The Great Arab Revolt Continues.

[jamesww]

Things seemed to have stalled, Libya is an odd low intensity stalemate, Bahrain appears to be quietly murdering opponents in jail, Al Assad's security forces are holding the line in Syria.

Only in Egypt is there some hope, todays detention of Mubarak and his sons, seems promising, maybe all lawyers aren't so bad after all. 

There's hope all over.  I think Egypt and Tunisia got everyone overexcited and expecting the regimes to topple on a monthly basis.  This is far from over in terms of transforming the region.  The Arab street, as it were, is already entirely different from just three months ago.

Syria's hotter than I expected, but I don't know.  Tunisia's still very hopeful, moreso than Egypt I think, they've just abolished the secret police and announced the date of elections for a constitutional convention.

Oh I agree the 'Arab Street' is different, but I think partially it's different to the old perception of what it might be, in reality we didn't get to see what it actually was because it was so suppressed.

Yemen hasn't yet resolved itself, I'd guess a fair bit more blood will have to be spilled before he goes. And there's an outside chance the country will split north and south, with attendant civil conflict.

[Razgovory]

The Fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the USSR was rightly hailed as the opening of a new era of international peace and cooperation.

Apples and oranges.

And even that wasn't without it's bloodshed.  Yugoslavia, Armenia, Chechnya.  We're lucky it was as peaceful as it was.  The recent episode with Georgia indicates that it still hasn't shaken out completely.

[jamesww]

Great news from Egypt, good to see the NDP has been broken up.

Also will NATO have to deploy ground forces to save Misurata ?

[Legbiter]

Great news from Egypt, good to see the NDP has been broken up.

Also will NATO have to deploy ground forces to save Misurata ?

Is Gaddafi in that serious of a trouble?

[Siege]

Great news from Egypt, good to see the NDP has been broken up.

Also will NATO have to deploy ground forces to save Misurata ?

Is Gaddafi in that serious of a trouble?

[citizen k]

Egypt's revolution may save Neolithic treasure
By Patrick Werr

LAKE QARUN, Egypt (Reuters) – Egypt's popular uprising may have arrived  just in time to save a Neolithic site that holds the country's oldest  evidence of agriculture and could yield vital clues to the rise of  Pharaonic civilization.

The site lies in a protected nature reserve along the shore north of  Lake Qarun that until recently had remained virtually untouched, even  though it lies only 70 km (43.50 miles) from Cairo, Egypt's  fast-expanding capital.

A month before the protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak erupted  in January, the Egyptian government carved 2.8 square kilometers of  prime land from the reserve and awarded it to property developer Amer  Group for a tourist resort.

Since Mubarak was ousted, three government ministers who sat on a  committee that approved the sale have been jailed while they battle  corruption charges not related to the Amer deal.

One of them, Housing Minister Ahmed el-Maghrabi, told Reuters in January  that archaeology officials had given the re-development the necessary  green light.

Egypt's archaeology chief now says that was untrue.

"I did not give any permission to anyone. The excavations are not  finished," Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council for Antiquities,  told Reuters.

Property developers have come under increasing public scrutiny for their  land purchases from Mubarak's government, and some firms have  relinquished tracts of land.

Egyptian conservation groups have decried the Amer deal, saying it was  done without proper oversight and that the arrival of large numbers of  holidaymakers would wreak heavy damage to a wide swathe of the delicate  desert landscape.

"This is the thin end of the wedge. It is the destruction of Egyptian  natural heritage for future generations." said Ali Fahmi, director of  the conservation group Friends of Lake Qarun. "It sets a precedent in  desecrating a protected area."

WHALE, PRIMATE FOSSILS

Egypt's cabinet in 1989 declared 1,110 square km north of the lake a  nature protectorate, an area that also contains unique geology,  Pharaonic basalt quarries from the Old Kingdom and fossils of early  whales and primates.

Archaeologists say the remains of rain-based Neolithic farming in the  reserve may hold vital clues to a technological leap that led to  irrigation-based farming along the Nile.

Around 4,000 BC, humans occupying a strip along the northern shore of  the lake seized a window of only a few centuries of rainfall to grow  grain in previously inhospitable desert, archaeologists say.

"We have the evidence of the earliest agriculture activity in Egypt. So  it's before the Pharaohs, it's before the early dynastic period when  Egypt becomes a state," said Willeke Wendrich, an archaeology professor  at the University of California in Los Angeles.

"What we have on the north shore of Fayoum is something unique  worldwide. What we have is a Neolithic landscape which, because it's  desert, has not been overbuilt," she said in an interview.

Khaled Saad, department manager for prehistory at Egypt's Supreme  Council for Anquities (SCA), said that four years ago the Tourism  Ministry decided it wanted to build hotels and tourist attractions on a  20 square km (7.723 sq mile) tract stretching 10 km along the lake's  northern shoreline.

It formed a committee to approve designating the land for development  that included Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, Tourism Minister Zoheir  Garranah, Maghrabi and other officials, Saad said.

In December, the Tourism Development Authority (TDA), which is under the  Tourism Ministry, awarded Amer Group the land under a 99-year  concession, charging $28,000 in the first year, rising to an annual  $92,000 in the fourth to 10th years.

Maghrabi said in early January that the SCA had brought in archaeologists to survey the area before the project went ahead.

"It has been completely cleared by the department of antiquities. We  made sure of that," Maghrabi told Reuters at the time. "This project was  approved several years ago but no progress was going to be made until  the department of antiquities finished their work. And they did finish  their work."

MORE RESEARCH "CRUCIAL"

But Hawass of the antiquities council said the work was still ongoing and he was now demanding a fresh assessment.

"Two weeks ago I asked Khaled Saad to come to me with a report to tell  me as an archaeologist what he thinks. And now I asked him that we will  appoint a large committee of archaeologists to decide the future of the  land," Hawass said.

Saad said the survey mentioned by Maghrabi took place between March 2009  and October 2010 and was designed to see if there were antiquities on  the site.

"I proved that there were," he said.

The site holds a wealth of prehistoric remains from mid-Mesolithic  period 200,000 years ago to the Pharaonic period and later, said Saad.

They also found the remains of 24 ancient whales that swam in the  region's waters 42 million years ago, including one belonging to an  entirely new species.

Weindrich said further research in the area is crucial to cast light on the origins of Egyptian civilization.

She said agriculture probably arrived late in Egypt because the  technology in use elsewhere in the Near East did not fit with the  climate, at least until the short period of rainfall in the Neolithic  period.

"We have a big research project going on looking at the climate change in that period," she said.

The Neolithic farming community that appeared around six millennia ago  had little material to build with and left no sign of permanent  buildings or structures, she said.

"They probably lived in some sort of reed matting huts. But what we do  see is a whole pattern on the surface of fireplaces for different  purposes -- to make pottery, for the fish, to roast their meat. From  that pattern we're trying to understand their activities," Wendrich  said.

As the moisture disappeared, the desert winds blew away most of the  topsoil. Stone tools, pottery and bones once held in soil a meter deep  were now concentrated in a thin surface layer.

"There's a howling wind coming from the north, which means the sand blows away, but the heavy things don't," Wendrich said.

"It's great because we can see it, but it's not so great because if you  remove the top centimeter, it's gone forever. That's the precarious  situation we're dealing with at the moment."

Shortly after the Neolithic period, irrigation began spreading along the Nile Valley.

"By that time, people were looking at different ways for continuing what  they by then they were used to doing for a number of centuries," said  Wendrich.

[dps]

Don't know exactly what's going to happen, but I'm sure that at some point, the French will find some government somewhere in the M.E. to surrender to.


OK, that wasn't fair;  the French have kind of taken the lead in Libya, but hey, so what?

[citizen k]

Ultraconservative Muslims dominate Egypt protest

CAIRO (AP) — Tens of thousands of ultraconservative Muslims in long beards, robes and prayer caps thronged Cairo's central Tahrir Square in a massive show of force Friday, calling for the implementation of strict Islamic laws and sparring with liberal activists over their visions for a post-revolution Egypt.

It was the first rally with religious overtones in Egypt, and one of the largest, since the uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down in mid-February. The strong showing by the Islamists demonstrated their powerful organizational abilities, which will likely help them in parliamentary elections later this year.

"Islamic. Islamic. Not Western or Eastern. No liberal or secular," chants of Salafis, who follow a strict form of Islam, echoed through the square. Others shouted: "With our soul and blood we defend you Islam."

They unfurled an Egyptian flag, removing the central emblem of an eagle and replacing the Islamic slogan: "There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet," similar to the insignia on the Saudi flag.

The youth activists who have been at the helm of mass protests calling for faster change from the country's interim military rulers withdrew from the rally soon after Friday prayers, accusing the Islamists of violating an agreement to avoid divisive issues.

"While the civil organizations are trying to respect the effort to complete the revolution by unifying the ranks, the Islamic groups insisted on breaking the unity and assisting the military council in a deal that I think will divide this country in two," said liberal activist Mustafa Shawki. "This is what we were afraid of."

Several hundred protesters, mainly liberal and leftist groups, have camped out at the square for more than three weeks, demanding swifter justice for those blamed in the killing of nearly 900 protesters during the 18-day uprising and more measures to ensure Mubarak loyalists are purged from the government. It was a crowd vocally critical of the military council, which they accused of protecting Mubarak's regime.

Most of the Islamic groups, however, say the military needs time to break with the past.

The decision by the Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's best organized political force, to participate significantly boosted the turnout. But instead of a day of unity as had been advertised, the Islamists decided to flex their muscle, using the epicenter of the protests to press demands for a strict version of Islamic law.

Some Salafi Islamist groups mobilized their members to the square to oppose the adoption of a set of guidelines for drafting a new constitution after parliamentary elections later this year. Buses from a number of cities transported followers, many who were in the square for the first time.

Liberal parties are worried religious groups will win a large share of parliament and force an Islamic influence on the constitution. The Islamists say nothing should restrict the newly elected parliament's right to oversee the process of drafting the document.

"The liberals are talking about a civil state. This won't work in Egypt," said Tarek Shaheen, a 31-year-old resident of Ismailiya. "We want to prove to the outside world even before domestically that Egypt is Islamic, that it has a large Islamic trend and that we are not terrorists."

While opposing the measure, Muslim Brotherhood members did not press the issue Friday sticking to the agreement.

Salafis are ultraconservatives, close to Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi interpretation of Islam and more radical than the Brotherhood. They seek to emulate the austerity of Islam's early days and oppose a wide range of practices like intermingling of the sexes that they view as "un-Islamic." Many also reject all forms of Western cultural influence, and preach that authorities must be respected.

Mubarak's regime cracked down heavily on Islamic groups, specifically the politicized Brotherhood, arrested thousands of its members. Salafi groups are new to the political scene in Egypt.

Many like Shaheen felt that Egypt's Islamic identity is threatened, reflecting the growing mistrust between the different groups only months before the first parliamentary elections, the first after Mubarak's ouster.

Egypt's constitution, which has been suspended by the military rulers, set Islamic law as the basis for legislation and nobody has proposed changing that clause. But some Islamic groups believe the liberal groups will use the guidelines to introduce what they perceive as Western values.

"Our religion is the constitution," said Saber Mohammed, a 27-year-old Cairene wearing a short white robe and head cap, sporting the traditional bushy beard of a Salafi.

Nourhan Zamzam, a 29-year-old banker who supports the call for a civil state, said the ultraconservative Islamist groups are vying for influence but have little experience.

For her, the Salafi stance only undermines pressure on the military by dividing the efforts of the protesters.

"This is actually a message to us, the revolutionaries, who are critical of the military council," she said. "This is a message to scar us: look infighting between groups is coming."

By sundown, a large number of Islamists began leaving the square peacefully and the sit-in continued.

It was more tense in other cities.

In the southern city of Assiut, Salafist protesters beat up a group of protesters from the Communist party trying to join their demonstration, deputy police chief Yosri el-Gammasi said. At one point, some in the crowd yelled back at a speaker who criticized the idea of constitutional guidelines.

In the Sinai city of el-Arish, government troops clashed with Islamic militants firing rocket-propelled grenades and other heavy weapons outside a police station. Four people were killed, including a military officer and three civilians, and 18 people injured.

South of the capital in Minya province, gunmen fired on a car carrying Christians, killing two and injuring two, a military official said. It was the second killing in two weeks in the predominantly Christian village of Roman. While the motive was unknown, similar events have sparked religious violence in the past.

Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief the media.

Friday's rally came a day after Egypt's Justice Ministry said Mubarak, along with his two sons, his former security chief and seven others, will be tried Wednesday at a Cairo convention center. Mubarak, 83, faces charges of corruption and ordering the deadly use of force against protesters.

[Eddie Teach]

Just think of all the tax dollars we're spending so we can get "democratic" governments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

[Razgovory]

Just think of all the tax dollars we're spending so we can get "democratic" governments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

Cheap compared to the tax money we've spent trying to spread democracy to the South.

[Eddie Teach]

A swing and a miss.

[DGuller]

A swing and a miss.

Yep, going on for almost 150 years now. 

[Eddie Teach]

Yep, going on for almost 150 years now. 

Opportunistic shots can be much more entertaining than potshots.

[Tamas]

I am sorry but this article must be false. I was told this was for sure the rebellion of the secular modern youth.

[The Brain]

I'm sure the moderate Muslims will prevail.