I've just been listening to the speech by Suleiman to the crowds protesting in Cairo. It was astonishingly badly-judged. Even at this distance, it irritated the hell out of me and sounded both complacent and insincere - and I'm not even Egyptian.
Then I remembered why. "We understand your concerns. We will do better. We have set out structures that will meet your democratic demands. We are of the people. Changes are being implemented. You must be patient. We care about the country. The President is anxious to preserve all the great things that he has achieved. We only need a little more time to get it right ..."
Yup, it's Gordon Bastard Fucking Brown all over again.
No wonder they are rioting.
Hosni Mubarak will only go when Bruce Forsyth (10 weeks older) retires. Perhaps they should both be given knighthoods to encourage them.
ReplyDeleteOnly an utter fool would promote the head of Security (ie torture'n'oppression) as the new VP in an attempt to placate the populace, it would have been like G. Brown re-appointing top-clown Prescott as Deputy PM in the run up to the last UK election in the belief that this would bring him popularity; what could Mubarak have been thinking?
ReplyDeleteObama dosen't seem to know his arse from his elbow. Playing hokey cokey trying to decide which way to step. Not his fault I suppose. It's his 'experts' who should be telling him what's going on. He could stop Mubarak tomorrow by saying 'no more cash' but he won't. Might upset other great leaders in the area who are worse than Mubarak but enjoy US support.
ReplyDeleteThe pictures of all the folk in the square in Cairo leave me with slightly uneasy feelings:
ReplyDelete* would I have the guts to go and stand up for what I think is right in the face of 300 deaths and lots of broken heads
* why don't we have enough passion to gather to shout loudly 'Greedy bankers got us into this mess. We bailed them out. They should pay us all back before they get a penny of bonus."
Time for a cup of tea, I think.
I'm full of admiration for the Egyptians, that's for sure. Whether I would be brave enough - well, I'd like to think I would, but I can't say for certain. We only ever find these things out when it happens. And it sure ain't likely to happen in the UK, not in the near future. We have our panem et circenses, and it will take more than a bit of mild irritation at greedy bankers to get us out of our armchairs. We need to be angry, truly angry, and the Brits don't really do 'angry'.
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