Five planes, a camel, a tent and 30 virgin bodyguards

Ian Sparks

Revisiting Gaddafi's 2007 visit to Paris

REPRINT The conventional treatment for a visiting head of state is five-star accommodation and a fleet of limousines.

Security might consist of some hefty male bodyguards and strategically-placed marksmen.

VIRGIN KILLERS ... Be careful, these virgin bodyguards are trained to kill

This one brought his own tent and camel with 30 blue-uniformed females, all supposedly virgins.

Few of the orthodoxies of a state visit remained unchallenged as Colonel Muammar Gaddafi breezed into Paris in his Bedouin robes in December 2007.

His 400-strong entourage arrived on no fewer than five planes before heading to the Hotel de Marigny, where the Libyan leader will pitch his heated tent in the grounds.

He was said to be bringing a Saharan camel with him in order to "greet visitors in the true desert tradition".

His personal unit of female guards clad in blue camouflage uniforms, who will protect him around the clock, are trained killers.

Gaddafi raised his fist triumphantly in the air as he arrived at the Elysee Palace, where he was greeted by President Sarkozy.

Sarkozy extended the invitation after French involvement in the release of five Bulgarian nurses and a doctor who were condemned to death in Libya earlier this year.

MY FAVOURITE MARTIAN ... Sarkozy, like his European counterparts, finds Gaddafi a true friend

Since then, the two countries have been strengthening their ties with several billion pound trade deals including the purchase of Airbus planes, fighter jets and a contract to build a nuclear reactor for civil use in Libya.

Libya ended decades of isolation from the international community four years ago when it gave up its pursuit of nuclear arms and renounced terrorism.

Libyan-French relations further improved when Tripoli accepted responsibility for the 1989 shooting down of a French airliner over Niger and offered compensation to the victims.

During his five-day visit - his first to France since 1973 - Gaddafi will tour the Palace of Versailles, dine at the Ritz Hotel and meet representatives of the North African community in France.

A French foreign ministry spokesman said: "His country traditions dictate that he travels with his tent and a camel, and arrangements are being made for this."

Not everyone in France was as at ease about the visit as the presdident seemed, however.

Rama Yade, the country's Secretary of State for Human Rights, said France should demand "guarantees" on human rights from its visitor.

"Colonel Gaddafi must understand that our country is not a doormat on which a leader, terrorist or not, can come and wipe the blood of his crimes off his feet. France should not receive this kiss of death," he said.

HANNIBAL THE TERRIBLE ... Playboy son of the Libyan 'revolutionary' leader

While Gaddafi has not been in France for 34 years, his son Hannibal has made quite an impact there.

The 28-year-old playboy triggered a major diplomatic incident in Paris two years ago when he was arrested for allegedly punching his pregnant girlfriend and wrecking a hotel suite. He had to be arrested by armed police at the Paris Intercontinental, but was later released on bail.

Six months earlier he was pulled over for driving his Porsche at 70mph down the Champs-Elysees. Two years before that, Hannibal was arrested for attacking three Italian policemen with a fire extinguisher while on holiday in Rome. In all the incidents, he successfully claimed diplomatic immunity and no charges were ever brought.

[First published in DailyMail, London, 11 Dec 2007 - Ed]

http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2329:five-planes-a-camel-a-tent-and-30-virgin-bodyguards&catid=37:world&Itemid=59

Why Mubarak Should Have Seen Egypt's Revolution Coming

By ROMESH RATNESAR Romesh Ratnesar – 1 hr 9 mins ago

For many, Egypt's 18-day revolution seemed to come out of the blue. It was the kind of event that "cannot always be known or predicted," said James Clapper, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence. Even Egyptians could hardly believe their eyes. "I am speechless," one pro-democracy activist told al-Jazeera. "It's like a dream," a giddy Egyptian woman in Tahrir Square said on CBS News. "We cannot imagine it at all. Everyone is so happy - and shocked at the same time!"

Maybe they shouldn't be so surprised. The swiftness of Hosni Mubarak's downfall was stunning, but the sight of an aging autocrat shuffling into ignominy is by now a familiar one. In 1974, the world had only about 40 democracies, nearly all of them in the West; today there are three times that number. Some 85 authoritarian regimes have collapsed in the past 30 years. The triumph of a peaceful, secular, pro-democratic movement in Egypt is thus in keeping with broader global trends. All across the planet, people are leading safer, healthier and happier lives than they have done at any other time in human history. As a result, democratic reform is also on the rise, less because of Western pressure than because of the fact that the citizens of countries like Egypt now demand it. "The fact is, the world is becoming more banal every day," says Charles Kenny, a senior economist at the World Bank, "and that's wonderful news." (See TIME's special report "The Middle East in Revolt.")

Kenny documents this stirring banality in his forthcoming book, Getting Better: Why Global Development Is Succeeding - and How We Can Improve the World Even More. (Full disclosure: Kenny, like me, is a fellow at the New America Foundation.) In 1950, fewer than half of the world's primary-age children attended school; now close to 90% do. A century ago, rich countries like the U.S. had infant-mortality rates as high as 15%; today the rate worldwide is less than 5%. In sub-Saharan Africa, literacy rates increased from 28% to 61% between 1970 and 2000. There are just 12 nations in the world where average incomes are lower today than they were in 1960, and yet even in those countries life expectancy has increased by close to 10 years.

Such developments are creating a virtuous cycle of social and political change. As people get healthier and more educated, they also are increasingly invested in the future of their children, less inclined to commit violence and more demanding that their governments provide basic services and expand civil liberties. A widely used database at George Mason University ranks the political systems of 163 nations on a scale of -10 (strong autocracy) to +10 (strong democracy). The global average score is 5.5, the highest it has ever been. In one recent poll of international public opinion, support for the proposition that "democracy ... is better than any other form of government" was over 80% in every country surveyed and close to 90% among those in the Middle East. (See the top 10 famous protest plazas.)

In other words, Mubarak should have seen it coming. "Once people expect their governments to respect their rights," Kenny says, "it is much more likely to happen." He believes the quality of life has risen worldwide because the "interconnections among the global population" have facilitated the rapid spread of cheap, lifesaving technologies, such as vaccines, antibiotics and bed nets. Political ideas cross borders more easily too. "Once the transition to democracy is made to look possible by (peaceful) neighboring example, it often spreads," Kenny writes. That's what happened in Southeast Asia in the mid-1980s, across Eastern and Central Europe after 1989 - and may be taking place in the Arab world right now. No one knows what democracy in Egypt will look like. But the historical evidence strongly suggests that Egypt's revolution won't be the region's last.

So what does this "snowballing of democratic change" mean for the U.S.? First, safeguarding our long-term interests in the Middle East increasingly requires active support for democratic forces, even those fighting against regimes friendly to Washington. "Nothing else is going to work," says Abbas Milani, a professor of political science at Stanford and author of The Shah. "It's too easy to learn the truth. It's too easy to tell the truth. And as a result, all of these despotic regimes are going to find it impossible to rule." (Read Joe Klein on how the U.S. should support Middle East reform.")

Second, Kenny's findings about the factors that actually influence the quality of people's lives - and, in turn, their likelihood of embracing values compatible with ours - suggest that modest, incremental policies produce more positive outcomes than efforts at grand transformation. In the end, we might be better off funding local literacy programs and vaccination drives in Afghanistan than spending untold billions attempting to midwife a strong national government there. (Comment on this story.)

At the same time, the real improvement in life around the world is testament to the benign role played by the planet's sole superpower. Over the past 20 years, America's military and economic supremacy has underwritten a stable global order that has allowed more people in more places to lead freer, better lives than ever before. That's less a reason for self-congratulation than an argument for committing to self-improvement at home - by, among other things, making our public schools globally competitive again. It's good news that the rest of the world is getting better. But only a strong and thriving America can ensure it stays that way.

See a brief history of people power.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20110214/wl_time/08599204888200

Persamaan Ben Ali dan Mahathir

Subky Latif

TUN Dr. Mahathir jadi Perdana Menteri Malaysia selama 22 tahun dan Zaine al Abidene jadi Presiden Tunisia selama 25 tahun. Kira-kira sama lama.

Zaine al Abidene sebelum menjadi Presiden adalah Perdana Menteri di bawah Presiden Habib Bourgiba. Keduanya berbalah. Sebelum dia dipecat Presiden, dia merampus kuasa dan menjadi Presiden.

Dr. Mahathir berbalah dengan pemimpinnya Perdana Menteri Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra. Dia dipecat dari partinya, Umno. Selepas Tunku dipaksa berundur, Dr. Mahathir dapat kembali dalam Umno dan kemudiannya jadi Perdana Menteri.

Kedua-duanya sama-sama keras terhadap orang bawah dan rakyat.

Ada satu lagi persamaan antara keduanya. Dr. Mahathir dikatakan bertanya Presiden Ben Ali bagaimana dia menghadapi kaum muda yang berpelajaran tinggi sehingga mereka menyoal kepimpinannya dan pemerintahannya.

Senang saja. Ben Ali menjadikan mereka orang yang berhutang sepanjang hidup. Sebaik mereka lulus universiti dan mendapat pekerjaan dan yang tidak lulus universiti pun dapat pekerjaan, maka mereka diberi kemudahan untuk membeli kenderaan.

Mereka pun jadi orang yang berhutang. Sebahagian dari pendapatan mereka digunakan untuk membayar ansuran hutang motokar. Menampung perbelanjaan motokar seperti menampung seorang isteri.

Selagi hutang motokar itu tidak selesai, maka tidak banyak memikirkan hal lain selain dari menjelaskan hutang itu. Mereka akan menghadapi masalah kiranya hutung motokar tidak dijelaskan. Biasanya mereka menunaikan beban itu.

Sekali seseorang itu bermotokar, maka dia mesti sepanjang hidupnya bermotokar. Sebaik hutang itu selesai motokar pula tua terpaksa diganti baru. Maka dia menyambung hutang lagi sehingga tua.

Kemudian mereka diberi kemudahan pinjaman membeli rumah. Kadang-kadang sampai usia bersara hutang rumah belum selesai.

Sepanjang hidup rakyat seperti itu sebok menanggung hutang. Justeru itu mereka tidak boleh berfikir untuk berlawan dengan kerajaan kerana ada risiko berlawan dengan kerajaan. Kalau ditakdirkan dia hilang pekerjaan, maka bagaimana dia hendak menjelaskan ansuran hutang motokar dan rumah?

Oleh kerana itu orang cerdik pandai yang berhutang itu tidak banyak memikirkan kerajaan dan pimpinannya baik atau tidak, kerana tanggungjawab utama mereka ialah sebok menjelaskan hutang.

Dr. Mahathir pun berkongsi pengalaman yang sama. Sebelum Dr. Mahathir menjadi Perdana Menteri, lulusan sekolah menengah dan lulusan unversiti yang bekerja membeli motokar dulu. Mereka juga ada kemudahan membeli rumah.

Kerajaan menyediakan pinjaman itu.

Kerajaan Dr. Mahathir membuka peluang mudah memiliki motokar. Kerana Malaysia sendiri membina lebih dari satu kilang membuat motokar, bukan saja orang senang membeli motokar, orang juga senang bertukar motokar.

Dr. Mahathir juga menukar sistem biasiswa bagi mahasiswa berjalan sejak di zaman British dulu kepada sistem pinjaman. Setiap pelajar diberi hak untuk membuat pijaman pelajaran.

Maka sebelum pelajar itu keluar universiti, mereka sudah jadi orang yang berhutang. Sebaik saja mereka dapat pekerjaan, maka mereka mula membayar hutang.

Rakyat Tunisia hanya menjadi orang yang berhutang selepas keluar dari universiti. Rakyat Malaysia sudah jadi orang yang berhutang sebaik saja masuk universiti. Beban hutang itu akan bertambah apabila mereka membeli motokar dan membeli rumah.

Oleh itu mereka sebok sepanjang hidup bekerja untuk menyelesaikan hutang. Beban hutang itu mungkin selesai apabila masing-masing bersara. Orang masuk usia bersara tidak lagi banyak memikirkan tentang politik dan kerajaan. Orang yang penat ini biasanya memilih untuk berehat.

Apa yang dibuat oleh Ben Ali itu berjaya menyelamatkan politiknya hingga sampai 23 tahun. Memang pelannya lojik dan menasabah.

Tetapi rakyat Tunisia akhirnya tidak lagi memikirkan mereka berhutang atau tidak. Dimulai oleh orang tidak ada pekerjaan di jalan-jalan bangkit menyoal pemerintahan Ben Ali. Mereka disokong oleh orang-orang yang berhutang, mereka hambat Ben Ali hingga tidak ada negara hendak menerimanya sebagai orang buangan.

Dr. Mahathir lebih cerdik. Sebelum orang berhutang hambat dia, dia berhenti dulu. Ben Ali bukan tidak cerdik, tetapi dia pun tidak sangka rakyat Tunisia rupanya sudah cerdik belaka.

http://www.harakahdaily.net/v2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30853:persamaan-ben-ali-dan-mahathir&catid=88:subky-latif&Itemid=130

Haris Zalkapli: Mesir, dari negara polis ke negara tentera?

Haris Zalkapli

Pemimpin yang telah memimpin Mesir selama 30 tahun, Hosni Mubarak telah diturunkan daripada jawatannya sebagai presiden, selepas hampir tiga minggu protes rakyat.

Mesir kini di bawah kuasa majlis tertinggi tentera negara itu, dipimpin oleh Mohammed Hussein Tantawi yang juga menteri pertahanan.

Selepas Naib Presiden Omar Suleiman, Mohammed juga sangat terkait dengan rejim zalim Hosni, walaupun imej tentera positif di mata rakyat negara Mesir.

Malah, ada yang menyifatkan perubahan ini hakikatnya ialah satu rampasan kuasa oleh pihak tentera.

Dua pemimpin yang ditonjolkan ekoran protes ini ialah mereka yang jelas sekali mempunyai bagasi yang besar melibatkan rejim Hosni.

Tidak seperti pihak polis, tentera mendapat penghormatan daripada rakyat negara itu, dan seperti disaksikan pada laporan media tentang protes di Medan Tahrir, tentera lebih bersikap lembut terhadap rakyat yang memprotes.

Hal ini telah meletakkan tentera Mesir sebagai pihak yang menyebelahi rakyat dan membantu menjatuhkan Hosni dalam revolusi ini.

Walau bagaimanapun, seperti yang terakam dalam sejarah, tentera Mesir ialah penerima ganjaran berbilion daripada Amerika Syarikat selama ini, dan menjadi pihak yang sangat berkepentingan dalam memastikan bantuan ini berterusan.

Sejak 1983, bantuan ketenteraan dari Amerika Syarikat untuk Mesir ialah sekitar AS$1.3 bilion setahun, satu jumlah yang sangat besar, yang secara logiknya mampu menyebabkan perubahan yang besar dan bermakna terhalang.

Bantuan ini kekal pada jumlah yang besar walaupun keseluruhan bantuan untuk Mesir merosot. Untuk 2011, jumlah yang telah diminta untuk tentera Mesir mencecah AS$1.5 bilion.

Kuasa yang memberi habuan ini turut berkepentingan dalam bantuan tersebut, kerana syarat program bantuan ini ialah semuanya perlu dibelanjakan untuk senjata dari AS.

Mohammed dan tentera Mesir walaupun dilihat sebagai pihak di sebelah rakyat, juga tidak bertindak dalam menyaksikan kekejaman rejim Hosni selama ini.

Elit politik dan tentera ialah sebahagian pusat kuasa yang menjadikan Mesir dalam keadaan yang ada hari ini.

Sudah tentu, harapan untuk melihat perubahan tetap wujud, dan tidak ada apa yang pasti dalam tempoh beberapa minggu dan bulan selepas ini.

Tetapi apa yang jelas ialah pihak yang kini berkuasa dalam tempoh peralihan ke arah demokrasi seperti diharapkan rakyat Mesir ialah yang bertanggungjawab membina Mesir di bawah diktator Hosni.

Simbol dan figura kuasa, Presiden Hosni Mubarak telah diturunkan daripada tampuk kekuasaan, tetapi struktur yang membenarkan individu ini berkuasa masih kukuh.

Pelantikan Omar sebagai naib presiden, tekanan oleh kuasa besar yang kelihatan tersekat-sekat dan berperingkat-peringkat dan berhati-hati memberi gambaran kepentingan kuasa besar terhadap Mesir.

Kepentingan tersebut kelihatan masih menjadi faktor utama yang membentuk respons kuasa terbabit dalam menangani perubahan di Mesir.

Selepas 18 hari protes secara berterusan, fasa terbaharu perlu dilalui rakyat Mesir dalam memastikan janji-janji revolusi ditunaikan.

Peraturan-peraturan yang mengekang proses demokrasi yang adil, seperti halangan calon presiden bebas dan tempoh presiden tanpa had perlu dilaksanakan dan pemisahan kuasa yang sebenar perlu terlaksana.

Perkembangan dalam tempoh beberapa minggu selepas ini – terutama melibatkan Omar Suleiman dan pihak tentera – akan memberi beberapa gambaran keadaan Mesir baharu.

http://www.harakahdaily.net/v2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30833:haris-zalkapli-mesir-dari-negara-polis-ke-negara-tentera&catid=94:global2&Itemid=135

Profil Hosni Mubarak

4 Mei 1928 - Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak dilahirkan di Kahel-el-Meselha, sebuah kampung di Delta Sungai Nil, anak kedua daripada lima beradik.

1949 - Tamat latihan di Akademi Tentera Kebangsaan Mesir

1950 - Sertai pasukan tentera udara.

1975 - Dilantik menjadi Naib Presiden oleh Anwar Sadat.

1981 - Menjadi Presiden Mesir yang keempat, tujuh hari selepas Presiden Anwar Sadat ditembak mati pada 6 Oktober 1981 kerana menandatangani perjanjian damai dengan Israel.

1980 - Sokong Saddam dalam Perang Iraq-Iran.

1991 - Sokong AS memerangi Saddam selepas Iraq menceroboh Kuwait.

1995 - Terselamat daripada cubaan membunuhnya. Sepanjang 30 tahun pemerintahannya, Hosni terselamat daripada 10 cubaan membunuh.

1999 - Bersetuju mengepam gas asli ke Israel dan wilayah Palestin.

2005 - Membenarkan buat kali pertama pilihan raya pelbagai parti yang dimenangi secara selesa oleh Parti Demokratik Kebangsaan (NDP) yang diketuainya. Mengalahkan Ikhwanul Muslimin yang terpaksa meletak calonnya sebagai calon bebas kerana masih diharamkan.

25 Januari 2011 - Beribu-ribu rakyat Mesir menunjuk perasaan membantah pemerintahannya, mencontohi pemberontakan rakyat Tunisia.

28 Januari 2011 - Buat kali pertama lantik naib presiden.

1 Februari 2011 - Umum tidak akan bertanding dalam pilihan raya September ini.
10 Februari 2011 - Ulangi pendirian akan kekal menjadi presiden hingga September

11 Februari 2011 - Berlepas ke Sharm El-Sheikh. Naib Presiden, Omar Suleiman umumkan peletakan jawatan Hosni.

http://www.hmetro.com.my/myMetro/articles/ProfilHosniMubarak/Article/artikelMA

The incomplete revolution of February 11?

Abdar Rahman Koya

COMMENT Eighteen days of disciplined and peaceful protests by millions of Egyptians have forced one of the West's favourite tyrants in the Middle East to resign, 30 years after assuming power.

Suddenly, February 11 is regarded the unlucky date for tyrants. Jubilations and widespread celebrations in Egypt last night were a repetiton of what took place in Iran excatly 32 years ago, on February 11, 1979, when the Shah dictator-monarchy finally collapsed to give way to the establishment of the first civilian government there in a thousand years.

FLASHBACK ... Millions of youths in Iran protesting against the Shah in 1978-79

With all its weaknesses and shortcomings, Iran, until then considered an unquestioning ally of the West, soon rose to become the only working Muslim democracy in a Middle East ruled by kings, emirs, 'elected' presidents and sheikhs. It was a revolution which proved to be a nightmare for the West and Israel for decades to come.

Between Iran 1979 and Egypt 2011

How does one compare both these 'revolutions' of February 11?

For a start, Iran's Islamic revolution is arguably more comprehensive. It marked the complete dismantling of the evil monarchy system represented by the Shah, who was armed to the teeth by the US to become a bulwark nation for Israel, not unlike present-day Egypt.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN ... Khomeini's return on Feb 1, 1979 marks the countdown to Shah's downfall 10 days later

The Islamic revolution in Iran did not happen overnight, certainly not within 18 days, nor was it left leaderless, however one may argue about the beauties of having a leaderless movement. It was a culmination of hundreds of years of conflict between the Shi'ite ulama who had hitherto shunned politics and those who called for greater role of the ulama beyond the mosques and centres of learning.

Ayatullah Khomeini achieved a feat no Muslim leader could have achieved in modern history. An exiled leader, having no access to media or non-existent tools like Internet, Twitter or satellite news channels to give voice to the people, and an entire West that supported the corrupt Shah regime financially and militarily. Against this backdrop, it would seem ridiculous to even dream that a revolution could be achieved there, much less to overthrow such a regime!

Yet, the Islamic Revolution in Iran achieved exactly that, and more. Not only did it overthrow the Shah, it also completely dismantled the repressive Iranian state apparatus, its brutal army's chain of command and its notorious Mossad. It established a modern and creative Islamic political system, and revamped Iran's social and education systems, which are geared toward crass Westernisation and de-Islamisation. All of which gave a new dimension to modern Muslim political thought.

Defining a revolution

Fast forward to 2011 in Egypt, and events were being replayed. Once again, February 11 has come to haunt the West. This time, aware of their mistakes in 1979, Western leaders rushed to change their tune almost immediately after Mubarak conceded to people's demands. Suddenly leaders found their voice, and many broke into a litany of democracy and reforms.

NO MORE FEAR ... Egyptians from all walks of lives displaying unprecedented courage

Yet, the 'Egyptian revolution', if one could call that, is far from complete. This statement, of course, is made at the risk of being called a killjoy.

A revolution must effect complete change. A revolution takes place when every facet of a nation, whether political, social, religious or economic, is in need of dire repair. One that leaves even small fractions of legacies of the past system is bound to fail.

The French Revolution in 1799 achieved that, with the coffin of the 'invincible' and 'divine' French monarchy never to be opened again. So did Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979. Both revolutions have had results which are contradictory with each other and both may even contribute to the conflict between Islam and the West in the decades to come. The French revolution almost removed religion altogether from the equation, shaping modern Europe for centuries to come. The Iranian revolution, on the other hand, ensured a greater role for religion and transformed the entire landscape of not only Iran but also the Muslim world. Yet, the fact is that both would fit into the definition of a revolution.

With the army now taking over from Mubarak, the unfinished business of the 'Egyptian revolution' appears to be left to the army rather than representatives from the people who have fought so hard, some with their lives, to achieve the greatest hurdle of pushing out a stubborn tyrant.

Will the generals bite the hands?

Contrary to fears expressed by right-wing leaders in Western capitals, it would now appear that the end of Mubarak's reign has yet to translate itself into a complete tragedy for his former masters in Washington, and its blue-eyed boy Israel. One should not have any illusion that Washington gives two hoots for the aspiration of the people of Egypt.

This is proved when among the first statements by president Barrack Obama is a call on the Egyptian military to ensure the continuation of the country's peace treaty with Israel. This acts like a sick joke on those who sacrificed their limbs and life to achieve Mubarak's demise. It was the need to protect this treaty that the West had been propping up Mubarak all along. It was this same treaty which made Egypt a pariah in the eyes of the Muslim world losing all respect from Arabs, only to be redeemed 30 years later by the resolve of the youth during the past 18 days.

But how long can the Egyptians hold their heads up high over their proud achievements? February 11 in Tahrir Square: people power it certainly is, but revolution?

Now that power is securely in the hands of an army which has been built with billions of dollars of aid from Washington, the weeks to come will show who will become the real casualty of the past 18 days - the corrupt system left by a Zionist ally, or the people themselves.

In a way, the patience and restraint shown by the army since January 25 did earn it respect and trust to lead the country's tranformation, but whether or not the Egyptian generals would ultimately bite the hands that fed it all this while, remains to be seen. After all, Obama has repeated what his predecessors had always emphasised: Israel's security is sacrosanct.

http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2267:the-incomplete-revolution-of-february-11&catid=36:headline&Itemid=70

How the Mideast was lost - an Israeli reaction

Roee Nahmias / Ynetnews

[The following comment appears in Israeli online news website, Ynetnews - Ed.]

EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION Iran wasn’t involved, al-Qaeda did not carry out a terror attack or publish a video, and Hizbullah did not take center stage either. Nonetheless, after about a month of upheaval in our region, it turns out that the pro-American camp in the Middle East sustained a harsh blow. One should always be careful about Mideast predictions, yet the interim summary shows that within a few days we saw the fall of several rulers who maintained very good ties with the White House.

TWO OUT, MORE SOON ... Ben Ali and Mubarak waving goodbye to French president Sarkozy?

The first to be toppled was Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who maintained a good relationship with the Americans, hosted the Israeli foreign minister’s delegation, and brought secularization and education to his country. However, the frustration and anger of his citizens prompted his downfall and escape from Tunisia.

The next in line was Hosni Mubarak, who appears poised to quit within months, at most. The Egyptian president has never turned his back to the US (despite years of unstable relations with George W. Bush) and even sent his troops to fight alongside the Americans in the First Gulf War. Throughout his rule he upheld the peace treaty with Israel, despite the wars and clashes in our region.

The next leader to pay the price was Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who made the choice to pay it even before facing a genuine uprising. The Yemeni leader, who has been ruling his country for some 32 years, announced that he has no intention to run for another term in the elections scheduled for two years. He did it against the backdrop of the difficult struggle he’s been engaged in against Shiite tribes and al-Qaeda supporters in Yemen. His rivals charged that he’s cooperating with the US, and when on top of this we see protests similar to those in Egypt and Tunisia, we get an unhealthy recipe for a presidency.

‘Collaborators’ go home

And so, within less than a month, three rulers with good ties with Washington ended their terms, more or less officially. The protestors in each of the countries in question made sure to note that the rulers were “collaborating” with America and/or with Israel. Regardless of the regime that will succeed them, the situation does not bode well, with the dominant tone in the Mideast today coming from Khamenei’s and Ahmadinejad’s Iran, or from Erdogan’s Ankara.

Who's smile is bigger now, Obama or Ahmadinejad?

The pendulum, which swung in America’s favor in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, is now shifting in the other direction, with the West watching from the sidelines and showing an inability and lack of desire to get involved.

Most eyes are now on the next possible revolution target, Jordan, which is ruled by a king who maintains good ties with the West. Saudi Arabia and Syria are also garnering attention. Unbelievably so, in the current state of affairs quite a few observers see the Syrian president as the lesser of evils. Will the Kings Abdullah and Bashar Assad manage to curb the wave of fury in the region? Will they be able to contend with the popular “sense of success” in toppling presidents?

Struggle of succession

Yet before we lament the expected developments, we must keep in mind that a grim fate had not yet been sealed. While three presidents are ending their terms, nobody replaced them yet. The real struggle is for the successor’s character. In Egypt, we are seeing a true battle for the regime’s identity: Will the replacement come from within the ranks of the ruling party in Egypt, or from within the Muslim Brotherhood?

Mubarak of course prefers the new deputy president, Omar Suleiman, yet we cannot discount one of the two other possibilities: A weak, compromise candidate, or a Muslim Brothers’ member. Both options, to a different extent of course, would signal significant distancing from Israel, to the point of hostility. In Tunisia it’s still unclear who would succeed Ben Ali, with his past comrades clinging to power for the time being. Meanwhile, the Yemeni president has two years to prepare a successor.

So where is the new Mideast going? Much will be determined by the result of President Mubarak’s battle and the reaction from Washington. Should the Egyptian ruler be able to survive in office for a few months, he may be able to succeed in his mission - handing over power to Suleiman, or another member endorsed by the ruling party.

In a broader context, it appears that the so-called moderate camp sustained a harsh blow. This is attested to by the fact that Iranian officials had trouble hiding their smiles this past week, as they counted the days to the departure of Mubarak, who openly challenged them. The West’s interim summary in the Middle East is not looking good, yet we must stress that for now it’s merely an interim report. The leaders in Amman, Riyadh and Damascus are hoping that the final tally won’t be worse, while in Egypt Mubarak still believes that the outcome isn’t final yet.

http://en.harakahdaily.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2266:how-the-mideast-was-lost-an-israeli-reaction&catid=37:world&Itemid=59

How Hosni Mubarak Got So Rich

Rick Newman, On Friday February 11, 2011, 5:28 pm EST

There are no Mubaraks on the Forbes list of the world's richest people, but there sure ought to be.

The mounting pressure from 18 days of historic protests finally drove Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from office, after three decades as his nation's iron-fisted ruler. But over that time, Mubarak amassed a fortune that should finance a pretty comfortable retirement. The British Guardian newspaper cites Middle Eastern sources placing the wealth of Mubarak and his family at somewhere between $40 billion and $70 billion. That's a pretty good pension for government work. The world's richest man--Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim--is worth about $54 billion, by comparison. Bill Gates is close behind, with a net worth of about $53 billion.

Mubarak, of course, was a military man, not a businessman. But running a country with a suspended constitution for 30 years generates certain perks, and Mubarak was in a position to take a slice of virtually every significant business deal in the country, from development projects throughout the Nile basin to transit projects on the Suez Canal, which is a conduit for about 4 percent of the world's oil shipments. "There was no accountability, no need for transparency," says Prof. Amaney Jamal of Princeton University. "He was able to reach into the economic sphere and benefit from monopolies, bribery fees, red-tape fees, and nepotism. It was guaranteed profit."

Had the typical Egyptian enjoyed a morsel of that, Mubarak might still be in power. But Egypt, despite a cadre of well-educated young people, has struggled as an economic backwater. The nation's GDP per capita is just $6,200, according to the CIA--one-seventh what it is in the United States. That output ranks 136th in the world, even though Egypt ranks 16th in population. Mubarak had been working on a set of economic reforms, but they stalled during the global recession. The chronic lack of jobs and upward mobility was perhaps the biggest factor driving millions of enraged Egyptian youths into the streets, demanding change.

Estimates of Mubarak's wealth will probably be hard to verify, if not impossible (one reason dictators tend not to make it onto Forbes's annual list). His money is certainly not sitting in an Egyptian vault, waiting to be counted. And his delayed exit may have allowed Mubarak time to move money around and hide significant parts of his fortune. The Swiss government has said it is temporarily freezing any assets in Swiss banks that could be linked to Mubarak, an uncharacteristically aggressive move for the secretive banking nation. But that doesn't mean the money will ever be returned to the Egyptian people, and it may even find its way to Mubarak eventually. Other Mubarak funds are reportedly sitting in British banks, and Mubarak was no doubt wily enough to squire away some cash in unlikely places. Plus, an eventual exile deal could allow Mubarak to retain some of his wealth, no questions asked, as long as he and his family leave Egypt and make no further bids for power.

Epic skimming is a common privilege of Middle Eastern despots, and Mubarak and his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, were a bit less conspicuous than some of the Saudi princes and other Middle Eastern royals seen partying from time to time on the French Riviera or other hotspots. The family does reportedly own posh estates in London, New York, and Beverly Hills, plus a number of properties around the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh, where Mubarak reportedly went after resigning the presidency.

Mubarak also spread the wealth far and wide in Egyptian power circles--another Middle Eastern tradition--one reason he incurred the kind of loyalty that allowed him to rule for a remarkable three decades. Top Army officials were almost certainly on his payroll, which might help explain why the Army eased him out in the end--allowing a kind of in-country exile--instead of hounding him out of Egypt or imprisoning him once it was clear the tide had turned against him for good.

That money trail, in fact, will help determine whether Egypt becomes a more prosperous, democratic country, or continues to muddle along as an economic basket case. Even though he's out of power, Mubarak may still be able to influence the Army officials running the country, through the financial connections that made them all wealthy. And if not Mubarak, the next leader may be poised to start lining his pockets the same way Mubarak did. For Egypt to have a more effective, transparent economy, all of that will have to be cleaned up. There are probably a lot of people in Cairo who have been checking their bank balances lately.

Twitter: @rickjnewman

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/How-Hosni-Mubarak-Got-Filthy-usnews-3723955512.html?x=0

'Egypt is Free,' crowds chant after Mubarak quits

AP/Ben Curtis

Egyptians celebrate in Cairo's Tahrir Square after President Hosni Mubarak resigned. More photos »

Slideshow:Egyptians celebrate end of Mubarak rule

Play Video Video:First Person: On ground in Cairo, change begins AP

AFP – Egyptian anti-government protesters celebrate at Tahrir Square in Cairo, on February 11, after President …

By MAGGIE MICHAEL and LEE KEATH, Associated Press Maggie Michael And Lee Keath, Associated Press – 2 hrs 28 mins ago

CAIRO – Cries of "Egypt is free" rang out and fireworks lit up the sky as hundreds of thousands danced, wept and prayed in joyful pandemonium after 18 days of peaceful pro-democracy protests forced President Hosni Mubarak to surrender power to the military, ending three decades of authoritarian rule.

Ecstatic protesters in Cairo's Tahrir, or Liberation, Square hoisted soldiers onto their shoulders Friday and families posed for pictures in front of tanks in streets flooded with people streaming out to celebrate. Strangers hugged each other, some fell to kiss the ground, and others stood stunned in disbelief.

Chants of "Hold your heads high, you're Egyptian" roared with each burst of fireworks overhead.

"I'm 21 years old and this is the first time in my life I feel free," an ebullient Abdul-Rahman Ayyash, born eight years after Mubarak came to power, said as he hugged fellow protesters in Tahrir Square, where crowds remained all through the night.

An astonishing day in which hundreds of thousands marched on Mubarak's palaces in Cairo and Alexandria and besieged state TV was capped by the military effectively carrying out a coup at the pleas of protesters. After Mubarak's fall, the military, which pledged to shepherd reforms for greater democracy, told the nation it would announce the next steps soon. Those could include the dissolving of parliament and creation of a transitional government.

Mubarak's downfall at the hands of the biggest popular uprising in the modern history of the Arab world had stunning implications for the United States and the West, Israel, and the region, unsettling rulers across the Mideast.

The 82-year-old leader epitomized the complex trade-off the United States was locked into in the Middle East for decades: Support for autocratic leaders in return for stability, a bulwark against Islamic militants, a safeguard of economic interests with the oil-rich Gulf states and peace — or at least an effort at peace — with Israel.

The question for Washington now was whether that same arrangement will hold as the Arab world's most populous state makes a potentially rocky transition to democracy, with no guarantee of the results.

Click image to see photos of celebrations in Egypt

AFP/Marco Longari

At the White House, President Barack Obama said "Egyptians have inspired us." He noted the important questions that lay ahead, but said, "I'm confident the people of Egypt can find the answers."

The United States at times seemed overwhelmed during the upheaval, fumbling to juggle its advocacy of democracy and the right to protest, its loyalty to longtime ally Mubarak and its fears the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood — or more radical groups — could gain a foothold. Mubarak's fall came 32 years to the day after the collapse of the shah's government in Iran, the prime example of a revolution that turned to Islamic militancy.

In Egypt, persecuted democracy activists frequently denounced the U.S. government for not coming down harder on Mubarak's rights abuses. Washington's mixed messages during the crisis frustrated the young protesters. They argued that while the powerful Brotherhood will have to be allowed to play a future political role, its popularity would be diminished in an open system where other ideologies are freed to outweigh it.

Neighboring Israel watched with the crisis with unease, worried that their 1979 peace treaty could be in danger. It quickly demanded on Friday that post-Mubarak Egypt continue to adhere to it.

Any break seems unlikely in the near term. The military leadership supports the treaty. Anti-Israeli feeling is strong among Egyptians, and a more democratic government may take a tougher line toward Israel in the chronically broken-down peace process. But few call for outright abrogating a treaty that has kept peace after three wars in the past half-century.

From the oil-rich Gulf states in the east to Morocco in the west, regimes both pro- and anti-U.S. could not help but worry they could see a similar upheaval. Several of the region's rulers have made pre-emptive gestures of democratic reform to avert their own protest movements.

The lesson many took: If it could happen in only three weeks in Egypt, where Mubarak's lock on power appeared unshakable, it could happen anywhere. Only a month earlier, Tunisia's president was forced to step down in the face of protests.

"This is the greatest day of my life," Nobel Peace laureate Mohammed ElBaradei, whose young supporters were among the organizers of the protest movement, told The Associated Press.

"The country has been liberated after decades of repression," he said adding that he expects a "beautiful" transition of power.

Perhaps most surprising was the genesis of the force that overthrew Mubarak.

The protests were started by a small core of secular, liberal youth activists organizing on the Internet who only a few months earlier struggled to gather more than 100 demonstrators at a time. But their work through Facebook and other social network sites over the past few years built greater awareness and bitterness among Egyptians over issues like police abuse and corruption.

"Facebook brought down the regime," said Sally Toma, one of the main protest organizers.

When the online activists called the first major protest, on Jan. 25, they tapped into a public inspired by Tunisia's revolt and thousands turned out, beyond even the organizers' expectations. From there, protests swelled, drawing hundreds of thousands. The Muslim Brotherhood joined in. But far from hijacking the protests as many feared, it often seemed co-opted by the protesters, forced to set aside its hard-line ideology at least for now to adhere to democratic demands.

About 300 people were killed in the course of the turmoil. Police attacked the first protests with water cannons and gunfire and then a force of regime supporters — believed to be paid thugs — assaulted Tahrir trying to dislodge the protesters, only to be beaten back in two days of pitched battles.

Wael Ghonim, a Google Inc. executive who earlier this year secretly created a Facebook page that became a crucial protester organizing forum, said he "went mad" when he heard the news of Mubarak's ouster.

"I expect a bright future. I trust in 80 million Egyptians," Ghonim, who was arrested immediately after the protests began and held for 12 days, told The Associated Press.

Mubarak, a former air force commander came to power after the 1981 assassination of his predecessor Anwar Sadat by Islamic radicals. Throughout his rule, he showed a near obsession with stability, ensuring control through rigged elections, a constitution his regime wrote, a ruling party that monopolized the levers of state, and a hated police force accused of widespread torture.

He resisted calls for reform even as public bitterness grew over corruption, deteriorating infrastructure and rampant poverty in a country where 40 percent live below or near the poverty line.

Throughout the crisis, Mubarak backpedaled with concessions, replacing his government, purging his ruling party and moving to prosecute some of its most unpopular figures. But the moves did nothing to diminish the regime's power — and did not satisfy the steadily swelling protests.

Up to the last hours, Mubarak sought to cling to power, handing some of his authorities to his newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman while keeping his title.

But an explosion of protests Friday rejecting the move appeared to have pushed the military into forcing him out completely.

Hundreds of thousands flooded the main squares of cities around the nation. Soldiers stood by, even threw cookies and biscuits to protesters who massed in front of Mubarak's palaces in Cairo and Alexandria, chanting for him to go. Others blockaded the towering State Television and Radio Building overlooking the Nile River in Cairo, blocking employees from entering.

Ahmed Kassam, an engineer, said he marched with crowds for two hours across Cairo from Tahrir to the Oruba palace. "We were shouting at people standing in their balconies and they came down and joined us. We have thousands behind us," he said. "Today I feel that something is going to change. I feel very, very powerful."

Protesters stormed the main security headquarters in southern Egypt's main city Assiut, and two were killed by police opening fire before the province's governor was forced to flee, escorted to safety by the army.

The ousted Mubarak himself flew to his isolated palace in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, 250 miles (400 kilometers) from the turmoil in Cairo.

Suleiman — who appears to have lost his vice president's post as well in the military takeover — appeared grim as he delivered the short announcement on state TV Friday night that Mubarak was stepping down.

"In these grave circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position as president of the republic," he said. "He has mandated the Armed Forces Supreme Council to run the state. God is our protector and succor."

The question now turned to what happens next. Protesters on Friday had overtly pleaded for the army to oust Mubarak. The country is now ruled by the Armed Forces Supreme Council, consisting of the military's top generals and headed by Defense Minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi

After Mubarak's resignation, a military spokesman appeared on state TV and promised the army would not act as a substitute for a government based on the "legitimacy of the people."

He said the military was preparing the next steps needed "to achieve the ambitions of our great nation" and would announce them soon. He praised Mubarak for his contributions to the country. Pointedly, he did not salute his former commander-in-chief. Instead he stood at attention and raised his hand to his cap in a salute to protesters killed in the unrest.

Abdel-Rahman Samir, one of the protest organizers, said the movement would now open negotiations with the military over democratic reforms but vowed protests would continue to ensure change is carried out.

"We still don't have any guarantees yet — if we end the whole situation now, then it's like we haven't done anything," he said. "So we need to keep sitting in Tahrir until we get all our demands."

But, he added, "I feel fantastic. .... I feel like we have worked so hard, we planted a seed for a year and a half and now we are now finally sowing the fruits."

For the moment, concerns over the next step were overwhelmed by the wave of joy and disbelief — and an overwhelming pride that they had waged a peaceful campaign crowned with success.

In Tahrir Square, the crowds of several hundred thousand watched and listed to Suleiman's speech on televisions and on mobile-phone radios. When he finished, they burst into wild cheers, waving flags and chanting "Allahu akbar," or "God is Great" and "the people have brought down the regime."

Spontaneous lines of dancers threaded through the packed mass of people. One man kissed the ground and thanked God while others screamed, "Hosni is gone, Hosni is gone." Around the capital of 18 million, cars honked their horns in celebration.

"I am 42 years old and my children can finally live in free," said Mahmoud Ghandem, who joined the Tahrir protests five days ago from his Nile Delta town of Kafr el-Sheikh.

Outside the Oruba presidential palace, one man sprawled on the grass in shock amid the cheers. Others handed out sweets and waved their hands in V-for-victory signs. The crowd then began to march in a sea of Egyptian flags back to the protest's heart, Tahrir.

Throughout the night, Tahrir Square and the surrounding downtown streets were transformed into a massive party. Thousands streamed in from across the city, jamming bridges over the Nile. Army checkpoints surrounding the square for days melted away as some soldiers threw themselves into the throngs. In the streets, parents took pictures of their children posing with Egyptian flags.

State television, a bastion of unwavering support for Mubarak, had an almost instant change of tone. After disparaging the protesters as foreign-backed troublemakers for days, it began reporting the celebrations as a victory for freedom. Egyptians, one reporter outside Oruba palace proclaimed, "are able to move the waters that have been still for 30 years."

Ala Moussa, a 24-year-old from Alexandria who came Friday to join the Cairo protests, took off his glasses to wipe away tears. He had been shot by a rubber bullet during earlier protests in his hometown.

"For 50 years, it was a police state and we adapted ourselves to it," he said. "The question now is, can we take another route. I hope so."

___

AP correspondents Paul Schemm, Ryan Lucas, Hamza Hendawi, Sarah El Deeb, Hadeel al-Shalchi, Tarek el-Tablawy and Maggie Hyde contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110212/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt

.Mubarak leaves and Egypt celebrates

AP – Egyptians celebrate the news of the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, who handed control of the …

By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI and SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Hadeel Al-shalchi And Sarah El Deeb, Associated Press – Fri Feb 11, 6:13 pm ET

CAIRO – One Egyptian kissed the ground. Another rolled in ecstasy in the grass outside a presidential palace. People wept, jumped, screamed and hugged each other with a shared joy they had never known. Cairo erupted in a cacophony of celebration: fireworks and car horns and gunshots in the air.

President Hosni Mubarak resigned and handed power to the military on Friday, and Egypt held its biggest party in decades.

"The people have toppled the regime," chanted protesters, whose 18 days of swelling protests tipped Egypt into a crisis that the autocratic government could not undo.

"This is the happiest day in my generation," said Ali al-Tayab, a demonstrator who paid tribute to those who died in clashes with police and Mubarak supporters. "To the martyrs, this is your day."

At a presidential palace in Cairo, where demonstrators had gathered in the thousands, people flashed the V-for-victory sign and shouted, "Be happy, Egyptians, today is a feast" and "He stepped down."

They handed out candy. Many prayed and declared: "God is great."

Crowds packed Tahrir Square, the scene of massive protests against Mubarak that began on Jan. 25. The celebrations continued early Saturday, with throngs of people milling around in downtown Cairo.

A huge poster hanging in the square read, "Breaking news: The people have brought down the regime."

"Egypt is free," shouted Mahmoud Elhetta, a protest organizer. "We are a great people and we did something great. This is the expected end for every dictator."

Some, though, warned that Egypt still faces many challenges, including what they hope will be a peaceful transition to free elections and a full democracy.

"We still have a long way to go to fix things," said protester Hala Abdel-Razek. "What has been ruined by the Mubarak regime has to be fixed and we have to start rebuilding with the help of the young people."

A speaker on a podium said demonstrators would not immediately abandon the square because: "There is more to do."

Some soldiers who were stationed at the square ran into the crowd to celebrate, and protesters lifted them onto their shoulders. Other troops stayed at their posts, watching the scene in awe. People posed with them for photographs in front of tanks. Flag-waving children climbed onto the vehicles.

The protesters' barricades that had controlled entry to the square were dismantled, and security checkpoints at which demonstrators showed identification and had their bags searched were also gone.

On Thursday, an exultant crowd gathered on the square for what they expected would be the president's televised announcement that he would resign. Instead they were shocked to hear him say he would transfer power to his deputy, but keep the title. Angry and disappointed, thousands of protesters fanned out across the city on Friday.

Vice President Omar Suleiman then announced that his boss had resigned.

In Tahrir Square, protesters heard the announcement on mobile telephone radios that they passed back and forth. They broke into cheers and some formed a conga line, winding through the packed area.

"Goodbye, Goodbye," demonstrators shouted. They beat drums and waved national flags.

"Finally, we are free," said 60-year-old Safwan Abou Stat. "From now on, anyone who is going to rule will know that these people are great."

In some neighborhoods, women on balconies ululated with the joyous tongue-trilling used to mark weddings and births. Others sang the national anthem.

State television, a bastion of support for the Mubarak regime, began reporting the celebrations across the nation. It was a big change for state television, which had spent most of the last days of the uprising trying to portray the demonstrators as a minority.

Mubarak's departure, said the station's reporter outside his Cairo palace, "showed that the Egyptians are capable of making their own history. They are able to move the water that has been still for 30 years."

"At this moment, Egyptians are breathing freedom," said the TV presenter.

The mood of several hundred thousand protesters who had earlier gathered outside the presidential palace of Ras el-Tin in coastal Alexandria and the downtown area broke into celebration on hearing of Mubarak's resignation. They waved flags, whistled and danced.

People in the southern city of Assiut fired guns in the air as they roamed the streets on motorcycles or pickup trucks. Coffee houses distributed free sweet drinks to anyone who walked by.

Earlier in the day, two protesters were killed in a clash with security forces there, and crowds set a police station on fire. The army evacuated the local governor to the military headquarters in southern Egypt.

Hundreds of miles away, in the restive Sinai Peninsula city of al-Arish, celebrations over Mubarak's departure began as a gunbattle continued between a group of residents and security forces outside a police station.

The head of northern Sinai's health services, Sami Anwar, said two people have been killed and 35 wounded in the fighting.

The gunbattle erupted when the residents tried to storm the police station, the latest violence in a long dispute over what residents see as the heavy-handed tactics of the police.

In Cairo, in the midst of the celebration, Ala Moussa said he was shot in the back by a policeman's rubber bullet at an earlier protest. He removed his glasses and wiped away tears.

"We have our freedom now," he said. "The question now is if we can take another route. I hope so."

Mohammed el-Masry, who marched to the presidential palace, said he had spent the past two weeks living in the protest encampment at Tahrir Square. He also wept.

"We made it," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Paul Schemm, Maggie Michael and Ryan Lucas contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110211/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_scene

Around the world, applause and hope for Egyptians

AP – Pro-democracy supporters react to the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak outside the Egyptian Embassy …

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press – 30 mins ago

LONDON – The jubilation sweeping Cairo was met by a huge dose of relief in Europe and the United States and rising discomfort across the Middle East, where governments are living in fear of the "people power" movement that has claimed two Arab dictators in less than a month.

While ordinary people and politicians across the world have followed Egypt's pro-democracy protests with a mixture of hope and awe, the Middle Eastern establishment was scrambling to find its footing after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's resignation signaled a seismic shift in the old world order.

For those rulers' subjects, it was a euphoric moment. In Tunisia, cries of joy and a thunderous honking of horns greeted the news that Mubarak had stepped down. The North African nation's people-powered revolution had pushed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile on Jan. 14 and sparked the Egyptian protests.

In Beirut, fireworks erupted over the capital only moments after the Egypt's Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement that Mubarak would hand over power to the military. Celebratory gunfire could be heard in some places.

"This is the popular demonstration that proves any leader can be toppled," said Eugene Rogan, the director of the Middle East Center at St. Antony's College in Oxford. "For all the other rulers in the region, it's a very sobering moment."

In South Africa, officials applauded the resignation — and noted that it happened exactly 21 years after Nelson Mandela's historic release from prison.

"Of course one wants to be cautious about linking events, but one can't escape the symbolic importance of this day and the release of Mandela and how that ushered in a new process for South Africa," said Ayanda Ntsaluba, the director general of South Africa's foreign affairs department. "Let's hope this happy coincidence will also one day make the Egyptian people look back and say this indeed was the beginning of better times in Egypt."

The sentiment was shared across Europe, whose leaders had increasingly pushed Mubarak to make a dramatic move to open up Egyptian society.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton praised the resilience of Egypt's protesters and said that, by standing down, Mubarak "has listened to the voices of the Egyptian people and has opened the way to faster and deeper reforms."

Edward McMillan-Scott, the European Parliament's vice president for democracy and human rights, expressed hope that Egypt could assume a more benign role in the region — and expressed regret at the Western support that had enabled Mubarak to cling to power for so long.

"Mubarak's tyranny was typical across the region and it is Europe's shame that we sustained them," he said.

Messages of support for the Egyptian people flooded social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. The words "Congrats Egypt" were among the micro-blogging sites' most popular term.

In Washington, President Barack Obama learned of Mubarak's resignation during an Oval Office meeting — but has yet to make any public comment.

Noureddine Mezni, spokesman for the chairman of the African Union commission, called Mubarak's resignation "historic" and added he hoped Egypt would emerge "a stronger and more stable nation."

But he could not say what steps the AU would take next as Egypt's government changes power for the first time in 29 years.

"Maybe it is premature now to talk, but we are following closely," he said. Egypt is a prominent member of the 53-nation organization and one of its larger financial contributors.

___

Associated Press journalists across the world contributed to this story.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110211/ap_on_re_eu/egypt_world_view

Mubarak resigns, hands power to military

AP/Tara Todras-Whitehill

Anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt. More photos »

AP – Anti-government protesters, and Egyptian soldiers on top of their vehicles, make traditional Muslim Friday …

By PAUL SCHEMM and MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Paul Schemm And Maggie Michael, Associated Press – 7 mins ago

CAIRO – Egypt's Hosni Mubarak resigned as president and handed control to the military on Friday after 29 years in power, bowing to a historic 18-day wave of pro-democracy demonstrations by hundreds of thousands. "The people ousted the president," chanted a crowd of tens of thousands outside his presidential palace in Cairo.

Several hundred thousand protesters massed in Cairo's central Tahrir Square exploded into joy, cheering and waving Egyptian flags. Fireworks, car horns and celebratory shots in the air were heard around the city of 18 million in joy after Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement on national TV just after nightfall.

Mubarak had sought to cling to power, handing some of his authorities to Suleiman while keeping his title. But an explosion of protests Friday rejecting the move appeared to have pushed the military into forcing him out completely. Hundreds of thousands marched throughout the day in cities across the country as soliders stood by, besieging his palace in Cairo and Alexandria and the state TV building. A governor of a southern province was forced to flee to safety in the face of protests there.

It was the biggest day of protests yet in the upheaval that began Jan. 25, growing from youth activists working on the Internet into a mass movement that tapped into widespread discontent with Mubarak's authoritarian lock on power, corruption, economic woes and widespread disparities between rich and poor.

"In these grave circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position as president of the republic," a grim-looking Suleiman said. "He has mandated the Armed Forces Supreme Council to run the state. God is our protector and succor."

Nobel Peace laureate Mohammed ElBaradei, whose young suporters were among the organizers of the protest movement, told The Associated Press, "This is the greatest day of my life."

"The country has been liberated after decades of repression," he said adding that he expects a "beautiful" transition of power.

Outside Mubarak's Oruba Palace in northern Cairo, women on balconies ululated with the joyous tongue-trilling used to mark weddings and births.

Click image to see photos of protests, clashes in Egypt

AP/Khalid Mohammed

"Finally we are free," said Safwan Abo Stat, a 60-year-old in the crowd of protesters at the palace. "From now on anyone who is going to rule will know that these people are great."

Another, Mohammed el-Masry, weeping with joy, said he had spent the past two weeks in Tahrir before marching to the palace Friday. He was now headed back to the square to join his ecstatic colleagues. "We made it," he gasped.

The question now turned to how the military, Egypt's most powerful institution, will handle the transition in power. Earlier in the day, the Armed Forces Supreme Council — a body of top generals — vowed to guide the country to greater democracy.

In a statement hours before Suleiman's announcement, it said it was committed "to sponsor the legitimate demands of the people and endeavorfor their implementation within a defined timetable ... until achieving a peaceful transition all through a democratic society aspired by the people."

Abdel-Rahman Samir, one of the youth organizers of the protests, said the protest movement would now open negotiations with the military over democratic reform but vowed protests would continue to ensure change is carried out.

"We still don't have any guarantees yet — if we end the whole situation now the it's like we haven't done anything," he said. "So we need to keep sitting in Tahrir until we get all our demands."

But, he added, "I feel fantastic. .... I feel like we have worked so hard, we planted a seed for a yera and a half and now we are now finally sowing the fruits."

Egypt's President Mubarak resigns

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110211/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt

Egypt's Mubarak in Red Sea resort as protests rage

AP/Tara Todras-Whitehill

Anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt. More photos »

AP – Anti-government protesters, and Egyptian soldiers on top of their vehicles, make traditional Muslim Friday …

By YASSER IMAM, Associated Press Yasser Imam, Associated Press – 37 mins ago

CAIRO – A local government official says President Hosni Mubarak is in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, 250 miles from the capital Cairo, where protesters are deluging squares and marching on presidential palaces and the State TV building.

The official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Friday that Mubarak arrived at the airport in Sharm and was greeted by the local governor. Mubarak passed most of his powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman Thursday night, rebuffing the demands of hundreds of thousands of demonstrators that he step down immediately.

Mubarak spends a good deal of time in Sharm, where he has a palace.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's powerful military backed President Hosni Mubarak's plan to stay in office until September elections, enraging hundreds of thousands of protesters who deluged squares in at least three major cities Friday, marched on presidential palaces and broke through army barricades at the state TV building — key symbols of the authoritarian regime.

The army's show of solidarity with the president was a heavy blow to protesters who called on the military to take action to push Mubarak out after he announced Thursday night that he would hand most of his powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman but remain in office.

The Armed Forces Supreme Council, the military's highest body, depicted itself as the champion of reform in its latest statement. Trying to win the trust of an angry and skeptical population, the army promised to make sure Mubarak lifts hated emergency laws immediately once protests end. Mubarak and Suleiman had only given a vague timetable for ending the law — when security permits.

Still, the profound disappointment that Mubarak did not step down on Thursday turned to rage on Friday and protests escalated.

Click image to see photos of protests, clashes in Egypt

AP/Khalid Mohammed

"What are you waiting for?" one protester yelled in the face of an army officer outside Mubarak's main palace, Oruba, in northern Cairo, where a crowd of demonstrators grew to more than 2,500. "Did you pledge your allegiance to the president or the people?" another shouted.

It was not known if Mubarak was in the palace, one of at least three in Cairo, or even in the capital. The palace was protected by four tanks and rolls of barbed wire, but soldiers did nothing to stop more people from joining the rally.

The march on the palace were the first by protesters who for nearly three weeks have centered their mass demonstrations in Cairo's downtown Tahrir Square.

More than 10,000 tore apart military barricades in front of the towering State Television and Radio building, a pro-Mubarak bastion that has aired constant commentary supporting him and dismissing the protests. They swarmed on the Nile River corniche at the foot of the building, beating drums and chanting, "Leave! Leave! Leave!" They blocked employees from entering, vowing to silence the broadcast.

Soldiers in tanks in front of the building did nothing to stop them, though state TV continued to air.

"The employees have been perpetuating lies and haven't been broadcasting the real message, feelings, and voice of the Egyptian people," said Mahmoud Ahmed, a 25-year-old graphic designer. "Nobody in Egypt feels like they know what is happening because state television is lying to them."

The protesters shouted, "We are here, where is Al-Jazeera." The pan-Arab news network has aired blanket coverage of the demonstrations, largely positive, and has been targeted by the government.

Other protesters massed outside the Cabinet and parliament buildings, both largely empty, several blocks from Tahrir.

Tahrir Square was packed shoulder-to-shoulder with a crowd that rivaled the quarter-million figure of the biggest protests, stunned by Mubarak's blunt determination not to bend in the face of the biggest mass uprising in Egypt's history, now in its 18th day.

More than 100,000 massed in the main square in Egypt's second biggest city, Alexandria. In the afternoon, the giant crowd marched toward Ras el-Tin Palace, Mubarak's main residence in the city, with thousands more joining their ranks to fill a long stretch of the main seaside boulevard on the Mediterranean.

In Assiut, the main city of southern Egypt, about 40,000 protesters, including thousands who streamed in from nearby villages, marched down the main avenue, chanting for Mubarak to go. Thousands set base around the main security headquarters, guarded by riot police, and others headed toward the provincial government headquarters, guarded by the army. "You go along with your regime, Mubarak," the protesters shouted.

In the multiple demonstrations, protesters vowed they were more determined than ever and continued to try to win military support, chanting "the people and the army are one hand."

"Protesting and striking are fundamental rights and the most powerful available means to bring down the regime, so let's be steadfast and united. Right is above might we shall be victorious," Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, whose supporters are among the youth activists organizing the protest movement, said in a Tweet on Friday.

In Cairo's Tahrir, a Muslim cleric urged the protesters never to give up in a sermon to tens of thousands of protesters seated in row after row sweeping across the sprawling plaza and over military vehicles.

"We lived long years where no one could speak a word ... Today we tell this regime to go," he said. "We will pray in this square this Friday and the Friday after and the Friday after and we will defend our dignity.

The military statement, labeled "Communique No. 2" after a statement a day earlier, endorsed Mubarak's plan to transfer some powers to Omar Suleiman.

But it said it would make sure that Mubarak and Suleiman — both military men — stuck to their promises for reform. The armed forces, it said, "are committed to shepherding the legitimate demands of the people and to work for their implementation within a defined timetable until achieving a peaceful transition all through a democratic society."

After Mubarak promised to eventually lift the emergency law in place since 1981, the military command gave a more specific timetable, saying they would go once the protests end — "immediately after the end of the current circumstances."

The law gives police and security forces almost unlimited powers of arrest, which opponents say they have used to crush dissent. Police are also accused of widespread use of torture.

The Supreme Council also called for public services to resume and urged "the return of normal life in order to safeguard the achievements of our glorious people."

Hopes that Mubarak would resign had been raised Thursday when the military council issued its Communique No. 1, announcing it had stepped in to secure the country, and a senior commander told protesters in Tahrir Square that all their demands would soon be met.

Instead, several hundred thousand people watched in disbelief and anger as Mubarak refused to step down in his televised address several hours later.

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Associated Press writers Hadeel al-Shalchi and Hamza Hendawi contributed to this report.

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