is a baffling decision."
read the rest of the article:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/02/jon_huntsman
The perils of hype
"JON HUNTSMAN was a successful governor, is a successful ambassador, is personable, handsome, accomplished, fluent in Mandarin and has all the makings of a major-party presidential candidate sometime in the future. Apparently, Mr Huntsman seems to have decided that the future is now: he will resign as ambassador to China in May and appears poised to run for president next year. This is a baffling decision."
read the rest of the article:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/02/jon_huntsman
Canada: Conrad Black's take on America
The National Post
A naive, sunny speech to a gloomy, withering country
By Conrad Black
The pieces begins with:
"It was a seriously demoralizing experience to read that the majority of Americans thought that Barack Obama gave a good State of the Union speech this week. Their approval may indicate that the process of the country's decline is more advanced even than I had feared."
and ends:
"The United States is a rich country whose people are patriotic and hard-working. It is disoriented and very corrupt, and all its elites have failed. And yet it has no real rivals. Europe is crumbling, even more idle and debt-ridden than the United States, and withering demographically, almost comatose after generations of paying Danegeld to the urban mobs and small farmers. Japan is a geriatric workshop; Russia is an alcohol-sodden, self-depopulating gangster-state; and India, China, Brazil, and Indonesia comprise over three billion people, more than two-thirds of whom live as they did 3,000 years ago. They are putting up good economic-growth numbers, but China's inflation rate is now in double digits, and all of those countries are largely dysfunctional and will require decades to have any chance of seriously rivalling America. This should provide time for the United States to pull out of its nose-dive. President Obama said, "We do big things." The United States has, but after this presentational fiasco, I would not like to think of what he might have in mind for an encore.
"There is a role for Canada and Australia, countries that have most of America's advantages except grandeur of scale, and few of its problems, to start to assume a bigger role in the world. The world wishes it, and we should be ready for it."
read the entire opinion:
http://www.nationalpost.com/naive+sunny+speech+gloomy+withering+country/4188603/story.html
note about the author (from Wikipedia):
Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, OC, PC (Can.), KCSG (born 25 August 1944) is an expatriate Canadian historian, columnist and publisher who was for a time the third largest newspaper magnate in the world.[1] He was convicted of fraud in a US court in 2007 and sentenced to six and a half years' imprisonment. On July 19, 2010 Black was granted bail.[2] He was released from Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Florida, U.S., two days later pending a decision by the court on whether to retry his 2008 criminal fraud conviction.[3]
Before the regulatory investigation that led to his conviction, Black controlled Hollinger International, Inc. Through affiliates, the company published major newspapers including The Daily Telegraph (UK), Chicago Sun Times (U.S.), Jerusalem Post (Israel), National Post (Canada), and hundreds of community newspapers in North America.
A naive, sunny speech to a gloomy, withering country
By Conrad Black
The pieces begins with:
"It was a seriously demoralizing experience to read that the majority of Americans thought that Barack Obama gave a good State of the Union speech this week. Their approval may indicate that the process of the country's decline is more advanced even than I had feared."
and ends:
"The United States is a rich country whose people are patriotic and hard-working. It is disoriented and very corrupt, and all its elites have failed. And yet it has no real rivals. Europe is crumbling, even more idle and debt-ridden than the United States, and withering demographically, almost comatose after generations of paying Danegeld to the urban mobs and small farmers. Japan is a geriatric workshop; Russia is an alcohol-sodden, self-depopulating gangster-state; and India, China, Brazil, and Indonesia comprise over three billion people, more than two-thirds of whom live as they did 3,000 years ago. They are putting up good economic-growth numbers, but China's inflation rate is now in double digits, and all of those countries are largely dysfunctional and will require decades to have any chance of seriously rivalling America. This should provide time for the United States to pull out of its nose-dive. President Obama said, "We do big things." The United States has, but after this presentational fiasco, I would not like to think of what he might have in mind for an encore.
"There is a role for Canada and Australia, countries that have most of America's advantages except grandeur of scale, and few of its problems, to start to assume a bigger role in the world. The world wishes it, and we should be ready for it."
read the entire opinion:
http://www.nationalpost.com/naive+sunny+speech+gloomy+withering+country/4188603/story.html
note about the author (from Wikipedia):
Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, OC, PC (Can.), KCSG (born 25 August 1944) is an expatriate Canadian historian, columnist and publisher who was for a time the third largest newspaper magnate in the world.[1] He was convicted of fraud in a US court in 2007 and sentenced to six and a half years' imprisonment. On July 19, 2010 Black was granted bail.[2] He was released from Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Florida, U.S., two days later pending a decision by the court on whether to retry his 2008 criminal fraud conviction.[3]
Before the regulatory investigation that led to his conviction, Black controlled Hollinger International, Inc. Through affiliates, the company published major newspapers including The Daily Telegraph (UK), Chicago Sun Times (U.S.), Jerusalem Post (Israel), National Post (Canada), and hundreds of community newspapers in North America.
Canada: Speaking out in support of President Obama
National Post
This opinion (printed in its entirety) was response to an opinion piece by Conrad Black (http://www.nationalpost.com/naive+sunny+speech+gloomy+withering+country/4188603/story.html)
Obama's speech inspired a nation
Re: A Naive, Sunny Speech To A Gloomy, Withering Country, Conrad Black. Jan. 29.
It is a bit rich that Conrad Black attacks America's corrupt elites, and that a former media baron sees a leftist national media conspiracy under every rock. Barack Obama's presidency has been far from a fiasco. He has extended health care to 32 million Americans. He has provided resources and political support for cutting edge science, for instance, by removing the restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. The Sputnik metaphor was apt. Technology and education are the keys to winning the future. Government investment in green energy, G4 Internet and research and development is necessary.
As Mr. Black concedes, Mr. Obama gave an address that most Americans approve -- he inspired the country. There is nothing to fear Mr. Black. As another great Democratic president, and believer in government investment, Franklin Roosevelt stated: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Daniel Martin, London, Ont.
http://www.nationalpost.com/Obama+speech+inspired+nation/4200210/story.html
This opinion (printed in its entirety) was response to an opinion piece by Conrad Black (http://www.nationalpost.com/naive+sunny+speech+gloomy+withering+country/4188603/story.html)
Obama's speech inspired a nation
Re: A Naive, Sunny Speech To A Gloomy, Withering Country, Conrad Black. Jan. 29.
It is a bit rich that Conrad Black attacks America's corrupt elites, and that a former media baron sees a leftist national media conspiracy under every rock. Barack Obama's presidency has been far from a fiasco. He has extended health care to 32 million Americans. He has provided resources and political support for cutting edge science, for instance, by removing the restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. The Sputnik metaphor was apt. Technology and education are the keys to winning the future. Government investment in green energy, G4 Internet and research and development is necessary.
As Mr. Black concedes, Mr. Obama gave an address that most Americans approve -- he inspired the country. There is nothing to fear Mr. Black. As another great Democratic president, and believer in government investment, Franklin Roosevelt stated: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Daniel Martin, London, Ont.
http://www.nationalpost.com/Obama+speech+inspired+nation/4200210/story.html
Russian: The west's Egypt conundrum
Pravda
article printed in its entirety
The West has given up on its Egyptian ally
By Sergei Balmasov
The Western media refer to current events in Egypt as "revolution." On January 27, the Egyptian authorities acknowledged the inability of the police to handle the protests of the opposition. Elite divisions of the Egyptian army have not been able to improve the situation in the country. Over 150 have been killed and nearly 1,000 protesters have been arrested and jailed, but clashes with the police become only stronger.
Both Muslim and Christian Egyptians united in their protests against the regime of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak. They make joint statements claiming that the Muslims and Christians of Egypt are struggling against corruption, unemployment, suppression and lack of freedoms. Liberals concluded an alliance with Islamists and leftist forces against Mubarak.
Hosni Mubarak is considered an ally of the United States. He openly supported the States in 1991 during the operation against Saddam Hussein: Mubarak sent a considerable military contingent against the brotherly Arab nation.
Nowadays, the actions of the Egyptian opposition find support in Europe and the United States. It seems that the West has given up on their Egyptian ally and urged him to conduct negotiations with the opposition.
Strange as it may seem, Western human rights activists have suddenly realized that Mubarak's prisons were no better than Nazi camps. It is only now that they realized that official Egyptian authorities violate human rights, suppress freedom of speech and block opposition websites and social networks. The EU urges the Egyptian authorities to exercise self-restraint, whereas the US media do not approach the events in the African country as their ally's struggle with Islamists.
Earlier, Mubarak tried to prove it to the West that he was standing against bearded daredevils, who would unleash the war against Israel and block the Suez Canal as soon as they came to power.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that the US administration would like to see reforms in Egypt.
"We are monitoring Egypt's military. They are demonstrating restraint, trying to differentiate between peaceful protestors - who we support - and potential looters and other criminal elements who are a danger to the Egyptian people," Clinton said. "There is no discussion of cutting off aid ... We are trying to convey a message that is clear - no violence, no provocation that results in violence, and that we want to see these reforms so that the people of Egypt can see their legitimate grievances addressed," she added.
It seems that the West does not believe that Mubarak will keep his presidency in Egypt. The country did not have an alternative to Mabarak before, but it seems that Mohamed ElBaradei has spoiled the game to the sitting Egyptian dictator.
Russia Today: Russian companies evacuate employees from Egypt
ElBaradei repeatedly stated that Mubarak was speculating on the subject of the danger of the Islamist opposition to suppress any kind of opposition in the country at all. ElBaradei, who supports the toppling of Mubarak, is very popular both among Egyptians and among Arabs in general. Serving as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) during 1997-2009, he earned the reputation of an ardent opponent to the USA and the defender of Iraq and Iran.
The USA tried not to let ElBaradei be re-elected for the position of IAEA's head in 2005. US officials tried to portray him as a Muslim who sympathized with Iran, but they eventually had to tolerate his pro-Iranian views for four more years.
The USA was also trying to discredit ElBaradei's reputation. The CIA intercepted many of his talks with the Iranian administration, but the States failed to make a corrupt official out of Mohamed ElBaradei.
The US administration conceived a dislike for ElBaradei in 2002, when he refused to support Washington's version about Saddam Hussein's development of weapons of mass destruction. Afterwards, ElBaradei harshly criticized the Americans for their actions in Iraq for their crackdown on Iran, claiming that the Iranian nuclear program was posing no threat to the world.
The West does not have much to choose from. Choosing between the weak Mubarak and Egypt's Islamist opposition party Muslim Brotherhood, the West may place its stake on Mohamed ElBaradei. The American media have already stopped attacking ElBaradei, whereas European journalists often say that he is a real alternative to the sitting president
http://english.pravda.ru/world/africa/31-01-2011/116719-egypt-0/
article printed in its entirety
The West has given up on its Egyptian ally
By Sergei Balmasov
The Western media refer to current events in Egypt as "revolution." On January 27, the Egyptian authorities acknowledged the inability of the police to handle the protests of the opposition. Elite divisions of the Egyptian army have not been able to improve the situation in the country. Over 150 have been killed and nearly 1,000 protesters have been arrested and jailed, but clashes with the police become only stronger.
Both Muslim and Christian Egyptians united in their protests against the regime of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak. They make joint statements claiming that the Muslims and Christians of Egypt are struggling against corruption, unemployment, suppression and lack of freedoms. Liberals concluded an alliance with Islamists and leftist forces against Mubarak.
Hosni Mubarak is considered an ally of the United States. He openly supported the States in 1991 during the operation against Saddam Hussein: Mubarak sent a considerable military contingent against the brotherly Arab nation.
Nowadays, the actions of the Egyptian opposition find support in Europe and the United States. It seems that the West has given up on their Egyptian ally and urged him to conduct negotiations with the opposition.
Strange as it may seem, Western human rights activists have suddenly realized that Mubarak's prisons were no better than Nazi camps. It is only now that they realized that official Egyptian authorities violate human rights, suppress freedom of speech and block opposition websites and social networks. The EU urges the Egyptian authorities to exercise self-restraint, whereas the US media do not approach the events in the African country as their ally's struggle with Islamists.
Earlier, Mubarak tried to prove it to the West that he was standing against bearded daredevils, who would unleash the war against Israel and block the Suez Canal as soon as they came to power.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that the US administration would like to see reforms in Egypt.
"We are monitoring Egypt's military. They are demonstrating restraint, trying to differentiate between peaceful protestors - who we support - and potential looters and other criminal elements who are a danger to the Egyptian people," Clinton said. "There is no discussion of cutting off aid ... We are trying to convey a message that is clear - no violence, no provocation that results in violence, and that we want to see these reforms so that the people of Egypt can see their legitimate grievances addressed," she added.
It seems that the West does not believe that Mubarak will keep his presidency in Egypt. The country did not have an alternative to Mabarak before, but it seems that Mohamed ElBaradei has spoiled the game to the sitting Egyptian dictator.
Russia Today: Russian companies evacuate employees from Egypt
ElBaradei repeatedly stated that Mubarak was speculating on the subject of the danger of the Islamist opposition to suppress any kind of opposition in the country at all. ElBaradei, who supports the toppling of Mubarak, is very popular both among Egyptians and among Arabs in general. Serving as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) during 1997-2009, he earned the reputation of an ardent opponent to the USA and the defender of Iraq and Iran.
The USA tried not to let ElBaradei be re-elected for the position of IAEA's head in 2005. US officials tried to portray him as a Muslim who sympathized with Iran, but they eventually had to tolerate his pro-Iranian views for four more years.
The USA was also trying to discredit ElBaradei's reputation. The CIA intercepted many of his talks with the Iranian administration, but the States failed to make a corrupt official out of Mohamed ElBaradei.
The US administration conceived a dislike for ElBaradei in 2002, when he refused to support Washington's version about Saddam Hussein's development of weapons of mass destruction. Afterwards, ElBaradei harshly criticized the Americans for their actions in Iraq for their crackdown on Iran, claiming that the Iranian nuclear program was posing no threat to the world.
The West does not have much to choose from. Choosing between the weak Mubarak and Egypt's Islamist opposition party Muslim Brotherhood, the West may place its stake on Mohamed ElBaradei. The American media have already stopped attacking ElBaradei, whereas European journalists often say that he is a real alternative to the sitting president
http://english.pravda.ru/world/africa/31-01-2011/116719-egypt-0/
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