In this case "the fat lady" will be the military in Egypt. As Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak refused to step down or leave the country tonight and instead handed his powers to his vice president Thursday, remaining president and ensuring regime control over the reform process.When they heard his speech stunned protesters in central Cairo went crazy and demanded his ouster waving their shoes in contempt and shouted, "Leave, leave, leave."
The rapidly moving events in Egypt have now raised the question of whether a rift had opened between Mubarak and the military command. Hours earlier, a council of the military's top generals announced it had stepped in to secure the country, and a senior commander announced to protesters in Tahrir Square that all their demands would soon be met, raising cries of victory that Mubarak was on his way out.
Prominent reform advocate, Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, whose supporters were among the organizers of the 17-day-old wave of protests, issued a Tweet calling on the military to act.
"The army must save the country now," he said. "I call on the Egyptian army to immediately interfere to rescue Egypt. The credibility of the army is on the line."
As to the US influence in the Middle East and their effectiveness in dealing with the Egyptian crises. The question the US should probably should pose itself is if they actually have any reliable intelligence capacity in the Middle East or if they are just winging it? During the day Leon Panetta, the CIA's director made a statement he believed there was a "strong likelihood" that Egyptian President Mubarak would step down this evening but said he did not have a confirmation he would leave office.
It can be expected that the next 49 hours will be crucial in defining what role if any the Egyptian military will play to topple Mubarack.
EU-Digest
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