what the staff are saying

I sometimes try to walk around a bit and talk to secretaries I know on campus to get a sense for what the mainstream Egyptian populace is thinking.

What they’re saying today (whether or true or not I don’t know; the point is that they’re saying it) is that both of the Mubarak sons agreed to unnaturally low prices on natural gas sales to Israel in exchange for huge kickbacks. Technically they were called “commission fees,” and even according to the secretaries Israel refused to pay them more than 10%. At any rate, if they are convicted of such a thing, they’ll be in danger of a very serious sentence.

“State Security Leaks”

Apparently the documents taken from Egyptian State Security headquarters are being published on the web in Wikileaks fashion. This one is kind of funny to read now:

“The file on Mr. ElBaradei, who was considered a possible presidential candidate, noted an e-mail ‘from somebody named Wael Ghonim (being investigated now)’ offering to set up a Web site for him. As is well known now, Mr. Ghonim was the Google executive behind some of the main Internet activity that led to the government’s fall. He was arrested and then released during the 18-day rebellion.”