Update: They already had an Egypt post on the cover by the time I wrote this, and as of right now it don't look like Mubarak's going anywhere.
Update #2 (courtesy of the one and only Zumalicious): Mubarak is no longer the president of Egypt. He has handed his authority under article 82 of the Egyptian constitution to Vice President Suleiman. Per Egyptian Ambassador Sameh Shoukry to Wolf Blitzer on CNN. At 2:30 PST. Talk about a fluid situation.
Update #3: No one knows what's going on.
Update #4: Mubarak isn't going anywhere voluntarily.
Only a week after the besieged protesters in Tahrir Square seemed on the verge of defeat, there are reports that President Hozni Mubarak may have ceded power to the Egyptian military and will be announcing his resignation later today.
The situation is still fluid and impossible to predict, but with Mubarak gone one of the core demands of the protest movement will have been met. In recent days the demonstrations have been spreading, and in a development which must have been very worrisome to the regime, government employees and others have gone on strike, demanding better working conditions and pay and an end to corruption and nepotism. It seems possible that the strikes were the final straw for the military and other previously staunch Mubarak supporters. Faced with the prospect of continued and widening demonstrations with all the chaos that would entail, they may have said "Mr. President, it's time for you to go." That's only speculation right now, but regardless, Hozni Mubarak appears to be out.
None of this means democracy is breaking out immediately - or even at all, to be perfectly honest - but it's still an astonishing development, given that a couple weeks ago the forces of repression and stagnation held all the cards. My hat is off to the brave thousands who came out and fought - and bled - for change. Their courage and dignity in the face of long odds has been inspiring to watch, and is something they can be rightly proud of. Let's hope for a swift and smooth transition to meaningful, positive change in the coming weeks and to a better future for all Egyptians.
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
ccdarling
elegant mistake
DiBi
l'Heure Bleue
scottcvoss
Sirenita Lake
Salon.com
Comments
It's not necessarily ideal Trig, but it does satisfy the core demand of the folk in Tahrir Square, that Mubarak step down.
huzzah for organic democracy.
Sarah, anything, including any number of bad things, could happen at this stage.
But this can't get an EP while you have some jackass illegally taping the Super Bowl...
but,
as you say, the forces of repression have
lessened their cold IronAge grip
and
"The situation is still fluid and impossible to predict"
best you ever ever say about a situation,
i have found
The BBC does seem to have a fairly good angle compared to what I watch on say CNN, Frog News and Euronews but we're not being told the whole truth yet either.
p.s. The UK is not in Europe - don't beleive the maps either.
Damn you my friend, my brother by another mother, father and illegal abortion that went horribly wrong, you should already know, YOU'RE ON THE BLACKLIST, so am I.
I thought Harry's Ghost was too, but, well, sometimes us cats can suck up with the best of them, be all purring, and rubbing up against a person's leg till they finally go, AHHHHH, WHAT A CUTE KITTY!!!!
I'm still not sure stepping down from power is ever a good thing. Leaves too many unanswered questions such as, "What WILL that cold front do, go left, go right? What?" and "Do you think the Justin Beiber 3-d Bio-pic will be TOTALLY AWESOME!!!??" and "Do the kids still say TOTALLY AWESOME?"
I'm not sure.
Military leaders are sometimes good, they can bring in tanks, planes, nukes, the typical peace keeping stuff, and control the people or give them death or freedom to wash their clothes with whatever bleach they want.
Whereas a Front Man Political System can be good too. Every election time, you know who you're getting, the same dictator who raped your mom and sister, killed your father, and sodomized you with a ground to air missile.
There's elections but you know, beyond a reasonable doubt, who will win.
Sort of like the Bush Jr. years only he had to stop at 8 years.
Could you imagine 30 years of Bush Jr. as our prime instable winner of the presidential election?
I know, it'd be awesome!! BUSH 4 LIFE!!!!
my next post.
I'm so happy. Thank you Tink! What's up with the black list?
I don't think passing the reigns over to his VP is going to help.
rated with hugs
Trig, don't forget the type o' dong, I mean Type O Dong, the North Koreans have. That thing was made for Medium Range Ground to Ground Sodomy and it doesn't even give a reach-around. Luckily it tends to ejaculate before reaching its target.
Linda, we're not even sure he's done that exactly. He has delegated presidential authority to the VP but he will remain on as president 'til the elections. It's about as clear as mud.
You're right Matt; Suleiman is more of the same. Baby steps for now; violent revolution if necessary.
I just know that every so often, they should publish that list, be like, IT'S THE BEGINNING OF THE MONTH --- HERE'S THE LIST---- LIFE TIME MEMBERS: TINK, TRIG, NANA, REMAINING MEMBERS OF THE ORIGINAL GUTTER KREW, EXCEPT CAP'N WHEN HE WRITES ABOUT MORMON SEX.....
~TEARS~ :D
You're welcome by the way, being sodomized by any kind of missile is a deep and serious subject!! ~nodding~ I can't wait to read it!! ~TEARS~
nana, you know, I'm not sure. That's another good list to publish. "WHO YOU HAVE TO LICK TO GET NOTICED!" I know who you have to bite to get on the Black List. Kerry, Joan, Emily and the guy who publishes those rave movie reviews.
Man, bite one of them and for YEARS you're on the List.
Well, I haven't bitten Emily yet. I have fears she might like it and well, that just adds sooooo much more to the picture. Everybody be like, "You know the reason Tink's now favorite blogger on here!"
"Why?"
"He bit the Ed I Tor!! Gawd, who knew she liked being bit by bi-sexual kitty cats?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"
TEARS!!
By the way, I'm not watching the news or the development in Egypt, but I'm going to guess, right now, some camels are being showcased in the square!
Am I right?
I love camels. In that special, illegal in most states except Texas, where it's a whole different country!! Weird, I know.
Scanner, it may come down to bloodshed. Once the army starts shooting all bets are off.
And Margaret, the new paradigm is posts with UFO sighting videos. I can make one of those in my basement right now and *bam* I'm walking off with the Pulitzer Prize. I love this place!
Camel fucking, in New York, is considered a wonderful topic to blog about.
And where is the main station of Ed I Tors the world over?
NEW YORK!!!!
(Sometimes California, but as we both know, EVERYTHING is open for discussion and participation in California!!!!!!!)
So go out, hump a three humper(rare but lovely!!) and then get pics, throw a reference of Justin Bieber in there as well.
Ed LOVES the Bieber.
Also, if you get sodomized by a gerbil, you can add that in for extra bonus points.
If you don't get EPed and Covered then my friend, welcome to the bestest club on Open,
I'M A CAT, NO HOPE FOR ME, AS ED HATES CATS!! ALLERGIC TO THEM OR SOMETHING.
Maybe was sodomized(I like using that word!! Teehee!) by a cat in a previous life, possibly as pharaoh of Egypt.
SEE? All links back to Egypt!!!
And possibly, Duluth!!!
Speaking of gerbils, it looks like Moobarick is trying to have it both ways - 'step down', but retain the essential power.....or, if absolutely necessary, turn it over to a virtual clone... I keep dreading to turn on the news each morning, but I think tomorrow morning will be the scariest.......
BUT THAT WAS A ONE-TIME THING. (And it was dead. And cooked.)
Though, for a price, you can get someone to kill one in front of you and rub its guts and stuff all over you...to tell your fortune.
A versatile little creature, evidently.
(Watching CNN and Al Jazz. Big BIG protest expected tomorrow. Hope they all don't end up like guinea pig No. 3.)
And Jeff, in Kan-saw, the state where evolution has been disproven, aren't gerbils what everyone's encouraged to use as an alternative to celibacy? Only a matter of time before people would start getting creative.
There's a lesson in that for all of us.
It's true Maragaret, God doesn't like fornication but gerbiling is alright in His eyes. Amen.
Major Mojo, whatever happens, it's been an inspiring thing to watch.
Fred, everything I ever needed to know I learned from listening to Don McLean albums.
Sheila, absolutely, it's a long way from over. Let's hope it doesn't get ugly before it gets better.
Loriannnnnne! Inspired by your example I think I'm going to get into the custom jewelry field, or something similar. I'm good with metal and I've got a basement full of work tables and equipment I need to put to use. If I do get something going I may end up asking you for a pointer or three.
And Z, some days I feel the same way. Still, there are a lot of good people here or I wouldn't bother with it. Where else can a person win the Pulitzer prize for making fake Israeli UFO videos in their back yard?
Re-reading this comment, I see that the operative words are "may" and "might" and "could." What a crazy situation.
Tom, that's as accurate a thumbnail analysis as anything I've seen or read in the last several hours. There's a lot of confusion but one thing is certain; one way or another the army will be the final arbiter, and despite how it may look from CNN the army isn't a monolithic entity.
Has anyone talked about the constitutional position of the military and who is leading it? With whom does the military leader align himself? Mubarak, Sulieman, the people or the constitution?
But, I agree with you that the Egyptian people are to be commended! Let's just hope a better future comes of this.
I'm sick of the blame Obama for proton storms and everything else attitude. He's just not the showboating kind of president that Americans like to have. And where's Hillary? What has she done?
Zuma, I've seen nothing in OS that discusses the Egyptian constitution, but I've learned a little about it the last couple weeks, mainly as it pertains to their president, for instance, that if Mubarak steps down it requires elections within 60 days, which is one of the excuses he's giving for staying on, that 60 days isn't enough time for a stable transfer, especially given that the only people organized politically are the NDP and the Muslim Brotherhood. It doesn't surprise me though that things are set up so the military is answerable to no one; they've been in charge over there for fifty years.
Delia, the prez is getting flak from both the American left and the American right, and from both the protesters and the Mubarak regime. That tells me he may be taking just about the right approach; he's got a damn skinny tightrope to walk. And you DEFINITELY need to get your peeps from your other FB to join OS en masse. That will be a party to end all parties, or a series of vicious flame wars to end all vicious flame wars. As W once said, bring 'em on! ;-)
Good question, Zuma; where HAS Hillary been the last few days?
I was just thinking about how both of the political extremes in America are finding fault with one president! Obama is doing fine by staying in the middle, because the vast majority of us are there: We are focusing on serious and major matters, not on the singular obsessions of the extreme ends of the social spectrum, even if we agree with them.
The guy is the Rodney Dangerfield of presidents: he don't get no respect! But much of it is his fault. He is too elitist and academic and simply refuses to get it that he has to give the people their bread-and-circus showboating leader too.
Also, it would be fun to have some new trolls and flame wars! The ones we have are boring and idiots. We need new talent.
I'm done...nitey nite!
And I agree; we need new trolls. The incoherent gibbering from nutters like 28spirits, the racial slurs and Tea Party-style threats from the likes of Nutjob - "You're all gonna be kilt!" - and the "winkly-winkle" shtick from specimens like CaCa are getting pretty stale. Trolls with something interesting to say would be cool, though I suppose at that point they'd be actual humans instead of just noxious dipshits with computers.
I have no complaints about how President Obama has handled the crisis. He has restricted his public comments to anodyne, non-committal exhortations to non-violence. What's wrong with that? No doubt he has expressed his true intentions to Messrs. Mubarak and Suleiman by diplomatic envoy, just as any great statesman does, if he is wise. Rated.
Margaret, you tease you!! Promises promises!! Boohoohoo!! I waited all day for him to show up and sodomized me, but no, you know who showed up?
Bill Ray Cyrus.
He's nice, but ain't no Bieber, that's for sure and he kept asking if I would wear the Hannah Montana wig. What the hell????
I mean, I did, and charged him fifty bucks more....but that's for a different post in the very near future!
xenon taught me how to get EPs and Cover, you gotta call Kerry a 'Big fat bloated outdated system!!' and then he's like, "Hey, Emily, put em on the cover!!!! OH MY GAWD!!"
He's gotten very strange indeed since he left the Ed I Tor position of Open and ran over to Salon.com.
But then, Salon is beyond explanation. The few times I've gone over there, I was asked by nameless folks(also, I forgot their names!!!), "Would you like to be butt fucked by an Oscar winner?"
No, I would not!! I only get butt fucked by Grammy winners and maybe, the Screen Actor Guild!!!
Oscar winners? EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!
So what I'm trying to say is, "EGYPT IS FREE, LET THE BELLS RINGS, AND THE SODOMIZATION OF GERBILS COMMENCE!!! ALALALALALALALALALALALALA!!"
They don't really say ALALALALALALALALALALA! in Egypt but sometimes, they do, in Duluth!! Same difference, from what I've heard of both places.
More cocaine in Duluth. Better looking women too!!!
If I wasn't such a grand supporter of Fargo, I'd so move to Duluth!!!
Peace out!
We're hours ahead being on GMT so get to hear first ?
Hmmm.
Creekend, why didn't you tell me that before the Super Bowl?
Hi, V. Yeah, it's dance in the street time now, and if anyone deserves a celebration those people do. It's not every day you topple the most powerful dictator in the Arab world.