Mubarak to Leave Office. Now What?
The word is, Mubarak is going to step down tonight, after speaking to the Egyptian people at 6:30 PM GMT.
Now what?
Go slow, says Max Boot in Contentions:
Better to go slow where elections are concerned but to go fast in matters of individual liberty. Open up the public space, let a thousand opinions be hashed out, a thousand parties organize, a thousand media outlets start up — and then go the voting booth. But not before.
Go fast, says the NYSE. Stocks are up on the news.
And meanwhile, Iran cracks down. From the Guardian:
Iran has put opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi under house arrest after he called for renewed street protests against the government, his son told the Guardian.
The move came after thousands of Iranians sympathetic to the opposition green movement joined social networking websites to promote demonstrations on Monday in solidarity with protesters in Egypt and Tunisia.
Let's hope the anemic response the Obama administration delivered during the last Iranian uprising isn't rerun for the next one. This administration is making a habit of appearing lost, late, and flat-footed.
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Mubarak to Leave Office. Now What?
It's a coup. Do we really think that Mubarak has been in charge of the military lately? My guess is he ceased being in charge the moment he announced his intention not to seek another term. The generals, given his age, were jockeying for position already, and here we are.
I know these things, being all Delphic and stuff.
While a continuing military dictatorship in Egypt is sort of a wash regarding US interests (if we don't got the world on a string, we at least got the Egyptian army on one), an aggressive mullocracy in Iran is dangerously antithetical. At long last, sir, do something.
Oct '10
Re: Mubarak to Leave Office. Now What?
But hang on, wasn't this administration born of a great internet-powered Hope & Change revolution that had mastered the new technologies of Twitter and Facebook to harness a youth-heavy grass-roots yearning to be free in the service of a brighter future for all?
Jan '11
Re: Mubarak to Leave Office. Now What?
But they're getting so good at being a day late and a dollar short. You want them to quit now, after they've put so much practice into it?