Civil war in Egypt

(Ahmed Nashar, a Brotherhood spokesman witnessed what happened near the Nasr City mosque where demonstrators built a wall to protect themselves. "When I arrived, bullets were whizzing past my ears," he told the BBC. "Today was just brutal - people were fired at, with live firearms.")

Sexual Jihad

That explains everything:

A fatwa (religious edict) apparently permitting ‘sexual jihad’ appeared on a Facebook page reportedly affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), but some have dismissed it as a parody.

The fatwa supposedly came in response to a question by a female Brotherhood supporter asking if ‘sexual Jihad’ is allowed in Rabea al-Adawiya Square and other squares in Egypt where people have been protesting against Mohammed Mursi’s ouster since June 30.

The religious answer appearing on the Facebook page was: “Not now. Let us wait first for what will happen, may God strengthen the Mujahedeen.”

“Sexual Jihad” refers to the idea of the female Islamists offering their sexual services to their male counterparts so they remain motivated to continue the struggle for their cause.

Now, at least, I know the reason why all kinds of protest in this here country and in general in the West are so lukewarm: no activists of that Brotherhood lady type volunteering. No motivation, you see.

(get these guys laid, no problem I guess)

Egyptian preacher says women in Tahrir Square WANT to be raped

(Man In Glass House Dress In Basement)

(EOZ)Feminists have accused the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood of hiring thugs to sexually assault women demonstrators.

In response, female MB member Azza al-Garf scoffed at the idea that Islamists would do such a thing:
"The Islamist view of the woman is to respect to her and her status and roles in life, whether it is a professional or humanitarian role or her role within the home and community. How can [the Muslim Brotherhood] be the ones inciting these heinous acts?" asked Garf.
How indeed can anyone accuse Islamists of condoning sexual abuse and rape?

Just don't read or watch this:

An Egyptian Salafi preacher said raping and sexually harassing women protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square is justified, calling them “crusaders” who “have no shame, no fear and not even feminism.”
In an online video posted Wednesday, Ahmad Mahmoud Abdullah, known as “Abu Islam” and owner of the private television channel of “al-Ummah,” said these women are no red line.

“They tell you women are a red line. They tell you that naked women -- who are going to Tahrir Square because they want to be raped -- are a red line! And they ask Mursi and the Brotherhood to leave power!,” he said.

Abu Islam added that these women activists are going to Tahrir Square not to protest but to be sexually abused because they had wanted to be raped.

“They have no shame, no fear and not even feminism. Practice your feminism, sheikha! It is a legitimate right for you to be a woman,” he said.

“And by the way, 90 percent of them are crusaders and the remaining 10 percent are widows who have no one to control them. You see women talking like monsters,” he added.

Abu Islam further described these female political activists as “devils.”

“You see a woman with this fuzzy hair! A devil! Devils called women. Learn from Muslim women, learn and be Muslims. There are Muslims and Muslimix.”

Abu Islam was apparently referring to liberal Muslims as “Muslimix.”

US sending F-16s to Muslim Brotherhood

(EOZ)(Al Ahram) A consignment of F-16 jet fighters to Cairo from Washington during the next few weeks has stirred up yet another hornet's nest in Egypt's fraught political atmosphere. In the opinion of many observers, the controversy over the deal is a thoroughly political one, as the additional fighter planes will do little to alter strategic balances of power in the region. It is unlikely that similar arms deals during the Mubarak era would have aroused such an altercation. The new factor, of course, is the Muslim Brotherhood's rise to power, which has worried political circles in both capitals.

While Israel will still hold a qualitative edge in air power, this upgrade of Egypt's air force by the US at a time when Egypt's leadership is still oscillating between acting responsibly and extremist Islamism seems very premature. It is effectively a US endorsement of Morsi, a man who only two years ago was shouting anti-semitic slogans.
The $213 million gift also includes 200 Abrams tanks, perfect for use at Tahrir Square.
Here is an (Arabic) video just made by an Egyptian contrasting Morsi's seeming liberalism when talking to CNN and his anti-semitism when speaking in Arabic, saying that "we must teach our children to hate the Jews" (no translation yet, sorry):Ironically, this decision by the US to trust Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood comes right after the US-trained troops in Mali defected to Al Qaeda with their US-supplied guns and other equipment.

Egypt protesters firebomb Al-Jazeera Cairo office

) (Egyptian protesters throw back tear gas canisters during clashes with security forces, near Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, on Nov. 21, 2012. AP Photo/Mohammed Asad)CAIRO(AP(cbs)) -- Egyptian protesters firebombed one of the offices of satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera on Wednesday and attacked a police chief who tried to negotiate an end to three days of violent protests in central Cairo.
The protesters hit the TV studio overlooking Tahrir Square with firebombs, engulfing it in flames. In a televised interview from inside the gutted office, reporter Ahmed el-Dassouki said around 300 protesters approached the building before noon, shouting obscenities.
He said they set the place on fire, stormed the building and looted the studio. "They accuse our network of being biased and not objective," he said. Many protesters had accused the channel of bias in favor of the country's most powerful political force, the Muslim Brotherhood.
After the attack, a crowd assaulted Cairo Police Chief Osama el-Saghir, who went to Tahrir Square to diffuse the situation, a security official said. Protesters drove El-Saghir from the square with punches and kicks, the official added, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to brief reporters.
Fire crews rushed to put out the office blaze as dozens of onlookers watched smoke and flames shoot from the balcony.
Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal Eddin said police had arrested 118 protesters since clashes broke out Monday.
"We have more than once restrained ourselves... and our forces have been wounded, but we will not stay with our hands tied or else people will hold us responsible," he said during a press conference in Cairo.
Scores of protesters have been wounded with birdshot and tear gas fired by police.
The Brotherhood's political party said in a statement on Facebook Wednesday that the protests were aimed at creating chaos as part of a wider scheme to derail the revolution. The language of the statement was similar to that of the transitional military council that administered Egypt after the ouster of longtime President Hosni Mubarak last year, when the military was in power and its forces were entangled in clashes with protesters.
The protesters Wednesday demand retribution for last year's deadly confrontation between police and demonstrators when security forces moved to break up a sit-in by people injured during last year's uprising. It set off days of violence that left 42 dead and hundreds wounded.
Monday was the anniversary of those clashes.
"The scenario repeats itself every time, but we are aware of this. People are calling on us to use force and occupy Tahrir Square," Gamal Eddin told reporters, "but we have policies that see the purpose behind this and what it would mean for us to go into Tahrir."
The Interior Minister admitted that his police forces have been unable to determine who was behind past protests, including last year's attacks on government buildings that protesters blamed on paid thugs.
"The problem is we reach a certain point and then the link in the chain breaks because these people are trained and have trainers who know how to hide," he said.
Last year's violence was before Mohammed Morsi of the Brotherhood was elected president, while the country was run by the military. Morsi took office in late June.
This week's protesters, mostly disgruntled youth, feel Morsi has done little to address their demand that security officers be held accountable for the killings of protesters.
Demonstrator Walid Farag said the president was too busy with foreign policy and had not delivered on his domestic promises.
"How come he (Morsi) doesn't come out and speak with the youth," Farag asked.
Some of the protesters called for an open sit-in starting Friday to also demand the dissolution of the Islamist-led body writing the country's new constitution. Liberals and seculars have denounced proposed changes in wording about the role of religion.
"We came here to demand the rights of our martyrs. The security forces wanted to award them with more martyrs," protester Samuel Sobhi said.

Clashes between Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi’s opponents in Tahrir Square

CAIRO (AP)Demonstrators throw stones and Molotov cocktails; at least 10 injured according to local activists (Times of Israel) For the first time since Egypt’s new Islamist president took office, his supporters clashed with liberal and leftist protesters in Cairo, storming a stage erected by the opposition activists, smashing loudspeakers and tearing the structure down during competing rallies Friday.
The mass demonstration, “Accountability Friday,” was organized by more than 21 political groups against what they claimed was President Mohammed Morsi’s failure to fulfill his promises for social justice and democratic reforms. Clashes erupted between pro-Muslim Brotherhood activists and their opponents.
Demonstrators threw stones and Molotov cocktails into the crowd. The BBC reported on Twitter that its news crew had to leave the scene because “there was so much stone throwing.” Other local activists stated that at least 10 were injured, and that women were fighting with clerics for their right to attend the rally.
The melee between supporters and opponents of Morsi reflects deep political divisions among the country’s 82 million people, more than a year after the popular uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

A protester throws a stone after scuffles broke out Friday between groups of several hundred protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir square when chants against the new Islamist president angered some in the crowd. (photo credit: AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Egyptians are struggling with a plunging economy, deteriorating security and disputes over the writing of the country’s new constitution. They were also stunned by a verdict earlier this week that acquitted 25 Mubarak loyalists on charges of manslaughter and attempted murder during last year’s revolt.
Liberal and leftist groups had called Friday’s protest to demand more action from Morsi after his first 100 days in office. The liberals also want greater diversity on the panel tasked with writing Egypt’s new constitution, which has been packed with Islamists, including members of Morsi’s fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood.
Following calls for the protest, Morsi’s supporters called for a separate rally to demand judicial independence following the acquittals of Mubarak loyalists Wednesday.
The former regime figures were acquitted of organizing the so-called “Camel Battle,” — an incident on Feb. 2, 2011, when assailants on horses and camels charged into crowds in Cairo protesting against Mubarak, leaving nearly a dozen people killed in the assault.
Around 1,000 protesters died across Egypt in the 18-day uprising that toppled Mubarak.
Friday’s melee erupted after Morsi’s supporters stormed the activists’ stage at Cairo’s Tahrir Square, angered by chants from the opposition they perceived as insults to the president.
Protesters were seen with bruises and scrapes as the two camps fought with fists and sticks. Gunshots were also fired.
Meanwhile, Morsi was in Egypt’s second largest city, Alexandria, on Friday, where he pledged that former regime figures would be brought to justice despite Wednesday’s verdicts.
He invoked the “martyrs of the revolution,” including Khaled Said who died at the hands of Mubarak’s police in Alexandria in 2010. Images of Said’s severely disfigured face that had circulated widely online, helped galvanize calls for last year’s uprising that eventually overthrew Mubarak, after nearly 30 years in power.
“All of the segments of Egypt’s society were deprived of many rights” under Mubarak, Morsi told a crowd of supporters. “And the biggest right deprived of us was the right to freedom.”
Following the acquittals of the 24, Morsi on Thursday dismissed the country’s prosecutor general — a Mubarak appointee — in a bid to calm widespread anger. However, the prosecutor, Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud, refused to step down and vowed to remain in his post in defiance of Morsi citing a law that protects the prosecutor general from being ousted by the president.
Mubarak is serving a life sentence along with this longtime interior minister for failing to stop the killing of protesters last year.
After the clashes in Tahrir Square, the April 6 Movement, which played a significant role in bringing down Mubarak, said its supporters would march to the prosecutor’s office and protest there instead.
Caught in the scuffles, Ashraf al-Said said he tried to calm both sides but instead found himself doused in white paint thrown onto the crowd.
“I am here with the revolution, the people and Egypt. I am not with anyone side,” he said, his hands and hair dripping with white paint. “What we are doing now is a sin.”

Women protesting sexual harassment in Egypt get sexually harassed

(EOZ)there has been an increase in the already high amount of sexual harassment in Egypt against women, especially during protests. Women got fed up and held their own protest on Friday in Tahrir Square. Guess what happened to them?

A mob of hundreds of men have assaulted women holding a march demanding an end to sexual harassment, with the attackers overwhelming the male guardians and groping and molesting several of the female marchers in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

The attack follows smaller scale assaults on women this week in Tahrir, the epicenter of the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down last year. Thousands have been gathering in the square this week in protests over a variety of issues — mainly over worries that presidential elections this month will secure the continued rule by elements of Mubarak's regime backed by the ruling military.

Friday's march was called to demand an end to sexual assaults. Around 50 women participated, surrounded by a larger group of male supporters who joined hands to form a protective ring around them. The protesters carried posters saying, "The people want to cut the hand of the sexual harasser," and chanted, "The Egyptian girl says it loudly, harassment is barbaric."

After the marchers entered a crowded corner of the square, a group of men waded into the group of women, heckling them and groping them. The male supporters tried to fend them off, and it turned into a melee involving a mob of hundreds.

The marchers tried to flee while the attackers chased them and male supporters tried to protect them. But the attackers persisted, cornering several women against a metal sidewalk railing, including an Associated Press reporter, shoving their hands down their clothes and trying to grab their bags. The male supporters fought back, swinging belts and fists and throwing water.

Eventually, the women were able to reach refuge in a nearby building with the mob still outside until they finally got out to safety.

"After what I saw and heard today. I am furious at so many things. Why beat a girl and strip her off? Why?" wrote Sally Zohney, one of the organisers of the event on Twitter.

The persistence of the attack raised the belief of many that it was intentional, though who orchestrated it was unclear.

Amnesty called for an investigation.

“These women stood up to demand an end to sexual harassment. What they got was intimidation and sexual assault,” said Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, in a statement.

“In last year’s protests, Tahrir Square was a place where women stood on an equal footing with men to demand their freedom. Now it has become a place where women are singled out for sexual harassment.

“These attacks need to be investigated immediately and those found responsible held to account. An investigation would serve as a deterrent against sexual harassment and will help protect women protesters who are exercising their right to peacefully express their views.”

Notably, the protest was organized by 20 Egyptian women's groups - yet only 50 women showed up, which might indicate that most Egyptian women knew something like this would occur.

Sexual assaults on women in Tahrir Square increasing

(EOZ) Today_there_is_a mass demonstration of thousands in Tahrir Square in Cairo against what many Egyptians felt was a light sentence for Hosni Mubarak in his trial.
The women in the protest better watch out.
From AP:

Her screams were not drowned out by the clamor of the crazed mob of nearly 200 men around her.
An endless number of hands reached toward the woman in the red shirt in an assault scene that lasted less than 15 minutes but felt more like an hour.
She was pushed by the sea of men for about a block into a side street from Tahrir Square. Many of the men were trying to break up the frenzy, but it was impossible to tell who was helping and who was assaulting.
Pushed against the wall, the unknown woman's head finally disappeared. Her screams grew fainter, then stopped. Her slender tall frame had clearly given way. She apparently had passed out. The helping hands finally splashed the attackers with bottles of water to chase them away.
The assault late Tuesday was witnessed by an Associated Press reporter who was almost overwhelmed by the crowd herself and had to be pulled to safety by men who ferried her out of the melee in an open Jeep.
Reports of assaults on women in Tahrir, the epicentre of the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down last year, have been on the rise with a new round of mass protests to denounce a mixed verdict against the ousted leader and his sons in a trial last week.
No official numbers exist for attacks on women in the square because police do not go near the area, and women rarely report such incidents.
But activists and protesters have reported a number of particularly violent assaults on women in the past week. Many suspect such assaults are organised by opponents of the protests to weaken the spirit of the protesters and drive people away.
Mahmoud said two of his female friends were cornered Monday and pushed into a small passageway by a group of men in the same area where the woman in the red shirt was assaulted.
One was groped while the other was seriously assaulted, Mahmoud said, refusing to divulge specifics other than to insist she wasn't raped.
Mona Seif, a well-known activist who has been trying to promote awareness about the problem, said Wednesday she was told about three different incidents in the past five days, including two that were violent.
In one incident, the attackers ripped the woman's clothes off and trampled on her companions, she said.
Women, who participated in the 18-day uprising that ended with Mubarak's 11 February 2011 ouster as leading activists, protesters, medics and even fighters to ward off attacks by security agents or affiliated thugs on Tahrir, have found themselves facing the same groping and assaults that have long plagued Egypt's streets during subsequent protests in the square.
Women also have been targeted in recent crackdowns on protesters by military and security troops, a practice commonly used by Mubarak security that grew even more aggressive in the days following his ouster.
In a defining image of the post-Mubarak state violence against women, troops were captured on video stomping with their boots on the bare chest of a woman, with only her blue bra showing, as other troops pulled her by the arms across the ground.
A 2008 report by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights says two-thirds of women in Egypt experienced sexual harassment on a daily basis.

It isn't only political protests that have men attacking women. They do it on religious holidays, too.
And if you think that women who cover their bodies and hair are less likely to be attacked, think again.
The article does say that some Egyptians are fed up, and organizing patrols to protect women in Tahrir Square.

...But America's Secretary of State is worried about the lives of Israeli women... why? It's political.
America and Israel has differences recognized by our courts, but gender difference helps respect women. Feminism does not respect women. Feminism oppresses equivalently.

Harvard Sex Week

Harvard Never Learns (Legal Insurrection) Sex-Positivity and Slut-Pride: Sex Tips for a Modern World from Good Vibrations: Join HLSRJ and Good Vibrations for a short discussion of sex-positivity, a demo of lube and some popular sex toys, then Q&A. Free Food!

As if the one state solution event that didn't invite any Zionist groups for a Jewish one state were not biased as is. I suppose the sluts are now preparing to blow Hamas and Fatah together.

(Palestine Today) and (Challah) reports that Egypt has said that Fatah and Hamas are both “fully responsible” for the failure of reconciliation. An Egyptian official said that the two movements have “failed completely” in the implementation of the Cairo Agreement and the Doha Declaration. The official also said that the two factions have made things more complex and have moved further away from a solution. The same official said that the bickering between Hamas and Fatah undermined all the efforts to complete the reconciliation process and form a unity government. According to the official, if Fatah and Hamas continue to bicker (they have) then Egypt will be forced to stop hosting reconciliation meetings in Cairo.

Makes it more dramatic... the slutty vaginas indoctrinated in arrogance are excited already... I mean what is a bunch of feminists hanging out with out terrorists to make things interesting so that they can blame the plight of women on Jews and Western civilization, but somehow I think the marriage will work out like the marriage of Fatah and Hamas. I guess gay marriage really is like straight marriage. Oh well... you always can rape a college educated liberal in Tahrir Square. Where is Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda when that happens?

The brave women of the Middle East: Female protesters brutally beaten with metal poles as vicious soldiers drag girls through streets by their hair in day of shame | Mail Online

Oh, but wait it's the Jewish men that are the problem. The guys that don't like to lose their jobs because they dislike the Androgyny being pushed on them. Feminism ignores what is going on in the third world like usual.

After being viciously beaten by a 10-strong mob of Egyptian male soldiers, this woman lies helplessly on the ground as her shirt is ripped from her body and a man kicks her with full force in her exposed chest.
Moments earlier she had been struck countless times in the head and body with metal batons, not content with the brutal beating delivered by his fellow soldier, one man stamped on her head repeatedly.
She feebly tried to shield her head from the relentless blows with her hands.

Brutal: This shocking image shows Egyptian army soldiers dragging this helpless woman on the ground and kicking her hard in the chest after ripping her clothes from her body

Outnumbered: This woman screams in pain as she is surrounded by five male soldiers during protests in the Egyptian capital and beaten with poles

But she was knocked unconscious in the shameful attack and left lying motionless as the military men mindlessly continued to beat her limp and half-naked body.

Before she was set upon by the guards, three men appeared to carry her as they tried to flee the approaching military.
But they were too slow and the soldiers caught up with them, capturing the women and knocking one of the men to the ground.
The two other men were forced to abandoned their fellow protestors and continued running, looking helplessly back at the two they left behind being relentlessly attacked as they lay on the ground.

via dailymail.co.uk

...but hey Gloria Steinem says it's the White man's fault.

This is just one of the hundreds of shameful injustices seen in Cairo's Tahrir Square where Egypt's military took a dramatically heavy hand on Saturday to crush protests against its rule.
Aya Emad told the AP that troops dragged her by her headscarf and hair into the Cabinet headquarters. The 24-year-old said soldiers kicked her on the ground, an officer shocked her with an electrical prod and another slapped her on the face, leaving her nose broken and her arm in a sling.
Mona Seif, an activist who was briefly detained Friday, said she saw an officer repeatedly slapping a detained old woman in the face.
'It was a humiliating scene,' Seif told the private TV network Al-Nahar. 'I have never seen this in my life.'

Brutally injured: This woman is left barely conscious and splattered in blood after being beaten the military in violent clashes between rock-throwing protesters and military police

Shameless: Egyptian army soldiers use brutal force to arrest this female protester and drag her by her hair during clashes with military police near Cairo's Tahrir Square

Violent: The heavy handed Egyptian army soldiers drag the arrested a woman protester off by her hair

In Bahrain a similar pictured was emerging with a video clip showing a female human rights activist being hit by a policewoman during clashes between police and anti-government protestors.
Police fired teargas to break up a demonstration by several hundred people on the outskirts of the capital, Manama where several women staged a sit-in protest trying to block a main road.
After nearly 48 hours of continuous fighting in Egypt's capital more than 300 were left injured and nine dead, many of them shot dead.
The most sustained crackdown yet is likely a sign that the generals who took power after the February ouster of Hosni Mubarak are confident that the Egyptian public is on its side after two rounds of widely acclaimed parliament elections, that Islamist parties winning the vote will stay out of the fight while pro-democracy protesters become more isolated.
Still, the generals risk turning more Egyptians against them, especially from outrage over the abuse of women.

'Do they think this is manly?' Toqa Nosseir, a 19-year old student, said of the attacks on women. 'Where is the dignity?'

Man-handled: Egyptian soldiers clash with this female protester and two male protestors near Cairo's Tahrir Square

Protection: A female and two male Egyptian protester use a metal sheet as a shield as they throw rocks at military police, unseen, behind the gates and inside the Parliament building near Cairo's Tahrir Square

Brave: Two women join protesters as they shout anti-military council slogans near the cabinet in Cairo

Nosseir joined the protest over her parents' objections because she couldn't tolerate the clashes she had seen.
'No one can approve or accept what is happening here,' she said.
'The military council wants to silence all criticism. They want to hold on power ... I will not accept this humiliation just for the sake of stability.'
Nearby in Tahrir, protesters held up newspapers with the image of the half-stripped woman on the front page to passing cars, shouting sarcastically, 'This is the army that is protecting us!'
'No one can approve or accept what is happening here,' she said.
'The military council wants to silence all criticism. They want to hold on power ... I will not accept this humiliation just for the sake of stability.'
Nearby in Tahrir, protesters held up newspapers with the image of the half-stripped woman on the front page to passing cars, shouting sarcastically, 'This is the army that is protecting us!'

Grief: A woman mourns slain Egyptian protesters who were killed during the latest clashes with Egyptian soldiers, while they wait to receive their bodies in front of the morgue in Cairo

Under-fire: Pro-reform female protesters run for cover as heavy-handed police try to disperse them with tear-gas, in Abu Seba village, north of Manama, Bahrain

'Are you not ashamed?' leading reform figure and Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei posted on Twitter in an address to the ruling military council.
Egypt's new, military-appointed interim prime minister defended the military, denying it shot protesters. He said gunshot deaths were caused by other attackers he didn't identify.
He accused the protesters of being 'anti-revolution.'
The main street between Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the anti-Mubarak protests, and the parliament and Cabinet buildings where the clashes began early the previous morning looked like a war zone on Saturday.
Military police on rooftops pelting protesters below with stones and firebombs and launched truncheon-swinging assaults to drive the crowds back.
Young activists put helmets or buckets on their heads or grabbed sheets of concrete and even satellite dishes as protection against the stones hailing down from the roofs.
The streets were strewn with chunks of concrete, stones ,broken glass, burned furniture and peddlers' carts as clashes continued to rage after nightfall Saturday.

Detained: Activist Zainab al-Khawaja (Right) screams while being arrested during a protest in Abu Seba village, north of Manama

Heavy-handed: A Bahraini policewoman drags activist Zainab al-Khawaja across the floor after arresting her fo taking part in sit-in protest

The clashes began early on Friday with a military assault on a 3-week-old sit-in outside the Cabinet building by protesters demanding the military hand over power immediately to civilians.
More than a week of heavy fighting erupted in November, leaving more than 40 dead – but that was largely between police and protesters, with the military keeping a low profile.
In the afternoon, military police charged into Tahrir, swinging truncheons and long sticks, briefly chasing out protesters and setting fire to their tents.
They trashed a field hospital set up by protesters, swept into buildings where television crews were filming and briefly detained journalists. They tossed the camera and equipment of an Al-Jazeera TV crew off the balcony of a building.
A journalist who was briefly detained told The Associated Press that he was beaten up with sticks and fists while being led to into the parliament building. Inside, he saw a group of detained young men and one woman.
Each was surrounded by six or seven soldiers beating him or her with sticks or steel bars or giving electrical shocks with prods.
'Blood covered the floor, and an officer was telling the soldiers to wipe the blood,' said the journalist

Defiant: A brave woman shouts anti-government slogans as she stands amidst tear gas fired by riot police to disperse a sit-in at a roundabout on Budaiya Highway, west of Manama

As night fell in Tahrir, clashes continued around a concrete wall that the military erected to block the avenue from Tahrir to parliament.
In Bahrain, Zainab al-Khawaja, 27, was arrested and dragged across the floor by her handcuffs after police fired teargas to break up a demonstration by several hundred people on the outskirts of the capital, Manama.
Ms al-Khawaja and several other women staged a sit-in protest trying to block a main road. The other women fled the scene but Ms al-Khawaja refused.
Riot police fired tear-gas at the women, with dozens requiring hospital treatment after the incident.
A report by a panel of human rights experts in November found that Bahraini security forces had used excessive forces and carried out the systematic abuse of prisoners, including torture, when the regime sent in troops to crush the uprising in March. 
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via dailymail.co.uk

Protests continue ahead of Egypt elections

Large crowds were again seen streaming into Tahrir Square on Monday - defying attempts by security forces to end the protests in what had been the symbolic heart of demonstrations against Hosni Mubarak earlier in the year.

• Large crowds were again seen streaming into Tahrir Square on Monday - defying attempts by security forces to end the protests in what had been the symbolic heart of demonstrations against Hosni Mubarak earlier in the year.
• In recent weeks, protesters - mostly Islamists and young activists - have been holding demonstrations against a draft constitution that they say would allow the military to retain too much power after a new civilian government is elected.
• State television reported in the early hours of Monday that a truce had been agreed between the security forces and the imam of Tahrir Square's main Omar Makram mosque, but it did not apply to streets leading to the interior ministry where much of the fighting has been taking place.
• TV footage showed tear gas being fired into the crowds as security forces again attempted to disperse protesters.
• The health ministry has confirmed at least 22 deaths during the weekend unrest.
• The latest violence is some of the worst in months between the Egyptian authorities and demonstrators.
• This is the longest continuous protest since President Mubarak was ousted in February and casts a shadow over elections due to start next week.

Female Reporter Says She Was Harassed by 'Occupy DC' Protesters

(spectator.org) Members of the "Occupy DC" movement harassed a young female reporter during a protest Friday in Washington, D.C., shouting obscenities and preventing her from conducting interviews.Michelle Fields, a video reporter for the Daily Caller, said she was stalked for three hours Friday while attempting to cover protests outside the Americans for Prosperity "Defending the American Dream Summit" at the Washington Convention Center.Fields said she "did not feel comfortable, because at one point there were a whole group of men surrounding me saying, ‘F-Michelle Fields.' And I went to a police officer and I told him that I felt these people were harassing me. And the police officer said he'd take care of it, but it never ended. These people were harassing me for the entire evening."
One of the anti-capitalist "Occupy DC" protesters was evidently assigned to monitor Fields and her video camerawoman, following the Daily Caller crew to harass and heckle them. Fields said the protesters shouted "You're worse than Fox" and "right-wing extremists," called her "ugly" and made remarks about her clothing. When she attempted to conduct interviews, Fields said, "an individual would jump in front of the camera and stop the interview, or block it with a piece of paper or cardboard. . . . they talked to people who were part of Occupy DC and told them not to talk to us."
Fields said she had talked to Daily Caller editors and asked not to be assigned to cover "Occupy DC" protests in the future. "I actually don't feel safe going back to those protests, because they singled me out, they singled out the Daily Caller," she said. "I just don't think it's safe for me to be back around those people.

Michelle Fields ...don't tell me there isn't a sexual element to all of this. .... Tahrir Square comes to mind. Somehow I doubt this has to do with their slant on economics... or maybe it does. In fact I'm sure this is actually the real source of unemployment in America... but let's just say I can't talk about it without pissing off the ladies... which is sad... but the truth. Just looking at this photo makes me aggressive. narf... you hate me... don't you? yeah... oh those bad OWS protesters... but come on... what did the reporter expect? Did she think the smelly hippies were into peace and love and all that kind of stuff?

US to Sell F-16 to Egypt in Grapel Deal

(INN) Yazal told the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency early Thursday that the U.S. agreed to the price during negotiations for Ilan's release -- a deal that had been rejected by Washington during the Mubarak years in order to maintain the balance of military power in the region. Israel is being seen as having been the main obstacle to the deal in the past however, having objected to the U.S. selling the F-16 to Egypt because it would equalize Cairo's aerial capabilities with those of the IAF. However, Israel's resistance to the sale has since diminished due to the development of the F-35, which Israel is set to receive within the next five years, and which will once again upgrade the IAF's regional military superiority. Israel will spend more than $200 million per F-35i fighter aircraft, according to Defense Industry Daily. Delivery of the aircraft is not expected, however, until at least 2016.

What is the incentive for Arab governments to not do this anymore? Progressive ASSHATS like Zuckerberg's sister Randi was in Dubai during the period of the Hamas assassination for example. When Left wing Jewish youth start believing the social media hype about peace and stuff, how many murderers will Israel have to let go of next time?

The US on Thursday denied reports that they agreed to sell an F-16 fighter plane to Egypt in connection with the release of Ilan Grapel.

Caroline Glick blasts NeoCons and explains the Jacksonian foreign policy model

THE NEOCONSERVATIVE preference for populist forces over authoritarian ones propelled leading neoconservative thinkers and former Bush administration officials to enthusiastically support the anti-Mubarak protesters in Tahrir Square in Cairo in January. And their criticism of Obama for not immediately joining the protesters and calling for Mubarak’s removal from power was instrumental in convincing Obama to abandon Mubarak. Between those who predicted a flowering liberal democracy in a post-Mubarak Egypt and those who predicted the empowerment of radical, Muslim Brotherhood aligned forces in a post-Mubarak Egypt, it is clear today that the latter were correct. Moreover, we see that the US’s abandonment of its closest ally in the Arab world has all but destroyed America’s reputation as a credible, trustworthy ally throughout the region. In the wake of Mubarak’s ouster, the Saudis have effectively ended their strategic alliance with the US and are seeking to replace the US with China, Russia and India. In a similar fashion, the neoconservatives were quick to support Obama’s decision to use military force to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi from power in March. The fact that unlike Syria’s Bashar Assad and Iran’s ayatollahs, Gaddafi gave up his nuclear proliferation program in 2004 was of no importance. The fact that from the outset there was evidence that al-Qaida terrorists are members of the US-supported Libyan opposition, similarly made little impact on the neoconservatives who supported Obama’s decision to set conditions that would enable “democracy” to take root in Libya. The fact that the US has no clear national interest at stake in Libya was brushed aside. The fact that Obama lacked congressional sanction for committing US troops to battle was also largely ignored. Neoconservative writers have castigated opponents of US military involvement in Libya as isolationists. In so doing, they placed Republican politicians like presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin in the same pile as presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan. The very notion that robust internationalists such as Bachmann and Palin could be thrown in with ardent isolationists like Paul and Buchanan is appalling. But it is of a piece with the prevailing, false notion being argued by dominant voices in neoconservative circles that “you’re either with us or you’re with the Buchananites.” In truth, the dominant foreign policy in the Republican Party, and to a degree, in American society as a whole, is neither neoconservativism nor isolationism. For lack of a better name, it is what historian Walter Russell Mead has referred to as Jacksonianism, after Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the US. As Mead noted in a 1999 article in The National Interest titled “The Jacksonian Tradition,” the most popular and enduring US model for foreign policy is far more flexible than either the isolationist or the neoconservative model. According to Mead, the Jacksonian foreign policy model involves a few basic ideas. The US is different from the rest of the world, and therefore the US should not try to remake the world in its own image by claiming that everyone is basically the same. The US must ensure its honor abroad by abiding by its commitments and maintaining its standing with its allies. The US must take action to defend its interests. The US must fight to win or not fight at all. The US should only respect those foes that fight by the same rules as the US does. THE US president that hewed closest to these basic guidelines in recent times was Ronald Reagan. A Jacksonian president would understand that using US power to overthrow a largely neutered US foe like Gaddafi in favor of a suspect opposition movement is not a judicious use of US power. Indeed, a Jacksonian president would recognize that it would be far better to expend the US’s power to overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad – an open and active foe of the US – and so influence the nature of a post-Assad government. For all the deficiencies of the neoconservative worldview, at least the neoconservatives act out of a deep-seated belief that the US is a force for good in the world and out of concern for maintaining America’s role as the leader of the free world. In stark contrast, Obama’s foreign policy is based on a fundamental anti-American view of the US and a desire to end the US’s role as the leading world power. And the impact of Obama’s foreign policy on US and global security has been devastating. Read the whole thing.
It will be interesting to see if Caroline endorses anyone in the Republican primaries. Note that the main principle of Jacksonian foreign policy is one that Obama has rejected: American exceptionalism.

via israelmatzav.blogspot.com

The US is different from the rest of the world, and therefore the US should not try to remake the world in its own image by claiming that everyone is basically the same? There goes the Jeane Kirkpatrick doctrine.