Monday, January 31, 2011

Egypt: Desert storm


All now rests on the determination of the people of Egypt. And they have, surely, come too far to retreat

Editorial
The Guardian, Monday 31 January 2011

"Hosni Mubarak has run out of road. This is obvious to all: to the police who have fled the streets, to senior members resigning from the ruling party, and to the millions of Egyptians who have taken over its cities. But not to the president himself. On Saturday he appointed a successor – as if he still had the moral authority to do so. The demonstrators did not budge. Anti-government slogans were sprayed on the side of tanks, with the tacit approval of the conscripts manning them. The curfew kept on being ignored, and yesterday a new name was added to the passenger list of the plane that the crowds hope will fly the regime to Saudi Arabia. It was that of the president's latest appointee.

He is General Omar Suleiman....

There were no signs of the popular protest dimming yesterday, which was supposed to be a day of work.......

Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Israel was watching events closely, as well he might. The US, in full retreat from the position it expressed only a week ago, told Mubarak that shuffling the deck would not be enough, and secretary of state Hillary Clinton yesterday uttered two words that are particularly ominous for him – "orderly transition". However this drama plays out, something quite profound is changing in the Arab world. So often written off, or thought to have been subsumed by Islamism, pan-Arabism is finding voice once again in the shape of this secular protest against dictatorship. A demonstration taking place in Jordan was cut short only by the collective wish of Jordanians to watch al-Jazeera's live coverage of the progress of this potent political force on the streets of Cairo. All now rests on the determination of the people of Egypt. And they have, surely, come too far to retreat."

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