Egypt: Did Mubarak's camel cavalry just charged the protesters?

As of a few minutes ago, it seems that a few men, riding on horses and camels(!) just charged the protesters on Tahrir Square, the focal point of ongoing Egypt Protests. Little is clear as of now, but reportedly about a hundred men and women have been injured in the ensuing stampede. If you are not doing it already, get the live update from Al Jazeera Live feed.

Until today, the protests, which are now involving millions of people, have been largely peaceful, to the extent that the protesters even organized a football match yesterday. But all that changed today when thousands of pro-Mubarak supporters (read: paid goons) started clashing with the protesters. As of now, the causalities are undetermined. Seems like the regime is getting desperate.

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Egypt Protests: Where did Mubarak go wrong?

What did Mubarak do to lose his 29-year-old regime? Answer: he blinked first. Firing his cabinet on 28 January became the precipitating factor in his power’s demise.

Imagine if you are a dictator of a large Middle Eastern country. You have been ruling the place for about three decades and as it turns out, you are pretty good at it. You kept too much political dissidence at bay; survived six assassinations attempts; made a lot of money; kept the army happy; made friends with almost everyone in the world, including US, Israel, Libya and Saudi Arabia; made your son a viable candidate for succession. And then, all of a sudden, it’s all on the verge of disappearing because some Tunisian fruit vendor, who no one had ever heard of, decided to burn himself. At this point in your life, you have to wonder what went wrong.

Egypt Protests: Who is Mohamed ElBaradei?

The relentless Egypt Protests have created a very real possibility of the Hosni Mubarak’s 29-year-old regimes’ departure and possibility of Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei. But can this former nuclear inspector be anything more than a very efficient bureaucrat?

As the Egypt Protests have shown absolutely no sign of waning off, Mubarak’s presidency has been shaken to its core. With Egyptian Military sitting on the fence, choosing not to go outright to Mubarak’s defence, the regime’s fate has more or less been sealed (as pointed out by this blog when the whole drama began). Enter Mohamed ElBaradei. Over the last few days ElBaradei has emerged as the symbol of hope and democracy in the country and is likely candidate to succeed Mubarak. However, doubts to his leadership qualities remain.

A Somber Note on Egypt Protests

French revolutionary, Antoine de Saint-Just once said, “To dare: that is the whole secret of revolutions.” Well, the people of Egypt have dared. 

Anger that burned Mohamed Bouazizi – a Tunisian fruit vendor, no less – to ashes has now engulfed millions across the Arab world. Millions are out in streets of Egypt, Yemen, Algeria, Jordan and many other nations, demanding a change – a change to better their lives. Men of power, who have been used to obedience and subservience for decades, see the fabric of their authority unraveling in front of their eyes. Outside their palaces and headquarters, men and women have assumed the label of “general populace,” devoid of any religious or ideological beliefs. It is as if the entire complex and intricate network of titles, professions, allegiances and beliefs that hold a country together has been suspended until further notice.

The spectacle of these protests has been nothing short of awesome. The passion and excitement of Egyptians, which exudes promise of a Brave New World can be felt by anyone, no matter how far away one is from Middle East. It is a promise that people - not armies, political parties, corporations, interest groups, alliances, positions, wealth or religion but just people, naked of all the paraphernalia – do matter. 

Of course, tomorrow, a week from now or may be a month later, the protests will be over. May be the dictatorships will go away silently into the night, to be replaced by new ones almost instantly; maybe they won’t. May be decade-long civil wars will begin; may be a few executions will suffice to return to order. And yes, maybe, just maybe, the unthinkable will happen and a just and effective leader will actually emerge.

And then: There will be geo-strategic and regional power balances to worry about. New political coalitions will have to be built and ethnic electorates will have to be considered. Careers, petty feuds, love affairs will once again take precedence over the revolution. Status quo, wearing new clothing or the same old garb, will return.

But till it returns, let us revel in the thrill of witnessing something incredible. Something that is extremely rare. A manifestation of chaos inspired by millions in a completely spontaneous fashion, expressing rage, hope and frustration- a true people’s revolution. 

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Vodafone suspends service in Egypt in an attempt to shutdown the protests

World’s largest mobile telecom service crumbles in front of a regime that seems to have no support from its own people or government machinery, despite the fact that Vodafone Egypt accounts for about 0.4% of the Vodafone's worldwide revenue. Why so fast, is all we ask?

As the Egypt Protests enter their fourth day (if you don’t know about it, first read this), Vodafone Egypt announced its intention to comply with Egyptian authorities who demanded its suspension of service. Along with the two other internet providers, Vodafone’s suspension of service has virtually cutoff the country from the rest of the world. According to BBC technology correspondent Mark Gregory, "[V]irtually the entire internet infrastructure of an electronically sophisticated nation has been switched off… This is believed to be the first time a government has engineered an almost complete shutdown of electronic communications to deal with political dissent.” 

All you need to know about Arab World Protests: Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Algeria, Jordan

The entire Arab region is engulfed in popular uprisings sparked by the success of Tunisian Revolution. And it is all happening at lightning-fast speed, fuelled by Social Media and angry emotions. Here is a quick and dirty introduction to why and how this is happening.

Today hundreds of thousands of protesters are on the streets in capitals around Arab region, protesting for removal of incompetent dictators and governments. Starting from Tunisia, the anger has spread like wild fire and is constantly being fed by Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Overnight, dictators, who have ruled their countries for decades, are finding their position shaken. But for rest of the world, it is difficult to understand how a region that has not seen a government overthrow since 1979, is witnessing so many revolutions at once. Here is the explanation.

As had been pointed out by this blog, some time before these protests began, the catalyst for all of them is the rising food prices, unemployment and inflation, which has left these poverty-stricken countries in deep crisis. And to top it all off, each country had its own political baggage to exacerbate the anger. Here is how it all began.

Protests in Egypt: Military will be the key for Mubarak’s survival

While the Egyptian protests enter third day, many are expecting country’s 29-year-old dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak to fall. However, it will finally be Military’s decision to let regime fall or not.

Within a month, another Arab country has come under widespread political unrest following the Tunisian model of popular protests. While half-hearted attempts of protests against the corrupt and oppressive Egyptian regime had been going on since the successful Tunisian Revolution earlier this month, massive showdown began on 25 January, when the protesters organized themselves on Facebook.