Mubarak to Step Down

[Rayaan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12421000

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak is to make an address on national television shortly, amid suggestions that he is preparing to step down.

The al-Arabiya TV network is reporting that he will transfer his powers to his deputy, Vice-President Omar Suleiman.

Edit: Apparently, he is NOT stepping down.

2nd Edit (one day later): Now, he DID resign. Hosni Mubarak resigns as president.

[downbeatplumb]

I have a bit of a concern how this popular revolution will turn out.
Irans didnt end up very well in the 70s.

[Anomalocaris]

Looks like the army will assume charge. The short term question is how secular the senior leadership of the army is, and how well it can maintain social order and defuse discontent. the longer term question is how will the army address the more fundamental issues causing the discontent, and resist any inroad by Islamic fundamentalists into its ranks.

I personally see little that can meaningfully be done in Egypt to address the fundamental problems causing the discontent. Basically, Egypt has no oil, no competitive industry, and no ready means to improve the standard of living of its population. In the years to come, the prices of grain, which is the proximal cause of the current unrest in Egypt, will not only trend up, but also become more volatile, as modernization in China and India both directly displace local agriculture, and make greater per-capita demand on the world's grain production to satisfy increasingly middle-class taste in food types.

I think social apoclypse in North African Islamic states is yet to come as these countries are unable to match the rising spending power and standards of living in India and China, and would thus see increasingly acute food crisis as they are priced out of the world grain market.

[Rayaan]

He just spoke live and he refused to resign until September. He's giving more power to his vice president Omar Suleiman.

Mubarak Refuses to Step Down:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/world/...egypt.html

[Minimalist]

Trouble coming.

[Ubermensch]

Sheeeit, ain't that the truth.

[Ashendant]

He talked too much and caused people to totally miss the point of his announcement

He now has 0 powers he gave all powers granted by the constitution to the vice president, he's now a seatwarmer so early elections aren't triggered

[Minimalist]

Apparently the VP is regarded as a hand-picked crony. I can see why this just pissed people off.

[Ashendant]

Apparently the VP is regarded as a hand-picked crony. I can see why this just pissed people off.

Well it was one of the requests of the protest...

The problem is that people missed the point that this transfer of powers, the VP is now the "de facto" President, he only misses 3 powers that the vice president can't have because the constitution doesn't let him, he cannot amend the constitution, dismiss the government, or dissolve the parliament, only the president can do that.

Since one of the requests of the people is to amend the constitution to give them more freedoms, Mubarak can't step down now.

However he tried to do a appeal to nationalism and forgot to actually say what actually happened and now we have a group of people protesting to demand what he has already done.

[Rayaan]

This is not what they wanted. Suleiman is the chief torturer in Egypt. There is no way that the Egyptians are this stupid to fall for this.

Suleiman has long been a part of the Egyptian military establishment, becoming deputy head of military intelligence under Mubarak in 1986, and the head of the agency seven years later. In the time since, Suleiman, whose views on a wide range of foreign policy issues closely resemble Mubarak’s, has been implicated as a torturer of prisoners and a clandestine puppet for the CIA (article).

More about him: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/...?track=rss