Egyptian Internet traffic -- surging, and then stopped. (credit: National Review Online)

National Review Online on Friday posted a series of new columns analyzing the growing protests in the epicenter, including mine: “Revolution in Egypt? And Could Jordan Be Next?” Inside Egypt, the government mostly shut down the Internet Friday, shut down Twitter, and Facebook and other social media, while deploying the army, beating protestors and jailing more than 1,000 people. Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden is saying publicly that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is not a dictator and should not step down.

SATURDAY UPDATE:

• Update at 2pm eastern: 62 Egyptians dead, more than 2,000 wounded, rampant lawlessness
• Tourists beseige Cairo airport trying to get out, but flights halted — British flight en route to Egypt turned around in mid-trip and returns to the U.K.
• Intel chief Omar Suleiman appointed Egypt vice-president; Mubarak’s sons flee to U.K.
• ElBaradei says appointing VP, new PM not enough
• 48 Egyptians killed since Tuesday…tens of thousands on streets on Saturday protesting….”60 percent of Egypt’s police stations reportedly have been torched by angry demonstrators”
• Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood leader: Arabs will topple tyrants
• Jordan expands subsidies, raises salaries in bid to appease public
• JORDAN: King calls for political, economic reforms after weeks of demonstrations
• Fouad Ajami in the Wall Street Journal: “Rebellion in the Land of the Pharaohs — A man who places himself at the helm for three decades inevitably becomes the target of all the realm’s discontents”
• Israeli columnist Aluf Benn: Without Egypt, Israel will be left with no friends in Mideast — Without Egypt’s Mubarak and with relations with Turkey in shambles, Israel will be forced to court new potential allies
• As protests swell from Yemen to Egypt, Middle East faces uncertainty
• Waves of Unrest Spread to Yemen, Shaking a Region

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