Presidential Politics
tomierna
(Admin)
– December 07, 2007 09:43PM
Every election is the most important one.
tomierna
(Admin)
– February 03, 2011 04:00AM
Hideously Unnatural
I used to live next door to Mr. Bennett. He's a pretty fantastic guy.
John Willoughby
– February 03, 2011 07:37AM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
Oh, the cartoon author. I thought that you meant
Tony Bennett for a moment.
ddt
– February 07, 2011 12:35PM
I had no idea the tea party was getting some of their background instruction from
such crazies as the Christian Identity Movement. Scary shit.
ddt
John Willoughby
– February 10, 2011 10:29AM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
Mubarak's half an hour late to a broadcast that he himself scheduled.
tliet
– February 10, 2011 11:04AM
He's not leaving, curious to see how things unfold the coming hours.
porruka
(Admin)
– February 10, 2011 11:07AM
Yeah, I think it's going to be a *really* interesting few upcoming days in Egypt.
John Willoughby
– February 10, 2011 12:10PM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
They were already picking Friday as the day of big protests anyway. I'm thinking that "big" just became "cataclysmic."
From the
BBC:
Robert Danin from the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington tells the BBC World Service: "It seems to me that behind the scenes there must be some sort of power play taking place between the military and the president. It's really quite bizarre that the president would stand up, especially on a Thursday night, and essentially antagonise the crowd on the eve of a Friday, traditionally the most volatile day for protests in the Arab world. So tomorrow's going to be quite a day I expect."
Military expert Ali Shukri from Oxford University tells the BBC World Service he thinks the army is siding with the government and intends to "support President Mubarak totally to the end. I think we are approaching a moment when the army will have to make a real choice on the ground."
John Willoughby
– February 10, 2011 12:21PM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
The BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen sums up a fast-moving few house [sic]: There was a meeting of the army's high command without the president or vice president, and afterwards they issued a communique saying they would safeguard the wishes of the people. It seemed very much like the army had taken control of the country - indeed that is how it was written up by some people. But Mr Mubarak is a military man, he has connections there. And it seems like army may not be speaking with one voice at the moment.
johnny k
– February 10, 2011 12:34PM
Quote
John Willoughby
It's really quite bizarre that the president would stand up, especially on a Thursday night, and essentially antagonise the crowd
This indicates that he is just deluding himself. He has no moves left. He probably had a chance at staying til September if he had been responsive at the beginning. The "resignation" overpromise of the speech would've been a smart thing for anti-government groups to seed, because Mubarak is consistently underdelivering.
John Willoughby
– February 10, 2011 12:37PM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
This is scary, coming from ElBaradei:
Mohamed ElBaradei tweets: "Egypt will explode. Army must save the country now."
John Willoughby
– February 10, 2011 12:45PM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
CNN's Ivan Watson tweets: "Sameh Shoukry, Egyptian Ambassador to US on CNN: Mubarak "transferred all powers under the constitution to the Vice President."
Mubarak really could have made that clearer, if that's true.
porruka
(Admin)
– February 10, 2011 12:53PM
Even if true, ceding control to the VP does nothing but antagonize the protesters. Suileman is widely seen as just as bad (if not worse). All the rhetoric I've been seeing (biased, I'm sure) seems to indicate that nothing short of "throw the bums out" is going to be effective (although I suppose "burn the square to the ground" might work too - depending on which angle is considered working - until it refilled with people)
John Willoughby
– February 10, 2011 12:57PM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
Robert Springborg, from the US Naval Postgraduate School tells Reuters Egypt's leaders are desperate men. He says: "The speeches tonight are not intended to bring an end to the crisis in a peaceful way but to inflame the situation so there is justification for the imposition of direct military rule. They are risking not only the coherence of the military, but even indeed - and I use this term with advisement here - civil war."
I wondered if he was trying to provoke the crowd. Clearly something's going on; what with the confusing speech followed by contradictory and ambiguous statements from officials.
Tony Leggett
(Moderator)
– February 10, 2011 02:35PM
Divide & conquer - it's worked in the past...
tliet
– February 10, 2011 07:24PM
If things are not actively being stirred up by pro Mubarak thugs, things will probably stay 'normal'. For some reason, the protesters seem to be smart enough not the provoke huge outbursts of violence, they are probably aware of the fact that this will only help the regime.
johnny k
– February 10, 2011 09:31PM
Yeah, I've been amazed that the protesters are pretty disciplined across the board. Indicates how deep the communication/coordination through social media or otherwise runs. Best of luck to them tomorrow.
tliet
– February 11, 2011 07:06AM
Well, that was quick. So, what country will be next?
John Willoughby
– February 11, 2011 07:24AM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
Yemen.
ddt
– February 11, 2011 09:04AM
There was an interesting Planet Money podcast recently about the Egyptian army (have already heard this called a "military coup"). The army is intertwined with consumer products -- they make cars, washing machines, manage seaside resorts! Seems not so much as socialist production, but a jobs program... and kind of cute. The point is: the military there is so intertwined with middle-class consumer populations that it's not just potentially a ruling junta.
ddt
John Willoughby
– February 11, 2011 09:23AM
Homo Sapiens Sedentarius
I want them to bring back the monarchy. Not the monarchy of Farouk and Fuad, but the Pharoahs. With or without Sam the Sham.
