For those of us interested, Mubarak is expected to give a speech today at GMT 20:00. In other words, as of this writing, about 40-45 minutes from now. You can watch the speech live here.

At 2/10/11 12:43 PM, zephiran wrote:

At 2/10/11 11:01 AM, lapis wrote: Rumors are going around that Mubarak may announce his resignation within a few hours from now.

exciting !!!

I could've sworn he said he wasn't gonna.

And no indeed, after delivering a late speech Mubarak announced that he is not stepping down. People are rather angry about this, needless to say.

An unwise decision on his part.

Triple post.

I say they storm the palace!

All of this reminds me of a joke, to lighten the mood up a bit.

So Obama, Putin, and Mubarak are in a meeting when God comes down and says, "The world will end in 2 days. Alert your people."
Obama comes back to the States and gives a speech. "My fellow Americans, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that God exists. The bad news is that the world is going to end in 2 days."
Putin goes to Russia and gives his speech. "My comrades, I have bad news and worse news. The bad news is God exists, which means everything we've believed in the past century is wrong. The worse news is the world is going to end in 2 days."
Mubarak goes to Egypt and gives his speech. "Egyptians, I have good news, bad news, and worse news. The good news is that God exists. The bad news is the world is going to end in 2 days. The worse news is I will be your president until the end of time."

How dense is Mubarak? Seriously, get the fucking point!

I can probably tell that Mubarak has a death wish by not leaving now. Yeah, he gave away his presidental powers to VP Suleiman and others in his cabinet, but he is a pariah in his own country right now, and the longer Mubarak is still in Egypt, the worse things are going to get for him and for the rest of the country.

I don't even know what Mubarak is trying to prove by staying in Egypt, when the protesters are calling for his head, something tells me that Mubarak sealed his fate when he made that speech, saying that he is staying put. Not even the army can save his ass now, considering that they turned on him.

The only thing I can read from this is that perhaps Mubarak has some arrogant and/or desperate hope the protests will stop. That he can sit and wait, pray his VP is unpopular and/or engineer some situation where he can waltz back into power as a conquering hero.

This seems stupid as fuck to me of course, but the guy has been in power unchallenged basically for 30 years, I can't imagine it's easy to wrap one's mind around the idea that the gravy train has come to a stop.

At 2/10/11 11:03 PM, orangebomb wrote: I can probably tell that Mubarak has a death wish by not leaving now.

Pretty much this, and a tad of what Avie said. If there was a time for him to step down peacefully, it would of been today. Now Mubarak's put a price on his own head, with no one's fault but his own.

Of course, this wouldn't be the first opportunity Mubarak has messed up.

At 2/10/11 11:03 PM, orangebomb wrote: I can probably tell that Mubarak has a death wish by not leaving now.

Well, in his speech he DID say something along the lines of:

"In Egypt I was born and in Egypt I will DIE."

I believe a number of people would be happy to oblige and indulge him in his desires.

At 2/11/11 12:31 PM, lapis wrote: Lol, I just heard a piece of firework explode. Maybe I have Egyptians living in my neighbourhood.

http://www.youtube.com/aljazeeraenglish?
feature=ticker

Maybe you are. I've heard they're really happy now.

>: D

He did go.

Party tonight Egypt. Tomorrow the real work begins

I think the military should start talking with representatives from all walks of Egyptian life (Coptic Christan figureheads, ElBaradei, Wael Ghonim, maybe some moderate members of the Muslim Brotherhood, etc) and get to work on a new Constitution or some kind of other way to lay the groundwork for a transition to a state that will represent everyone.

At 2/11/11 02:57 PM, animehater wrote: I think the military should start talking with representatives from all walks of Egyptian life ... maybe some moderate members of the Muslim Brotherhood

The military should definitely talk with the entirety of the MB. The more Mb is involved, the less likely they will get the feeling of being marginalized and ingored. If the fear is that the MB will start to try to take power and become terrorist this will work two fold. First if they are included they will not feel the need, nor have the legitimate claim of being left out, to want to revolt. Secondly, we all know that groups that feel marginalized and left out are exponentially more likely to commit acts of terrorism.

In the likely case that the MB does not want to be violent or support violence in Egypt, I would highly suggest not giving them ,or anyone else for that matter, an excuse to turn to the dark side.

At 2/11/11 05:22 PM, Camarohusky wrote:

At 2/11/11 02:57 PM, animehater wrote: I think the military should start talking with representatives from all walks of Egyptian life ... maybe some moderate members of the Muslim Brotherhood

The military should definitely talk with the entirety of the MB. The more Mb is involved, the less likely they will get the feeling of being marginalized and ingored. If the fear is that the MB will start to try to take power and become terrorist this will work two fold. First if they are included they will not feel the need, nor have the legitimate claim of being left out, to want to revolt. Secondly, we all know that groups that feel marginalized and left out are exponentially more likely to commit acts of terrorism.

In the likely case that the MB does not want to be violent or support violence in Egypt, I would highly suggest not giving them ,or anyone else for that matter, an excuse to turn to the dark side.

Your pretty much are thinking what I'm thinking right here. Every walk of life in Egypt needs to be represented and have a say into the new government, so that way no one would get left out and marginalized to the point where they could get hostile. The military is the proverbial glue for the many groups in Egypt that keeps them together, and sort of act like moderators to make sure that everyone gets their say in.

Now, here's the whole meat and potatoes of the revolution lies, so to speak, it's the government that the people will choose after Suleiman gets out, and hopefully it will be a democratic government that arises from the old totalitarian order under Mubarak, and not a theoracy like what happen in Iran in 1979. It's clear that the military is going to play a huge part into the next government, and eventually into foreign policy down the road, after the government has been set up.

As for Mubarak, it's a good thing he got out of Cairo, otherwise he would've been a carcass floating down the Nile after those protesters get their hands on him.

%u062A%u0639%u0634 %u0645%u0635%u0631

I hope the Egyptians use this new found freedom and use it wisely and also hope Democratic movements spring up across the middle east especially Iran.

At 2/12/11 06:40 PM, SouthAsian wrote: I hope the Egyptians use this new found freedom and use it wisely and also hope Democratic movements spring up across the middle east especially Iran.

Don't forget Libya Syria, and Sudan.

At 2/12/11 06:40 PM, SouthAsian wrote: I hope the Egyptians use this new found freedom and use it wisely and also hope Democratic movements spring up across the middle east especially Iran.

Well let's just hope "Democratic movements" aren't the same as they were in Iraq LOL.

At 2/13/11 01:32 PM, Lorkas wrote: Well let's just hope "Democratic movements" aren't the same as they were in Iraq LOL.

Speaking of Iraq, maybe if democracy can truly take hold in Tunisia and Egypt they should also take part in spreading the revolution and aiding the protestors in neighboring countries, by force if needed.

How long would it take for a Tunisian/Egyptian military force to sweep through the Libyan coast anyhow?

Well let's just hope "Democratic movements" aren't the same as they were in Iraq LOL.

;;;
Or Afghanistan lol !

The military's disarming the Parliament and suspending the Constitution for 6 months while they rule.

I don't like the sound of this happening. Let's hope they can get a better government together soon.

At 2/13/11 03:25 PM, BrianEtrius wrote: The military's disarming the Parliament and suspending the Constitution for 6 months while they rule.

I don't like the sound of this happening. Let's hope they can get a better government together soon.

This sounds bad, but I am not afraid. Whenever massive changes are needed, the rules need to be cast aside so that entire restructuring can be done. I picture the military here as more of a bankruptcy trustee than a bad force.

At 2/13/11 04:04 PM, Camarohusky wrote: This sounds bad, but I am not afraid. Whenever massive changes are needed, the rules need to be cast aside so that entire restructuring can be done. I picture the military here as more of a bankruptcy trustee than a bad force.

I do think so too; I'm not saying bad things will occur, but there is a chance which if I were Egyptian I might worried about.

At 2/12/11 06:40 PM, SouthAsian wrote: I hope the Egyptians use this new found freedom and use it wisely and also hope Democratic movements spring up across the middle east especially Iran.

Egypt better not turn into a government that is run by Muslim extremists..

At 2/13/11 05:45 PM, Nasseus7 wrote: Egypt better not turn into a government that is run by Muslim extremists..

So long as this sentiment is backed up by the knowledge that a government based on Islam and a government run by Mulism extremists are two separate things.

At 2/13/11 03:25 PM, BrianEtrius wrote: The military's disarming the Parliament and suspending the Constitution for 6 months while they rule.

I don't like the sound of this happening. Let's hope they can get a better government together soon.

I think the people are in the right hands at the moment. It's clear to me that the military has no intention of controlling Egypt forever. Their refusal to forcibly remove protesters is a sign of good faith. The dissolving of the Parliament only seems necessary, considering it was packed with Mubarak supporters anyway.

Call me a naive optimist, but I have a feeling the Egyptian military have the people in mind.

At 2/13/11 03:25 PM, BrianEtrius wrote: The military's disarming the Parliament and suspending the Constitution for 6 months while they rule.

I don't like the sound of this happening. Let's hope they can get a better government together soon.

This really isn't that bad, assuming that the military doesn't turn against the people, which is extremely unlikely, considering that they had a lot of support and goodwill from the people and don't want to burn that bridge. Having a massive shift from Mubarak's rule to a democratic government will take time to set up and get all of the kinks out of the system, what with representives, constitution building, and whatnot.

Looks like Yemen is following Egypt's lead with protests against their leader, something tells me that freedom and democracy is slowly but surely taking over the Middle east, which has resisted such change for decades.

At 2/13/11 11:19 PM, orangebomb wrote:

::

Looks like Yemen is following Egypt's lead with protests against their leader, something tells me that freedom and democracy is slowly but surely taking over the Middle east, which has resisted such change for decades.

What a world this could be after freedom. I want to embrass it, but im cautious.

At 2/13/11 07:15 PM, Camarohusky wrote:

At 2/13/11 05:45 PM, Nasseus7 wrote: Egypt better not turn into a government that is run by Muslim extremists..

So long as this sentiment is backed up by the knowledge that a government based on Islam and a government run by Mulism extremists are two separate things.

The Biggest Opposition is The Muslim Brotherhood. They will be licking their chops at the prospect of an election in 6 months and based in their history I'd suspect them of wanting to turn Egypt into an Islamist state.

A change of regime doesn't really mean freedom. The people of Egypt could democratically vote for a totalitarianesque regime to take power.

At 2/13/11 11:14 PM, Korriken wrote:

open the door and they will walk in. allowing for open elections will let in the extremists and if enough of them get elected, all hell could break loose.... luckily the egyptian military seems to be willing to smack around its own government.

a government based on religion is fated to fall to corruption, unless a lot of safeguards get put in the constitution and the military backs up those safeguards.

America's government is mostly Christian. As long as we have free will, it would not corrupt.