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

one thing I am loving are the endless rumours about where Mubarak is.

Someone needs to Where's Waldo? him into one of those crowd scenes.

ok, this is BY FAR the best background overview i've read yet about why and how this is all happening:

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/20112101030726228.html

originally from here - http://www.jadaliyya.com/

now NBC News is reporting that Mubarak has left Cairo. Gotta love the chutzpah after they reported he'd resign yesterday.

AP & NYT reporting same.

"Urgent and important statement due from the presidency..."

... not the president, don't know if that means anything

Here, from The Associated Press, is the complete text of a new statement issued on Friday by Egypt's Armed Forces Supreme Council, the second by the military in as many days:

In view of the ongoing events that will determine the future of the country, and in line with the continuous monitoring of the internal and external developments and the president's decision to delegate his power to the vice president, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces decides to guarantee the implementation of the following steps:

First:
• Ending the state of emergency once the present circumstances end.
• The outcome of the (court) appeals against the parliamentary election and the measures that will follow.
•Implementation of the constitutional amendments and holding a free and fair presidential election in line with the agreed constitutional amendments.

Second:
• The armed forces are committed to shepherding the legitimate demands of the people and strives with firmness and accuracy to ensure their implementation within a definitive timetable until the realization of a peaceful transition that produces the democratic society to which people aspire.

Third:
• The armed forces stress that there will be no detention of the honorable sons of the nation who rejected corruption and demanded reform.
• It [Egypt's military] stresses the importance of resuming work at government's services, the return of normal life in order to preserve the interests and the achievements of our great people.

5:40pm Alaa Abdel Fatah says that the army have now given up and are letting the protesters control the flow of people around the state television building.

Sounds like Mubarak just stepped down!

He did!

This guy!

Suleiman just gave a very brief announcement of it. Mubarak may have left Cairo for Sharm el-Sheik already.

Aaaaaaaannnnnddddddd.... gone!

can i just wow

"Mubarak may have left Cairo for Sharm el-Sheik already." <~ Yes, he did.

this fucking guy

Noodle Vague isn't here, so can I just speak for him, "Mubarak? Get tae fuck!"

Incredible scenes at Tahrir Square... Huge celebrations.

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcShn3GhWYfSvThm3Ha_5WvcUo9h7sabxJOndRazIacPKURRZFOVXQ

good news everyone!

!

details??????

wow

You just never know whether you're coming or going with these brutal dictators

l8r

or if, in fact, anything has changed 'cept the occupant yet.

xp

sort of maximum humiliation, isn't it? like less than 24 hrs after saying "i'm staying"

details??????

Mubarak gone, army in charge, that's all we know

incredible scenes on al jaz atm http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

He just fled the capital, he didn't abdicate. imo

now is suleiman going to go as well?

Vice-President Suleiman: "In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate, citizens, during these very difficult circumstances Egypt is going through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down from the office of president of the republic and has charged the high council of the armed forces to administer the affairs of the country. May God help everybody."

oh, ok, he did then. thanks!

xpost -- "...especially me."

curious how (if) this will ripple throughout the "region".

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wowowowowow!

otm

now is suleiman going to go as well?

From what they just said on TV, it sounds like his position no longer exists - that the Speaker becomes the (temporary) President. (Unless he was the Speaker)

i mean everything i've read suggests the army was lining up for a coup if dude didn't peace, and i think m got spooked and peaced

and suleiman is just like 'guys, you guys'

http://grab.by/8U1g

how have i ONLY JUST REALISED that tahrir means liberation? o_0

http://grab.by/8U1l

http://grab.by/8U1n

http://grab.by/8U1u

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/1/30/1233320352390/Andrei-Arshavin-002.jpg

Watching Al Jazeera right now is *goosebumps*

http://grab.by/8U1Q

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/1/30/1233320352390/Andrei-Arshavin-002.jpg

― Death and Taxis (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Friday, 11 February 2011 16:21 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

can't be said enough

al-j stream down for me

someone yesterday was insisting to me that if mubarak falls, egypt will either collapse into chaos or into an even more aggressive, brutal, and now anti-west/anti-israel, dictatorship. hoping neither prediction is true, obv.; but this will be a tense transition.

http://grab.by/8U20