MB Civic

Haaretz reports “Israel called on the United States and European countries to curb their criticism of Mubarak [and] seeks to convince its allies that it is in the West’s interest to maintain the stability of the Egyptian regime” .. LA Times sez that Obama admin “supports a role for groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned Islamist organization, in a reformed Egyptian government” .. US State dept official PJ Crowley tweeted “[US Egypt] Ambassador [Margaret] Scobey spoke today with Mohammed #ElBaradei” .. John Kerry called for Mubarek to step down .. there’s a million people in Tahir Square now .. Army says it won’t fire on civilians .. Human Rights Watch has revealed evidence tying undercover police officers loyal to Mubarak to acts of violence and looting .. Sharif Abdel Kouddous tweets “People are not only picking up trash they are separating for recycling too” and Jeremy Schahill tweets “The protesters in #Egypt are better at picking up the garbage than the city of New York” – Siun on Firedoglake reports ..

While Mubarak is trying to minimize the turnout by shutting down trains, turning off mobile phones and taking down the only remaining internet connection, Nour, which is used by Egyptian financial networks, his efforts are not working. Just a short while ago, I heard CNN’s Ben Wedeman say that “people are walking from the Nile Delta towns to Cairo,” an amazing sign of how much this effort means to so many in Egypt

check out Firedoglake‘s Eqypt coverage page, today’s Democracy Now show, Al Jazeera live video feed and Huff Post live blog – mab

UPDATE – Henry Kissinger tweets “I haven’t witnessed such scenes of jubilation since we liberated the people of Chile from Allende” 😉
UPDATE #2 – NYT Nick Kristof tweets before Mubarek speech, “If the White House told #Mubarak not to run again, my guess is that’s too little too late. Clueless on both sides, I fear” .. after speech, “To me, bottom line of #Mubarak speech: Too little, too late. Upheavals will continue. Protesters want him OUT”