News Brief: Fresh protests break out in Egypt

Fresh protests break out in Egypt
Following Friday midday prayers, a new wave of protests calling for an end to Hosni Mubarak’s presidency broke out all over the country. Egyptian security forces were prepared for the demonstrations and responded immediately by firing tear gas and using water cannons. The regime has shut down the internet, mobile phone and SMS services in order to prevent groups from being able to organize and plan demonstrations. Al Jazeera is reporting that security forces are preventing opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei from leaving a mosque in Cairo, as Egypt sees its fourth consecutive day of demonstrations and unrest. Unconfirmed reports on Twitter say some security forces have actually joined the protests. Demonstrators have been chanting “down, down to Mubarak,” and “no to dictatorship” in what has been the biggest challenge to Mubarak’s 30-year rule in Egypt. For live updates on the situation in Egypt throughout the day, see al-Jazeera, The Guardian, The New York Times, and CNN.

• Tunisia’s government purges majority of remaining cabinet ministers from Ben Ali government; though Prime Minister Ghannouchi retains his position
• Thousands gather across Jordan to demand the ouster of the Prime Minister
• 48 killed in car bomb attack in Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad during funeral procession

Daily Snapshot

A protester gestures to riot policeman in front of the l-Istiqama Mosque in Giza on January 28, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. Thousands of police are on the streets of the capital and hundreds of arrests have been made in an attempt to quell anti-government demonstrations. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Arguments & Analysis

‘Egypt protests show folly of American foreign policy’ (Stephen Kinzer,The Daily Beast)
“Accepting that Arabs have the right to elect their own leaders means accepting the rise of governments that do not share America’s pro-Israel militancy. This is the dilemma Washington now faces. Never has it been clearer that the U.S. needs to reassess its long-term Middle East strategy. It needs new approaches and new partners. Listening more closely to Turkey, the closest U.S. ally in the Muslim Middle East, would be a good start. A wise second step would be a reversal of policy toward Iran, from confrontation to a genuine search for compromise. Yet pathologies in American politics, fed by emotions that prevent cool assessment of national interest, continue to paralyze the U.S. diplomatic imagination. Even this month’s eruptions may not be enough to rouse Washington from its self-defeating slumber.”

‘Is this Lebanon’s final revolution?’ (Nicholas Noe, New York Times)
“That a small-time figure known for his political horse-trading would spurn a superpower’s attempt to retain his vote for its man provides an exclamation point on just how poorly Washington’s policy of “maximalism” — applying sporadic bouts of pressure on its allies while refusing to sincerely negotiate with its adversaries – has fared in Lebanon and the Middle East as a whole. The Obama administration is going to need a very different approach when it comes to dealing with the “new” Lebanon…Still, there is a way for Washington to stake out a reasonable, nonviolent alternative: by pushing for the immediate revival of peace talks between Syria and Israel…Although a new deal on the Golan would not lead to the end of Hezbollah in the immediate term, it would contain the movement’s ability and desire to use violence, as Syria would need to commit to cutting off the supply routes by which Iranian (and Syrian) weapons are now smuggled into Lebanon. Militarily weakened, and without Syrian or much domestic political backing to continue in its mission to liberate Jerusalem, Hezbollah would find it extremely difficult to threaten Israel’s northern border.”

‘Another Arab regime under threat’ (The Economist)
“The president is not as deeply loathed as Tunisia’s fallen dictator, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. Nor does he have the same reputation for thievery. But his people, and especially the young, suffer the same ill-defined anguish at having long been humiliated by an unresponsive, unaccountable and cynically manipulative regime. Their anger will not evaporate soon.”  

For more on Egypt and the change sweeping across the region, see Middle East Channel co-editors Marc Lynch on Charlie Rose and Amjad Atallah on CBS Up to the Minute.