Everything Clear Now?

"I don’t have a stronger message than this: Kill yourself working for Egypt,” Amr Khaled told a crowd of thousands.

Link.  Thanks, John.

Was this on Fox? CNN?

I'm not sure, but the only place I found Hosni Mubarak live is here.  The video was split-screen, with HM on the left and a shouting (chanting?) crowd on the right.  The old man is offstage now but it seems the crowd is getting crankier by the moment.

[My friend Ignoto says he saw crowd footage on CNN in this morning taken from Al Jazeera but with the camera panned in so you couldn't see the AJ logo.]

Technical footnote: every so often--well, frequently--a voice on the feed will repeat an entire phrase.  Not just a part of a word or a random series of words, but an intelligible phrase.  Must be something about how they ship packets of info down the internet tubes. 

Update: Mrs. Buce says she heard it on Talk of the Nation.

Comes the Hour, Comes the Man...

  Daily Beast says Egyptians are giving ElBaradei the big yawn:

In the weeks before the uprising in Egypt, former U.N. official and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei met with a 10-member steering committee, which planned a 100-member shadow legislature and laid out a game plan for a governmental transition from Hosni Mubarak's regime. But Egyptians see ElBaradei as more of a transitional figure than a future leader; the scholarly lawyer and diplomat didn't cause much of a stir when he addressed the crowd in Tahrir Square, and many of Egypt's political groups work with him because they believe he doesn't have an agenda. He has also been absent from Egypt during several crucial periods, and is far removed from the specifics of daily politics.

Link.  UB's ever-vigilant Wichita bureau keeps repeating "Kerensky, Kerensky," and I can see his point.  Look closely and I think you see some important differences--on close scrutiny, Kerensky really appears to be a more unpleasant and dangerous creature  than he appears through the rosy glow of history.   But they say history doesn't repeat itself, it just rhymes. So: Kerensky.  Franz von Papen.  Sun Yat-Sen.  The Girondists (can't even remember their names, can you?).  All the other more-or-less decent and honorable aspirants who limp along at the head of the parade until they get sucked into the vortex (Adlai Stevenson?   Bill Bradley?).  What do they have in common?  Perhaps some good intentions.  Popularity with the chattering classes, and in particular, the press.  The sense that their presence on the political scene is a sort of bestowal, and that the people ought to know how lucky they are to have them.   I think the record is pretty clear that people don't take kindly to bestowals of that sort.

Factoid, with Enhancements

From Sunday NYT:

In 1986, there was one mosque for every 6,031 Egyptians, according to government statistics. By 2005, there was one mosque for every 745 people — and the population has nearly doubled.

Link. I guess that's two factoids. The story was billed as one about frustration about "Egypt's young," but it is better described as being about "Egypt's young men." Aside from taking the veil, the story doesn't really offer much insight into what the women are up to. Rather, the story focuses on one Ahmed Muhammed Sayyid, 28, who has "a degree in tourism" and makes less than $100 a month as a driver. Here's a snippet on new-age protest:

Mr. Sayyid’s resigned demeanor masks an angry streak. He said he and his friends would sometimes enter a restaurant, order food, then refuse to pay. They threaten to break up the place if the police are called, intimidating the owners. He explains this as if to prove he is a victim. He tells these stories with anger, and shame, then explains that his prayers are intended as a way to offset his sins.

If memeory serves, that line echoes the dominant motif from this movie.