Egypt showing restraint

UPDATE: Mubarak to the entire world - "I'm stayin', bitches!"

UPDATE 2: OK, so now Mubarak is apparently handing over power to his VP, but he's not leaving the country. He's almost as bad as Joe Lieberman, who quit last month but for some reason is hanging on for another two years.

And Mubarak will certainly have full control of the government (especially the Army, which is still loyal to him). If the populace makes it a general strike, chances are good that many of those loyal to Mubarak will switch to the opposition. Look Hosni, it's fucking inevitable...just give it up, clean out the treasury (de rigueur for fleeing dictators), and get the fuck out of Egypt!

(...and why do my fingers tend to type "Eqypt" rather than "Egypt"?)

Thinking about all the other "peaceful revolutions" that have turned into massive blood baths (Tienanmen Square, anyone?) and it dawned on me that, despite the hired thugs and government control of the internet, the Egyptian government has shown quite a bit of restraint when dealing with the protesters.

That's not to say there hasn't been violence, but so far we've been spared the awful spectacle of tanks rolling into Tahrir Square, firing indiscriminately into the crowd. Hosni Mubarak is scheduled to speak to the nation (and the world) shortly, and my sincere hope is that he'll step down peacefully and allow for an orderly transition to a real democracy.

The impact of a peaceful change of government won't be lost on the rest of the world. Governments from nations like China and North Korea will certainly do their best to repress news of the event, since it threatens their very hold on power.

Right now we really are at one of those moments in history. Hopefully it will look more like the fall of the Berlin Wall than the tragedy in Tienanmen Square.

Waiting for the speech to begin shortly...