All the Beirut news.

My younger brother got the Lebanopoly game I was telling you about during Christmas and we decided to give it a try during the weekend.
The selection of the tokens is pretty interesting as they include the Baalbeck temple, a cedar tree, a small phoenician statue, a tarboush, a slipper, an arguile, a blackberry and for some reason a donkey!
Also, they are around 7 if I counted them properly, which is much less than 12, the normal number of tokens you find in a monopoly and are not metal ones.

Samed: "The poeple want the regime down! I mean refugees want the regi.. No, people of the West Bank and Jerusalem want...hmm..Gaza people want..Palestinians inside the Green Line want ... Nah.. Palestinians want Palestine."

شباب - السفير
الاربعاء 02-02-2011
Shabab-Assafir
Wednesday 02-02-2011

http://shabab.assafir.com

مصر تصنع التاريخ. لم تعد غضبة او انتفاضة او ثورة شعبية على رئيس أو حكم. صارت درسا عالميا تحتويه الكتب ويتوقف عنده المفكرون ويعتبره الباحثون مرجعا ويحفظه الطلاب من مختلف الشعوب والأمم، بصفته علامة بارزة من علامات القرن الحادي والعشرين، ومحطة رئيسية من محطات الأحداث البشرية الفاصلة التي لا تمحى من الذاكرة، والتي يمتد اثرها طويلا ويتسع ليشمل المعمورة كلها.

مصر وتونس وردتان في حديقة سمير قصير
الخبر محزن حقاً لحلفاء سوريا وإيران في لبنان: إن رياح التغيير التي تهب على الأنظمة المتراصة في هذا الجزء من العالم مصدرها واشنطن، لا دمشق ولا طهران. وها هي الوزيرة هيلاري كلينتون تكاد تضع يومياً جدول أعمال المنتفضين والحكّام المتزعزعة عروشهم: الإصلاح، ثم التغيير بالإنتخابات (ليس على الطريقة اللبنانية طبعاً) وإلا… فواجهوا شعوبكم!

On February 1st 2011 the people of Egypt demonstrated an overwhelming desire for freedom and democracy.
They are announcing the dawn of a new tyrant-less era in the Middle East.
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To all those who ask themselves if Syria will be next in the Arab Revolution, I say no. Its turn may come, but the US-sponsored regimes serving Israel wil crumble first. Start trembling. 

I want to tell all those who would want to have us believe that the changes in the Arab World and the protests in Egypt can be solely traced to food prices are wrong. Panem and circences (bread and games, or carbonated drinks and satellite tv) can only work for a while. People need freedom, equity, justice, fairness, freedom. They want to participate in public decision making and want to have a say in managing their lives. To say it is just about food is patronizing and hold obvious racists undertones: we in the West protest for freedom, but you do it for bread. I can actually provide proof of what I am saying: in Egypt as in Tunisia, it is not only the poor and the hungry who are in the street. The middle class is represented en force, and these are not hungry for bread.

""I have not heard anybody say that it is a bad thing and that Mubarak should stay in power," said Rami Zurayk, a professor at the American University of Beirut, in Lebanon's capital, who has been supporting the protests via his blog."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-02-01-egyptregion01_ST_N.htm

Leaders, media, academics and arm-chair politicians (basically most Israelis) continue to monitor the upheaval rocking its big neighbor, just one door down. If there's a theme de jour, it seems to be "careful what you wish for."
Monday, during a news conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted that while the main cause of unrest doesn't stem from radical Islam, such forces could take over a country in turmoil. The next day he said -- in a closed-door diplomatic-security consultation -- that Israel supports advancing free and democratic values in the Middle East, but warned that neither would be achieved if radical forces are allowed to exploit the processes and take power.

                           Samir Kassir (1960-2005)        Beirut Drive-by Shooting participates in City Daily Photo’s Theme Day. This month’s theme is “Fountains”                      Click here to view all participants

Egyptian diplomat and emerging opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei told news networks Tuesday that President Hosni Mubarak didn't go far enough to appease demonstrators with his promise not to seek reelection in the fall.
Protesters have been demanding an end to Mubarak's 30-year rule and met his vow to fulfill his current term in office with shouts of "Leave, leave!" Tens of thousands remained in Cairo's central Tahrir Square to listen to the president's address after more than 200,000 marched in demand of his ouster earlier in the day.

Former Egyptian Interior Minister Habib Adly will face investigation by military prosecutors for his alleged role in violence against peaceful demonstrators, Al Arabiya television said Tuesday.
The news network report quickly followed a vow by beleaguered Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to probe and punish corruption and excesses committed against the public, a major catalyst for the unrest that has plagued Egypt for the last eight days.

 
Footage captured on Monday shows an interview with a female protester -- whose T-shirt reads "I love my country, it's the government I'm afraid of" -- as she articulates her perspective on what
the Egyptian people are demanding in Tahrir Square today.
The interviewer asks: What has been the affect of shutting down the Internet?

She says, "This is not just a Facebook revolution or an internet revolution. As you've seen many hundreds of thousands of people in the streets. Even the phone lines were shut on Friday and people still came out and demonstrated because this is not about an internet, this about the needs and the demands of the Egyptian people."

He also asks her: Is there a compromise that people will accept?

When watching Al Arabiya's coverage lately, one gets the feeling that the station's executives recently met with Mubarak's PR team and asked, "what can we do for you?"

17 Links for this – late – round.

For the mainstream Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and its archrival the Islamist Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since June 2007, the turmoil in Egypt is a source of concern.
In the West Bank, the pro-West Palestinian Authority refused to give permission for Palestinians wishing to hold protests in support of the Egyptian uprising.
In Gaza, Hamas authorities broke up with force a sit-in by few people attempting to show solidarity with Egyptians calling for President Hosni Mubarak to step down. The journalists who attempted to cover the sit-in were also beaten by armed Hamas forces.
Both regimes see in Mubarak and Egypt in general an important ally.

Embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will address his nation Tuesday night, the Al Arabiya news network reported.
Mubarak will announce that he is stepping down from the leadership after the next election, expected in October, but will stay in office until then, the network said without identifying the source of its information.
The Egyptian government did not immediately confirm that the president planned a public address, news agencies in the capital, Cairo, reported.