Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak finally made a statement, but it won’t work.

The BBC reports that Mubarak sacks cabinet and defends security role

President Hosni Mubarak has defended the role of Egypt’s security forces in suppressing anti-government protests which have rocked the country.

Mr Mubarak also dismissed his government and said a new cabinet would be announced on Saturday.

It was his first statement since the protests – in which at least 26 have died with hundreds injured – began.

Tens of thousands took part in protests in Cairo, Suez, Alexandria and other cities.

Protesters set fire to the headquarters of the governing NDP party and besieged state TV and the foreign ministry.
…

“I have asked the government to present its resignation today,” Mr Mubarak said, adding that he would appoint a new government on Saturday.

He also said he understood the protesters’ grievances but that a thin line divided liberty from chaos and he would not allow Egypt to be destabilised.

He won’t accept that he is what people want changed, not his cabinet. Here’s a news flash for you, Egypt has protests in full swing in all its cities which is not the sign of a “stable” country.

Al Jazeera English is still the go-to site for up-to-date reporting on the situation. The BBC is hampered by the Egyptian security forces arresting and/or beating up their reporters. I think that Al Jazeera figured out early on that the police would target them if they identified themselves as journalists.

The Egyptians are using proxies to get around the government’s attempt at blocking the Internet. Remember: the Internet’s original purpose was to stay connected during a nuclear war, so it routes around “problems”. On the ground people are using that ancient peer-to-peer network called conversation, to plan and organize when nothing else is available, now that they know each other.

“Win The Future” ‽

More of that brilliant staff work from the Obama White House.

Update: Sigh, Fallenmonk got this out last night. I’m 0 for 2 today.

Watch the revolution as it happens: Al Jazeera English: Live Stream.

Dr. Cole is uncharacteristicly brief while Sean Paul at the Agonist is live blogging.

From the BBC: Egypt severs internet connection amid growing unrest

According to internet monitoring firm Renesys, shortly before 2300 GMT on 27 January virtually all routes to Egyptian networks were simultaneously withdrawn from the internet’s global routing table.

That meant that virtually all of Egypt’s internet addresses were unreachable.

Egyptian authorities seem to have managed this by shutting down official Domain Name Servers (DNS) in Egypt. These act as address books and are consulted by web browsing software to find out the location of a site a user wants to visit.

Messages circulating in Egypt pointed people towards unofficial DNS servers so they can get back online.

Mobile services are also affected.

A statement issued by Vodafone Egypt said it had been instructed to suspend services in some areas.

“Under Egyptian legislation the authorities have the right to issue such an order and we are obliged to comply with it,” it said.

[Read more →]

Wishing & Hoping

Siiiiggghhh…

[Editor: This little guy is watching a squirrel that is about 30 feet up in a water oak. There is zero probability of his catching that squirrel, but hope springs eternal.]

Friday Ark will be back next week

January 28, 1986

Commander:
Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF

Pilot:
Michael J. Smith, Commander, USN

Mission Specialist:
Judith A. Resnik
Ronald E. McNair
Ellison S. Onizuka, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF

Payload Specialist:
Gregory B. Jarvis
Sharon Christa McAuliffe