February 5, 2011

Hosni Mubarak has resigned?

"Reuters is reporting, via Egyptian state television, that President Hosni Mubarak resigned as head of Egypt's ruling party on Saturday. Al Jazeera is reporting the same."

ADDED: Question mark added to the post title.

AND: From the NYT live-blog linked above:
While we are awaiting clarity on whether President Hosni Mubarak remains the head of the ruling National Democratic Party in Egypt-- he is definitely still president, in any case-- here is some news on one of Egypt's leading opposition bloggers.

34 comments:

Larry Davis said...

Probably good news, if true.

The Crack Emcee said...

Congrats to President Bush.

Now the drama begins,...

Unknown said...

Here we go! I don't think this is going to turn out to be a good thing.

I also don't think it can honestly be said The Zero "lost" Egypt - yet, but he's done a dandy job of alienating anyone there who might be inclined to deal with the US in the foreseeable future.

PaulV said...

Army is in charge. They have been in charge since the 50s.

Phil 314 said...

Reading the linked Reuters piece reminds we of the phrase the fog of war. Is this the:

fog of dissent?

So when Mubarack leaves who/what will become the "enemy"? Iran had the Great Satan, Egypt will have....

garage mahal said...

Already in the thread Bush won, and Obama lost. Something. LOL

traditionalguy said...

Headline is deceptive as can be written here. He only gave up head of his party to open the way for others to try to succeed and maybe elected in September. In the meantime he is still The Only President.

I'm Full of Soup said...

The Middle East countries are glaringly f-ed up. Could we export some of our surplus womyn's studies majors, diversity experts and social workers etc over there to straighten things out?

Anonymous said...

Already in the thread Bush won, and Obama lost. Something. LOL

Don't think that's the issue.

The issue is... does Eqypt become another launching ground for the Jihadis and the war against Israel... or something else?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Now the Muslim Brotherhood will take over.

Gahrie said...

He's resigning as president of the party not Egypt.

bagoh20 said...

He resisted until Obama offered the codes for the nuclear football. Everyone has his price.

JAL said...

What I found weird (well, this whole thing is weird) was last night on Nightline a spokesman from the Muslim Brotherhood was saying they did not want an Islamist state, they wanted a secular state.

What was wrong with that picture?

And why was I thinking "Lying liar?"

Anonymous said...

The Shah has abdicated....

Fred4Pres said...

So which General in the Egyptian Army is running things now?

This is one of those choices where you could go with:

A. Chaos, followed by likely radical Islamist takeover with goal of new Calphanate and death to Israel...or

B. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Fred4Pres said...

Chris Matthews just figured out that Obama blew his 3:00 a.m. telephone call (as did Hillary).

The facts on the ground may be bitter and God knows if we will get sick later, but the schadenfreud is rich and buttery.

traditionalguy said...

Hold up here. Hosni is still in power. But did you hear the rumor that he is trying to sell egypt on E-bay? Rumors are rumors, but Hosni is a tough SOB.

Fred4Pres said...

Reuters is reporting, via Egyptian state television, that President Hosni Mubarak resigned as head of Egypt’s ruling party on Saturday. Al Jazeera is reporting the same.

Other top leaders have also stepped down, including Gamal Mubarak, the son of the president, who has long been considered by many the presumptive heir to the presidency.

The secretary-general of the party, Safwat el-Sharif, has also resigned in a gesture to protesters, Reuters reports. “The new secretary general of the party is Hossam Badrawi, seen as a member of the liberal wing of the party.”

Assuming this is accurate, Mr. Mubarak would still retain the presidency, so the impact of his resignation from the party is unclear. Protesters could see the move as cosmetic, or it may shift public sentiment in Egypt toward compromise and away from the protesters.

Mr. Mubarak has said repeatedly he will remain in office until elections in September, in which he will not run. The National Democratic Party has long dominated political life in Egypt, and the shake up of the party leadership would appear to be a major development.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

I've seen at least one report that said it is Mubarak's son Gamal who is resigning as head of the party, not Hosni.

Fred4Pres said...

Retracted, Hosni not resigning.

Unknown said...

garaji mahal said...

Already in the thread Bush won, and Obama lost. Something. LOL

I never said The Zero lost. I said it was too soon to tell.

But I did say he's alienated anybody inclined to trust the US.

L that one.

Chef Mojo said...

Gamal Mubarak has resigned from his position in the ruling party. Hosni Mubarak hasn't resigned from anything.

In fact, the US "envoy to the crisis" (love that one!) says Mubarak must remain president through "the transition."

Unknown said...

FWIW, Fox, the news the Lefties love to hate, didn't run the story. Even MSNBC got it right.

paul a'barge said...

He is still President.

Quaestor said...

I's about time we all realize Al Jazeera is a source for video, but not a source for news.

Phil 314 said...

Fog of dissent

Known Unknown said...

Amanpour tweets that the Moslem Brotherhood told her they are interested in a civil, democratic Egypt.

I replied that I had a bridge in Brooklyn to sell her.

PaulV said...

paul a'barge said...
He is still President.

The Egyptian or the Keynesian?

Duane Seigler said...

http://muhammadmubarakbiography.blogspot.com/

David said...

Fred4Pres said...
So which General in the Egyptian Army is running things now?

The army's commanding general spent part of today talking to protesters in the square, urging them to go home and get back to work. Problem is, most of them probably don't have jobs.

But it was quite impressive to see the very top brass on the street, debating with ordinary citizens, risking looking foolish or a lot worse, in a situation he could not necessarily control.

How often do we see American leaders put themselves at such public risk of humiliation?

We don't understand much about Egypt, nor does our government, it seems. My guess is that this will become more and more apparent as this unfolds.

G Joubert said...

Drudge and the NY Daily News are blaming Katie Couric for having an itchy twitter finger.

Fen said...

Amanpour tweets that the Moslem Brotherhood told her they are interested in a civil, democratic Egypt.

The same way I'm interested in a rack of BBQ ribs.

I didn't think Amanpour was this stupid.

Fen said...

does Eqypt become another launching ground for the Jihadis and

Iranian missile fan overlooking Paris.

traditionalguy said...

Egypt has crazy and unforgiving Muslims mixed in with gentle and family oriented Muslims mixed in with Coptics who are used as the brains in most undertakings and therefore are not really that expendable. THE Place the three can serve together against the outside attackers is the Army. The fighters in the 1955 invasion, and then in the 1967 war, and finally in the 1973 momentarily victorious assault on Israel had a Band of Brothers experience in this small country. And Mubarak was an Air Force pilot warrior that earned a deep respect from his friends throughout the Country.