John Hinderaker at Powerline offered this writing regarding the ‘street festivities’ presently taking place in many of the cities of Egypt. I am guessing that Mubarek will be retired and his son retired with him. Beyond that I expect more trouble for Israel stemming from the penchant in the Near East for Islamists to hate somebody.
I believe what I have learned….that the power in Egypt rests with the military. Hosni Mubarek has by military authority been the leader of Egypt since 1981 following the assassination of Anwar Sadat. It is likely Mr. Mubarek will move on, but the military will stay.
Unfortunately, the United States is almost always caught siding with stability in the world, which usually is provided by dictators of one kind or another (except the Marxist ones……with some exceptions). The reason arises from the reality that there is so little in “peaceful Islam” that resembles tolerance to say nothing about democratic institutions.
The Jerusalem Post and the Associated Press are reporting that “[a]s protests continued into the night, Egyptian authorities were holding talks to establish a ‘transitional government.’” Huge news if true. The same sources say that the headquarters of Mubarak’s ruling party in Cairo are on fire.
The administration continues to try to keep up with events; Secretary of State Clinton made public remarks about Egypt today:
As President Obama said yesterday, reform is absolutely critical to the well being of Egypt. Egypt has long been an important partner of the United States on a range of regional issues. As a partner, we strongly believe that the Egyptian Government needs to engage immediately with the Egyptian people in implementing needed economic, political, and social reforms. We continue to raise with the Egyptian Government, as we do with other governments in the region, the imperative for reform and greater openness and participation to provide a better future for all. We want to partner with the Egyptian people and their government to realize their aspirations to live in a democratic society that respects basic human rights.
This has, I think, the tone of trying to join the winning team after the fact. In reality, we are pretty much irrelevant to the events that are unfolding.
UPDATE: Pajamas Media reports:
Egyptian Parliament Speaker Ahmad Fathi Sorour appeared on state TV and said: “An important matter will be announced shortly.” No further details.
Filed under: Economics and Finance, Foreign Affairs and News
