Check out the video:

(RTTNews) – The Libya Contact Group, comprising of 22 countries and six international organizations, has agreed to set up a temporary fund for helping rebels fight the autocratic regime of Moammar Qadhafi in the north African country, officials said Thursday.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Group’s members, including the United States, its European allies and Arab nations, held in Rome to discuss the developments in Libya. The United States was represented at the meeting by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton…

…In addition to the loans and donations provided to the rebels by the international community, the fund agreed would also include Libyan state assets frozen overseas. It is estimated that assets of the Libyan government and senior members of the Qadhafi regime frozen in the US and the European Union are worth about $60 billion.

Clinton said the Obama administration was attempting to release more than $30 billion Libyan assets it had frozen, adding that Washington wants “to tap some portion of those assets owned by Qadhafi and the Libyan government in the United States, so we can make those funds available to help the Libyan people”.

Check out the project, trailer, and Kickstarter campaign. Film synopsis:

In 1994, the world turned its back on the genocide in Rwanda. Rising from those atrocities, a new generation of committed, passionate filmmakers has emerged wielding movies in their own language – Kinyarwanda – providing hope through the power of “story” as a healing force. Filmed over 3 years, FILM FESTIVAL: RWANDA portrays five of these modern Rwandan filmmakers struggling to pursue their dreams and restore trust, truth, and dignity through cinema. For 10 days each year, they travel to rural villages and project local films on a giant inflatable screen delighting audiences, many of whom have never seen a movie, let alone one made in Rwanda, about Rwanda, and by Rwandans.

“Shake the Dust” is a feature documentary that tells the stories of break-dancers in struggling communities around the globe that, although separated by cultural boundaries and individual struggles, are intrinsically tied to one another through their passion for break-dancing and hip-hop culture.

Initial clips here from Somali, Yemen, and Uganda… with more coming soon.

Select any single photo to click through the gallery, and be sure to see all of the World Press Photo winners and runner-ups here.

Multiple African commentators are tweeting. “After #egypt Is the rest of #africa listening and watching?”

Also critical to note:  last night’s statement by Mubarak was made in defiance of the Egyptian military:

<blockquote>Maj. Gen. Safwat El-Zayat, a former senior official of Egypt’s General Intelligence and member of the Egyptian Council of Foreign Affairs, asserted, in an interview with Ahram Online, that the address delivered by President Mubarak last night was formulated against the wishes of the armed forces, and away from their oversight. He claimed that Vice Preisdent Omar Suleiman’s address, which came on the heels of Mubarak’s address, was equally in defiance of the armed forces and away from its oversight.

Attributing this information to his own sources within the Egyptian military, Maj. Gen. El-Zayat said there was now a deep cleavage between the armed forces, represented in its Supreme Council, and the Presidential authority, represented in both President Mubarak and his Vice President, Omar Suleiman.

According to El-Zayat, communiqué #2 issued this morning by the Supreme Armed Forces Council was not, as many people in Egypt and elsewhere understood it, an affirmation of the addresses of Mubarak and Suleiman, but rather an attempt to avoid an open conflict, while at the same time underlining that the army will act as guarantor for the transition to full democracy. He adivced that people should listen carefully to the anticipated communique.</blockquote>

While it’s clear that some comms bungling and mixed messages confused many, and the WH and State were in conflict over how to respond, Obama did land the plane before Mubarak left office–to publicly and unambiguously support the democratic protest movement.

Other news on Twitter:

@thelede Army to Fire Cabinet and Parliament, Al Arabiya Says http://nyti.ms/hBr7hd #Egypt
@Max_Fisher February 11 is the day on 1979 that the Shah’s regime fell and on 1990 that Nelson Mandela walked free
@bencnn Thank god cairo back to normal. Blaring horns, crazy traffic, people everywhere!!!
@justimage Soldiers crying, barricades around tahrir have come down. Chants of “freedom!”
@SultanAlQassemi After 25 years of waiting in the shadows to become President of Egypt, Omar Suleiman only lasted as Vice President for 14 days.
@sandmonkey To everyone who rediculed us, opposed us, wanted us to compromise, i say: YOU ARE WELCOME :) TODAY WE ALL CELEBRATE!!!
@ibnkafka This just in from Morocco: King to announce he will not stand at the next elections and pledges his son won’t succeed him
@Pulitzercenter ElBaradei proposes transitional period of 1 year under a provisional constitution on @AJEnglish
@avinunu BBC Arabic: Switzerland has frozen Mubarak’s bank accounts.
@aidnews Helicopters seen taking off from Mubarak palace http://dlvr.it/GLwmg
@MOSA’AB ELSHAMY Hmm, what do I do with my tent now? E-bay? :) #tahrir
@TheElders Brothers & sisters of #Egypt, u have given the world the most precious gift: the belief that right will prevail -Desmond Tutu

Words fail. Watch the live-stream:

http://www.youtube.com/user/AlJazeeraEnglish

The one axiom that generates almost universal agreement is as Egypt’s military goes so goes the country. Many have described Egypt as a military with a country attached to it. There are strong ties between the US and Egyptian officer corps, and so of course far more is occurring through back channels than anyone will likely know for a long time. This is perhaps over simplified, but the following analysis from Stratfor lays things out for plain viewing. My own two sense is that Mubarak and company are trying to generate a reason for a massive and bloody crackdown. The next 24 hours will be decisive and it all rests on who the strongest factions in the military ultimately side with.

The Egyptian Military’s Options
February 10, 2011

The decision by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak not to resign seems to have shocked both the Egyptian military and Washington. CIA Director Leon Panetta spoke earlier as if his resignation was assured and a resolution to the crisis was guaranteed. Sources in Cairo spoke the same way. How the deal came apart, or whether Mubarak decided that transferring power to Vice President Omar Suleiman was sufficient cannot be known. What is known is that Mubarak did not do what was expected.

This now creates a massive crisis for the Egyptian military. Its goal is not to save Mubarak but to save the regime founded by Gamal Abdel Nasser. We are now less than six hours from dawn in Cairo. The military faces three choices. The first is to stand back, allow the crowds to swell and likely march to the presidential palace and perhaps enter the grounds. The second choice is to move troops and armor into position to block more demonstrators from entering Tahrir Square and keep those in the square in place. The third is to stage a coup and overthrow Mubarak.

The first strategy opens the door to regime change as the crowd, not the military, determines the course of events. The second creates the possibility of the military firing on the protesters, which have not been anti-military to this point. Clashes with the military (as opposed to the police, which have happened) would undermine the military’s desire to preserve the regime and the perception of the military as not hostile to the public.

That leaves the third option, which is a coup. Mubarak will be leaving office under any circumstances by September. The military does not want an extraconstitutional action, but Mubarak’s decision leaves the military in the position of taking one of the first two courses, which is unacceptable. That means military action to unseat Mubarak as the remaining choice.

One thing that must be borne in mind is that whatever action is taken must be taken in the next six or seven hours. As dawn breaks over Cairo, it is likely that large numbers of others will join the demonstrators and that the crowd might begin to move. The military would then be forced to stand back and let events go where they go, or fire on the demonstrators. Indeed, in order to do the latter, troops and armor must move into position now, to possibly overawe the demonstrators.

Thus far, the military has avoided confrontation with the demonstrators as much as possible, and the demonstrators have expressed affection toward the army. To continue that policy, and to deal with Mubarak, the options are removing him from office in the next few hours or possibly losing control of the situation. But if this is the choice taken, it must be taken tonight so that it can be announced before demonstrations get under way Feb. 11 after Friday prayers.

It is of course possible that the crowds, reflecting on Mubarak’s willingness to cede power to Suleiman, may end the crisis, but it does not appear that way at the moment, and therefore the Egyptian military has some choices to make.

South Sudan backs independence – results

Southern Sudan voted overwhelmingly for independence, election officials have confirmed. They said nearly 99% of the voters in January’s referendum were in favour of dividing Africa’s biggest country. Earlier, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir again said he would accept the outcome of the vote…

“Those who voted for unity were 44,888, that is, 1.17%. Those who voted for separation were 3,792,518, that is, 98.83%,” commission head Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil said.

The BBC’s Peter Martell in the southern capital Juba, says some people have spent most of the day getting ready to celebrate the announcement. “Now I am a first class citizen in my own country,” housewife Abiong Nyok told the BBC.  One woman – a northerner – cried after the announcement, saying she had relatives in the south, the BBC’s James Copnall in Khartoum says…

What I find captivating about the events in Egypt is the inevitable clash between the power of mostly universal and profoundly human elements on the street VS the interests of those who ultimately wield power–the state, military, and financial elite (and I do not use the word ‘elite’ negatively).

You can perhaps see this juxtaposed in two photographs:

Egyptian Christians form a human barrier to protect Egyptian Muslims while they pray. 2011.

Beneath a photo of George Washington, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak meets with President Obama. 2010.

Of course the questions of values, principles, and state interests regularly clash.  What I’m looking for in the Egyptian revolution (and perhaps in other states to come?) is whether or not external actors (primarily the US) will find a way to align principles and interests.

We would not be pumping billions into Egypt if not for Israel and oil, and there are actors in those domains who will continue to push for whatever real-politik appeasement ensures the security of both, no matter if it causes further despair to the average Egyptian citizen.

I am no expert in the intricacies of internal Egyptian affairs (unlike so many commentators in the Western media!), but it is clear that the US will see its reputation erode even further if we do not use whatever leverage we have to support the Egyptian street. Because this time, the familiar scenes of street protests in a huge Arab city have not been filled with shouts of ‘death to America’ and the burning of flags. The scenes on the street in Egypt have made hardened journalists, politicians, and average citizens everywhere cheer and weep.

The world is watching, and they’re not just watching Egypt… they’re also watching the US. US politicians have talked for too many decades of ‘spreading democracy’ to other nations, and now that everyone has seen an unsubdued passion for democratic freedom erupt in Egypt, can we stand any increase in the cynicism that already exists if we don’t (or won’t) find a way to help real democratic freedom to flourish… on its own terms?

And of course it will be messy, and imperfect–perfection is rarely the point of any human endeavor, and it is most certainly not the point of politics.

And yet we all know it’s possible. It’s possible.

The world watched the death of Neda Agha-Soltan in Iran, and thousands across the world wept, marched, raged, wrote, and prayed. And has anything changed in Iran? Have Neda’s concerns–and those of hundreds of thousands in Iran–been met?

Of course not, everyone says.

I am not naive; nor am I an idealist when it comes to the uses of US power. But I can’t help but compare the movements in Iran and Egypt and ask the question… we have leverage in Egypt that we did/do not have in Iran; will that leverage be used to give average citizens there, here, and the world over, any reason whatsoever to finally silence the cynicism?

The world IS watching.

And this is Asmaa on Memri TV explaining the origins of the protest.

The first article, written by Marc Lynch and published at Foreign Policy online, is titled Will the Arab revolutions spread? Here is an excerpt:

Simply put, most Arab regimes are quick studies when it comes to their own survival, and quickly adapt when challenged. Unlike tightly controlled Tunisia, states such as Egypt and Jordan have been grappling with protests movements for going on a decade now and have an all-too-rich experience with how to repress, divide, and defeat the new protest movements. Yesterday’s massive demonstrations in Cairo may have shocked everyone — outsiders, Egypt’s government, even the protestors — but in a country which has been rocked by pro-Palestine and anti-Iraq war protests, the Kefaya movement, the April 6 movement, the judges and lawyers protests, and massive labor unrest, the difference is in scale, not type. The same is true across many of the Arab countries which have struggled with restive societies over the last decade.

Dictators learn from each other, not just from the past. The Arab Summit last week displayed this very clearly. Every Arab leader is on red alert at the moment, determined not to repeat Ben Ali’s mistakes. They are frantically offering concessions on economic issues, reversing price rises and increasing subsidies. And of course they are ramping up the repressive apparatus, on the streets and online, to try to stop any snowballs from rolling before they get too big. The lesson most seem to have learned is not “be more democratic,” it is “be tougher.” No Arab leader seems likely to be taken by surprise, or to disregard the early signs of trouble. The success of Egypt’s protestors yesterday doesn’t mean that they won’t be violently crushed today. CONTINUE TO READ.

The second article is written by Malcom Gladwell, writing for The New Yorker. It is titled Small Change: Why the revolution will not be tweeted. An excerpt:

The platforms of social media are built around weak ties. Twitter is a way of following (or being followed by) people you may never have met. Facebook is a tool for efficiently managing your acquaintances, for keeping up with the people you would not otherwise be able to stay in touch with. That’s why you can have a thousand “friends” on Facebook, as you never could in real life.

This is in many ways a wonderful thing. There is strength in weak ties, as the sociologist Mark Granovetter has observed. Our acquaintances—not our friends—are our greatest source of new ideas and information. The Internet lets us exploit the power of these kinds of distant connections with marvellous efficiency. It’s terrific at the diffusion of innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, seamlessly matching up buyers and sellers, and the logistical functions of the dating world. But weak ties seldom lead to high-risk activism. READ MORE.