I’d love to see the Chinese reaction to all this
It would be too inscrutable to notice.
What are the prospects, now, for bringing down Assad?
My impression is that the Syrian regime is tighter with the army. Meaning ‘not good’.
Sure it does. A bunch of countries have experienced successive military coups. Nigeria had a string in the '60s and another string in the '80s.
The Chinese government is probably safe as long as the economy keeps growing at this pace. It’s hard to think about revolution when you have to think about what model of car to buy next. If there’s a serious recession, things may happen.
Such extraordinary scenes. It’s not over yet as mentioned and we will have to see how the new military-led leadership handles the transition but I think it’s unlikely that there will another authoritarian regime. If the military wanted to crush the demonstrators they would have done so and if they try to grab power, there will certainly be huge demonstrations again. I also don’t think the US will tolerate a military takeover. I suspect that the the Obama administration has played a huge role in this whole story behind the scenes, and ultimately I think Obama prefers a democratic Egypt.
…I’m not sure that describing this transition as a “coup” is very accurate, though. The army is in charge now and we might say the army was the fulcrum around which events turned, but the force on the lever was applied by the people in the streets.
Right. It’s like, you know, intramural sports.
Very similar to the Philippines’ “people power” revolution, but with no Cory Aquino figure.
(I wonder how many pairs of shoes Suzanne Mubarak has.)
So, when is the new leadership going to repeal the Emergency Law?
I thought they already repealed it last night
Meanwhile, the Iranian opposition is calling for a march in Tehran next week and the government has already made some arrests.
o/ Now you never did see such a wonderful thing as was seen last night on TV . Maybe if we're lucky they will show it again, such a wonderful thing to see. There's nothing you can do when you're the next in line, You've got to go, Domino. o/
It was all they had to turn to. The police have been the thugs for Mubarak. The elected officials have been essentially political appointees by Mubarak. There are no institutions in place that represent the interests of the people.
The army apparently did not fire on the rioters the last 2 weeks. That did not go unnoticed. Some joined the crowds.
I wait to see what flavor this change takes. There are plenty of ambitious people who will attempt to take power. Ruthless politicians will see a vacuum they can fill. The concept of a fair election relies on establishing an orderly and legal electoral process. It is starting from the ground.
The Chinese reaction, so far, is that they’re censoring news of this rebellion.
One has to wonder why. (Being facetious here.)
Say, what about Libya? (Seems nobody even talks about Libya since the Reagan years.) How stable is Qaddafi’s regime these days?
One can only hope. The people of Iran deserve freedom.
An attempt to use social media to get a rally going apparently “fell flat” last week. Still there are some changes being made. Restrictions on social media are being loosened some and Assad has promised various reforms preemptively.
There’s still a long hard road ahead, but I’m very glad Tahrir did not become synonymous with Tiananmen.