Egypt has dunit....

[Andius]

Mubarak has finally called it quits. I am actually quite surprised that Mubarak would surrender his post (unless something pressured him aside the people to renounce).

What do you suppose made him leave?

And what say you all? Do you think Egypt might have a brighter future now that Mubarak is not there to mess up the country any further? (assuming the Military Council surrenders it's control to a new regime, transitional governments always put me uneasy).

[Cow Poke]

BROAD speculation as to whether this will be a more or less "Western friendly" situation. Time will tell.

[Manwë Súlimo]

Anti-screwball to the protesters.

[roadwalker]

I doubt if the army will try to impose another military dictatorship.

They gained a lot of goodwill from the public by refusing to fire on protesters and helping screen people coming into the protest area to make sure they didn't have weapons. But they also know that the millions of people who were out on the street today would certainly come back if they didn't move on carrying out elections.

What the army control does mean (and this a good thing) is there is no power vacuum. In 1979 in Iran the army had fired on protesters so that they did not have the moral authority to assume control after the Shah, and a month later his handpicked successor Shahpour Bakhtiar fled the country. The result was anarchy so that when Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile he was seen as a unifying figure. Of course the first thing he did after becoming the Supreme Leader was to disband the army and reconstitute it as the Revolutionary Guard.

There will be free elections in Egypt. Who they elect, we do not know. Most probably it will be some kind of a coalition government but it is likely to be a coalition that is less friendly to the U.S. than Mubarak was.

However, WE do not have any control over who they pick. EGYPTIANS will choose their leaders, and we will have to deal with whoever they vote for.

[roadwalker]

I doubt if the army will try to impose another military dictatorship.

They gained a lot of goodwill from the public by refusing to fire on protesters and helping screen people coming into the protest area to make sure they didn't have weapons. But they also know that the millions of people who were out on the street today would certainly come back if they didn't move on carrying out elections.

What the army control does mean (and this a good thing) is there is no power vacuum. In 1979 in Iran the army had fired on protesters so that they did not have the moral authority to assume control after the Shah, and a month later his handpicked successor Shahpour Bakhtiar fled the country. The result was anarchy so that when Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile he was seen as a unifying figure. Of course the first thing he did after becoming the Supreme Leader was to disband the army and reconstitute it as the Revolutionary Guard.

There will be free elections in Egypt. Who they elect, we do not know. Most probably it will be some kind of a coalition government but it is likely to be a coalition that is less friendly to the U.S. than Mubarak was.

However, WE do not have any control over who they pick. EGYPTIANS will choose their leaders, and we will have to deal with whoever they vote for.

[Cow Poke]

I doubt if the army will try to impose another military dictatorship.

They gained a lot of goodwill from the public by refusing to fire on protesters and helping screen people coming into the protest area to make sure they didn't have weapons. But they also know that the millions of people who were out on the street today would certainly come back if they didn't move on carrying out elections.

What the army control does mean (and this a good thing) is there is no power vacuum. In 1979 in Iran the army had fired on protesters so that they did not have the moral authority to assume control after the Shah, and a month later his handpicked successor Shahpour Bakhtiar fled the country. The result was anarchy so that when Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile he was seen as a unifying figure. Of course the first thing he did after becoming the Supreme Leader was to disband the army and reconstitute it as the Revolutionary Guard.

There will be free elections in Egypt. Who they elect, we do not know. Most probably it will be some kind of a coalition government but it is likely to be a coalition that is less friendly to the U.S. than Mubarak was.

However, WE do not have any control over who they pick. EGYPTIANS will choose their leaders, and we will have to deal with whoever they vote for.

My hope is that, having fought the Israelis FOUR other times, the Egyptian Army will have no desire to be at war with Israel.

Back during one of the dustups, there was a joke -- what's the difference between an Israeli and Egyptian Army Tank?


The Egyptian Army Tank has backup lights.

[Speed Donkey]

Back during one of the dustups, there was a joke -- what's the difference between an Israeli and Egyptian Army Tank?


The Egyptian Army Tank has backup lights.

I dont get it

[Cow Poke]

I dont get it

[Speed Donkey]

I dont! I really dont...

[Cow Poke]

I dont! I really dont...

I think the joke was actually "Arab" Army Tanks ... in the various wars that Israel has been in, her enemies were often soundly whooped... and when the Egyptian Tanks came across the Sinai, they were met with FIERCE resistance from the Israelis, and many "went back home" -- hence, the "backup lights".

[Speed Donkey]

That was a terrible joke. And I still dont get it

[Manwë Súlimo]

Behold the quality of mods that we have now. I knew hiring the donkey was a mistake.

[Speed Donkey]

Behold the quality of mods that we have now. I knew hiring the donkey was a mistake.

Yer face is a mistake. Keep moving.

[moreta]

I've actually heard that one before, only the tanks with back up lights were French, and the others were...(insert nationality here).

[roadwalker]

I have recently made a couple of online friends from Bahrain, and I admire the courage of those people, willing to insist peacefully on a more representative government, even though twice in the past four days a number of them have been cut down with automatic weapons fire.

As for the jokes about 'backup lights' (I don't care whether you are talking about French, Italians, Arabs, Iraqis, etc.) when an army retreats in disarray it is not because the individual soldiers lack courage. It is generally a combination of poor political leadership (that has resulted in their having inferior equipment or otherwise unequipped for the battle) and poor military leadership (which may have put them in a position in which defeat is the only possible result.)

Victory may be won in the trenches, but defeat is almost always manufactured by politicians and/or generals.