Mubarak Isn't Resigning

[PapaG]

He just said it in a speech to Egypt. He is waiting until after the September elections.

HooBoy. Shit is going to hit the fan there even more than it has already.

 

[porkchopexpress]

Yeah, it's going to get a whole lot uglier over there.

 

[chris_in_pdx]

He may be just a figurehead at this point. The military seems like it is taking over the government, and may realize that Mubarak resigning would leave a perceived power vaccuum it couldn't control. Hopefully they relay that to the people without bullets.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

I blame Bush.

 

[hasoos]

Yep but it was just a few days ago after his first speech that I said he would probably be hanging from a noose soon. That is my guess as to what happens.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Protests will only get stronger

..........or cease all together.

 

[hasoos]

Protests will only get stronger

..........or cease all together.

That is the funny thing though. The Egyptian VP gets on and tells people to go home and go back to their jobs. Maybe if they had jobs to begin with, they wouldn't be there.

 

[jlprk]

I knew this over a week ago. To preserve the rule of law, he'll leave after the election, just like it would happen here. This isn't Tunisia we're talking about. Mubarek didn't get off the tuna boat yesterday. It's a major country, not a banana republic. He's 83 and being retired to avoid a coup, not cause one.

It will be an orderly transition, just like it would be here. He will retire to his dacha and die naturally several years later. His replacement will be just like him, only younger, like when the CIA replaced Marcos with Corazon Aquino, she of the yellow dress. No change in torture or anything else, but suckers around the world will think so. Calm down. Only because this matters to Israel is the media paying attention. This happens all the time.

 

[Eastoff]

This happens all the time.

I strongly disagree.

 

[jlprk]

There are at least a couple of coups per year, somewhere in the world. And those are just the ones out in the open. It doesn't include backstage machinations.

When an 83-year-old King of Bhutan or dictator of Thailand is forcibly retired, you see an article and that's it. Inside the country, the people think this will bring about big change, and it does for a few months. Then nothing changes.

False promises motivate people for war, too, not just retiring the head guy. Remember when we were told the war in Iraq would last only a week? The anti-war pessimists said no way, gotta be a month.

If Egypt were truly threatening a meaningful revolution, the US and Israel would be busy right now preparing for war.

Much ado about nothing. Tempest in a teapot.

 

[Sug]

Did he and Deron Williams come to an understanding?

 

[PapaG]

There are at least a couple of coups per year, somewhere in the world. And those are just the ones out in the open. It doesn't include backstage machinations.

When an 83-year-old King of Bhutan or dictator of Thailand is forcibly retired, you see an article and that's it. Inside the country, the people think this will bring about big change, and it does for a few months. Then nothing changes.

False promises motivate people for war, too, not just retiring the head guy. Remember when we were told the war in Iraq would last only a week? The anti-war pessimists said no way, gotta be a month.

If Egypt were truly threatening a meaningful revolution, the US and Israel would be busy right now preparing for war.

Much ado about nothing. Tempest in a teapot.

Typically, if it is inconsequential, the President of the USA wouldn't give a victory speech today at some college about how the protesters won, only to be undermined later in the day by the actual person that the President demanded stand down.

I do agree that the status quo won the day in Egypt. I disagree in that the US has made themselves a central figure in this conflict, and thus far, our calls have gone unheeded.

 

[jlprk]

Typically, if it is inconsequential, the President of the USA wouldn't give a victory speech today at some college about how the protesters won, only to be undermined later in the day by the actual person that the President demanded stand down.

I do agree that the status quo won the day in Egypt. I disagree in that the US has made themselves a central figure in this conflict, and thus far, our calls have gone unheeded.

If you were in Egypt, you wouldn't think the US is running Egypt.

I bet that in France, the media makes you think France is crucial in the events. In Germany, in Italy, the same thing. The US has made itself a "central figure" only in its own mind. If the "calls have gone unheeded," after Obama "demanded" that Mubarek turn tail and run, then that proves that the US is not the "central figure" that you American chauvinists think.

You say that the President of Egypt "undermined" Obama by staying in power until the election, following the rule of law. Do you think Obama runs Egypt? From Egypt's point of view, the undermining is of Egypt, and the sources are other countries, with laughable success.

When an American president is in trouble and announces he won't run (like LBJ) or like when Nixon was holding on before he quit, what would you think if the President of Egypt made a speech "demanding" (as you say) that the US President quit, and then Johnson/Nixon made a speech saying he wouldn't until the election, and then some basketball poster in Egypt said that the President of Egypt had been "undermined" by Johnson/Nixon because the American president wasn't taking orders from the head of Egypt? You'd ask, who do you think you are, Egypt , to think you're running the US?

How arrogant to say Mubarek "undermined" Obama. Obama is a peanut in this, playing domestic politics. Probably every Head of State in Europe is pretending to have a say, too.

As we learned during the Vietnam War, the US is not the world's policeman.

 

[PapaG]

If you were in Egypt, you wouldn't think the US is running Egypt.

Of course I wouldn't think that. Mubarak just slapped our President in the face today. China and Russia are running things these days, yet our President still tries to grab a mic or a camera every day during this thing. His bungling of Egypt is embarrassing his own staff at this point.

 

[BrianFromWA]

As we learned during the Vietnam War, the US is not the world's policeman.

If you don't think the US is the world's policeman, you haven't been paying attention since the Wall came down. More specifically and correctly, we're the Chief of the precinct, divvying up the assignments and taking the hard (and potentially fruitful) ones ourselves.

 

[MysteryMan]

he just resigned...

 

[chris_in_pdx]

he just resigned...

And the day after the worst day of Obama's presidency, too! What a coincidence!

 

[PapaG]

Now what happens? Mubarak's hand-picked VP seems to be the leader at this point.

 

[chris_in_pdx]

Now what happens? Mubarak's hand-picked VP seems to be the leader at this point.

The military is in charge. They will be making an announcement later today on the plan for transition to the eventual replacement government.

 

[PapaG]

The military is in charge. They will be making an announcement later today on the plan for transition to the eventual replacement government.

Their constitution requires an election within 60 days. Are they ripping that up and starting over from scratch?

So volatile at this point. Great news if a secular and free democratic government emerges; horrible news if we end up with another Iran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is already claiming that this is the birth of a new Islamic government in the Middle East.

Switzerland just froze Mubarak's assest. Will this complicate things?

 

[chris_in_pdx]

Their constitution requires an election within 60 days. Are they ripping that up and starting over from scratch?

So volatile at this point. Great news if a secular and free democratic government emerges; horrible news if we end up with another Iran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is already claiming that this is the birth of a new Islamic government in the Middle East.

Switzerland just froze Mubarak's assest. Will this complicate things?

Interesting developments, to be sure. And revolutions usually are volatile and unpredictable. However, the people of Egypt will get the government that the people of Egypt want, which is what democracy and self-determination is all about. Of course, if they still want that big fat aid check coming from the United States every month, they won't go too far off the deep end with the theocratical aspect.

 

[PapaG]

On February 11, 1979 the Shah of Iran was overthrown.

On February 11, 2011 the President of Egypt was overthrown.

February 11 is known as "Islamic Revolution's Victory Day" in Iran.


I think that Obama needs to demand a free and democratic Egypt and send emmisaries to Egypt to help form that government ASAP. He had a chance in 2009 to assist the Iranian protesters, but he did not intervene. Rarely does one get a chance for redemption, but it's right there for the taking, if we want it.

I wonder what he'll say in an hour. I can't remember the last time a President spoke after a military junta ousted a quasi-ally like Mubarak.

 

[PapaG]

This is also a great opportunity for President Obama to mention Iran. Perhaps the same type of protests will result once again, and this time we won't stand by in silence as people are slaughtered in the streets.

 

[crandc]

The US, Obama, Glenn Beck, Bush, PapaG did not start the Egyptian Revolution. And they can't start an Iranian Revolution.

The US spent hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives to impose "democracy" in Iraq at gunpoint and ended up with continuing violence and a government with little authority. The Egyptians brought about, or I should say are bringing about, democracy with few resources but cell phones, strikes and their own power. Because ultimately laws and governments are meaningless when the population decides they are no longer legitimate. (note: that is not the same as tea party saying Obama is a secret foreign born Muslim) Everything done in the past 2-3 weeks in Egypt is illegal under the state of emergency. So what? No one could stop it.

I saw an interesting commentary last night that this is Osama bin Laden's worst nightmare. A peaceful revolution, with women participating openly, with unity between Christians, Muslims and others, did what he could never do, actually overthrow an unpopular government. Al qaeda was seen as an option, maybe the only option, by those with good reason to be disaffected. Now they have another. One that worked.

The road ahead is unclear but for today, the Egyptian people have won the right to celebrate.

 

[Klinky]

I think that Obama needs to demand a free and democratic Egypt and send emmisaries to Egypt to help form that government ASAP.

Meddling from the USA would make it look like a sham, the same would have been the case for Iran as well.

 

[Eastoff]

I think that Obama needs to demand a free and democratic Egypt and send emmisaries to Egypt to help form that government ASAP.

This is exactly where mubarak came from in the first place. The people of Egypt must not be pushed one way or the other. Worst case, but realistic scenario, is the military maintains it's strangle hold on the country. The military is buddy-buddy with the US. There is not good way to keep the promise, but I don't think you need to worry about the outcome of Egypt at this point.

 

[PapaG]

Meddling from the USA would make it look like a sham, the same would have been the case for Iran as well.

We already meddled by demanding a fast transition of power. Now, it's partially our responsibility to ensure safety for the Egyptian people.

 

[PapaG]

Yikes. Shouldn't he take at least a few questions on such a "world changing" day?

http://www.politico.com/politico44/...wer_99d2be56-341b-4339-a0c3-f8e12fb0bc36.html

Obama avoids questions twice

White House reporters are getting real used to the image of President Obama walking away from them.

Twice on Friday, Obama made a statement in front of reporters, and both times he refused to answer questions about events in Egypt, which he himself described as world changing.

At first, Obama was scheduled to read a statement in the briefing room in the early afternoon, just before Robert Gibbs’s final press briefing. That venue would have given the dozens of journalists in the briefing room a chance to shout questions at Obama, but they never got the opportunity – the White House changed the location of the statement to the Grand Foyer, and only a press “pool” was allowed to watch.

After he was done reading his statement — in which he said that Egyptians “changed the world” by forcing Hosni Mubarak to resign — Obama turned and walked promptly out of the room as photographers snapped pictures.

Then, just moments later, he showed up in the briefing room to joke with Gibbs and give him a formal goodbye in front of the press. Reporters watched as Obama and Gibbs laughed, hugged and made a show for the cameras. After posing for photos, the president turned around walked away.

One reporter piped up and shouted a request: Could he ask a question about Egypt?

Obama, unfazed, just kept walking out.

 

[Klinky]

We already meddled by demanding a fast transition of power. Now, it's partially our responsibility to ensure safety for the Egyptian people.

Commenting on the situation is different than sending troops/agents in to overthrow your rogue dictator.

Yikes. Shouldn't he take at least a few questions on such a "world changing" day?

When has a president ever given a decent answer to the press corps? It's usually always a lot of hot air and baloney. He's better off saving his breath and going back to the "war room" to figure out what he's going to do with Israel & the new Middle East.

 

[Haakzilla]

...finally, a revolution to overthrow one of the many puppet dictatorships that the US controls! Which country is next?