Eric S. Margolis

"We are cleaning the square now because it is ours," said
Omar Mohammed, a 20-year-old student. (Video)

Egyptians want jobs, housing, food, education and a rescue for the deeply ailing economy, not worldwide jihad.

Tahrir Square, epicenter of the earthquake that ousted Egypt’s western-backed dictator, Husni Mubarak, is quiet - for the moment.

There are banner-wavers, speakers, and youngsters milling about. But the by now world-famous square has a forlorn, leftover look, with more street people than revolutionaries. Violence crackles like static electricity.

Heavily armed riot and security police and their armored vehicles are massed nearby. In the ancient Khan al-Khalili Bazaar, I saw vanloads of government thugs waiting to attack demonstrators. I was almost arrested when I started taking photos.

Demonstrators at Tahrir showed me cans of expended tear gas that caused some deaths and many casualties. Whether they were the usual anti-riot CS gas, or the six times stronger, carcinogenic CR that can kill or blind, I could not tell. But the canisters were marked, “Made in the USA” and everyone knew it.

While Hillary Clinton was gushing about democracy in Egypt, shipments of US made anti-riot gear, including truncheons, gas, and rubber bullets, are being airlifted in from the US. Clinton’s US State Department appears to be timidly backing Egypt’s revolution, but the real power in US foreign policy, the Pentagon, is standing firmly behind Egypt’s 500,000-man armed forces.

I just observed Egypt go to the polls in a series of complex parliamentary elections. The vote was remarkably clean and fair, a triumph for all Egyptians.

Two more regional polls are yet to be held, but the outcome is clear. The Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamic ally, Wasat, won over 40% of the vote. The Salafist al-Nur Party, which seeks a state run under Islamic law, won 24%. The secular Egyptian Bloc won only 13.4%.

Peter Eyre

I have always had so much respect for the BBC until the day that they censored me during their programme called “Question time” when it came to the City of Derby.

I was selected to be in the audience and placed myself on the front row in full view of the cameras so that I could get my point across concerning massive fraud that was being carried out within the UK.

Included in this show was discussion on Libya and so I was well and truly fired up to launch my comments on this topic. But sadly it was not to be!

David Dimbleby the compare of the show gave everyone a pre show brief and explained that after the initial warm up everything that was discussed would be televised but that was far from the truth.

The first question of the evening was in relation to the economic downturn and so David selected me to respond to the first question of the evening. Sitting on the panel was a local MP Margaret Beckett to whom I had approached many times on the question of massive fraud involving senior company executives, banking executives and many Tory Party MP´s.

I stated to the panel if they were aware of the current massive fraud that was taking place in this country involving the above and in particular politicians. David Dimbleby was clearly taken back by my comment and put his fingers up to his ear piece, it was obvious he was receiving some instruction from the TV control room.

The show was then basically stopped for a short duration whilst they moved onto the second question of the evening which was in relation to Libya. Again, throughout this time I held my hand up to participate in the debate but to no avail.

I later viewed the programme only to find that not only had the entire first segment been cut from the programme but also that it had been doctored to start at the second question of the evening regarding the current situation in Libya. David Dimbleby announced the start of the show with the first question being about Libya, which was a total lie and cover-up!

Stephen Lendman

From inception, Eurozone monetary union was an idea doomed to fail. Nonetheless, it was engineered fraudulently to look workable.

In 1979, Europe's Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) was introduced as part of the European Monetary System (EMS) to propel the continent to one European currency unit (ECU).

ERM never worked. ECU is failing. At issue is duplicity, conflicts of interest, and uniting 17 dissimilar countries under rigid euro straightjacket rules. Doing so usurps their monetary and fiscal autonomy disastrously.

Nonetheless, banking giants partnered with EU, ECB and IMF Troika power decide everything. Policies require lowering living standards, sacking public workers, and selling off state assets lock, stock and barrel at fire sale prices.

Today, the euro corpse only awaits its obituary to be written. Successive bailouts and fixes haven't worked. Troubled Eurozone economies are drowning in debt. Adding more makes bad conditions worse.

So do forced austerity measures, layoffs, and higher working household taxes. Lost purchasing power means less spending, fewer jobs, and greater public anger than today's high levels.

Andrea Peters

Activists of Pro-Kremlin youth movements take part
in a demonstration, as a response to the protest rally
against the results of the parliamentary elections and
the policies conducted by Russian authorities, in Mos-
cow December 6, 2011. (Reuters/Anton Golubev)

Thousands of people joined protests on Saturday in cities across Russia in the largest antigovernment demonstrations in nearly two decades.

In Moscow, a crowd estimated at around 50,000 descended on Bolotnaia Square, expressing outrage over widespread allegations of electoral fraud in parliamentary elections held December 4. Another 10,000 demonstrated in Russia’s second major city, St. Petersburg. Protests were also held in Sochi, Murmansk, Chita, Vladivostok, Kazan, Nizhni Novgorod, Omsk and dozens of other cities across seven time zones.

Saturday’s events followed a number of smaller demonstrations over the past week, during which hundreds of people were arrested. Despite the presence of upwards of 50,000 police and paramilitary forces at Bolotnaia Square this weekend, no one was detained. The Kremlin reportedly instructed the police not to crack down on the demonstrators lest they provoke an even broader outpouring of popular anger. In St. Petersburg, a handful of people were arrested.

The government of President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is facing a deep crisis, with the demonstrations and recent elections exposing the fragility of a regime long touted as stable and backed by a docile populace.

Support for the ruling United Russia (UR) party fell dramatically in the December 4 elections. Its candidates won only 238 out of 450 parliamentary seats, compared to 315 in 2007. Even with vote rigging—in the city of Rostov, for example, 140 percent of the registered electorate cast ballots—United Russia saw its support drop by over 14 percentage points to 49.5 percent.

Protests mounted in the immediate aftermath of the election, sparked by widespread reports of electoral fraud. The liberal opposition has predominantly led the demonstrations, with the Communist Party, the Just Russia party and various other forces lending their support once the scope of popular anger became clear. Garry Kasparov’s Solidarnost party, which embraces a pro-US and pro-market agenda, played a central role in organizing the event in Moscow over the weekend.