VE Day in Egypt

When the Silent Majority finally decides they’ve had enough, People Power can create DEMOCRACY

Democracy protests bring down Egypt's Mubarak
Reuters/Dylan MartinezAnti-government protesters celebrate in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt
AP – Anti-government protesters, and Egyptian soldiers on top of their vehicles, make traditional Muslim Friday …
By PAUL SCHEMM and MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Paul Schemm And Maggie Michael, Associated Press – 11 mins ago
CAIRO – Egypt exploded with joy, tears, and relief after pro-democracy protesters brought down President Hosni Mubarak with a momentous march on his palaces and state TV. Mubarak, who until the end seemed unable to grasp the depth of resentment over his three decades of authoritarian rule, finally resigned Friday and handed power to the military.
"The people ousted the regime," rang out chants from crowds of hundreds of thousands massed in Cairo's central Tahrir Square and outside Mubarak's main palace several miles away in a northern district of the capital.
The crowds in Cairo, the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and other cities around the country burst into pandemonium. They danced, chanted "goodbye, goodbye," and raised their hands in prayer as fireworks and car horns sounded after Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement on national TV just after nightfall.
"Finally we are free," said Safwan Abou Stat, a 60-year-old in the crowd of protesters at the palace. "From now on anyone who is going to rule will know that these people are great.

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The beginning of a NEW WORLD

Analysis: Fallout from Egypt being felt in region
AP – First Person: On ground in Cairo, change begins
AP – Yemenis chant slogans and hold posters of Egypt's late President Gamal Abdel Nasser during a demonstration …
By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Brian Murphy, Associated Press – 41 mins ago
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Less than a month after the world watched Tunisia celebrate the collapse of the country's strong-arm ruler, the scenes in central Cairo on Friday offered an even more potent display of the newfound power of the Arab street: fist-pumping crowds cheering the end of President Hosni Mubarak.
The downfall of Mubarak — one of the mainstays of Middle East politics and Western policies in the region for nearly three decades — marks another history-shaping moment for the Arab world from a country seen by many as its political and cultural crucible.

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U.S. hails Mubarak exit, wants "irreversible" change
Reuters – U.S. President Barack Obama walks to the Oval Office of the White House in Washington February 10, 2011. …
By Matt Spetalnick Matt Spetalnick – 3 mins ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Vice President Joe Biden hailed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's exit from power on Friday as a "pivotal moment" for the Middle East and insisted Egypt's democratic transition must be irreversible.
Biden spoke shortly before President Barack Obama was to step before television cameras at the White House as he weighs the deep uncertainty and huge challenges Washington now faces in dealing with Egypt's potentially volatile power shift.
"The transition that's taking place must be an irreversible change and a negotiated path toward democracy," Biden told a college audience in Kentucky after Mubarak handed over power to Egypt's military. "What is at stake in Egypt and across the Middle East is not just about Egypt alone."

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Tweets, cheers, fireworks: The world praises Egypt
AP – Pro-democracy supporters react to news of the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt on the …
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Raphael G. Satter, Associated Press – 51 mins ago
LONDON – Fireworks and celebratory gunfire rang out in Tunisia and Lebanon, South Africans recalled Nelson Mandela's euphoric release from prison and two words — "Congrats Egypt" — dominated social media sites as the world cheered the ouster of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak.
European officials on Friday saluted the resilience of the demonstrators in Cairo — who mobbed the capital for 18 days to demand their rights despite attacks from pro-government thugs — and pledged assistance to help Egypt make the transition to democracy.
"In their eyes, you can see what power freedom can have," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said of the protesters, adding that, by stepping down, Mubarak had rendered "a last service to the Egyptian people." Merkel herself had lived under another autocratic regime, growing up behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany.

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With all the aborted roadmaps to peace and peace negotiations going back to the Oslo Accords in 1993, Israel has had numerous chances to reach a settlement with the Palestinians. They decided to run the clock and bite away at the West Bank one settlement at a time until they now control about 60% of something not theirs. Now the clock has run out.
Israel watches Mubarak ouster with trepidation
By Ian Deitch, Associated Press – Fri Feb 11
JERUSALEM –In Gaza, thousands rushed into the streets in jubilation. Expectations were rising in Gaza that regime change in Egypt will help end a crushing border blockade of the territory, imposed by Egypt and Israel after a Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007.
"Egypt wrote today a new chapter in the history of the Arab nations and I can see the blockade on Gaza shaking right now," said Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
Hamas has smuggled weapons into Gaza through smuggling tunnels that bypass the blockade, and Israel fears the influx of arms could now increase.
Still, the peace treaty with Israel was not raised by protesters during the current uprising, and the Muslim Brotherhood has been vague on the issue.
A strengthened Muslim Brotherhood could affect the power struggle between the two Palestinian political camps — the Islamic militant Hamas in Gaza and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank.
Abbas is backed by the West.
Some in Israel feared the unrest could spread to neighboring Jordan, the only other Arab country that has a peace deal with Israel, or to the Palestinian territories.
Former Israeli officials expressed concern that regime change in Egypt, as part of a wider transformation of the Arab world, could leave Israel even more isolated. Last year, regional powerhouse Turkey shifted away from its alliance with Israel.

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This is the regime we supported, beginning with Ronald Reagan. If Obama gets nothing else done, his oft-stated convictions about democracy in Egypt coupled with the back channel efforts to remove Mubarak will make him memorable if he sees it through..

How Hosni Mubarak Got So Rich

Rick Newman, On Friday February 11, 2011, 5:28 pm EST
Mubarak was a military man, not a businessman. But running a country with a suspended constitution for 30 years generates certain perks, and Mubarak was in a position to take a slice of virtually every significant business deal in the country, from development projects throughout the Nile basin to transit projects on the Suez Canal, which is a conduit for about 4 percent of the world's oil shipments. "There was no accountability, no need for transparency," says Prof. Amaney Jamal of Princeton University. "He was able to reach into the economic sphere and benefit from monopolies, bribery fees, red-tape fees, and nepotism. It was guaranteed profit."
Had the typical Egyptian enjoyed a morsel of that, Mubarak might still be in power. But Egypt, despite a cadre of well-educated young people, has struggled as an economic backwater. The nation's GDP per capita is just $6,200, according to the CIA--one-seventh what it is in the United States. That output ranks 136th in the world, even though Egypt ranks 16th in population. Mubarak had been working on a set of economic reforms, but they stalled during the global recession. The chronic lack of jobs and upward mobility was perhaps the biggest factor driving millions of enraged Egyptian youths into the streets, demanding change.