No sentence beginning with those words ever ended well.
Yeah, revolution isn’t going to solve Yemen’s problems. It’s either going to be an impoverished dictatorship or an impoverished anarchy. Hard to imagine democracy taking hold in those economic conditions.
On the other hand “impoverished and much-hated dictatorship” isn’t a bad description of the status quo, with bonus ineptitude adn weakness. Absent hard-liner Islamists seizing power, it would seem difficult for a new government to be anything other than an improvement.
I just saw on Tv that Mubarek’s family landed in England with 97 pieces of luggage.
Ah, so they’re travelling light.
How many were gym bags stuffed with bullion? That’s traditional, in these circumstances.
They ship that ahead . Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island acct, . I wonder if we would just send the checks directly to the accounts?
Go Yemen!
Shades of 1989! I’m starting to get excited!
It’s prayer day tomorrow, we’ll find out how hard the Brothers are going to go at this rebellion thing then. America are still backing the Egyptian government although the rhetoric has altered. Before Ben Ali fled we were officially “not taking sides” between the dictatorship and the unarmed demonstrators. Now we’re supporting the government on the understanding that we believe it’s going to come up with the kind of reforms that the Egyptian people want. And that’s fair enough, after all if the Mubarak regime symbolises anything it symbolises democratic reform. We didn’t come out for the Tunisian demonstrators until Ben Ali was on a plane to Saudi and it looks like we’re going to do the same thing here.
The demonstrators are chanting “O Mubarak, Saudi Arabia is waiting for you.” 
Would the Saudis even offer Mubarak sanctuary? Egypt’s been seen, to the best of my knowledge, as Israel’s stooge since Camp David. It was a probable reason for Sadat’s assassination, and Mubarak has kept up that kind of neutrality toward Israel…they were cooperating on isolating Gaza, for instance.
Apparently the internet and sms in Egypt has just been disrupted.
I know these guys can’t say what they really think, but it still disturbs me that Biden said, in response to whether or not Mubarak should go or not, that: He should begin to move towards making some of the reforms that some of the protesters are asking for. I paraphrased that, but I don’t think I distorted it at all.
Jeez, that’s almost as bad as what Bush Sr told the Lithuanians when they were on the verge of breaking away from the USSR.
What should he have said?
What should he have said?
Mubarak should set a date for democratic elections.
We support the right of Lithuanians to govern themselves free of domination from the Soviet Union.
Are we sure we even want that to happen, if Islamists might win them?
What would have been the point of saying that at the time?
Yeah he should of said that, however, in the Soviet times, it would of given the Soviet leadership the rationale to suppress it as it seemed the US was inciting minorities to uprise against the state.
I doubt many people realise such a tightrope people in power have to walk in regards to situations like this.
Mubarak setting a date for democratic elections is an Oxymoron. Mubarak is the obstacle to democratic elections.
Not at that time. The USSR was falling apart at the seams, and Bush was behind the curve.
If wants to end up like Ceausescu, he can dig in deeper.
I know he was behind it, what I’m implying is that although the USSR was on its last legs, he couldn’t put himself into a position where they could identify ethnic unrest and independence movements with the US president, as for Mubarak, I think he will survive, because his government is a patriarchy.
Uncertain. He apparently still has the support of the police. It remains to be seen if the army is on-side.
(I hope he’s remembered to choose the “purchase an escape helicopter” option at least once.)