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Multiple outlets are reporting that Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak is anticipated to make an announcement on state television this evening; it’s not clear whether he will say he is stepping down.
The Egyptian Military Council is meeting right now, without Mubarak; there has been a statement from the military released. Sources indicate the statement acknowledges the legitimacy of the protesters’ demands.
According to the BBC, the secretary general of the National Democratic Party (NDP) Hossan Badrawi said he hopes Mubarak will transfer power to Vice President Omar Suleiman soon.
[Developing. Updates soon.]
(additional reporting for this post from Siun & Gregg)
UPDATE: MSNBC reports two sources inside the Egyptian government say that Mubarak is stepping down and handing power to Suleiman. They are calling it a “military coup”–in other words, the military is making the decision about the succession of power to the VP instead of the PM, as the Egyptian constitution reportedly proscribes.
UPDATE 2: From the New York Times:
Egypt’s armed forces on Thursday announced that they had begun to take “necessary measures to protect the nation and support the legitimate demands of the people,” a step that suggested the military intends to take a commanding role in administrating the strife-torn nation.
. . . .
Television images on Al Jazeera showed the masses in Tahrir Square cheering the news, waving flags and chanting: “The Army and the people in one hand.”
Vice President Omar Suleiman, named by Mr. Mubarak to undertake a dialogue with opposition groups, had warned Tuesday night that if the process he was supervising did not produce results, the military would step in to take administrative control in what he called a “coup.” There was no information about what role Mr. Suleiman or Mr. Mubarak would play in a military government.
UPDATE 3: David has more:
There’s still confusion, then, whether Suleiman will receive the powers of the Presidency, or the army. For days, the Mubarak regime has insisted that his resignation would trigger an election within 60 days, so I would expect something other than a formal resignation, something that would keep elections in the future. That could be a temporary imposition of martial law.
Suleiman’s ascension would likely not end the protests. According to the Guardian’s liveblog, one protester reacted to that possibility by saying “all that will happen is that everyone in Tahrir will rewrite their signs, and then carry on demonstrating.”
The speech should happen in a matter of hours…
UPDATE 4: Al Arabiya (via Breaking News) reports: “President Mubarak has traveled to Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh with his army chief of staff.”
UPDATE 5: Al Jazeera reports that Egyptian State TV has evacuated its Cairo building.
78 Comments
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The people don’t want Suleiman either. However, elections take time. This is far from over.
Aljazeera English better. No commercials. http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/
Panetta says it could come today. CNN still saying “Suleiman.”
Up from EPU land
And that’s supposed to turn the demonstrators into happy campers?
There are some at Langley who would take issue with that statement.
Won’t happen.
From The Guardian:
democracynow had a good segment on this morning, Stanford prof who knows Egypt labor movement. Unions have been controlled by the govt until now, so striking workers a tremendously impt development.
The Egyptian people deserve a huge amounjt of credit. I think Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy has acquired another bit of glory.
If you added up all the “intelligence” at Langley, it would still be off the lowest end of the normal distribution.
Per AJ, state run Egyptian newspaper reports that power will go to Suleiman. Fuck.
According to Al Jazeera, the military is taking over. So instead of democracy, it is evolving into a military dictatorship. Wow. “Military prevented Mubarak from transferring power to Suileman.”
Oops. Doesn’t look like the protesters are going to buy it. They are chanting “Revolution Until the End”. Looks like the crowds are getting thicker too.
Six of one dictator, a half-dozen of the other.
Yes, but…I wish it could happen in our own country, too.
That’s not what my Al Jazeera is saying.
Get ready for the biggest PR makeover ever of this deck-reshuffling.
Hey! eCAHN is here… the loose slipper revolutions can’t progress until mealtime. *heh*
That’s what mine is saying…you online?
That low end of the normal distribution with access to sophisticated weaponry still makes them extremely dangerous.
I’m online but I have yet to hear anything about “the military taking over” anything.
CNN quoting a senior Egyptian official saying turned over to Suleiman
Whew! I was shaken for a minute.
Fuck. This is bad.
I am at the gym so limited TV choices..
The irony is, the CIA likes to recruit from the top tier of US universities. How do you explain that?
the OBAMA WH strikes out yet again!
the people of Egypt will get everything they want and desire, all the USA prop up dictators better start packing,
OBAMA is going to throw them all under the bus! because OBAMA cares about 1 thing and 1 thing only, winning in 2012
Obama needs his base of students to win in 2012, and he is not going to piss off his student base for some dictator.
the world is about to witness the shortest Egyptian presidential term ever! Suleiman needs to get on the plane with Mubarak.
the CIA, ISRAEL, Hillary, Biden, Obama, have all failed! because they can’t see the obvious, the young people of Egypt want their country back.
look here
Egypt Army Signals Steps to Take Power
fwiw, it’s 8:15pm in Cairo
That would be my guess: a Praetorian Guard.
Mubarak’s departure is meaningless if Suleiman consolidates power. If the army endorses such a change (or even something along these lines, which supports the status quo), would it set the grounds for clamping down on the protesters? I’m afraid it might, a counter-revolution of sorts. And then reprisals and further repression in the name of law and order, and the puppet masters.
Hope this is all wrong, however….
Thanks.
Sounds like rank speculation from the US media to me. I can interpret that any number of ways but nowhere does it say anything about “taking over”.
Panetta officially “fired” Mubarak.
FWIW, I think it’s 18:15 (or 18:18, time flies) in Cairo, which would be 6:15 pm rather than 8:15 pm.
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=53
via AJE – Military to to protesters: “Everything you want will be realized…”
Suleiman has his hand on the trigger.
Maybe the military will oust Suleiman too.
We have a winner!
Maybe but it’s still all speculation at this point.
Oh darn…speculating is such fun.
O went to Columbia & Harvard & can barely tie his own shoes. W, Yale/Harvard, was even worse.
My hypothesis is that it is the Poison Ivy Schools where future PTB learn to listen to powers behind the throne.
But the simple A to your Q is: I don’t know.
How Dumb is the OBAMA WH? their stupidity is on pace to pass BUSH and HOOVER.
the CIA can not think that the protesters want another Military Dictatorship? yes they do
Me Thinks a lot of officers in the Egyptian Military know this idea is STUPID! very STUPID!
this is a very Desparate and Foolish move by the CIA
And no Charlie Sheen.
thanks for the correction
Not only fun, but I think it’s what some eyeore’s do bestest. I see a lot of that here.
I think that’s totally possible.
More from The Guardian live blog:
So it seems that neither Mubarak nor Suleiman were at the meeting held by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
Brilliantly put.
They recruit inbred elite gentlemen’s C Grads?
The US is gonna pick their fav military leader (secretly, of course) and that person will then oust Suleiman, but make it look like they had nothing to do with it; which of course they do…then Suleiman will have his knickers in a twist and then….he’ll claim he’s the chosen one, and then…
Agreed but it still shouldn’t be stated as fact. What I keep hearing is that the military is guaranteeing a peaceful transition and that it will likely have a place on a temporary “President’s Council” but nothing about “taking over”. Though I admit that’s a possibility before it’s all over, I’m not prepared to come along and state unequivocally that “the military is taking over”. That’s the same kind of fear mongering speculation that we deride the ruling caste for employing.
The Egyptian public would be greatly aided if Americans stormed the CIA headquarters in Langley VA and arrested all the war criminals hanging out there.
Students at Poison Ivy schools are some of the most obedient humans on the face of the earth. They get ahead by doing what they are told.
“taking over” should be “being more public about its control”
Mubarak is military – lives in home in military home area – rose up in military – only the military has, as a group, a good life in Egypt.
The play will go on – Mubarak will lose authority and then lose office – or it it will speed up – if the crowd does not like one military fellow another will be offered.
The kids in the square will declare victory and the rich will smile.
I would much rather see the military take over than Suleiman become the “ruler”..
It is all speculation.
ooooh Mona E on MSNBC
lol, so MSNBC goes with Clintonista villagers
Regardless of the intelligence standards used for recruiting, it is certain that candidates must pass a litmus test for depravity.
I’ve been trying to watch the Charlie Rose segments on Egypt – all pro-Sulieman, and last night he apparently flew to Cairo to do shows from there. Definitely don’t like that scenario. But maybe he’ll shift over to Saudi Arabia instead now.
The sham supposed negotiations between Sulieman and the ‘opposition’ would certainly indicate that a similar effort to hold onto power with him at the helm won’t be acceptable to the Egyptians.
But I don’t think Mubarek can sneak back at least. Bravo, Egyptians!
tweeps all over the map on this
reports Mubarak & Army COS on way to Shar’m el Sheik
reports Suleiman was blocked from meeting by Army
True.
Before we get into splitting hairs, I was only pointing out that my Al Jazeera feed wasn’t saying anything about “the military taking over”. Period. That’s the only point of my remark.
Crony Capitalism go along to get ahead, its who you know not what you know, the best way to get deals done if your a Democrat is surrender do the kids learn this at the Ivy league schools or do they learn it on their own by seeing who gets picked for the best jobs after graduation?
Do all empires in decline pick Yes men/women over intelligence and courage?
Siun has more
Tahrir Square Protesters Cheering: Egypt’s Mubarak Expected to Speak Soon, Relinquish Power
Me Thinks the people in TAHIR SQUARE don’t care about the USG and have a plan of their on.
remember yesterday the USG and AIPAC wanted Mubarak to stay, now he is living
Me Thinks the USG is losing complete control of this situation!
Well put. No conscience allowed.
They never had any control but as usual deluded themselves while trying to fool us.
could have not said it better!
the USG is not calling the shots here
it does not take a rocket scientist to figure this out.
Hillary, Obama, Bill, Joe, Madeline, the ISRAEL lobby did not want this to happen
Juicy, juicy ;-)
Source?
BTW: Is MSNBC live-streaming Cairo…? Yougottabekiddinme…
AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen Rayne:
And now the heat goes up in the White House kitchen…there is not gunna be anywhere for ObamaRahma and Mrs. McClinton to hide if Suleiman decides to take up the Saudi offer and declares martial law and an end to the demonstrations. Given that we all now know that the Saudis don’t have the oil they told everyone they had, I wonder just how long before the banksters break with the oilagarchy.
I have been sayin for some time now that we won’t get a change in our governing politics or a change in our foreign policy or a retoolin’ of our economy until the banksters =edited by mod= the oil folks. The crack in the rulin’ class is big enough to drive a coup though it.
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, THERE IS NO COMPROMISING WITH FASCISM!!
I hope they don’t let Mubarak leave without first turning him upside down and shaking him vigorously to recover all the “loose change” in his pockets…metaphorically speaking.
A common euphemism for being escorted out by the ruling military.
As a none-too-well 82-year-old, Mubarak’s departure would have long been planned for. The question is how those plans will be amended in light of his remaining alive but no longer formally in control of the reins of power, and in light of the groundswell of protesters from across Egypt’s social spectrum, who are anxious to have a bit of democracy break out in their own country.
Citizen Margaret:
It is clear the the US government has not had control of itself let alone events outside our borders for a good while now…and unless ObamaRahma and Mrs. McClinton are able to convince their bankster bosses that it’s in their interest to invest in the popular political movements in the Arab street (and elsewhere in Africa) and recapture the capital we’re throwin to the military to protect the dried up oil patch…well if they don’t then our political future lies with the people in Tahrir Square. In fact we may all be out in our own streets facin down Blackwater thugs.
Blasting the Poison Ivy League? I think you and I have similar levels of contempt for what passes as education among our demented elites. How about I just give you and ghost my password and you guys can put a few comments up for me. I’ve got 50 some tabs open on my browsers and really don’t have time to comment much these days.
Citizen Isls:
If the Egyptian military has blocked Suleiman from meeting with Mubarak and have shaken Mubarak “…vigorously to recover al the loose change from his pockets” then the US doesn’t have any skin left in the game and it’s all down to the mass of the Egyptian people and their military, however that plays out. What is certain, however, is it will be Egyptians fighting for their politics NOT American money.
Norske,
I lost you. Can you explain your point about the reduced Saudi reserves, the oil guys, and the banksters? How can the banksters break with the oligarchy since they are at least a plurality of the oligarchs?
Citizen Isls:
“Maybe the military will oust Suleiman too.”
And there you have it…the only way there is a chance for popular governance and some semblance of political freedom in Egypt is if the military boots both Suleiman and Mubarak and then goes after the secret police and the street thugs (and the CIA). There is a window opening here in Egypt but only for Egyptians.
Citizen eblair:
The oil faction of the American oligarchy is dependant on the banks to secure an oil based economy and politics. The banks, on the other hand are holdin on to trillions of dollars that will be worthless if their value is based on oil. It’s now down to where the banksters fall out, they aren’t stupid and they know that if they throw in behind what’s left of the oil market, then they will be rich in worthless dollars and isolated from a new world economy. Of course they could throw the entire western world into a huge depression but then we say “hello” to the new Pax Americana dark ages.
Citizen Norske,
Maybe I’m stupid. Sorry. It is past my bed time actually. I almost get it. But I don’t see how you get the claim that the dollars will be worthless if their value is based on oil? Are you saying that because of peak oil, oil prices will rise and hence the dollar will go down? And what do you mean by a new world economy? Thanks.
Citizen eblair:
Intially the price of oil will skyrocket in dollars but as the markets shake out and turn toward alternatives, the dollar will inflate as the government prints money to support it and then the price of oil will collapse and the whole of the US and maybe Europe can say “hello” to the 12th century.