A TALE OF TWO PROTESTS

This is how streets looked in Bethlehem as Palestinian protesters got into a dangerous fight with Israeli police:

Meanwhile.. Selfies were all the rage at the White House ‘protest’:

No added commentary necessary..

MASSIVE CHAOS IN KIEV AS PROTESTERS TAKE ON THE POLICE

There’s lot of chaos happening in Kiev.. RT is there with photos and a full report.

What you need to know about this story: There have been three days of fighting between protesters and police.. There seems to be more black smoke billowing over the capitol city of the Ukraine today .. There are also reports that several protesters have now died during the violent clashes.

The New York TIMES provides a bit of background on why all of this suddenly began:

The Ukrainian crisis escalated sharply last week after President Viktor F. Yanukovich signed new laws restricting public assembly and limiting media freedoms. That revived a protest movement that had been fading, as its political leaders were focusing their efforts instead on elections scheduled for next year.

As though Vlad the Impaler Putin doesn’t have enough to worry about with the Sochi games, he’s getting involved with the crisis in Kiev, chiding the European Union for ‘meddling’ in the affairs of the Ukraine. Reuters reports this:

(Reuters) - Russia told European governments on Tuesday to stop meddling in Ukraine’s political crisis and said events could be spinning out of control in Kiev after violence that left vehicles burning in the streets.

Moscow, which sees its fellow former Soviet republic as part of its traditional sphere of influence, has watched nervously as protests against President Viktor Yanukovich’s decision to shun a trade pact with the European Union have turned violent.

Scores of police and demonstrators have been hurt since Yanukovich, who received a multi-billion-dollar bailout package from Moscow after he spurned the EU deal, angered opponents by signing sweeping laws to curb public protests.

RT has a regularly updated minute by minute blog of the happenings..

The government has called the protesters terrorists. The protesters have said they are the ‘people’s council.’ It is beginning to sound and look a lot like THE DARK KNIGHT RISES in Kiev. But there’s no Batman to stop these scenes..

MASSIVE CHAOS IN KIEV AS PROTESTERS TAKE ON THE POLICE

SALON: 'Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book': The new warrior cop is out of control

SWAT teams raiding poker games and trying to stop underage drinking? Overwhelming paramilitary force is on the rise

This is a must read by Radley Balko at SALON.. I think we have all noticed a militarization of the police across the United States. You’d have to be under a rock not to.

It’s probably not a good thing, either..

Read this one if you think it is: Elizabeth Daly bought water, and went to jail for it. Seriously.

Not convinced yet?

Maybe the story of Jeff Olsen.. his offense: Writing anti-bank messages on sidewalks .. he is not permitted to use the first amendment as defense, either..

What about the story of AJ Marin, who did the crime of …. writing in protest with chalk on a sidewalk outside Pennsylvania Governor Corbett’s mansion.. His citation: He  was arrested for writing a “derogatory remark about the governor on the sidewalk.” The “derogatory” comment that AJ was arrested for stated: “Governor Corbett has health insurance, we should too.”

SALON: 'Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book': The new warrior cop is out of control

Latest from Wall Street

Brooklyn Bridge standoff..
Police free ‘most’ of the protesters they arrested..
Wall Street protesters plan on staying around..
Arrest reports..

THE HOME FRONT: STANDOFF ON THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE

Live updates on the protests in the UK from the GUARDIAN

People begin to get a little angry about austerity..

Live updates on the protests in the UK from the GUARDIAN

The State Department tonight says that 'several U.S. citizens' are injured in Egypt.. Developing story..

Tahrir Square video shut down by Egypt.. and NBC news is reporting tonight that 2,000 US residents have fled Egypt..

One night in Cairo.

Latest:

Mubarak backers attack anti-government protesters

Egypt's Mubarak, protesters dig in heels

Reuters: Egypt's army tells anti-Mubarak protesters “enough”

AP: Egypt crisis spells trouble for Mideast peace

Live coverage of a worsening situation in Egypt as violence escalates

…even Anderson Cooper felt it, being punched in the head 10 times by what reports are describing as ‘Mubarak supporters’

Live coverage of a worsening situation in Egypt as violence escalates

The protests continue in Egypt, but are now attracting not just young, but also old, not just poor but also middle class

The unrelenting cry for Hosni Mubarak to leave is not stopping.

The protests continue in Egypt, but are now attracting not just young, but also old, not just poor but also middle class

PROTESTS: YEMEN

PROTESTS: YEMEN

Egypt update

Gangs in Egypt free militants as foreigners flee..
Iraqis watch with sense of irony..
Cairo standoff..
Obama and Clinton watch..
Political tsunami..
Protesters say they won’t stop until Hosni Mubarak is gone..
State Department reduces staff..
Israel watching..
Dubai shares fall the most in a year..
Will there be market chaos?
United States advising Americans to leave the nation..
Business as usual on Suez Canal..
But there are worries over the Suez, along with stock fears..

The man against the machine. One person stands up to the army, holding the Egyptian flag.

But it’s moments like this, watching chaos in the world and civil unrest in a nation that is “allied” to the United States and other democracies, that one must step back and wonder what Egypt will emerge? Will it be radical? Will it be filled with freedom? Will it know civil rights and allow people to vote freely, along with the bare necessities to stabilize the nation after these protests end?

And finally, will Hosni Mubarak listen to the people.. He’s in his 80s but it’s leading in a brand new world—one connected to the internet, one that speaks on cell phones, and one that has marched beyond the 20th century-style leadership that Mubarak has held on to for three decades..

It’s amazing to watch the developments unfold as they do, with TV networks covering live—but the internet streaming live.. It’s amazing and chilling reading tweets from people on the streets as they come out—somehow some are making it out of the ‘kill switch’ net turnoff that occurred within the nation.

And finally, it’s breathtaking to see a people rise up in solidarity against a government they have grown weary of.. But it begs the question, will real reform be fostered by the violence, and will the pro-democracy protesters be taken over by more radical elements of society within the nation?

There are no answers. While we watch the chaos in real time, we are simply left stunned, speechless, and amazed. This is happening. Right now, live. As we speak, and read, and type. And it’s even more startling to think that one man in Tunisia set himself on fire in protest, and lit a spark that may end up transforming nations before our eyes.

THE LATEST FROM EGYPT

Mohamed Atef lies on the ground after being shot in the head while demonstrating in the town of Sheikh Zoweid..

Ally? Thousands defy curfew..

Egypt’s crackdown reminding a lot of people of Iran in 2009..

Tourism rattled in Egypt as anarchy on the streets continues..

Official in Egypt claims looters destroying Egyptian mummies..


Half-hearing: Mubarak names a vice president but stays..

Dozens fly out of Egypt on emergency flight..

Republican Sen. Rand Paul favors cutting U.S. aid to Israel as part of a deficit-driven effort to slash government spending by $500 billion this year..

Spotlight on change—and the internet..

THE NEW WORLD.

EGYPT ON FIRE AS PEOPLE TAKE TO THE STREETS TO BATTLE A GOVERNMENT THEY CLEARLY WANT OUT..

HOSNI MUBARAK HAS SO FAR LATCHED HIMSELF TO THE POWER HE HAD FOR SO LONG..

BUT THE PEOPLE CONTINUE TO SING, FROM STREETS AND BUILDINGS AND CITIES THROUGHOUT EGYPT

And now with the Egyptian mess, what prospers? The once mighty fax machine-- this time being used in relation to Wikileaks

Forbes’ Andy Greenberg reporting,

On Friday afternoon, the loose hacker group Anonymous began a campaign to fax thousands of copies of WikiLeaks’ latest missives–a series of State Department cables revealing human rights abuses under Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and tacit U.S. backing for his administration–to Egyptian numbers

And now with the Egyptian mess, what prospers? The once mighty fax machine-- this time being used in relation to Wikileaks

EGYPT AND YEMEN IN 2011

This is Egypt, 2011
Protesters take to the streets in Yemen to demand change..
Egypt protests continue..

Facebook says it saw a drop in traffic Thursday night from Egypt..
Net disruptions..
Technology becomes tool of change for Arab world..
How social media is changing the region..

SHUTDOWN: Every Egyptian provider, every business, bank, Internet cafe, website, school, embassy, and government office that relied on the big four Egyptian ISPs for their Internet connectivity is now cut off from the rest of the world..

Egyptian youth is behind ‘people power’ movement in nation..
Mass protests expected after Friday prayers..

Cables reveal how the United States pressured Egypt..

THE NEW WORLD

Egypt on edge as protests grip Cairo