a thread about the civil unrest in egypt (& elsewhere in 'the region' if necessary)

kinda hard to believe he's almost 83 yrs old

What channel are you watching (if seeing this in the UK)?

i know yall hate me that's why i'm firing my staff

al-jazeera

reporter saying (obviously) that this won't be enough for the protesters, power is concentrated in the hands of the president anyway

so he's sacking his entire cabinet

wonder if he's playing for time to figure out some way to step aside without being killed/tried for crimes/imprisoned/whatever

thanks xp - don't have it, will keep getting my news from ilx

ismael - http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

sorry for bungling the translation guys

yes use lex's link

aljazeera is crashing my shit, so there's also http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

thanks lex etc

has anyone made the "mubarak in de nile" joke yet?

Al Jazeera English: Live Stream http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

sorry for bungling the translation guys

― ex-heroin addict tricycle (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, January 28, 2011 5:33 PM (21 seconds ago)

haha it's okay, i was sort of tuning him out because it seemed like he wasn't saying much, then all of the sudden i heard "new government tomorrow" and read what you said

I'm sure he could find refuge somewhere, Saudi at least. If he does attempt this legalistic gambit, (and assuming he digs in and keeps hold of power - something I'm very sceptical about) will he run for re-election in September?

Ismael:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698
live coverage there

more coverage here > http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

has anyone made the "mubarak in de nile" joke yet?

More like 'who hasn't'

Yes, upthread. (re De Nile joke)

I wasn't really clear to me what "the government" meant in the context of the speech

xp

Got it now thanks xp - every time he looks up I expect to see that it's Berlusconi

Got it now thanks

The de Nile joke?

yeah is he dissolving parliament or just replacing his cabinet?

White House's maneuvering here is interesting - all the noise from the State Dept makes it seem like they'd all be more than happy to see Mubarak go, they're just worried about giving him an exit strategy that will preserve US interests

VVV

all the noise from the State Dept makes it seem like they'd all be more than happy to see Mubarak go

on that note, i'm not really sure what to make of this piece that seems to be trying to claim that the US was behind this - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8289686/Egypt-protests-Americas-secret-backing-for-rebel-leaders-behind-uprising.html - seems a stretch, to put it mildly, but:

The American Embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian state police.

On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011.

Shakey, given Egypt's history, that interest is likely to be 'stability'.

aljazeera isn't giving me anything atm but that could be where i am (work)

Dissolving Parliament would require new elections, no? So perhaps dissolving the cabinet and maybe a reshuffling of the Prime Minister etc. from within the NDP.

Most hilarious bit of that entire speech was the bit that claimed that the ONLY reason the protestors were able to express their grievances was due to Mubarak's own reforms. Which...yes, this is in some meaning of those words true, but LOL at the idea that ppl should be grateful for him "granting" them rights of free speech etc. Also, the idea that his magnanimity in not ordering the army to use violent means vs. protestors should be appreciated.

^^^yeah this was my thinking too. even if he has the authority to dissolve Parliament (okay, sure) that would mean new elections. He can't just appoint a new Parliament, even if he is head of the majority ruling party.

xp

and yes that was lol about the freedoms of the press/assembly being "granted" by the gov't

Will the cabinet actually resign? Does it even matter? Is this just Hitler moving imaginary divisions around in his bunker?

bbc crawl says mubarak is "trying to distance himself from the crack-down across the country"

that would be quite a feat

he's trying to buy some time

He looks like he's got all the time in the world - a very fresh-faced 83

Mmm. My mom's side of the family are Egyptian and the 76 year old great-aunts and great-uncles all look just as sprightly, if not moreso.

I bet they have the odd grey hair though.

How can he possibly hope this will work? The Queen could pull off that kind of line maybe, but not anyone who's actually been in power for thirty years. It surely depends only on whether or not force is used now.

SHOCKINGLY the protesters have rejected mubarak's statement.

i mean surely he can't possibly hope to hang on if he isn't controlling the army...

I'm waiting for a Sarah Palin video explaining that the seeds for all of this go back to some poor decisions made by King Tut.

Total LOLs at the notion of an undemocratic despot sacking his hand-picked government to be replaced by another hand-picked government. Yeah, that'll sate the protestors.

x-post Yeah, where is Palin on this? We need to hear from her!!!!!

Besides the point, but it's been good to see some different cities on the news recently. Alexandria seems nice, and Cairo looks pretty good too though noone I know has a good word to say about the place.

MB asking the army to remove him

@omarbaddar Joke of the day -- Obama: "Hosni, I think you need to write your goodbye letter to your people." Hosni Mubarak: "Why? Where are they going?"

Fox's coverage of this, according to Andrew Sullivan, has been minimal and exclusively of the "It seems as though Al-Qaeda-allied factions in Egypt might take over the Egyptian gov't"

**exclusively of that nature

Sullivan's great at times like this

Hasn't been Sullivan this time but his support crew etc.; Sullivan mentioned earlier in the week he's been laid low by bronchitis.