it's obvious that for the cretinocracy that animates cable infotainment in the united states that "concern about hardline elements" is the new red scare.
not only is the muslim brotherhood not behind this movement, but they've kept out of it as things have unfolded. their role is overstated and has been for years because it's played to the new american red-baiting and has thereby served mubarak's interests.
some analysts are saying that power is already held my suleiman and that egypt is de facto a military junta. under this scenario, mubarak is a figurehead.
the geopolitical concerns are likely one of the reasons the united states and others have put their marbles in the hands of the army.
the canal has not been disrupted to now---the logic that could extend to its disruption would be a general strike. that's the place where the shit could hit the fan. and i suspect that after today, if mubarak continues to hang on, that things will go to the general strike.
and a general strike is meaningless unless it is an instrument of pressure. cutting off flows through the suez canal would certainly jack up pressure on mubarak to go.
but at this point, that's just a scenario.
if in fact the army has all the marbles, preventing the closure would be paramount and a pretext to consolidate their position.
so it's hard to know.
what's less hard to know is that western capital is not and should not be allowed to dictate the outcome. futures trading in oil is just that. speculators do not run the world.
the images out of cairo are awe inspiring.
mubarak has to go. i hope he does soon.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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