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As Egypt Explodes, Oil Set to Increase
By David A. Patten
Violent anti-government riots in Egypt and a grassfire of unrest torching across the sands of the Middle East fueled fears of $200-a-barrel oil and an instability some say could spread to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, and beyond.
Police Friday clashed with tens of thousands of protesters in Cairo and Alexandria. Shortly after 11 a.m. ET, as a government-ordered curfew took effect, CNN carried pictures of dozens of military trucks and armored vehicles loading police and leaving downtown Cairo as Egyptian army regulars moved in.
“We have yet to see if they will take the place of the hated Egyptian police who have cracked down so violently,” CNN correspondent Ben Wedeman reported from Iraq before his communication was disrupted. The government had responded to the “day of rage” by pulling the plug on telephone and Internet links, so protesters could not communicate.
The wave of unrest in the Middle East that began with the Jasmine Revolution is now having repercussions around the globe.
After the recent fall of governments in Tunisia and Lebanon, angry marches in Yemen, and the brutal crackdown in Egypt that has left seven dead and hundreds wounded, analysts worry that the governments of Algeria and Jordan could be next to see disturbances. Read more…
Violent anti-government riots in Egypt and a grassfire of unrest torching across the sands of the Middle East fueled fears of $200-a-barrel oil and an instability some say could spread to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, and beyond.
Police Friday clashed with tens of thousands of protesters in Cairo and Alexandria. Shortly after 11 a.m. ET, as a government-ordered curfew took effect, CNN carried pictures of dozens of military trucks and armored vehicles loading police and leaving downtown Cairo as Egyptian army regulars moved in.
“We have yet to see if they will take the place of the hated Egyptian police who have cracked down so violently,” CNN correspondent Ben Wedeman reported from Iraq before his communication was disrupted. The government had responded to the “day of rage” by pulling the plug on telephone and Internet links, so protesters could not communicate.
The wave of unrest in the Middle East that began with the Jasmine Revolution is now having repercussions around the globe.
After the recent fall of governments in Tunisia and Lebanon, angry marches in Yemen, and the brutal crackdown in Egypt that has left seven dead and hundreds wounded, analysts worry that the governments of Algeria and Jordan could be next to see disturbances. Read more…
The African Chinese Connection
Shu Yunguo & James Shikwati
China and Africa had established relations as early as 2,000 years ago, during which, there were no wars, aggression or looting but only exchanges of trade between China and Africa. The history and tradition of China-Africa relations not only exerted positive and enormous influence, but also laid a solid foundation on the relationship development between countries in modern times.Secondly, developing countries have common qualities. Both China and African countries are developing countries meaning they have not only common history, but also share similar targets for development. Developing countries’ common qualities determine that there is no conflict of interest between them, and also that the countries have the same or similar opinions on many major international issues (such as the establishment of a new international political and economic system).
Thirdly, they are all eager to develop themselves. Currently, developing countries are still weak compared with the strong developed countries. When dialogue between developing and developed countries is progressing slowly, the cooperation between developing countries becomes especially important. Both China and African countries are developing countries, and strengthening cooperation is the request of the era and the common need to develop.
Fourthly, the countries stood the test of practice. The establishment of the People’s Republic of China and African countries gaining independence proved that the equal, reciprocal and win-win relationship between China and Africa has strong vitality and the prospect of sustainable development. Fifthly, the relationship can be guaranteed by a system and mechanism. China and Africa launched the Read more…
How Egypt shut down the internet
Virtually all internet access in Egypt is cut off today as the government battles to contain the street protests that threaten to topple President Hosni Mubarak.
Organisations that track global internet access detected a collapse in traffic in to and out of Egypt at around 10.30GMT on Thursday night.
The shut down involved the withdrawal of more than 3,500 Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routes by Egyptian ISPs, according to Renesys, a networking firm. Only one ISP out of 10, Noor Data Networks, appeared largely unaffected. It connects to the outside world via an undersea cable operated by Telecom Italia.
According to BGPMon, another networking firm, 88 per cent of Egyptian internet access was successfully shut down, however.
Renesys speculated that the apparent anomaly of Noor Data Networks may be a result of the fact it provides services to the Egyptian stock exchange. Read more…
Thousands rally against government in Yemen
SANAA, Yemen – Tens of thousands of people are calling for the Yemeni president’s ouster in protests across the capital inspired by the popular revolt in Tunisia.
The demonstrations led by opposition members and youth activists are a significant expansion of the unrest sparked by the Tunisian uprising, which also inspired Egypt’s largest protests in a generation. They pose a new threat to the stability of the Arab world’s most impoverished nation, which has become the focus of increased Western concern about a resurgent al-Qaida branch, a northern rebellion and a secessionist movement in the south.
Crowds in four parts of Sanaa have shut down streets and are chanting calls for an end to the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in power for nearly 32 years.
“We will not accept anything less than the president leaving,” said independent parliamentarian Ahmed Hashid.
Opposition leaders called for more demonstrations on Friday.
“We’ll only be happy when we hear the words ‘I understand you’ from the president,” Hashid said, invoking a statement issued by Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali before he fled the country. Read more…
Quantitative Easing Causing Food Prices to Skyrocket
As I’ve previously noted, interest rates have risen both times after the Fed implemented quantitative easing.
Graham Summers points out that food prices have also skyrocketed both times:
In case you’ve missed it, food riots are spreading throughout the developing world Already Tunisia, Algeria, Oman, and even Laos are experiencing riots and protests due to soaring food prices.
As Abdolreza Abbassian, chief economist at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), put it, “We are entering a danger territory.”
Indeed, these situations left people literally starving… AND dead from the riots.
And why is this happening?
A perfect storm of increased demand, bad harvests from key exporters (Argentina, Russia, Australia and Canada, but most of all, the Fed’s money pumping. If you don’t believe me, have a look at the below chart: Read more…
Tunisia Riots: Government on brink of Collapse
Unity Government in Tunisia Fractured by Resignations
Police formed a line in front of protesters in Tunis on Tuesday.
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
TUNIS — Five or more ministers from opposition parties resigned from Tunisia’s unity government on Tuesday, bowing to a wave of street protests against the cabinet’s domination by members of the ousted president’s ruling party and putting mounting pressure on his prime minister, Mohammed Ghannouchi, to resign as well.
As the leaders of the established opposition parties renounced the unity government, the revolutionary passions unleashed across the region continued to reverberate, as two more men in Egypt set themselves ablaze on Tuesday and a third was stopped before he could do so. Those self-immolations followed six others, all in apparent imitation of the one that set off the Tunisian uprising a month ago.
The new unity government was showing strains practically from the moment it was sworn in on Monday, with new protests focused on its links to the former president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. Read more…
Tunisia President’s Wife Left with 1.5 Tons of Gold
The French government suspects that former Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his family may have fled the country with 1.5 tons of gold, French daily Le Monde reported Monday.
According to the French secret service, Leila Trabelsi, the wife of the ex-president, went to the Central Bank of Tunisia to fetch the gold bars, the paper reported.
The governor of the bank is reported to have refused to give them to her, so Trabelsi rang her husband who first also refused to help, before giving in, according to Le Monde.
“It seems that the wife of Ben Ali left with some gold, 1.5 tons or 45 million euros worth (67 million dollars),” a French politician told the paper.
But a central bank official denied receiving verbal or written orders for gold withdrawals, adding that the country’s gold reserves “have not moved,” Le Monde said.
An official from the Elysée told Le Monde that “this information comes directly from Tunisia, in particular the Central Bank. It seems to be pretty much confirmed.”
Trabelsi took a flight to Dubai, before heading to Jeddah. It is still unclear how Ben Ali left Tunisia.
According to Italian sources, reports suggest the former president’s airplane was in Maltese airspace without the authority to land.
There is also speculation that Ben Ali may have left Tunisia by helicopter to Malta and then taken his plane from there.
The French government believes the Libyan secret service may have helped Ben Ali flee in order to avoid violence, Le Monde reported.
Dubbed ‘the Imelda Marcos of the Arab world’ because of her lavish lifestyle and love of designer clothes, Leila Trabelsi is said to have demanded the gold last week as President Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali’s regime collapsed.
The chief of Tunisia’s central bank initially refused but Ben Ali, 74, personally intervened, and she flew out with the bullion as she joined him in exile in Saudi Arabia.
The source of the claim, leading Tunisian economist Moncef Cheikhrouhou, said militia men had tried to take more gold. The clan of the former first lady is widely despised as the ultimate symbol of corruption and excess.
A former hairdresser, Mrs Ben Ali, 53, is known for her love of fast cars – the family had more than 50 – luxury homes and frequent shopping trips to Dubai, during which she is said to have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds.
While many Tunisians faced unemployment, poor living conditions and oppression from Ben Ali’s brutal regime, his family – known as ‘The Mafia’ in the North African country’s capital Tunis – is said to have amassed a £3.5billion fortune. Much of it is kept in France, where some members of the family were still holed up last night.
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