Politics

Egypt’s governing military council has announced new steps in its oversight of the transition from the longtime rule of former President Hosni Mubarak. The council says it will hand authority to an elected civilian government in six months. It has also instructed a legal panel to draft a revised constitution within 10 days.

The Obama administration is locked in a diplomatic row with Argentina over allegations a U.S. military warplane brought unauthorized cargo to the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. The Argentine government says a U.S. Air Force jet was found to be carrying a number of items, including weapons, drugs and spying devices, without proper clearance.

Estimates of his stolen fortune range as high as $70 billion, more than a third of the entire Egyptian economy.
Time is running out for world governments to freeze Mubarak’s assets before they disappear into a maze of obscure bank accounts — like so many other dictators’ stolen fortunes.
The Avaaz community is launching another international campaign.

US President Obama urged autocratic Middle Eastern allies to look to Egypt’s example and encouraged the Iranian people to pursue their quest for democracy.
“You can’t maintain power through coercion,” Obama said in a stark message to Arab allies of the United States as protests raged in Algeria, Bahrain and Yemen following the ouster of presidents in Egypt and Tunisia.

Hundreds of demonstrators clashed with police in the Algerian city of Annaba, as the opposition announced another major anti-government rally next weekend.
The next anti-government rally will be held February 19, said Mustepha Bouchahi of National Coordination for Change and Democracy, an umbrella group of opposition parties, civil society movements and unofficial unions.

Thousands of people rallied in cities across the world to demand respect for human rights in the Middle East and North Africa as part of a global day of action organized by Amnesty International.
Activists, trade unionists and students created a sea of red, black and white – the colours of the Egyptian flag – in countries from Switzerland to South Korea.

Mubarak’s resignation marks an extraordinary victory of people: in 18 days of nonviolent mobilization , resisting attacks of all kinds, the Egyptians were able to get rid of a dictator who oppressed them for thirty years!
The courage and perseverance shown by the demonstrators are an example that we hope other peoples will follow.
And not just in the Arab world.

“Getting rid of dictators is not enough. Building a civic participatory society is not easy – Europe’s enlightenment did not come just from removing a few dictators,” a Palestinian friend said to me recently. “People’s expectation raised for change will dash against the reality that it will take decades to create systems of governance, accountability, economic justice…”

Rebellion is in the air. The people of Egypt have given us a shining example of the power of nonviolent protest combined with absolute determination. But theirs is not the only example.
The Egyptian revolt was sparked by one in Tunisia that echoed in Syria, Jordan, Algeria, Yemen. Something is stirring in the Arab world. But that’s not all.

On January 14 the Tunisian dictator Ben Ali was deposed after 20 years in power. Even if the detonator for the popular rebellion was the self-immolation of a humble street vendor mistreated by the police, over many years the Tunisian people had to bear injustice of all kinds, alarming levels of unemployment and poverty and even the persecution of certain Islamic practices.