MSNBC is reporting that the Egyptian Army has issued a statement saying that Mubarak is to step down tonight.
Most recent information is that the Vice President is to take over. Not sure if that’s an improvement for the Egyptian people, but ye gods.
A military coup in all but name. But it bodes well for the Egyptian people, and the world.
Hopefully this means a transition to a Democratic government and not a theocracy. I have been fearful Egypt would go that direction instead.
I dunno. I kinda think they would’ve been better off just letting him hang on till the next election and then simply not running. Now his VP has two years to solidify his position to get re-elected and then take Mubarak’s place as de-facto dictator.
Where did you get the “two years” from? I didn’t see anything in the MSNBC story about when/whether elections are scheduled; I’d assume that barring another annoucement they’d go ahead with the September election already scheduled, at a minimum.
Definitely a positive develpment; definitely not sufficient in itself.
Where did you see he will be given two years?
My bad, I thought the regularly scheduled elections were in 2012. But in anycase, I think the chances for those elections being free and fair (assuming they still take place) would be better if there was no military backed incumbent.
Thanks for this! Watching now.
I pray we don’t eventually get another radical terrorist state out of this. The Egypt / Israeli border would go up like a tender box. WWIII.
I’m old enough to vaguely remember the constant tensions between those two countries.
An unstable Egypt is bad news. I hope, somehow they can avoid this.
From the Al Jazeera English story & liveblog, sounds like there are a lot of mixed signals going around, with the PM & the information minister claiming that he’s staying.
I just heard an Egyptian general interviewed (retired; not a member of the military council, but acquainted and in touch with them) who said that he thought they would be working toward having elections three or four months from now–even sooner than September. Also that constitutional reform and planning for those elections would be done by committees including military and civilian representatives.
Damn it Mubarak, get your ass on TV and quit already! The TV pundits are running out of things to vamp.
Jerkwad is trying to not quit.
Just like Joe Pa at Penn State, no he’s not stepping down. They will both leave feet first.
Joepa’s got a better record, to be fair.
That’s not fair. Mubarak’s record in bowls is absolutely terrible, and the guy doesn’t have a single national championship to his name.
On the other hand, JoePa wore those whale shoes for years.
He refused to step down, so what happens next?
True, true…Joepa’s got a much better record, let’s us be fair.
Then maybe they should go mum.
bonk The 60 second timeout should be sealed in a sarcophagus.
The radio station I was listening to said that tomorrow the protests could turn violent. At that point we would see whose side the military is really on.
On a side note, am I the only one when hearing the Egyptian vice president’s name who thinks of this song?