Hosni Mubarak is scheduled to speak to the Egyptian people in the next ten minutes, and speculation is rife that he’s going to be announcing his effective resignation. This promises to be a Nixonian moment – remember “You won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore“?  — but we’ll see …
Minutes before the address: the Egyptian “Minister of Information” is saying Mubby will not step down.
Stay tuned ….
Egyptian state television is now showing the Tahrir Square protests as they’ve never shown them before: wide-angle and up close. Also, we have real debates about corruption and other issues raised by the protesters has occurred in the last 24 hours. So we have a sea-change on state tv — perhaps a prelude to Mubby’s abdication. Also we have the “National Democratic Party,” Mubby’s party, saying Mubby has to go (!).
Stay tuned ….
Mubby is fashionably late to his own anticipated resignation speech. Rumors fly: He’s just going to announce the lifting of “emergency law.”
I’m still staying tuned, but this is getting … tiresome. Oh wait: looks like Al Arabiya has some news. According to them, Mubby is transferring his powers to the “Vice President,” Omar Suleiman, he will amend the Constitution, and — in an appeal to his nationalistic audience — he is not taking orders “from outside.”
Still waiting for Mubby’s Norma Desmond moment: “I”m ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille!”
Stay tuned…
Okay, he’s speaking:
My fellow countrymen. I am talking to you, the youth of Tahrir Square. A speeh from a father to his children. I take pride in you calling for a change for the betteer. I tell you before anything all those who fell their blood will not go down the drain. I will hold accountable those who attacked our youth. I address the families of those innocent victims —  I felt their pain. My resposne to your voice and your demands is a commitment that cannot be waived. I am determimned to fulfill all the promises. I am totally keen (!) on this. It is important to admit mistakes and rectify them . I cannot find any embarrassment at all in listening to the youth and learning from you, but I cannot and will not be dfictated [to] from outside. I announced in very plain words that will not run for president again. For over 60 years I served and Iwill continue to serve my contry. There will be elections in september. I have laid down a vision to exit the current crisis and to realize the demands of the youth without undermining the constitution. Laying down a framework for a peaceful transition to power. I laid down a framework for taking the country from this crisis. I am looking forward to your support [good luck with that one, Mubby!]. We have had a constructive national dialogue. This dialogue has yeielded a preliminary agreement. Therefore we have laid our foot on the right path. This will go day by day, until next september.
 blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Two committees will be formed of independent impartial egyptians. Once stability and security is restored, emergency law will be cancelled. restore confidence among all egyptians. We cannot tolerate for these circumstances to continue. It will end with a situation where the youth will be the first victims. it is not relating to me, it is now relating to egypt, we are all in the same trench. we need a friendly atmosphere [yeah, right!]. we need to restore confidence and peace to our economy and streets. I have been a youth just like you. I exhausted my life defending the homeland. I lived thru the days of occupation.
blah blah patriotic drivel.
 I was a pilot. I never relented under foreign pressures. I never sought false power or popularity [you can say that again!]. I feel pain in my heart from what I hear from some of my countrymen [poor Mubby! Nobody loves him!], we must put th ehomeland first. I am delegating power to the vice president according to the constitution. We will not allow others to gloat over us. We are not a satellite state. we don’t take orders from others. We will prove all this.
blah blah blah blah. committees will meet. blah blah
Egypt is eternal. I have lived for this nation, safeguard my responsiblity, egypt will live on above all persons, I will not leave this country until I am dead and buried in its soil. May god save Egypt.
My favorite line: “I feel your pain.”
Most significant line: “I will not leave this country until I am dead and buried in its soil.” That, I’m sure, can be easily arranged …
Most ominous line: “It will end with a situation where the youth will be the first victims.”
The crowd in Tahrir Square — and similar crowds in Alexandria, Suez, and elsewhere — is furious. Get ready for a major explosion….
we'll see… watching him talk so far and no sign of him stepping down… looks more likea trick to stay in so far.
He is not going to step down.
the guy is totally insane.. one wonders who is really running the country with the announcement from the council of the military earlier today rumors flying everywhere.
He did not say anything new in his speech, looks like a total trick.
He not insane, he doing what he was INSTRUCTED to do and SAY by USA, UK and Israel Masters.
The good news is that this backfired and expect a blowback to supporters of tyranny, oppression and humiliation of Arabs. There is more uprisings on the Horizon.
President Barack Waffles maintains, "orderly transition blah blah blah." So one could suppose this all comes down to the "options" facing the Egyptian people.
Option 1- Mubarak is going nowhere
Option 2- no help coming
Option 3- Egyptian people will have to remove Mubarak on their own
Opton 4- die fighting standing on feet OR die groveling on one's knees
Be sure and stayed tuned for the 7:00 p.m. news report where President Barack Waffles offers us "new spin."
It was a set-up; deliberately boost the crowd's hopes to the sky then rip them away hoping that their rage will goad them into violence — at which time the military has an excuse to mow them down. It appears that the protesters may march to the Presidential Palace. I don't believe Mubarak is there anyhow, maybe just symbolic.
Mubarak has recieved the green light from his handlers in the US to continue to screw the Egyptian people because that what Israel and its lab-dogs supporters want.The US shows its double faced once again.
"It is now apparent that the White House has three primary policy objectives in Egypt. First, and foremost, Israeli security must be preserved at all cost. That is our number one priority. Second, we must allay any fears which our authoritarian Arab allies may have of possible abandonment by the United States. We will remain loyal to even the most repressive of these Arab states come hell or high water. Third, while pretending to be sympathetic to the pleas of the anti-government demonstrators for freedom and democracy, our objective is to restore the status quo in Egypt as soon as possible. The Empire intends to remain in charge. "
http://www.counterpunch.org/naylor02102011.html
President Barack Obama needs to stop being two-faced on Egypt.
On one side of his public face he gives the impression of pressing Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak to consider his legacy and “leave power in a way that would give his country the best chance for peace and democracy.”
But then he sent presidential envoy Frank Wisner to Cairo, who later publicly urged Mubarak to remain in power, saying, “President Mubarak's continued leadership is critical.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/gray02102011.html
The US hopes that Mubarak refusal to step down will the demonsration turn into violence which will give the US and Israel the pretext they needs to interven militarily so as to portect their citizens.The US does not wish to see the Egyptian people be the masters of their country.
One has to wonder why the Marines are being sent to Egypt (albeit in small numbers as reported). The forward party to prep the beaches for a larger landing force to 'stabilize' the country? Or a show of force to just make sure the Egyptians don't cancel their peace treaty with the Israelis? Since we already know that through this whole episode the #1 priority of the US has been Israeli security, it's not hard to imagine we'd put our own troops out there for that reason.
It's one thing to be a Marine and serve your country (I know, I was in from '81-'84), but an entirely different thing to be a Marine and serve a foreign country. I pray this is not what Allah(swt) has in store for them.
“I will not leave this country until I am dead and buried in its soil.”
I'll bet Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu expressed similar sentiments 21-odd years ago.
Though Louis Charbonneau's convention on Heavy Climate Crusing, as well as water skiing and wakeboard Canadian champion Guillaume Paré's one on Boat Driving Tips for Water Sports are definite should-see during this yr's event, one should discover the number of great seminars that are not "how-to seminars". Instead, you'll be energized and have the ability to really enjoy the sport.
My Genes Reconnected