Monday, January 31, 2011

The Pharaoh Has a New Title..Still Not President Though

Hosni Mubarak has given Dr. Hawass a BRAND NEW TITLE, as he restructures the government without actually stepping down. Although he has not named Dr. Hawass the NEW president of Egypt as we wished he would, he is now calling The Pharaoh the Minister of State Antiquities. This has to be the 50th title Dr. Hawass has had over his long and illustrious career.

Currently, as we speak, 50 looters have just been arrested minutes ago trying to break into the Cairo Museum.

"Snipers were stationed on the roof of the building, and dozens of troops patrolled the grounds of the famed antiquities museum amid fears that the chaos sweeping Cairo could engulf the nation's heritage.The majority of the museum was intact, but there were signs of an earlier break-in.

On the second floor, one case containing a gold trinket, two small rods and other small artifacts was broken, and another case was smashed on the first floor. The cases were next to the gated room containing the gold funerary mask of King Tutankhamun that draws millions of tourists a year.

At the museum's gift shop, broken glass, souvenirs and postcards littered the ground.

Before the army arrived early Saturday morning, young Egyptians, some armed with truncheons grabbed from police, created a human chain at the museum's front gate to ward off looters.

Six boxes of small antiquities were looted from a storage facility in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, but there were no break-ins at the other 24 antiquities museums across Egypt, according to Hawass."


Dr. Hawass is publicly saying "If the museum is safe, Egypt is safe."

We would like to add that the young Egyptians that formed the human chain around the museum in the initial days of the revolt have to be commended. That was single handedly the most inspiring thing we have ever seen. We wish we could shake the hand of each and every one of those volunteers who put their live in jeopardy to save the heritage of the Egyptian people. We are in awe of them.

Also, we'd like to add that Dr. Hawass's brave and bold quest to reclaim the antiquities of Egypt may have just come to a screeching halt. We're sure...we'd bet the farm on this...that many of the countries which Dr. Hawass has petitioned to return artifacts are going to say no, it's not safe anymore. This is devastating and going to be quite a set back. The Pharaoh is old now. Still tough as shit, but elderly. He will never in his lifetime see the complete collection he had envisioned as all the world's museums emptied out their Egyptian displays and sent them to Cairo to be kept there in perpetuity. Sad.

We wish the new Minister of State Antiquities well and pray for him and the people of Egypt to weather this political storm and get the democracy they so crave and which every person deserves.

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