Whatever your site's topic, whether you are very niche or broad, B2C or B2B, a retailer or a publisher - there are likely to be independent fan sites that overlap with the subjects on your site.
By fan site, I mean fan clubs, unofficial sites, etc - these types of sites are typically run by people who are very passionate about their particular topic. They often serve as a very rich source of information and news about their subject - and are often very keen to link to any appropriate information that gives value to their visitors.
I'll give a quick introduction to identifying the niches to target and finding appropriate sites to talk to, and then give some tips about how you could get them to link to you.
Choose a Niche
SEOmoz members are a hugely diverse bunch, so I'll give just a couple of examples to illustrate how this can work. In reality, this is where a bit of brainstorming and 'thinking outside the box' could help you identify some potentially useful types of company & website.
So, by way of examples (and I'm just looking out of my window here for ideas of companies, don't read anything into this list):
An online store that sells second-hand books:
This type of retailer has it pretty easy: aim to find the fan sites of particular authors or series of books,
Don't just go after the biggest names either - there are definitely some more 'cult' authors that aren't as well know but have strong online followings.
The website of an auto mechanic:
Approach the fan sites of particular car models,
Aim to target fan sites on the subject of any particular repair expertise you have as well, such as classic cars or four wheel drives.
A chain of hotels:
This company could look towards the fan pages of the particular cities they have properties in,
They should also consider anything that makes a particular hotel unique; is it near a sports stadium, or in a particular style of architecture?
You'll find out soon enough that there are fan sites for almost every niche you could ever imagine. Don't worry about getting a bit abstract in your thinking here.
Of course, some sites won't have to look too far to find topics that have gained a fandom. For example: if you're a radio station, then there may be fan sites for your station or for your presenters. If there can be a website explicitly for fans of Ikea in Ohio, then really - anything is possible.
Finding Fan Sites
Honestly, there's only a little advice that I can give here, beyond 'Google is your friend'.
Facebook 'fan pages' will often rank highly for these searches, but these may link to an appropriate site (eg: 'calculator fan club' leads us to a Facebook page, which links to The Museum of HP Calculators.)
Consider also searching for places that might have already collated the information you're looking for. (eg: 'list of harry potter fan sites' leads us to a very useful wiki page with plenty of sites listed.)
Getting Links from Fan Pages
As with almost every proactive linkbuilding tactic - and with this kind of outreach in particular - we'll have most success when we offer something to a site that earns us a link from them.
With that in mind, here's my five favorite tactics for getting links from this type of site:
Events & Invitations
Look out for opportunities to organize or to be involved with special events. In the simplest form, use this as an opportunity to meet some of the enthusiasts that you're trying to get to know; if you want to meet petrolheads, then go to an auto show. You could sponsor some kind of 'social-media-meet-up' or 'bloggers drinks party' at these sort of events if you want to put yourself out in front of the right people.
Some businesses have the opportunity to add value to some events; for example, when Stephanie Myers announced her plans to do a junket for fan sies (see May 17, 2010), any hotels, bars or restaurants in her area could have offered to host the event for her and some fans. This should have received at least a few really valuable links from the attendees' write-ups.
Similarly, every TV station really should plan ahead by taking their list of forthcoming talk-show guests, and inviting members from every fan site of those guests to watch the recordings. It would be fair to ask them to write about it in return for the tickets, and they'd be encouraged to link to the show's webpage from that article.
Sweepstakes & Giveaways
I've written before about link building by running competitions, but it's worth mentioning again here. If you pick an appropriate prize, fan sites should be particularly keen to link to this kind of giveaway. Ideally, see if you can aim for some kind of 'money-can't-buy' prize.
For example: you're running a night club, and Fatboy Slim is DJing one evening - so you get him to sign a turntable slip mat. You can then give them away via your website, and it's a great chance to contact every fan site for Fatboy Slim, breakbeat music, etc.
Exploit Rivalry
In many cases, you might find there's a whole bunch of fan sites for one particular topic; for example, there are more than a few Twilight Saga fan sites - and I imagine there's some rivalry, particularly amongst the top dozen or so largest sites. Alternatively, you might use this tactic where a rivalry already exists, such as between college football teams - and by proxy, their individual fan sites.
You could create some kind of competitive feature, such as a survey or quiz that will rank the sites' members against each other. For example: "Which Pac-10 Team has the most comitted fans?" or "Harry Potter Trivia: Which fan site's members are the most knowledgeable?"
Create these features in a way that will encourage the sites to refer visitors to you by linking, and then make sure to let them all know about it.
Widgets
LocateTV have an awesome embeddable widget that can be customized to appeal to fan sites. (Eg: visit a show page and click 'Add to my site'. You can see the embed in action on fan sites such as ElvisPresleyScrapbook.co.uk.) This high-quality type of widget can be used by savvy editors of fan pages, and gives a good quality link back to LocateTV.
Of course, an embed can be much simpler - even a simple image could do the trick, which could be updated as often as necessary. For example: an entertainment news website could create images such as "Latest Britney Spears News: Release date for new album announced" - and then invite every one of the celeb's fan sites to embed the linked image, pointing to the category page for that person on the news site.
Feature Them
You might choose to engage with fan sites, perhaps to feature them in a list that you publish (e.g.: "The Top 10 Fan Sites of Renaissance Composers") or to interview that site in particular (eg: "Interview: Superbowl predictions with Larry from PackerChatters.com".)
You could at least get the featured sites to mention you, but approached in the right way, this kind of content could be very linkworthy and social media friendly; for example, Education Portal's "Top Shakespeare Blogs" post was well tweeted, by those in the list as well as other Shakespeare fans.
Remember: fan sites are pretty special, particularly since they tend to be keen to link to good quality content about their subject. Just don't abuse it: they generally have savvy webmasters who can spot if they're being taken advantage of.
When you start thinking about fan sites, you'll realize quite quickly that there's lots more opportunities that are specific to your site, beyond those I've outlined here.
It's always fun to talk to people who are truly passionate about something (whether that happens to be Elgar or Ikea), so go ahead and enjoy putting some of these ideas into action.
President Barack Obama talks on the phone with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in the Oval Office, Jan. 28, 2011. Vice President Joe Biden listens at left, and the President’s National Security team confer in the background. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
In Case You Missed It
Here are some of the top stories from the White House blog.
Jeff Zients Will Lead Reorganization of Federal Government The President has asked Jeffrey Zients, our nation’s first Chief Performance Officer (CPO), to lead the reorganization effort to make our government better organized and better equipped to support American competitiveness.
Today's Schedule
All times are Eastern Standard Time (EST).
10:00 AM: The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing
11:00 AM: Startup America Launch
11:10 AM: The President meets with senior advisors
1:00 PM: The Vice President meets with Senator Bill Bradley at the White House
1:00 PM: Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs
2:15 PM: The Vice President meets with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and Mark Ayers, President of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO
That's one of the most important decisions you'll make today.
How much time and effort should be spent on intake, on inbound messages, on absorbing data...
and how much time and effort should be invested in output, in creating something new.
There used to be a significant limit on available intake. Once you read all the books in the college library on your topic, it was time to start writing.
Now that the availability of opinions, expertise and email is infinite, I think the last part of that sentence is the most important:
Time to start writing.
Or whatever it is you're not doing, merely planning on doing.
Business in Egypt has ground to a halt. Food and consumer goods stack up in ports. Gas stations have not had deliveries for days and supplies dwindle. Simple economic theory suggests prices will soar and they have.
After an initial lukewarm reception when he first returned to Egypt, Nobel laureate and opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei has picked up some much-needed support from the Muslim Brotherhood. That support creates a somewhat united secular-religious opposition to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
An emboldened ElBaradei is now openly critical of the Obama administration. "It's better for President Obama not to appear that he is the last one to say to President Mubarak, it's time for you to go," Dr. ElBaradei said.
Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood and the secular opposition banded together Sunday around a prominent government critic to negotiate for forces seeking the fall of President Hosni Mubarak, as the army struggled to hold a capital seized by fears of chaos and buoyed by euphoria that three decades of Mr. Mubarak's rule may be coming to an end.
The announcement that the critic, Mohamed ElBaradei, would represent a loosely unified opposition reconfigured the struggle between Mr. Mubarak's government and a six-day-old uprising bent on driving him and his party from power.
"Today we are proud of Egyptians," Dr. ElBaradei told throngs who surged toward him in a square festooned with banners calling for Mr. Mubarak's fall. "We have restored our rights, restored our freedom, and what we have begun cannot be reversed."
Dr. ElBaradei declared it a "new era," and as night fell there were few in Egypt who seemed to disagree.
"It's better for President Obama not to appear that he is the last one to say to President Mubarak, it's time for you to go," Dr. ElBaradei said.
Ports Shut Down, Food Prices Soar, Business Grinds to a Halt
The internet is shut down, so are cell phones, and so are ports. Goods stack up at docks, and supplies of fuel are at critical levels. After six days of riots, the Political Crisis Now Has Serious Economic Repercussions.
For four days now, containers arriving on ships have been stacking up at Egypt's largest port, shipping company employees and truck drivers here said. With distribution networks barely functioning and the Internet down since Thursday night, much of business in Egypt has nearly ground to a halt.
"A big part of the production system is government-run, and this is frozen, including many of the bakeries making the subsidized bread," said Hoda Youssef, an economist at the Arab Forum for Alternatives, an independent think tank and a lecturer at Cairo University. "Here in the short term — today, tomorrow, the coming few days — we might have a serious problem with shortages of food, water and fuel," Ms. Youssef said.
"We did not get any new gas for the last two days," said Mustafa Ahmad Hamadi, the owner of an Alexandria Mobil station, adding that he usually received about 2,600 gallons a day and now has only about 1,300 gallons left. He said that he had owned the station for 12 years, but has "never seen a situation like this before."
"When I called the company, they told me there is no more distribution at this point and they don't know when they can deliver again," he said, as cars lined up for his remaining fuel and arguments broke out among customers despite employees' efforts to keep them in line.
A taxi driver with two women waiting in the back seat said he had been to 12 gas stations since Saturday, and this was the only one with gas. "I am really worried," said the driver, Muhammad Youssri Said, 29. "This car is the income for me and my family. No taxi, no money, no food."
Egypt's banks may risk a surge in customer withdrawals when they open for business, placing them among companies worst hit by the nationwide uprising against President Hosni Mubarak.
"A run on the banks would be the biggest concern, which is possible in the current situation," Robert McKinnon, chief investment officer at ASAS Capital in Dubai, said in a telephone interview. Authorities are likely to keep the financial system closed to avert the risk, he said.
Egypt's banks and markets stayed shut yesterday after six days of clashes in the most populous Arab country that left as many as 150 people dead.
Asked about the risk of a bank run, Mohamed Barakat, chairman of state-run Banque Misr and head of the country's banking association, said in a telephone interview that Egyptian lenders are "very liquid," with average loan-to-deposit ratios of 53 percent.
Egypt is flying apart, China and India are both overheating, and there has been no financial reform that will accomplish anything; nonetheless, it's party time in Davos.
One analyst with not enough clearance to party had a different message, so did Bloomberg columnist Simon Johnson. Otherwise it was party on dudes.
As politicians, executives and financiers networked at parties and panels last week in Davos, Switzerland, Barrie Wilkinson was in a nearby hotel, warning that a 2015 financial catastrophe may be looming.
"The fundamentals haven't been addressed at all," Wilkinson, a London-based partner at consulting firm Oliver Wyman, said in an interview at the Hotel Morosani Schweizerhof. "The things that caused the previous crisis -- loose monetary policy and trade imbalances -- they're actually bigger now than they were then."
In the caste system of the World Economic Forum's annual event in the Swiss ski resort, Wilkinson was at a bottom rung, with an identification badge that denied him access to most sessions and soirees. His message clashed with the optimistic tone of many at the center of the meeting, who were eager to emphasize the progress made after two years of hand-wringing in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
"The systemic reforms that have been accomplished are significant," Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said as he left a private meeting with finance company chief executive officers on Jan. 29. "We need to communicate better that financial institutions globally are operating on a very different basis today, that they are operating with higher capital and are better regulated."
'An Avoidable History'
Wilkinson's report, titled "The Financial Crisis of 2015: An Avoidable History," isn't so sanguine. The 24-page study describes how banks, unwilling to accept the lower returns on equity, or ROEs, that result from higher capital requirements, may fuel a new bubble by chasing high returns in commodities or emerging markets. Regulators, by focusing their restraints on banks, may drive risk-taking into unregulated funds that also pose danger to the system.
The report urges bank executives and shareholders to accept that returns of the past are unsustainable and that they need to do a better job of monitoring risks, especially in areas that produce unusually high profits.
"Banks need to be less leveraged," said Wilkinson, who has an engineering degree from the University of Cambridge and has worked at Oliver Wyman since 1993, according to his LinkedIn page. "The true test for me of whether they've deleveraged is if the industrywide ROEs come down. If they don't, I'm very suspicious that there are hidden risks in the system."
Bloomberg Columnist Terrified
"I came into this dinner somewhat pessimistic and worried about the assignment we are here to discuss," Simon Johnson, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management and a Bloomberg News columnist, said halfway through the evening. "I am now terrified. There is an incipient sovereign crisis here mixed in with the bank crisis."
It's Party Time
So much for pessimism, let's consider some party goers.
Financiers at Davos this year weren't talking much about future returns on equity or potential bubbles. Instead they were holding parties and meeting clients. JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon, 54, hosted guests including Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney and Dell Inc. founder Michael Dell, 45, at a reception one night. He was out late the next night with hedge- fund manager Louis Bacon, 54, and other guests at a party hosted by Google Inc.
"In Davos, there's a lot of optimism here, and I'm quite surprised by it, especially from corporate CEOs," said Tarun Jotwani, CEO of Europe, the Middle East and Africa and global head of fixed income at Nomura. "It is against a backdrop of potentially the biggest macroeconomic public-finance mismatches that I've ever seen in my career."
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, Bundesbank President Axel Weber and Spain's finance minister, Elena Salgado, also spoke to a private gathering of some of the world's top investors, including hedge-fund and private equity fund managers, according to two people who attended the meeting. The officials sought to assure the money managers that their policies would lead to growth and prevent a crisis in Europe.
"There was a very positive mood about what had been done so far," said Howard Davies, a board member of New York- based Morgan Stanley and London-based insurance company Prudential Plc.
Put me in the party pooper column with Barrie Wilkinson and Simon Johnson.
Many US citizens have been trapped in Egypt hoping to get to any other country for connecting flights. Unfortunately, flights out of Egypt have ground to a halt. In response, the New York Times reports U.S. to Evacuate Americans
The Egyptian military reinforced parts of the capital on Sunday with tanks, jets and helicopters as tens of thousands of protesters flooded central Cairo for the sixth day, defying yet again government orders of a nationwide curfew.
In a stunning collapse of authority, most police have withdrawn from major cities, and soldiers fired shots into the air in an effort to control the crowds, seized by growing fears of lawlessness and buoyed by euphoria that three decades of President Hosni Mubarak's rule may be coming to an end.
Thousands of inmates poured out of four prisons and the United States said it was organizing flights to evacuate its citizens Sunday.
The American Embassy, which urged all Americans in Egypt to "consider leaving as soon as they can safely do so," underlined a deep sense of pessimism among Egypt's allies over Mr. Mubarak's fate, as the uprising against his rule entered a sixth day.
Several hours after nightfall, Mohamed ElBaradei, the Egyptian opposition figure and Nobel prize winner, arrived the square. "What we have begun, we cannot go back," he said, news agencies reported.
"It is loud and clear from everybody in Egypt that Mubarak has to leave today," he said in an interview on CNN. He said Mr. Mubarak's departure should be followed by a transition to a national unity government and "all the measures set in place for a free and fair election."
Note: The NYT headline of "U.S. to Evacuate Americans From Egypt" does not match the story. It appears, the story will follow. Here is a link to the latest New York Times Headlines.
In light of firebombings, riots, and anarchy in Egypt, coupled with social unrest in Yemen, Jordan, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia, call options of those betting on higher oil prices soared to seven times normal activity on Friday.
This weekend we saw the closing of Egyptian banks and the announced closing of Egyptian stock markets on Monday. However, it is hard to know what will happen next week.
To help understanding the possibilities, please consider this analysis of Friday's crude action.
Trading of bullish options on an exchange-traded fund tracking crude futures soared to a record as oil surged the most since September 2009 after unrest in Egypt raised concern that protests would spread to major oil- producing parts of the Middle East.
Almost 242,000 calls to buy the U.S. Oil Fund changed hands today, seven times the four-week average and almost five times the number of puts to sell. The most-traded contracts were the February $38 calls, which rose sixfold to 48 cents. The ETF gained 4.6 percent to $37.58.
"Bullish players are binging on call options across several expiries," Caitlin Duffy, an equity-options analyst at Greenwich, Connecticut-based Interactive Brokers Group Inc., wrote in a report. "The massive upswing in demand for the contracts helped lift the fund's overall reading of options implied volatility."
Oil for March delivery increased $3.70 to settle at $89.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract has risen 0.3 percent this week. Oil volume in electronic trading on the Nymex was 1.36 million contracts as of 3:18 p.m. in New York. That's the highest level since April 13, when volume for both electronic and floor trading reached a record 1.42 million barrels on the Nymex.
Volume totaled 1.01 million contracts yesterday, 50 percent above the average of the past three months. Open interest was 1.52 million contracts.
Crude 15 Minute Chart
click on chart for sharper image
Hedging Plays Push Crude Prices Higher
I was watching crude futures Friday morning (3:00AM Central) and the futures were essentially flat. Friday morning, however, as oil future call buying began, followed by equity call buying on OIL ETFs, oil shot up nearly $4.
What happened is options sellers (the market makers on the other side of those trades), cannot risk being naked short those oil calls and had to hedge by buying futures.
To hedge those short calls, the market makers bought crude futures. This delta hedging activity drove up the price of oil this morning as everyone plowed into the "oil might go to the moon" trade.
No one wanted to be naked short over the weekend. (In a similar fashion, I do not believe JPM is naked short silver futures either, but I wish they would come out and prove it).
If nothing happens over the weekend (which so far appears to be a disproved idea already), oil futures could easily sink next week as the trade unwinds. On the other hand, should unrest spring up in Iran or expand in Saudi Arabia crude prices could soar.
Given that a collapse of the Egyptian government seems likely, and unrest in other areas picking up, if crude prices cannot break north here, then look out below. A short or intermediate-term top is likely in.
Yes, you shouldn't text while driving, or talk on the cell phone, or argue with your dog or drive blindfolded. It's an idiot move, one that often leads to death (yours or someone else's).
I don't think you should text while working, either. Or use social networking software of any kind for that matter. And you probably shouldn't eat crunchy chips, either.
I don't think there's anything wrong with doing all that at work (in moderation). But not while you're working. Not if working is that the act that leads to the scarce output, the hard stuff, the creative uniqueness they actually pay you for.
You're competing against people in a state of flow, people who are truly committed, people who care deeply about the outcome. You can't merely wing it and expect to keep up with them. Setting aside all the safety valves and pleasant distractions is the first way to send yourself the message that you're playing for keeps. After all, if you sit for an hour and do exactly nothing, not one thing, you'll be ashamed of yourself. But if you waste that hour updating, pinging, being pinged and crunching, well, hey, at least you stayed in touch.
Here is another video to consider, with video credit to Tamer Shaaban. It has close to 400,000 views when I saw it.
I like one protester's message in the video ... "We will not be silenced. Whether you are a Christian, whether you are a Muslim, whether you are an atheist, you will demand your goddamn rights, and we will have our rights one way or the other! We will never be silenced!
If the embed above does not play, here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThvBJMzmSZI&sns=fb
Egyptian Police Disappear in Widespread Chaos, Looting Spreads,Vigilantes Defend Homes
Egyptians armed with guns, sticks, and blades have formed vigilante groups to defend their homes from looters after police disappeared from the streets following days of violent protests.
Banks, junctions and important buildings previously guarded by the police and state security were left abandoned Saturday and civilians have quickly stepped in to fill the void.
"There are no police to be found anywhere," said Ghadeer, 23, from an upscale neighborhood. "Doormen and young boys from their neighborhoods are standing outside holding sticks, razors and other weapons to prevent people from coming in."
Police withdrew from the streets when the army was sent in to take over security in Cairo. Witnesses have since seen mobs storming supermarkets, commercial centers, banks, private property and government buildings in Cairo and elsewhere.
Egyptians have called for army intervention to bring back law and order. Saturday, many protesters changed: "No to plundering and no to destruction.
Dozens of shops across Egypt have painted display windows white to hide contents and discourage looting. A cash machine was broken in an upscale neighborhood, witnesses said.
"They are letting Egypt burn to the ground," said Inas Shafik, 35.
Several government buildings were set ablaze during days of protests against President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule. They were often left to burn without the intervention of authorities.
Islamic leaders have in the meantime called on people to join vigilante groups to protect their homes themselves. Yet, scenes of looting appeared to spread from upscale parts of Cairo to downtown and poorer areas as well.
Some 700 prisoners escaped in Fayoum, south of Cairo, and killed a senior police officer, sources said. Another senior police officer was also kidnapped in Damietta, a witness said.
"They are torching down the prisons. Our lives and property are at risk. Get out of the way," one shopper shouted, echoing the anxieties of many as they raced to stock up at supermarkets.
Others stayed penned inside their homes for fear of what they said were marauding gangs in some areas. Friday, looters broke into the Egyptian Museum -- home to the world's greatest collection of Pharaonic treasures -- and destroyed two pharaonic mummies, said Zahi Hawass, Egypt's top archaeologist.
In walled-off estates on the outskirts of Cairo, private security locked down gates and refused to let people in.
Ghadeer said: "The looters want to plunder and the government is washing its hands clean of any responsibility."
One sure way to get people fired up is to shut down the stock market and all the banks, thereby denying citizens access to their money. Yet, that is exactly the desperate course of action chosen by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Protests have now spread to Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. So far however, the protests in Saudi Arabia are of a peaceful nature, mostly related to government response to flooding. Recent history suggests that may change at any moment into something far more significant.
In a move that can easily backfire, the Saudi king defended Mubarak and offered support.
Meanwhile, in Jordan, the pace of protests have now picked up as opposition supporters have held rallies in Amman and called for the resignation of Jordan's prime minister.
The Egyptian bourse will be closed tomorrow after thousands of protestors congregated in central Cairo for a fifth day and President Hosni Mubarak ignored demands to resign. Banks will also be shut, State TV said.
"No one expected this to take place and at such a fast sequence of events," said Mohamed Radwan, head of international sales at Cairo-based Pharos Holding for Financial Investment. "The critical time frame for the market is from now until the implementation of economic and democratic reforms demanded by the people."
Soldiers, backed by armored carriers and tanks, are guarding banks and government buildings in the capital after acts of looting and theft yesterday. Forty people were killed and another 1,100 people were injured yesterday and today in the clashes that have swept major cities including Cairo, according to the Egyptian Health Ministry. The government of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif resigned today at Mubarak's request.
Saudi Arabian shares retreated the most since May on concern political unrest could spread in the Middle East after Egyptian protesters clashed with police and the North African country's president refused to resign.
The Tadawul All Share Index tumbled 6.4 percent, the most since May 25, to 6,267.22 at the 3:30 p.m. close in Riyadh. All but one of the 146 shares fell. Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world's largest petrochemical maker, slumped 7.5 percent. Savola Azizia United Co., a food producer with subsidiaries in Egypt, dropped 10 percent, the maximum fluctuation allowed in a single trading session.
"There is a lot of worry looming among investors that we're going to see a domino effect across the region," said Amro Halwani, a trader at Shuaa Capital PSC in Riyadh. "That is pushing investors away from equities and straight into cash. It is panic selling across the board."
Mubarak appointed his intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, vice president and named former civil aviation minister Ahmed Shafik prime minister. Shafik was charged with setting up a new government.
The appointment of the 74-year-old Suleiman may signal that Mubarak won't run again in presidential elections in September. But the appointments of Suleiman and Shafik didn't slow protestors' demands for Mubarak's resignation or immediately satisfy the Obama administration.
"The Egyptian government can't reshuffle the deck and then stand pat," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley wrote Saturday on Twitter. "President Mubarak's words pledging reform must be followed by action."
Protests Call for Ouster of Jordanian Prime Minister
Taking their cue from Tunisia and Egypt, an estimated 3,000 Jordanians marched through the streets after Friday prayers, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai and calling for political and economic reforms.
They warned corrupt Arab leaders would face the same fate as ousted Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Peaceful protests were also held in the cities of Irbid, Karak, Maan, and Diban, AFP reported. Jordan has a population of six million, 70 percent of whom under the age of 30. Official unemployment is running at about 14 percent, but other estimates put joblessness at 30 percent.
The government says it is pumping around $500 million into the economy to improve the people's standard of living.
Dozens of protesters have been arrested in Saudi Arabia's second biggest city after they protested against the weaknesses of infrastructure of Jeddah.
The protests were triggered on Friday after floods swept through the city, killing at least four people, and raising fears of a repeat of the deadly 2009 deluge, in which more than 120 people lost their lives.
On Wednesday, torrential rains caused flooding that swept away cars and downed electric lines in Jeddah.
The oil-rich kingdom lacks the basic necessary systems and structures to drain water out of the residential areas during a heavy rainfall.
Given infrastructure is this bad, I have a simple question: What the hell is Saudi Arabia doing with all the oil money it receives?
I also have an answer: It is going into the pockets of billionaire sheiks who have more money than they possibly know what to do with. The same could be said for multi-billionaires everywhere.
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah ensures Mohamed Hosni Mubarak of his support amid nationwide protests against the Egyptian president's three-decade-long rule.
In a Saturday telephone conversation with Mubarak, Abdullah Ibn Abdulaziz Al Saud described the popular movements as "tampering with Egypt's security and stability in the name of freedom of expression," AFP reported.
The Saudi king branded the protesters as "intruders" and said, "Saudi Arabia stands with all its power with the government and people of Egypt."
The comments came after a Human Rights Watch report lambasted Riyadh earlier in the week for mistreatment of women, foreign labor and the Kingdom's Shia minority.
There is widespread approval among Arabs for the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Offering support to someone who is clearly despised does not seem like a prudent move to me.
Reflections on Decades of Misguided US Policy
President Obama is attempting to play this from both sides as best he can. For more details on his phone conversations with Mubarak, please consider
It's important to note that I am not talking about mistakes in current US policy but rather misguided policy decisions over the decades.
We supported a corrupt Shah of Iran and look at the results.
We supported Iraq on the hopelessly flawed theory "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." There are pictures of Rumsfeld shaking hands with Hussein.
We gave chemical weapons to Iraq.
Our intelligence do not see the takeover of the US embassy in Iran coming.
Our CIA trained Bin Laden to fight Russia in Afghanistan. Now we are hunting Bin Laden and fighting in Afghanistan.
We have wasted trillion of dollars in both Iraq and Afghanistan and all we have to show for it is more enemies.
Contrast that that with our actions in Tunisia. We did not spend a dime, nor did our intelligence efforts even see it coming. Yet, in Tunisia, a protest by the people overthrew overthrew Tunisian strongman Zine el Abidine ben Ali.
Reporting from Tunis, Tunisia — A wall of fear has come down.
All across the Arab world, people living under the thumb of repressive leaders are rising up against the rulers who once seemed omnipotent.
They are using the Internet to network and spread the word. They are watching themselves on satellite television. They are drawing strength from the hyperactive energy of the frustrated young people dismissed and discarded by their governments.
It is a contagious spirit.
"It's like a transition moment in the Arab world," said Mohammad Abou Rouman, a political researcher at the University of Jordan, in Amman, where protests erupted Friday. "It's the influence of the Tunisian domino, and it will not stop. It will go to other Arab states."
The uprisings are having a ricochet effect across the Arab world. People are watching the events unfolding on television and Facebook and identifying with the people in the streets.
"I was with my friends on Facebook, and we encouraged each other," said Dali ben Salem, a 25-year-old intern in pharmacy in Tunis. "The solidarity helped me to face the fear."
And whether or not Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak manages to survive what one analyst called a political "tsunami" that is enveloping the Arab world, things will never return to normal, analysts said.
War of the Future
How much money did the US spend on misguided missile programs and misguided missile defense systems, only to be defeated by a group of hijackers with razor blades? Is there more of a threat from a suitcase bomb or a missile?
How much money do we waste keeping troops in 140 countries where they are mostly not wanted?
Please remember Bin Laden's primary objection to the US was that US troops were on sacred Arab soil. So why do we do it? What has it brought us but misery?
We have caused countless trillions of dollars of destruction in Iraq, and in Afghanistan. Sadly, the war in Afghanistan is no more winnable than the War in Vietnam.
Quiet revolutions by the people are the war of the future, and the only kind of war that makes any sense.
Please note that Tunisia did not cost US taxpayers a dime. We should not have wasted a dime to get rid of Hussein either. Iraq was not a threat to the US. Simply put, it was a matter for the Iraqi people to settle, not us.
While reading more on the Egyptian riots in a Bloomberg article, I found this nice quip on global equity prices.
European stocks retreated this week as escalating protests in Egypt and an unexpected drop in the U.K.'s gross domestic product offset accelerating U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter.
Next Plc, Britain's second-biggest clothing retailer, slumped 7 percent this past week as the U.K. economy shrank.
"Some of the European data was weak and the U.K's gross domestic product was lower than expected, although the message on the U.S. economy is still okay to good, which should support equity markets going forward," said Simon Maughan, co-head of European equities at MF Global UK Ltd.
It is more than a stretch to suggest global equities will be fine on the basis of the US economy alone, especially when there should be huge concerns about the imbalanced, stimulus-fed US economy and the unbalanced global economy in general, especially overheating in India and China, and property bubbles in the UK, China, and Australia.
Moreover, Maughan did not mention valuation, or risks. He was simply looking for any excuse to say "buy stocks".
I do not know whether the stock market goes up or down from here, but his statement is absurd from many angles, especially valuation.
Hook Has Been Set
If stocks do head down now, a hook has been set. That "hook" is blaming this all on Egypt, with a message "buy the dip".
One of these "quick, little dips" will be neither quick, nor little. Whether this is the one, remains to be seen.
The situation in Egypt has gone from bad to worse. Cairo is in a state of near-anarchy and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's cowardly disruptions to the internet and cell phones have made things worse.
Egyptian citizens unable to get news on the internet or cell phones have only one place to get it now, the street.
President Obama called Mubarak in a 30-minute phone call. Obama's message was "Ultimately, the future of Egypt will be determined by the Egyptian people."
If that was a hint, Mubarak did not get it. Instead, Cairo is in flames as protesters have turned more defiant.
Mubarak Orders Crackdown, With Revolt Sweeping Egypt
With police stations and the governing party's headquarters in flames, and much of this crucial Middle Eastern nation in open revolt, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt deployed the nation's military and imposed a near-total blackout on communications to save his authoritarian government of nearly 30 years.
Friday's protests were the largest and most diverse yet, including young and old, women with Louis Vuitton bags and men in galabeyas, factory workers and film stars. All came surging out of mosques after midday prayers headed for Tahrir Square, and their clashes with the police left clouds of tear gas wafting through empty streets.
By nightfall, the protesters had burned down the ruling party's headquarters in Cairo, and looters marched away with computers, briefcases and other equipment emblazoned with the party's logo. Other groups assaulted the Interior Ministry and the state television headquarters, until after dark when the military occupied both buildings and regained control. At one point, the American Embassy came under attack.
Six Cairo police stations and several police cars were in flames, and stations in Suez and other cities were burning as well. Office equipment and police vehicles burned, and the police seemed to have retreated from Cairo's main streets. Brigades of riot police officers deployed at mosques, bridges and intersections, and they battered the protesters with tear gas, water, rubber-coated bullets and, by day's end, live ammunition.
The Egyptian capital descended into near anarchy Friday night, as the government sent riot police, and then the army, to quell protests by tens of thousands of demonstrators determined to push President Hosni Mubarak from office.
By the end of the day-long battle, the protesters were still standing and the police were nowhere to be seen.
It remained unclear late Friday night what role the Egyptian military might play. Mubarak, a former air force officer, draws much of his strength from the military, and any decision by the armed forces to withdraw support would mean the certain end of his reign.
But unlike the police, which unleashed an arsenal of weapons against the demonstrators, the military did not take any immediate action, and protesters gleefully welcomed the soldiers' arrival in a thundering of personnel carriers.
Protesters were honking their horns in celebration and roaming freely through central parts of the city late in the evening, in defiance of a strict curfew. The night air was thick with black smoke, and the sounds of explosions, gunshots, sirens, cries and occasional cheers echoed through the darkness.
Success in ousting Mubarak would be a remarkable achievement for a group of demonstrators who have no charismatic leaders, little organization, and few clear objectives beyond removing this nation's autocratic president and other members of his ruling clique.
Before this week, few thought a mass anti-government movement was possible in Egypt, a country that has little experience with democracy. But after Friday's protests, the campaign to oust Mubarak only seems to be gathering strength.
The Washington Post has a stunning set of 57 Egypt Riot Images, some of the best I have seen yet. Here are a few of them.
Jan. 29, 2011 In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, demonstrators climb up armored vehicles at Square Tahrir in Cairo, Egypt early Saturday. Cai Yang / AP
A protester burns a picture of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak during clashes in Cairo on Jan. 28, 2011. Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters
Egyptian protesters face anti-riot policemen in Cairo on Friday, Jan. 28, 2011. The riots escalated throughout the day. Victoria Hazou / AP
Army tanks line up in Tahrir Square in Cairo. Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images
Thousands of protesters gather in Tahrir Square despite a curfew. Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images
Autocratic governments often limit phone and Internet access in tense times. But the Internet has never faced anything like what happened in Egypt on Friday, when the government of a country with 80 million people and a modernizing economy cut off nearly all access to the network and shut down cellphone service.
The shutdown caused a 90 percent drop in data traffic to and from Egypt, crippling an important communications tool used by antigovernment protesters and their supporters to organize and to spread their message.
Vodafone, a cellphone provider based in London with 28 million subscribers in Egypt, said in a statement on its Web site that "all mobile operators in Egypt have been instructed to suspend services in selected areas." The company said it was "obliged to comply" with the order.
Egypt, to an unprecedented extent, pulled itself off the grid.
President Barack Obama told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last night he must live up to promises he made about political, social and economic reforms following the fourth day of anti-government demonstrations across Egypt.
Obama delivered the message in a 30-minute phone call between the two leaders that followed public remarks by Mubarak in which he asked the country's government to resign and pledged to fight poverty, speed economic and social changes, and promote civil liberties and democracy.
In a televised address to the Egyptian people just after midnight Cairo time, Mubarak said he asked his ministers to resign and promised that the new government would speed reforms and promote civil liberties. He defended his response to widespread demonstrations, which has included ordering the army to help police impose a 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew by sending armored vehicles and tanks into the streets.
Obama responded that "this moment of volatility has to be turned into a moment of promise." He also called on the Egyptian government to end the blocking of the Internet, including social networking sites that protesters have used to organize.
"Ultimately, the future of Egypt will be determined by the Egyptian people," Obama said. "Governments have an obligation to respond to their citizens."
At the White House, Obama said the Egyptian protestors were exercising "universal" rights to peaceful assembly and association, free speech and "the ability to determine their own destiny.
"These are human rights," he said. "And the United States will stand up for them everywhere."
Mubarak's Acts of Cowardice
Shutting down the internet is an act of cowardice. Firing all your ministers while pledging reform is an act of cowardice. So is ordering Vodafone to shut down cell phone usage. Sending tanks into the street is certainly an act of cowardice.
Not only are those acts of cowardice, they have backfired. People are in open defiance of curfews. After all, they have no way to get the news but see it themselves in the streets.
By the way what is a tank supposed to do anyway? Is it really going to fire on the people? Check out that first image again. Protesters are crawling all over those tanks and armored vehicles.
As I see it, the only thing tanks can possibly do is get people stirred up. Yet, the only thing holding Mubarak's corrupt regime together is the military.
Mubarak came up from the military so there is some loyalty there. However, the military has some genuine support from the people (unlike the despised state police), and I doubt the military will want to lose that support.
How long the military will support Mubarak is the key question at this point. I suspect not long if these riots continue.
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