Mubarak - Hossam el-Hamalawy on Diigo

4Expand

Republican Guard (Egypt) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tags: Egypt, Military, Dictatorship, Mubarak on 2009-07-31 -All Annotations (4) -About

more fromen.wikipedia.org

The Egyptian Republican Guard is a Division level command within the Egyptian Army, designed to be a heavily armored division with the main responsibility to defend the Capital of the Republic, mainly the major governmental and strategic industrial institutions.
The Republican guard is under the control of the Ministry of Defense. Its current commander is Major General Samy Dyab. The Republican Guard Division is the only significant military unit allowed in central Cairo, apart from the intelligence services’ military branches.
It was originally created to be Nasser's bodyguard and known as the National Guard , being mainly a paramilitary force but was expanded into a large military force, first at a brigade level in the 70s and the 80s then augmented at a division level and incorporated under the Armored Corps.
Secondary duties are to protect presidential sites and important public buildings in Cairo, provide Honor Guard and security services for the highest national personalities and important foreign guests; and responding to any rebellion, coup, or other threat to Presidential power. Members were (mainly but not exclusively) highly motivated volunteers rather than conscripts. They received bonuses, new cars and subsidized housing, and received greater training than the regular army.

1Expand

10Expand

Is Egypt Stable? :: Middle East Quarterly

Tags: Mubarak, Egypt on 2009-07-26 and saved by 3 people -All Annotations (11) -About

more fromwww.meforum.org

The Egyptian economy is in trouble. Egyptian unemployment, according to international organizations, hovers above 20 percent, almost twice the official Egyptian government estimate;[3] underemployment is epidemic. According to Transparency International, Egypt ranks in the bottom tier of Arab states for high levels of perceived corruption.[4] The inflation rate continues to increase,[5] increasing pressure on the unemployed, poor and elderly. Food riots erupted in April 2008 as the annual rise in food prices topped 20 percent.[6] The gap between rich and poor is also growing. Perhaps three million Egyptians live in swank upper class villas in neighborhoods such as Ar-Rihab, Ash-Shuruq, Sharm el-Sheikh, Marina, and Muqattam Heights while 44 percent of the country subsists on less than $2 per day.[7] Less than 20 percent of Egyptians own nearly 80 percent of the country's wealth.[8]
Mubarak and his National Democratic Party cannot shirk accountability as they have been in sole control of the economy for more than a quarter century. When Mubarak took power, the Egyptian economy was in a much better shape. Government public revenues were 8.3 billion Egyptian pounds (E£) in 1981. From 1986 to 1987, expenditures nearly doubled, from E£ 13.2 billion to E£ 22.2 billion. Budget deficits increased from E£ 4.9 billion in 1985-86 to E£ 8.7 billion in 1986-87. American economist Ibrahim M. Oweiss, an expert on the Egyptian economy, concluded that since the mid-1980s "the Egyptian economy has essentially stagnated."[9] The growth rate of gross domestic product per capita has been approximately zero.[10] Mubarak has been unable to make the reforms necessary to address unemployment, inflation, housing, food crises, and Egyptians' other urgent needs.
Over the past decade, the Egyptian pound has lost almost half its value against the U.S. dollar. A recent report by Goldman Sachs suggests a greater devaluation may be on the horizon. "Without a further depreciation in the Egyptian pound, the Central Bank of Egypt would risk further big losses in the foreign exchange reserves and only delay the inevitable adjustment that is needed," the report found.[11] Should devaluation occur, the cost-of-living would increase because of Egypt's dependence on imports for many goods and services. This in turn would drive below the poverty line the many million Egyptians struggling to keep their families afloat.
Cairo should also be concerned over its foreign exchange reserve, which has fluctuated significantly. Between 1997 and 2001, it declined by half from US$30 billion to $15 billion before recovering to $31 billion in 2008.[12] However, after the bread riots in April 2008,[13] the Egyptian government may not have the political will power to devalue its currency and so risks depleting its foreign exchange reserves, which, in turn, could constrain its ability to stabilize its own currency.
According to the U.N. International Labor Organization, to halve the $1-a-day working poverty by 2015, gross domestic product (GDP) must grow at 4-5 percent a year, and to halve the $2-a-day working poverty by 2015, GDP must grow by 8-10 percent a year. Egypt's growth rate is closer to 3 percent for this year and will contract to 2.4 percent in 2010.[16] Nor has Egypt's productivity moved in tandem with GDP, an unusual pattern, which the International Labor Organization attributes to increases in oil revenues accompanied by "stagnant productivity."[17]
Egypt has an overwhelmingly young population: 37 percent of the population is below fifteen-years-old, and 58 percent is younger than twenty-five,[18] and the working-age population is increasing by 3 percent per year. A quarter of young men and a whopping 59 percent of young women are unemployed.[19] The Mubarak regime has done little to increase employment, especially among youth. Ninety percent of the unemployed are between fifteen and twenty-four.[20]
Amidst this affordable housing crisis, developers have constructed luxury complexes for the affluent, a jarring irritant to the dispossessed.
Senior officials can operate with impunity regardless of the law. Nowhere is this more apparent than with regard to judicial oversight of elections.
Unlike Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat, Mubarak has never appointed a vice-president. Mubarak has been polishing his son Gamal to be his successor, a mockery of Egyptian republicanism and democracy.
Egyptians are enraged that they appear ready to follow the path of Syria, in which a president, who came to power in a military coup, installed his own son as successor. If Gamal takes power, Egyptians fear he would continue his father's policy of enriching the elite, suppressing the poor, all while ignoring effective reform. Mubarak has ruled Egypt with an iron fist; he has turned Egypt into a police state rivaling Syria's or Tunisia's with a security force infrastructure that numbers nearly two million.[36] Indeed, many U.S. analysts acknowledge Egypt's instability. "It will rock the world," wrote Michelle Dunne, a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace scholar. "Octogenarian Mubarak, will leave office, either by his own decision or that of providence, probably within the next three years."

Egypt’s workers find their voice - The National Newspaper

Tags: Egypt, Workers, Strikes, taxcollectors, Mubarak, Justice, Ministry, خبراء, العدل on 2009-07-25 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromwww.thenational.ae

2Expand

Daily News Egypt - Mubarak admits to domestic difficulties in Revolution Day speech

Tags: Egypt, Mubarak on 2009-07-24 -All Annotations (2) -About

more fromwww.thedailynewsegypt.com

Egyptian chronicles: And Mubarak is Not Among Them !!

Tags: Mubarak, Egypt, Dictators on 2009-07-21 -All Annotations (0) -About

6Expand

Daily News Egypt - IN FOCUS: Mubarak Regime and Brotherhood: Zero-Sum Game

Tags: Mubarak, Muslimbrothers, Dictatorship, Egypt on 2009-07-20 and saved by 2 people -All Annotations (6) -About

more fromwww.thedailynewsegypt.com

It would be no exaggeration to say that the arrest of the group’s leading reformers, led by Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, is tantamount to the execution of Sayyid Qutb in mid 1960s of the last century and its far-reaching repercussions on the Muslim Brotherhood’s young generation and the other young religious enthusiasts at the time.
It is enough to look at the Muslim Brotherhood discussion boards and blogs to find out the extent of resentment and tension among the Brotherhood grassroots after the arrest of Aboul Fotouh, and their appeals to the group’s leaders to move and to take firm positions against the regime.
Fourth, the arrest of the group’s reformists and moderates could throw the group into intolerance and conservatism. This could benefit the regime temporarily, but it could adversely affect the society on the long run.
Fifth, the isolation of the Muslim Brotherhood could contribute to the emergence of radical religious movements seeking to fill the religious and political gap between the state and the society.
Sixth, the targeting of the Muslim Brotherhood could lead to its breakup and fragmentation of the group into smaller groups and pockets that do not abide by the decisions of their leaders.
Finally, the regime’s oppression of the Muslim Brotherhood could lead to the repetition of the Algerian model in the early 1990s when the military and secularists turned on democracy and deprived the Islamists of their legitimate gains, turning Algeria into a pool of blood still bleeding to the very moment, which we do not wish to happen in Egypt.

1Expand

Egyptian chronicles: So Much Publicity For Our Italian Friend

Tags: Mubarak, hypocrisy, Italy, Sex on 2009-07-20 -All Annotations (1) -About

Israel prepares for ground invasion of Iran | The Arabist

Tags: Israel, Iran, Military, Mubarak, Suez, Canal on 2009-07-18 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromarabist.net

egyworkers عــمـــال مـــصــــر: امن الدولة يطارد الشاعر صفاء المويلحى وانباء عن اختفاء زوجتة

Tags: Egypt, Poets, HumanRights, Gamal, Mubarak, Police, Censorship on 2009-07-18 -All Annotations (0) -About

more fromegyworkers.blogspot.com

Hossam el-Hamalawy's Bookmarks tagged Mubarak → View Popular

Egyptians wonder how long aging leader can go on - The Boston Globe

المعونة والديكتاتور | مركز الدراسات الاشتراكية - مصر

مبايعة الديكتاتور | مركز الدراسات الاشتراكية - مصر

Daily News Egypt - US shelved concerns on Egypt’s internal politics, says report

مبارك يدعم عباس بعد انتخابه قائدا عاما لفتح - بوابة الشروق

اليوم السابع | الحزب الوطنى يراقب مؤتمر حركة "فتح"

Republican Guard (Egypt) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Angry Arab News Service/وكالة أنباء العربي الغاضب: Mubarak regime

مظاهرة 12 ديسمبر

فشل اجتماع حل الأزمة بين "خبراء العدل" ومساعد الوزير

Egyptian chronicles: Mubarak’s Health Is Bad For Everybody’s Nerve

Daily News Egypt - Legal specialists appeal to President Mubarak

Is Egypt Stable? :: Middle East Quarterly

Egypt’s workers find their voice - The National Newspaper

Daily News Egypt - Mubarak admits to domestic difficulties in Revolution Day speech

Egyptian chronicles: And Mubarak is Not Among Them !!

Daily News Egypt - IN FOCUS: Mubarak Regime and Brotherhood: Zero-Sum Game

Egyptian chronicles: So Much Publicity For Our Italian Friend

Israel prepares for ground invasion of Iran | The Arabist

egyworkers عــمـــال مـــصــــر: امن الدولة يطارد الشاعر صفاء المويلحى وانباء عن اختفاء زوجتة

Hossam el-Hamalawy's Related Tags

See More Top Contributors

Related Groups on Diigo

Diigo - Highlight and Share the Web!