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[olemars]

Mohamed ElBaradei speaks out on CNN with Fareed Zakaria:  He has assumed the mantle of leadership the protesters have essentially given him, and makes no bones about wanting the job.  He respects Suleiman but insists that only a restaffing of the government, and probably a new constitution, will reshape the government to his and by extension his supporters' desire.  He swears as soon as that is sorted out, proper U.N. monitored elections will be the first thing on the agenda.  He's insistent that Mubarak must resign within the day, and is confident that the United States will echo that.  He's also confident in Egypt's ability to keep radicals like the Muslim Brotherhood out of the transitory government.

Who knows how right he is or how honest he is, but you don't get to be Director of the IAEA and one of the American government's closest NGO partners without straight dealing and knowing your shit.  And since ElBaradei was practically crowned leader of the opposition without ever asking for it as soon as he returned to the country, it's not hard to imagine he'll at least be supported by most of the populace in whatever he does.  All the same, it certainly looks like Mubarak intends to go down by tooth and nail.

He's a perfect choice as some sort of transition government leader. He's no firebrand statesman and holds no real controversial views. You could probably dig up some dirt on him if you try hard enough, but he's pretty much as clean as anyone can get. The only domestic criticism seems to be that he's been out of country for a long while, personally I would think that was more of an advantage than anything.

[Africa]

Regardless of if he's a good leader or not, I just find it interesting that "the will of people" never amounts to anything other than tossing out the old leaders and shutting everything down until somebody comes along and takes up the mantle.

[Willfor]

It just means that they've learned their history. People who take up the mantle tend to get killed.

[Tellemurius]

well now prisoners are released, wth does that mean? are they fighting for the cause or instigating soon

[alway]

Sounds like the police are going to be back on the streets. Although with the media blackout of Al Jaz, info is spotty at best.

If there was any doubt, it seems all opposition groups want ElBaradai(sp?) as transitional government leader now.

[Alexhans]

Regardless of if he's a good leader or not, I just find it interesting that "the will of people" never amounts to anything other than tossing out the old leaders and shutting everything down until somebody comes along and takes up the mantle.

What's the alternative? Riddick throwing rocks and later ruling the empire?  Isn't it natural to select someone who has some sort of background in the whole situation.  Someone to hold an interim goverment to make some reforms and organize for future elections?  Your cynicism would only allow for an extended dictatorship because, nothing good come out of fighting for once freedom...  (also, this smileys REALLY suck)

All of you talking about communism, bloody coups, etc... Did you even research?  This thread used to appear minimally informed before...

[alway]

Heh, Al Jazeera had an interview with a government spokesman. They completely razed his statements to the ground while on air doing the live interview. The guy said something like "for all the protestors, there are many more supporters of Mubarak" at which point Al Jazeera called him on his BS and he was entirely taken aback. I really wish our media were that hard hitting.

Oh, and based on reports, at least 1 of the prisons set loose was due to a prisoner uprising and mass escape.

Muslim brotherhood still playing it cool, more or less saying they aren't interested in a complete government takeover, including saying they wouldn't field a candidate for president. Could be truthful, could be posturing; hard to say. After all, if they stated they would take over, western governments would be rushing in to prop up dear mr dictator.

In other news, south Sudan voted to separate from the north.

[Virex]

In other news, south Sudan voted to separate from the north.

Good to hear there'll be a new war to keep our reporters occupied when Egypt has itself sorted out.

[ChairmanPoo]

Actually that bit signifies the END of a war. Sudan has been in turmoil for years. The independence referendum was agreed as a solution to the problems in the country.

[Virex]

And you think everyone in the north is going to agree just like that?

[EmperorNuthulu]

So I count 8 nations currently in or near revolt.

Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Sudan, Albania, Lebanon, and Algeria.

Several more have had comparable events in the last couple years, beginning, I think, with Greece in 2008.

 Okay take your bet's people, I've got two hundred to one odds on Swaziland! In all seriousness though won't this not only affect the countries at hand but also oil production and what not?

[Bouchart]

Tunisia and Egypt don't produce a lot of oil.

Oil prices have been up steadily the past couple of months, so to a degree the markets expect oil production to fall.

[alway]

Rich oil producers can also do a decent job at avoiding these situations. It's the classic Roman 'bread and circuses' strategy.

According to Al Jazeera the other day, as most state controlled news services announced the fall of Tunisia, they simultaneously announced their countries' new subsidies on food and other basic goods.

[EmperorNuthulu]

I was referring more to Jordan and Yemen. Heck at this rate I wouldn't be suprised if every country in the middle east has revolts or at least protests.

[alway]

Yemen would be ripe for an overthrow, although I'm not sure about Jordan (don't know much about it). Yemen was having a hard enough time even without this sort of thing what with being a battleground for various nations, militia groups, ect.