Well…that was anti-climatic. Who knows what the hell is going on? DCI Leon Panetta testified before Congress this morning that he expected Mubarak to resign tonight. I guess we have very little idea or control over what’s happening in Egypt. Of course, we’ll still be held responsible for whatever happens. I guess it is time to engage in reckless speculation and wild conspiracy theories. What do you have? What happened today? What’s going to happen tonight? Or tomorrow?
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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Army ends up in control. Mubarak stays as figurehead for a while. Army apparently doesn’t want Sulieman. Somebody will have to step up.
If the protests continue relatively unabated, the army will put them down either by itself or by stepping aside and letting the police do it.
Islamic fundamentalists will make the most of the situation, one way or another.
Could have another Iraq on our hands by fall.
Watch.
Can’t let the oil flow be threatened.
Watch.
Nasty work.
Lots more are going to die before it’s over.
Lots more.
“Democracy?”
You mean…like here?
Figurehead presidents “elected” by a hypnotized public?
Naaaahhhh…not mediaized enough in Egypt. The media is simply not that sophisticated there.
It’l be bullets and clubs that do the requisite damage instead of talking heads.
Watch.
AG
reckless and wild? you nailed it.
Will the presidential guard fire on unarmed people?
.
Watch for signs of violence in Alexandria.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
Safer than firing on armed ones.
Just sayin’…
AG
.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
this is the media NOT doing its job.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
The Billionaire has spoken
The Egyptian billionaire, Najib Sawiris, is speaking on Al-Arabiyyah TV (news station of King Fahd’s brother-in-law). He is one of the “Wise Men”–self-appointed and self-designated. He called on people in Tahrir Square to respond favorably to the speech by Mubarak. All the billionaires in the Square cheered Mr. Sawiris, and the rest ignored him.
Posted by As’ad
He was going to resign — but Rahm got to him.
Mubarack will always be first and foremost a Dictator that thinks of himself as a Warrior. He has held his office through and by his military tactics so we should have seen this coming.
My guess is that he has played the crowd and US well, stirring up the protestor’s emotions/hopes, exhausting them, now splitting them as some troop to the Palace while some stay in the square and another group go to the State Media offices.
As the protestors ratchet up the air with their anger he is leveraging the military to acknowledge the ‘chaos’ and will force them to intervene, force them to bring what he calls security to the streets.
Meanwhile, the only thing left for Obama to do now is to speak out in direct support of the people with the shred of hope that it will save lives during the coming hours of bloodshed. Should he do that, it would hopefully pull Egypt’s neighbors in to support the groundswell and get ahead of what may come knocking on their doors soon.
I could hardly call the events transpiring in Egypt a Dud. To me we may be viewing one of the most important events of the last 50 years. Here is a country where the population has already demonstrated the capacity to respond to the use of brute force in a relatively peaceful non-violent way. This is the Tiananmen Square of Egypt.
Hopefully its resolution will have a better outcome than Tiananmen, but that will largely be dependent of the Egyptian military. Should the military side with the people and accede to their demands that Mubarak step down and begin a real process of open elections, we will have a true example of a peaceful revolution. From what I have seen from broadcasts from Al Jazerra, the BBC, NPR and Democracy Now this revolution is not Islamic, Christian or Jewish. It is wide based and is supported by a large swath of the population, from labor to professional.
I think too much has been made of the Muslim Brotherhood who have renounced violence many years ago and are known to participate in the government despite being legally barred as a party. Would we think it proper to bar religious Zionists from participating in Israeli elections?
Sure, it may give the Israeli’s some problems, but they have needed an honest broker in the region that truly brokered for all sides.
You listen to too much mass media disinfo.
Really.
After almost 100 years of thoroughly devolved so-called “revolutions”…2000+ years if you count Christ, Muhammed etc…how can you possibly still be a “believer?”
Unbelievable!!!
AG
Suleiman: The CIA’s man in Cairo
Woolsey was just on cnn defending Sulie.
When asked wasn’t sulie the man that inforced the police state, woolsey said that he did not know the specifics of sulie’s responsibilities. right.
the Communiques coming out of the military, seem to indicate, plans are being drawn up that do not include Mubarak.
one can only hope
It’s in the military’s hands, especially the army. But the leaders of the military are involved in the same crony corruption that netted Mubarak an alleged $70 billion. It going to be hard for the senior officers to tear themselves away from the regime. But it is going to be more difficult for the military to order the suppression of 10-?? million protesters nationwide.
Reportedly hundreds, perhaps thousands are camped out at the Radio and Television Ministry and at the Presidential Palace – after lawyers today surrounded the Presidential Palace in a peaceful demonstration.
The question for the future is whether the opposition can stay sufficiently united to see through the creation of a workable democratic republic or whether opportunism and failed expectations will fracture the pro-democracy movement.
At this point the movement has taken pains to make sure that religious sectarianism does not divide the movement. But that nonetheless could be exploited by folks seeking to corrupt any new government from the beginning.
But I’m getting way ahead of the situation. The big question for tomorrow is whether the protesters can avoid being sucked into providing an excuse for the military to suppress “the violence”.