The day part of the Internet died: Egypt goes dark

[Docfeelgood]

nasty!

[germanos]

The military is already the power behind the throne. A soft coup would be one where they remove the civilian government, form an interim military government, then relinquish power after elections in the fall.

With an Air marshall as Prime minister, a Field Marshal as Defense minister, a Lt. General as Interior minister, a Colonel as Minister of Local Development, a General for the Suez Canal and a General 'without portfolio' (but head of the Egyptian CIA) on the cabinet I think it's a stretch to call it a civilian government. That the president and vice-president are army guys as well doesn't make it any better.

Face it: Egypt is a military dictatorship, but I'll grant you we may call it 'soft'. Many victims of the last weeks will probably disagree with the soft approach.

[germanos]

If it wasn't so sad I'd laugh, but the army will lift the 30-year state of emergency if the current protest will end. Riiight... A bit late, morons!

[MOBIUS]

The military is already the power behind the throne. A soft coup would be one where they remove the civilian government, form an interim military government, then relinquish power after elections in the fall.

See, I thought you meant remove the unpopular military guys and replace them with other military guys - without killing anyone.

[MOBIUS]

If it wasn't so sad I'd laugh, but the army will lift the 30-year state of emergency if the current protest will end. Riiight... A bit late, morons!

Except you can't just give in to demands willy-nilly. Much of the country is in near anarchy as it is. I think it's fair to promise that, as long as it's followed through - the other way around and they've lost their 'legal' mechanism to deal with the protests - as we continue to see - the military does not like losing face.

[germanos]

It's there for 30 bloody years Moby...

[C0ckney]

it's also ridiculous to pretend that without the emergency laws (which allow the government to ignore the constitution) the army would be powerless to 'deal with protests'.

[SlowwHand]

See, I thought you meant remove the unpopular military guys and replace them with other military guys - without killing anyone.

It's not the army the crowd hates, it's the police. The army is reported to be sympathetic.

[SlowwHand]

Well. well.

NBC News: Mubarak Has Left Cairo

Amid massive protests Friday, the Egyptian president left for the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, sources tell NBC News. It's unclear what his move means.

[MOBIUS]

It's there for 30 bloody years Moby...

So who cares about another few days...

[MOBIUS]

It's not the army the crowd hates, it's the police. The army is reported to be sympathetic.

Mubarak and Suleiman are military guys.

Also Sharm El-Sheikh is his seaside residence - he's often there.

[MOBIUS]

it's also ridiculous to pretend that without the emergency laws (which allow the government to ignore the constitution) the army would be powerless to 'deal with protests'.

One is more 'legitimate' than the other.

[germanos]

Bye bye Hosni!

[Imran Siddiqui]

[SlowwHand]

This makes it official. It's on Wiki.

President of Egypt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia President of the
Arab Republic of Egypt

The president of the Arab Republic of Egypt is Julia Khatib. She is the elected Head of State of Egypt. Under the Constitution of Egypt, the president is also the supreme commander of the armed forces and head of the executive branch of the Egyptian government.

The first president of Egypt was Muhammad Naguib, one of the leaders of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, who took office on 18 June 1953, the day on which Egypt was declared a republic.

The fourth and former president of Egypt is Hosni Mubarak. His first term began on 14 October 1981 and end on 11 February 2011, after he was removed from office by his own people who protested for 18 days to have him removed from office. From September 2005 had been serving his fifth term in office. There is no constitutional limit upon the number of terms that any one individual can serve as president. As a result of the 2011 protests calling for Mubarak's resignation, presidential powers were transfered to Omar Suleiman,[1] making him the de facto president under Article 82 of the Egyptian constitution.[2]