After steadfastly refusing to be winkled out of his seat, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has resigned, leaving the Egyptian military in charge of that country.
Huh.
My Prediction For the Day: In five years — ten at the most — the Egyptian people will look back with considerable nostalgia and longing upon the Good Old Days of Mubarak’s reign.
LawDog
I hope you're wrong, but I fear you are right. Even worse, I think much of the world will be looking back at the Mubarek days with longing.
Would it be premature to have T shirts made with his picture and "Do you miss me yet?" on them?
Just wondering.
The question that I've been asking again and again: WHO will be the next in power?
Hey, a President who declared a State Of Emergency thirty years ago has got to go. Sadat was assassinated in 1980, and that was his excuse for that declaration.
(I was on a trip with my dad, who was en route to compete in the IPSIC nationals in Virginia, when Sadat was killed. I was eight. That's a LONG time ago.)
But does anyone have a plan? Right now, it's apparently a mob rule. Feels like a concert in the streets of Cairo, doesn't it? But who decides that it's time to turn out the lights and go home? Yeah, the military's in charge. Hope that works out for you, Egypt. I really do.
I'd give it less than a year
My personal wish for the unfortunate Egyptians is that they get their own August Pinochet. The Left loathes him, which is as good a recommendation as one can get.
BTW: word verification is asking me to type "bedicula". Is it just me, or does anyone else think that must be a vampiric four-poster?
Concur… We STILL don't know who is 'really' pulling the strings on this, but in any case it doesn't bode well for relations with the US or the Israelis.
1. Concur.
2. Am told that is a boomerish apprehension.
3. As globalization progresses, democracy is the wave of the future.
4. Could have fooled me.
5. Remember in the sixties, folks coming out of the bush in newly democratic African states. They carried baskets to receive their share of democracy.
6. Every one of those countries is now a dictatorship.
7. Given a choice between the upper edge of third world autocracy and 700 AD, know what I'd pick.
V/R JWest
I pretty much agree with your end result. I think we'll see things fall apart before then, though.
MC
The best short-term outcome I can imagine is something like Pinochet – economy and rule of law get patched up first, then liberty follows. What I suspect will happen is a "one Muslim Egyptian, one vote, one time" and the Muslim Brotherhood forms a government not unlike Iran, minus the president having a direct line to the Hidden Imam. I suspect this summer will be, hmmmm, interesting in that part of the world.
LittleRed1
wv: abide. Yup, chaos tends to abide in the Third World.
Egypt has had military rule for the last 60 years. Heads were routinely broken whenevery ANYONE suggested a change.
Mubarek tried to set up his non-military son as his successor.
Suddenly, there are anti Mubarek riots and the military announces they won't shoot the protestors.
Mubarek agrees to abdicate, and the military announces firmly that they are in control.
Tell me again about this grass roots people's rebellion?
They need a Kemal Ataturk, however that's spelled in Egyptian.
Mubarek was in the Eygptian military
Sadat was in the Eygptian military
Nassar had the backing of the Eygptian military.
Were is the change?
Gerry
I hope you're wrong too. I think it might help that these revolutions (or whatever you want to call them) aren't isolated: Tunisia, Egypt, and now Algeria, Yemen, Jordan, Syria.
Antibubba
I hope you're wrong, but I have to admit that I doubt it. I'm afraid it won't be pretty. Israel will protect itself. Can our administration handle that? I don't think so.
the Egyptian people will look back with considerable nostalgia and longing
…those who are left alive after the Muslim Brotherhood starts a war with Israel, maybe.
As I posted elsewhere, the last time Egypt fell to any "Muslim Brotherhood," we endured this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tours
& we only just avoided disaster.
Ulises from CA
5 to 10 years, really? You think it will take that long?
5-10yrs? Nope..my money is on widespread bloodshed right after the elections….first the muslim brotherhood will kill anyone they don't like offhand..THEN they'll go play the dozens with Israel. This is NOT going to end well.
Democracy is the quickest way to anarchy known to mankind. But Egypt got rid of one dictator, and inadvertently acquired another. The military has thrown out the constitution and declared martial law. They are making noises about democratic elections in some unnamed future, but the proof will be in their actions. ALL military coups SAY they will hold elections at some unspecified date when the crisis is past, but the crisis never passes.