The Egyptian Revolution may not be televised (America don't take too kindly to Al Jazeera in her parts!) but it will most definitely be Facebooked and Tweeted and re-Tweeted ad nauseum.
Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we're free at last!
Err, kind of.
I mean, Hosni Mubarak did finally step down as Egypt's default president-for-life, but not before first giving ridiculously offensive quitting speeches pretending to leave, a number of times, only to decide, eh, on second thought, he kind of likes this whole all-powerful, ruthless leader thing.
But lo and behold, the arrogant, grumpy old man and only Grandfather Egypt has known for the last thirty years finally decided the largest country in the Arab world has had enough Daddy
maybe letting someone else be absolute ruler for a while.
Maybe even the whole Egyptian Army since they seem to love repressive police states so much!
According to the BBC:
Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down as president of Egypt.Hooray! The Egyptian Revolution is victorious! Which is really quite an achievement after only a few measly weeks of rag-tag yelling and shrieking in 140 characters or less. All hail the Twitter!
In an announcement on state TV, Vice-President Omar Suleiman said Mr Mubarak had handed power to the military.
It came as thousands massed in Cairo and other Egyptian cities for an 18th day of protest to demand Mr Mubarak’s resignation.
Protesters responded by cheering, waving flags, embracing and sounding car horns. “The people have brought down the regime,” they chanted.
So now that ol' Hosni M is gone, the real question becomes, what happens next?
Will pure democracy just suddenly bloom like the beautiful begonia of freedom George W. Bush so bravely planted in Iraq?
Or will the Great Pyramid Party of 2011, Egyptapalooza's non-stop freedom bash be followed by the long, complicated, seemingly impossible process of constitutional negotiations between the people, Army, the Muslim Brotherhood, moderate/progressive opposition groups, business leaders, foreign powers, and all other concerned interests over the next year or so before anything even approaching free elections and/or a stable and responsive political system emerges?
Umm, yeah, most likely.
But until then, doesn't it make you feel all warm 'n fuzzy to know that something called the "The Supreme Council of the Egyptian Military Forces" now has complete control of the nation?
And all these military leaders have to do now is draft a new system of government that ably represents the demands of 80 million people unfamiliar with the democratic process in one of the most strategically important nations on Earth en route to supervising the constitutional transition of power!
Yeah, like that should be difficult.
Per usual, President Obama said all the right things, praising the peacefulness of the protesters, the restraint of the military, the emergence of a "new generation with boundless aspirations," and a transition that brings "all of Egypt's voices to the table."
And not surprisingly, the United States government has pledged to help where it can, but let's be serious. As long as the oil's pumping and our massive tankers don't run into any problems going through the Suez Canal, ol' Uncle Sam is pretty much cool with anything.
Hell, if Egypt ends up under the permanent rule of a Supreme Repressive Military Authoritarian Islamist Junta of Death, Sharia, and How To Lose A Democracy In Ten Days, but still manages to keep our gas-guzzling luxury SUVs filled with delicious petroleum, then that's good enough.
So be it!
Good thing, America's other, real president of social networking, Sarah Palin, understands that the U.S. of A can't just go around, supportin' freedom and the rule of Democratic law everywhere there's a protest and a pyramid.
“We want to be able to trust those who are screaming for democracy there in Egypt, that it is a true sincere desire for freedoms. And the challenge that we have though, is how do we verify what it is that we are being told?”
Certainly not by listening to the shrieks of lamestream media, or
“So now the information needs to be gathered and understood as to who it will be that fills now the void in the government. Is it going to be the Muslim Brotherhood? We should not stand for that, or with that or by that. Any radical Islamists, no that is not who we should be supporting and standing by. So we need to find out who was behind all of the turmoil and the revolt and the protests so that good decisions can be made in terms of who we will stand by and support.”So true, SarBear! After all, a secular pragmatist like Sarah Palin knows that God should NEVER have an influence on politics or government or law and order.
And certainly not if that God happens to go by the ridiculous name Allah.
Jesus Christ, no!
I mean, it's not like weirdo Egyptians have feelings or anything. Besides, everyone knows those people couldn't truly want Democracy. Duh! They're Muslim.
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