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| Africa North |
| Egypt's revolution and the upcoming struggles |
| 2011-02-16 |
| [Asharq al-Aswat] The man in charge of Egyptian antiquities starred in a TV show about his exploits, sports an "Indiana Jones"-style fedora and triumphantly declared that the nation's heritage was mostly unscathed after the revolt that toppled the president. On Monday, however, he was under siege, the target of angry protesters who want him to quit. "Get out," a crowd of 150 archaeology graduates chanted outside the office of Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass, who threw in his lot with the old order when he accepted a Cabinet post in the last weeks of Hosni Mubarak's rule. Whether Hawass, entrusted with preserving Egypt's museums and monuments, will go the way of Mubarak and resign is uncertain. But the scorn directed him at personifies the messy business of transition in a nation, now ruled by the military, where much of the old governing structure remains intact. The demonstration in a leafy enclave of Cairo was one of many protests and strikes that have sprung up in Egypt as people voice their grievances for the first time after Mubarak's heavyhanded reign over the last three decades. The archaeologists' protest was also deeply personal, with protesters saying Hawass was a "showman" and publicity hound with little regard for thousands of archaeology students who have been unable to find work in their field. "He doesn't care about us," said 22-year-old Gamal el-Hanafy, who graduated from Cairo University in 2009 and carried his school certificates in a folder. "He just cares about propaganda." Hawass has maintained that his first love is Egypt's heritage, not himself, and that courting publicity raises the national profile. The rally was raucous but peaceful. Several soldiers blocked protesters from entering the Supreme Council of Antiquities building in the Zamalek district on an island in the Nile that was largely spared the chaos that gripped Cairo. An armored personnel carrier parked in the street, a helmeted soldier poking out of a hatch. The minister did not appear, and a roar of disapproval swept the crowd when someone said he had slipped out the back door. Then there was a rumor, unconfirmed but no less damaging to his image, that his car had clipped a pedestrian. The protesters dispersed at dusk, and promised to return. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 I've always thought, when watching the History Channel - that up until a couple of weeks ago, the most dangerous place to be in Egypt was standing between Dr. Hawass and the nearest TV camera ... Anything about ancient Egypt and he is shouldering his way to the front. I'm not surprised that he would be resented as a show-boat. |
| Posted by: Sgt.Mom 2011-02-16 08:37 |
| #1 ION QUASI-EGYPTUS + "UPCOMING STRUGGLES", PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > EGYPT MAY DIVERT OBAMA'S ATTENTION FROM ASIA. * SAME > RUSSIA MAY DEPLOY ROCKETS [S-400 ADMS] IN DISPUTED ISLANDS [Russ-soverign Southern Kuriles = Japan-claimed "Northern Territories"]. Russia will be able to recce, shootdown JAPAN AIR SDF, US AIRCRAFT INSIDE NORTHERN JAPAN. * SAME > JAPAN'S MAEHARA REBUFFS RUSSIA'S WARNING ON ISLE DISPUTE. * WMF > RUSSIA'S CONTROL OF THE KURILES MAY TURN THE SEA OF OKHOTSK INTO A CLOSED CHANNEL FOR JAPAN + USA. STALIN'S HISTORICAL DESIRE FOR THE USSR TO CONTROL THE KURILES FOR PACIFIC ACCESS. THE KURILES AS THE USSR'S + POST-SOVIET RUSSIA'S "PROTECTIVE SCREEN" FOR ITS STRATEGIC NUCLEAR FORCES BASED ON SAKHALIN ISLAND + KAMCHATKA PENINSULA. * WMF > RUSSIAN EXPERT: NON-NUCLEAR JAPAN UNLIKELY TO WAGE WAR AGZ POST-COLD WAR RUSSIA OVER THE DISPUTED KURILES, ANY RUSSO-JAPANESE CONVENTIONAL MIL CONFLICT OVER THE KURILES IS LIKELY TO BE FOUGHT OUTSIDE OF KURILES PROPER FROM JAPAN TO SAKHALIN + KAMCHATKA PENINSULA + LITTORALS [Russian Far East], JAPAN + RUSSIA DESTABILIZED, JAPAN HEAVILY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED BY RUSSIAN TACTICAL NUCLEAR STRIKES. * DRUDGEREPORT > EARTH TIMES = RUSSIA WARNS WEST AGZ BACKING REVOLUTIONS IN MIDDLE EAST. Moscow believes that extensive US-West support for Pro-Democracy Mass Protests, internal Govt. Reforms could easily backfire + empower the opposite. IMO read, RUSSIA FEARS "JASMINE" WILL SPREAD TO ITS MUSLIM POPULATION + CENTARL ASIAN 'STANS. * TOPIX > US SENATORS CALL TO DEPLOY MISSLES [BMD] IN GEORGIA, NOT IN TURKEY. * TOPIX > ARMENIAN ANALYST:RUSSIA IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS [Competition for AngloSaxon-vs-Russian Values, RUSSIA MAY LOSE ITS NATIONAL INTEGRITY, SOVEREIGN STATEHOOD IFF IT LOSES THE CAUCASUS]. * WAFF > FAR FROM BEING A MODEL,TURKEY IS BECOMING MORE LIKE EGYPT | EGYPT: DOUBTS ON TURKISH CLAIMS FOR MODEL DEMOCRACY. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-02-16 01:41 |