…here are a few related stories:
A second female reporter on being luckier than Lara Logan
It comes down to luck. Sheer luck. And when it runs dry, that’s it. I don’t know the details of what happened to Lara Logan at the square. I can imagine it all too well, though. And when I heard the news on Tuesday I was heartsick: My God. That could’ve been me.
I’d rather be lucky than smart. And unfortunately there is a third not so lucky:
Now I can say what I have only told a few friends since my return: That I too was subjected to several sexual harassment attacks at the scene.
Although they cannot be compared to the trauma Lara suffered, they were deeply upsetting.
Meanwhile more details have come out about the Logan story and they are not pretty as Howard Kurtz explains:
“We were detained by the Egyptian army,” Logan told Esquire. “Arrested, detained, and interrogated. Blindfolded, handcuffed, taken at gunpoint, our driver beaten. It’s the regime that arrested us. They arrested [our producer] just outside of his hotel, and they took him off the road at gunpoint, threw him against the wall, handcuffed him, blindfolded him. Took him into custody like that.”
There was more: “They blindfolded me, but they said if I didn’t take it off they wouldn’t tie my hands. They kept us in stress positions—they wouldn’t let me put my head down. It was all through the night. We were pretty exhausted… We were accused of being Israeli spies. We were accused of being agents. We were accused of everything.” In the process, Logan said, she became “violently, violently ill.” The army eventually released Logan and the crew.
Kurtz also underscores something that has been said by others:
the sexual assault and beating that Logan endured underscores that the Middle East remains a particularly dangerous place for women.
I await the denunciation of Kurtz as a right wing misogynist.
Democracy means choices:
Well, no political action has been taken. But even some Egyptian secular liberals are eager to do away with the historic 1978 treaty, which was the foundation for peace between Egypt and Israel — hence the U.S.’s alliance with Egypt — and which was the pretext for Anwar El Sadat’s assassination by Egyptian Islamists. As HotAir notes, Ayman Nour, a liberal Egyptian leader, was recently quoted as saying, “In practice, the Camp David accords have come to an end.”
Part of that deal was the return of the Sinai to Egypt, I’m sure the Israeli will be happy to take it back off their hands. And there are some bad signs for the future:
Now that Mubarek is gone, the western media mostly has moved on to the next revolution, secure in the perception that Egypt is moving in the right direction.
But that is a false comfort. As I posted yesterday, over a million Egyptians turned out in Tahrir Square last Friday to cheer the vile anti-Semitic Sunni cleric Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who had been exiled by Mubarek, and who espouses the fundamentalist Islamic view that Jews must live as Dhimmis under Islamic control.
And guess what faces are being hidden and which ones are coming out in the open:
Ironically, reports indicate that some of that happened on the very stage from which Qaradawi spoke. Wael Ghonim, the young Google executive credited with helping ignite the popular uprising, was blocked from getting on stage by Qaradawi’s guards. According to a news report, “Ghonim left the square with his face hidden by an Egyptian flag.”
As the IPT reported Thursday, there are increasing signs that the Muslim Brotherhood, which deliberately maintained a low profile during the three-week street protests, is flexing its muscles as Egypt tries to build a new government. It is well represented on a committee charged with recommending changes the country’s constitution and has announced plans to form a political party to run for parliamentary seats.
Meanwhile the Egyptian military has been…active:
Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the minister of defense and military production who now leads the council of officers ruling Egypt, has been a strong advocate of government control of prices and production. He has consistently opposed steps to open up the economy, according to diplomatic cables made public by WikiLeaks.
And already there are signs that the military is purging from the cabinet and ruling party advocates of market-oriented economic changes, like selling off state-owned companies and reducing barriers to trade.
Ah socialism, no wonder Wisconsin demonstrators and democrats are waving Egyptian flags.
Let the record show BTW that every single American Egyptian I’ve talked to this month backs the military in Egypt and trusts them more than any other Egyptian institution.
That isn’t surprising as they have been a big contrast to the actions of the military in places like Libya
Brutal totalitarianism on full display as the citizens of Libya rise up to protest against the 41 year reign of Muammar Qaddafi. 25 people were reportedly killed today during protests.
and those 25 were just a start.
And Bahrain:
This video shows a group of Bahrainian protesters marching in the street when all of a sudden you hear gun fire coming from what sounds like multiple people opening fire on the crowd.
and Iran:
Iranian protesters called for the execution of opposition leaders today after Friday prayers.
But not to worry he is under house arrest so I’m sure they can’t get to him, can they?
And in China:
Several top Chinese rights activists have disappeared into police custody as a web campaign urged angry citizens to mark the Middle East’s “Jasmine Revolution” with protests, campaigners said Sunday.
Up to 15 leading Chinese rights lawyers and activists have disappeared since Saturday amid a nationwide police mobilisation, according to activists, while the government appeared to censor Internet postings calling for the demonstrations.
Anybody who thinks non cancer ridden dictator types are going to give up their wealth and privileges without a fight are deluding themselves. Also note that it’s not a coincidence that the US trained and supplied Egyptian army alone did not fire on their own people.
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