Some interesting news that I meet with cautious optimism.
Video: the moment of truth via Fox News Insider:
The statement of the Vice President of Egypt:
Full statement from 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.”
Make no mistake, this was a Military Coup.
You can watch the live coverage Here, Here, and Here.
Of course, the stupid idiots on the left are giving President Obama the credit. (H/T HotAir.com)
Great news for the administration/president. People will remember , despite some fumbles yesterday, that the President played an excellent hand, walked the right line and that his statement last night was potentially decisive in brining this issue to a close. The situation remains complicated and delicate going forward, but this is a huge affirmation of the President’s leadership on the international stage.
Oh Brother. Talk about spinning like a top! 🙄 Yeah, President Obama did it; by being behind the curve, the point of looking like a total buffoon? Please.
Either way, this is a much historic day in Egypt. I simply look at it with cautious optimism. I just hope it goes well; and that Egypt does not turn into another Iran. — and believe you me; it could very well happen. I like to think that it would not; seeing that Egypt is a secular Country. However, where evil gathers; things happen.
President Obama will be delivering a message; of course, and when it becomes available on video. I will post it here. Update #3: Still waiting on that. See below…
Update: Video: Happy people tend to be bit noisy!:
Some depressing news, it isn’t going to get much better in Egypt:
As in many undemocratic countries, the military is more than just the military. Egypt’s officer corps is said to own or operate vast networks of commercial enterprises, including water, construction, cement, olive oil, the hotel and gasoline industries—in all, about one-third of the country’s economy—as well as vast chunks of seaside property…
The army’s material interests don’t mesh so well with the premises of a thriving middle-class society. And the absence of such a society—the combination of large numbers of well-educated young people and few jobs to suit their talents—has no doubt fueled these last two weeks of protest.
That same WikiLeaks cable from the U.S. embassy in Cairo reported that the military views efforts at privatization “as a threat to its economic position, and therefore generally opposes economic reforms.” To the extent the military does retain power in Egypt, the people’s “rising expectations” may be frustrated, regardless of the outcome of this current clash. Whatever happens in the coming days and weeks, Egypt, once the emblem of Arab stability, might be locked in the dynamics of revolution for a long time to come.
…and even more depressing news:
The practical demands of the protesters seem fairly simple: end the state of emergency, hold new elections, and grant the freedom to form parties without state interference. But these demands would amount to opening up the political space to everyone across Egypt’s social and political structure. That would involve constitutional and statutory changes, such as reforming Egypt as a parliamentary rather than a presidential system, in which a freely elected majority selects the prime minister (who is now appointed by the president). These changes would wipe away the power structure the army created in 1952 and has backed since.
A freely elected parliament and a reconstituted government would weaken the role of the presidency, a position the military is likely to try to keep in its portfolio. Moreover, open elections could hand the new business elites power in parliament where they could work to limit the role of the army in the economy. This would put the army’s vast economic holdings — from the ubiquitous propane cylinders that provide all Egyptian homes with cooking gas to clothing, food, and hotels — in jeopardy. Moreover, the army has always preferred that the country be orderly and hierarchical. It is uncomfortable with the growing participatory festival on the streets and, even if the officers were to tolerate more contestation than their grandfathers did in the 1950s, they would likely try to limit participation in politics to those whose lives have been spent in the military by retaining the system of presidential appointment for government ministers.
Sigh…
Update #2: Now they’re saying that the Army threatened to bolt, if Mubarak did not quit:
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AllahPundit, about the above says:
A mystery solved, maybe: Richard Engel claims that senior Egyptian military leaders expected Mubarak to quit yesterday and were “furious” when he didn’t, going so far as to threaten to resign and join the protests if he didn’t do so today. True, or self-serving spin after the fact aimed at proving that they were on the people’s side all along? The rumor yesterday was that Mubarak’s speech was pre-recorded; if that’s true, then if the military disapproved of it, presumably they could have stopped it from airing. I still like my “trial balloon” theory from way up top in this post better.
Actually, both could be the case. The President could have made that video to test the waters; and when he saw it did not work, he bolted. Plus, during that time, the Army could have simply said “get out!” It could have been a mutual decision. The truth is, I highly doubt that we will ever know what really happened; at least not for a very long time.
Just my opinion. 😛
Also too; I will confess; I am shocked that he resigned. I figure that Mubarak would hang on and we would continue to prop him up, to keep the Saudi’s from doing it. I guess not! Maybe the pressure was just too much.
Update #3: Here’s the video, But I must ask, as the Anchoress did on twitter: Where was this speech when the Green Revolution first got going in Iran? Update #4: After writing that, I had a little time to think about it; and besides the oil thing, which I wrote about below, there is also another reason why Obama did not engage with Iran, like he did Egypt. The reason is this; put simply, we do not have normalized relations with Iran, like we do Egypt. We have not had that sort of a thing, since the Carter Administration. So, being that the case; there was not much Obama could do, without causing an uproar; that would have resulted in Oil and Gas prices going through the roof — of which the Republican Party would have blamed him for, like they have done about everything else. 😀 Sorry, it is the truth. Not popular among those on the right, but just the same, quite true.
There’s one answer to that; Oil — That’s right oil. If we had done the same thing in Iran. That Strait of Hormuz would have been shut down so quick; and the price of a barrel of oil would have sky rocketed, and our gas prices would have went through the roof. That is why President Obama did nothing more than they did in Iran.
For all of President Obama’s faults, one main one being his politics —- being an uninformed idiot is not one of them. I am all for Iran having Freedom, but not at the cost of gas going to 8 dollars a gallon.