Bluegrass King Tut

Steve Martin (yes, THAT Steve Martin) and The Steep Canyon Rangers are offering a free download from their new album "Rare Bird Alert" that comes out next month.  It's a bluegrass version of "King Tut" (how appropriate, given everything that's going on in Egypt right now).  All you need to do is enter your email to get it:

Mubarak Steps Down

Just hours after a defiant Hosni Mubarak vowed to stay on as president until September this news is crossing the wire (from Fox News):

Breaking News: Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman has appeared on state television to say that President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down.

Now what happens? Chances are essentially the same regime will be in power with Mubarak's hand-picked VP in charge. We'll see how the people feel about that.

And I'll bet there are a lot of Middle Eastern and African kings and princes who are a little nervous right now.  These popular revolts tend to spread.

Hosni Hoses the Egyptians

Alternate headline: Hosni Mubarak, King of Denial

Hosni Mubarak isn't going anywhere until September.  The huge crowd in Tahir Square was expecting a resignation and they didn't get it.  It's going to get ugly over there.

I made this comment on Facebook:

Mubarak ends speech with "so let it be written, so let it be done". VP threw staff on the ground and it turned into a snake. They put on a good show over there in Cairo.

I think he also included "Get Off My Lawn!" near the end of the speech. It won't go over well.

Mubarak May Step Down

And he may not:

Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq told Britain's BBC that President Hosni Mubarak may step down and the situation in the country will be clarified soon, the British broadcaster said on Thursday.

Even if Mubarak steps down it won't represent a regime change because his hand-picked VP will take over. Will that be enough to mollify the protesters? Probably not, and there's still the Muslim Brotherhood that wants control.

UPDATE from The Corner:

We’ve heard these rumors before, but this time they’ve been substantiated by two separate reporters talking with a senior National Democratic Party (Mubarak’s ruling party) official. The media have turned away from Egypt recently, but today, when Mubarak’s speech is expected, and tomorrow, when the biggest protests yet are expected, could be the most important days of all. Follow it as it unfolds on Egypt Watch.

Did you know that Egypt has never had a living ex-president? Think about that.

Another UPDATE from Twitter:

@mpoppel: EGYPTIAN INFORMATION MINISTER TELLS REUTERS THAT MUBARAK IS NOT STEPPING DOWN

Obama Getting Egypt Orders From His Saudi Overlords

Time to bow again:

Saudi Arabia has threatened to prop up President Mubarak if the White House tries to force a swift change of regime in Egypt. In a testy personal telephone call on January 29, King Abdullah told President Obama not to humiliate Mr Mubarak and warned that he would step in to bankroll Egypt if the US withdrew its aid programme, worth $1.5 billion annually. America’s closest ally in the Gulf made clear that the Egyptian President must be allowed to stay on to oversee the transition towards peaceful democracy and then leave with dignity. “Mubarak and King Abdullah are not just allies, they are close friends, and the King is not about to see his friend cast aside and humiliated,” a senior source in the Saudi capital told The Times.

With all the mixed messages coming out of the White House it's a wonder anybody can figure out what Obama's position really is.  Gateway Pundit sums it up this way:

On Tuesday the Obama Administration asked Hosni Mubarak to step aside.
On Wednesday they said that transitioning power “now means yesterday.”
On Saturday morning the Obama Administration said Mubarak must stay.
On Saturday evening the Obama Administration said Mubarak should step aside.
On Sunday Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Mubarak must stay in power.
On Tuesday the Obama Administration said that political reform will be a gradual process.

It's clear the Saudis don't like the looks of things in Egypt, possibly because they fear it could spread to their country should this whole people's revolution thing because fashionable in Riyadh.

The Muslim Brotherhood Doesn't Just Want to Lead Egypt

They want to lead all of us:

One of the greatest beneficiaries of the unrest in Egypt has been the Muslim Brotherhood.

Banned but tolerated for decades by successive Egyptian regimes, the Islamist movement is now emerging as a central player in the country’s resurgent opposition.

On Tuesday, two Brotherhood representatives participated in an opposition delegation that met with Vice President Omar Suleiman for the first set of talks over implementing political reforms.

Pundits have portrayed the Brotherhood as uncompromising zealots or beneficent providers of social services that long-deprived Egyptians desperately need.

But a translation released Tuesday of a 1995 book by the movement’s fifth official leader sheds light on just how Egypt’s Brotherhood views itself and its mission. Jihad is the Way is the last of a five-volume work, The Laws of Da’wa by Mustafa Mashhur, who headed the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt from 1996-2002.

The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday saw excerpts of the text, compiled by Palestinian Media Watch founder Itamar Marcus and analyst Nan Jacques Zilberdik.

They detail the Brotherhood’s objectives of advancing the global conquest of Islam and reestablishing the Islamic Caliphate, the public and private duties of jihad and the struggle Muslims must wage against Israel.

The full text, translated by PMW, will be posted Wednesday on the organization’s website, Palwatch.org.

“The Islamic ummah,” it says, referring to the supranational community of Muslims, “can regain its power and be liberated and assume its rightful position which was intended by Allah, as the most exalted nation among men, as the leaders of humanity.”

Elsewhere, it exhorts Muslims, “Know your status, and believe firmly that you are the masters of the world, even if your enemies desire your degradation.”

Power vacuums in the Middle East open the door to radicals like this, and that's why we have to be careful about rooting too hard for change. Without a viable government ready to step in and replace Mubarak we could end up with a radical Islamic government that poses an immediate threat to Israel and everyone else in the area.

Political Cartoon of the Day

From the always impressive Michael Ramirez:

Sarah Palin has also weighed in on Egypt, and that has the left in various states of apoplexy:

In an exclusive interview with The Brody File, Sarah Palin criticized President Obama for his handling of the situation in Egypt saying that this was his, “3am White House phone call” and, “that call went right to the answering machine.”

You can read it here.

Political Cartoon of the Day

Seen on Facebook:

The Collapse of the Middle East

James Simpson at American Thinker has a thought-provoking and frankly scary piece:

If Egypt should fall, it will mark the beginning of the end for what little remaining stability there is in the Middle East.  Jordan is facing similar unrest, as are Algeria and Yemen.  Lebanon and Tunisia fell in January.  It is highly unlikely that these events are unrelated.  A combination of leftist and Islamist forces provoked the protests, and we are likely looking at a ring of radical Islamic states rising up to surround Israel.  Once their power is solidified, perhaps in a year or two, they will combine forces to attack Israel.  If Israel falls, the United States will stand alone in a sea of virulent enemies and impotent allies.

So whom does Obama support, Mubarak or his enemies?

Obama wasted no time in telling us.  He supports Mubarak's opponents, and he probably has been all along.  The Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday that the Obama administration favors a rolefor the Muslim Brotherhood in a new Egyptian government.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the oldest extremist Muslim organization, is behind practically every Muslim terrorist organization ever formed.  And while they may have publicly renounced violence as the LA Times article claims, internal documents tell a completely different story.

And if that weren't bad enough, Obama's latest comment to Egypt's leader is that "an orderly transition ... must begin now."

Must begin.  Now.

Simply stunning.

Juxtapose Obama's statements toward our allies with his reaction to the genuine uprising that occurred last year in Iran.  Tunisia: "Reform or be overthrown."  Egypt: "an orderly transition ... must begin now."  Iran: "It is not productive ... to be seen as meddling."  Meanwhile, candidate Obama claimed that the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezb'allah have "legitimate claims," and we all remember his mindless counterterrorism czar, John Brennan, reaching out to "moderate" Hezb'allah members last spring.  Hezb'allah moderates?

The seeming inconsistency is astonishing.  Unfortunately, there is a consistency.  Obama uniformly sides with our enemies but rarely, if ever, with our friends and allies.  His administration is packed with far-left radicals and vicious anti-Semites.  And therein lies the rub, because what we are witnessing in reality is this president's un-American, anti-American, treasonous ideology in full play.

Perhaps this is the real reason for Bill Ayers's, Bernardine Dohrn's, Code Pink's Medea Benjamin's and Jody Evans's trips to Egypt in 2009.  Following those trips, these same people made multiple visits to the White House.

Obama's breathlessly arrogant answer?  Not the same Ayers, Dohrn, Benjamin, and Evans.  Sure.

Read it all.

As scary as this is, it does remind me of a quartet song written by a friend of mine, the late Roger Bennett of The Cathedral Quartet: I've Read the Back of the Book and We Win (video at the link).  Perhaps my belief doesn't make this story as scary as it might be to others because I don't think Israel can ever be defeated by any forces in this world, no matter how many nutty Muslims surround their land.

Certainly the Middle East will become significantly more unstable if government after government falls and is replaced by radical Muslims.   And could all this be paving the way toward the Biblical end of days?  I'll have to leave that to the religious scholars who study that stuff.

Demonstrations Becoming More Violent in Egypt

The tone of the demonstrations have changed today with pro-Mubarak forces starting to mobilize and attack the anti-government demonstrators.  This incident could only happen in that part of the world:

Men on horseback and camels charged into the crowd at Cairo's Tahrir Square, some of them lashing people on the ground with whips. Several were pulled off their animals and beaten, and the others retreated. CNN's Ivan Watson said the horseback riders came from the pro-Mubarak side of the demonstration.

A timeline of other incidents can be found at the link. If Mubarak starts sending thugs after what has up to now been fairly peaceful demonstrators things could really begin to get ugly over there, and a violent overthrow of Mubarak becomes more likely.

Media Bias Quote of the Day

From MSNBC leftwing nut Chris Matthews, opening his show on the subject of the Egyptian riots (h/t Powerline):

Good evening. I`m Chris Matthews in Washington.

Leading off tonight: Unrest in Egypt. Proving the Iraq war wasn`t needed, these protests in Egypt, as well as in Yemen and Tunisia, are all aimed at dictators supported by the U.S. The demonstrations have not yet turned anti-American, but they could. These are the events the Bush administration hoped to encourage by lying about weapons of mass destruction and invading Iraq.

Geez. Powerline takes Matthews apart in this piece that's well worth reading.

Public Opinion Numbers in Egypt Are Scary

Why?  Because they point to the likelihood that a political vacuum in Egypt could be filled with an Iran-like radical Islamist government (from Barry Rubin):

The chances for democracy and liberalism are different in every country. Tunisia has a good chance because there is a strong middle class and a weak Islamist movement. But in Egypt look at the numbers in the latest Pew poll.

In Egypt, 30 percent like Hizballah (66 percent don’t). 49 percent are favorable toward Hamas (48 percent are negative); and 20 percent smile (72 percent frown) at al-Qaida. Roughly speaking, one-fifth of Egyptians applaud the most extreme Islamist terrorist group, while around one-third back revolutionary Islamists abroad. This doesn’t tell us what proportion of Egyptians want an Islamist government at home, but it is an indicator.

In Egypt, 82 percent want stoning for those who commit adultery; 77 percent would like to see whippings and hands cut off for robbery; and 84 percent favor the death penalty for any Muslim who changes his religion.

Asked if they supported “modernizers” or “Islamists” only 27 percent said modernizers while 59 percent said Islamists:

Is this meaningless? Last December 20 I wrote that these “horrifying figures in Egypt…one day might be cited to explain an Islamist revolution there….What this analysis also shows is that a future Islamist revolution in Egypt and Jordan is quite possible.

Yikes.

Egyptian Looters Destroy Priceless Antiquities

Last night my wife, who majored in anthropology and has a keen interesting in Egyptian antiquities, was very worried that the rioting might destroy some of the priceless treasures of Egypt's past.  Sadly, her worries were well founded:

Looters broke into the Egyptian Museum during anti-government protests late on Friday and destroyed two Pharaonic mummies, Egypt’s top archaeologist told state television.

The museum in central Cairo, which has the world’s biggest collection of Pharaonic antiquities, is adjacent to the headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party that protesters had earlier set ablaze. Flames were seen still pouring out of the party headquarters early on Saturday.

“I felt deeply sorry today when I came this morning to the Egyptian Museum and found that some had tried to raid the museum by force last night,” Zahi Hawass, chairman of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said on Saturday.

“Egyptian citizens tried to prevent them and were joined by the tourism police, but some [looters] managed to enter from above and they destroyed two of the mummies,” he said.

He added looters had also ransacked the ticket office.

The two-storey museum, built in 1902, houses tens of thousands of objects in its galleries and storerooms, including most of the King Tutankhamen collection.

Back in 1979 my wife joined millions of other Americans and saw the King Tut Exhibit that toured the country. She was very impressed, though she did describe the whole thing as a little creepy. It would be a terrible tragedy if those irreplaceable items were to be destroyed.

Here's another story on the problems at the museum.  It looks like saner heads have prevailed and most of the  antiquities have been protected.

Someone made a good point on Twitter:

@MileHighBecky: It's at times like this when I don't feel bad about The British Museum refusing to return artifacts.

Mubarak's Family Making a Run for the Border

Events are changing rapidly in Egypt. This morning they got the first Vice President they've had in 30 years, and the current president's family has beat feet for London:

According to the Al Jazeera news channel, there are reports that the Egyptian President's wife Suzanne Mubarak has left for London. It is unclear who is the source for this report. Al Jazeera reported earlier that Mubarak's two sons, Gamal and Ala, have arrived in London with their families, escaping Egypt as result of the unrest.

Having a hand-picked VP by the guy the people don't like probably isn't going to calm anything down. It may reveal weakness in the current government that the protesters and radicals will want to exploit.

Egyptians Use Old School Technology to Stay in Touch

The Egyptian government shut down the internet and cellphone service, but they weren't able to shut off the communications:

Egyptians armed with low-tech electronic gadgets like dial-up modems, landlines and old-school satellite phones are finding ways to get their message out, despite efforts by the teetering government to block communication.

Those who had been using social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to distribute images and video to the outside world have had to come up more creative ways to communicate after the Egyptian government blocked Internet and cell service, a move that many are calling unprecedented.

I hope that any Republicans who were considering giving Obama an Internet "kill switch" will rethink that vote in light of what's going on in Egypt. Though you'd like to think no president would use that tool except in the event of a national emergency, one president's definition of emergency may be very different than another's.

The Source of Unrest in the Middle East is Not the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict

James Rosen does a good job explaining that headline in this video from Fox News:

Today's Music Video

In honor of the popular uprising in Egypt, I bring you one of the greatest hits of Egypt's past:

Great Moments in Leadership

Dueling headlines:

BIDEN: Mubarak's no dictator, shouldn't step down...

Egyptian President Mubarak asks Cabinet to resign...

Pwire adds this: Mubarak asks government to resign and pledges new government tomorrow, with him still in charge

Many folks are wondering if Mubarak will still be in Egypt when the sun rises tomorrow. He may be looking for a nice little exile getaway place.  If not, he could find himself crossing the River Styx a little sooner than he may have expected.

And for those who think this might be a great democratic movement, beware the example of Iran in 1979.  Like Egypt today both secular and Islamic forces combined to bring down the government, but the mad mullahs won control in Iran.  It could happen again in Egypt, and having another Islamic nuthouse right on Israel's border cannot be good.

Egypt is Falling Apart

Here are the headlines from Drudge:

ElBaradei under house arrest...
Protests intensify as clashes spread across Middle East...
'Angry Friday'...
Egypt warns of 'decisive measures'...
Police round up Muslim Brotherhood leaders...
Internet shut down...
BIDEN: Mubarek's no dictator, shouldn't step down...
PAPER: Events 'moving too fast for Obama administration'...
BBC, AL JAZEERA Reporters Attacked; CNN Cameras Confiscated, Broken...
Jordan's king under pressure...
Dramatic video as thousands clash...
Police members remove suits and join protests...

EGYPT ON THE BRINK

According to an NBC reporter on the scene the protest are taking on a decidedly Islamic tone. In other words, the Islamists are hoping to turn Egypt into the next Iran. That won't be good for anybody.