Via everyone, the major rumor in Egypt right now is that Hosni Mubarak will step down tonight, in advance of what are expected to be the largest protests of the uprising tomorrow. We know that Mubarak will address the nation tonight. A senior military commander told protesters that “all their demands would be met.” Here’s [...]

The demonstrations in Tahrir Square have captured the imagination of the working class in Egypt. Workers of all socioeconomic stripes – doctors in white lab coats, bus drivers, lawyers, textile workers – joined the protests today, and throughout the country, workers have walked out, seeking new freedoms or in some cases simply better working conditions. [...]

After the world turned away and thought the protests in Egypt over and a smooth transition to democracy under torturer-in-chief Omar Suleiman assured, everyone forgot one thing: the view of the protesters. They have actually stepped up their protests, blocking the entrance to Parliament and forcing the new Mubarak cabinet to convene elsewhere. The biggest [...]

The US media and political establishment – increasingly a redundancy – told me that Omar Suleiman was managing the transition in Egypt very well, and talking to the opposition groups, and that progress was being made and life was returning to normal and we can all put this out of our heads presently. Somebody forgot [...]

The weekend’s events in Egypt showed a tension between the establishment, including leadership in the West, trying to firmly manage the situation, and the expectations of the protesters in the street. Siun sums that up well. But I’ll just note the spate of stories that either show legitimate differences of opinion among the protesters or [...]

In the latest concession to the protesters in Egypt, Hosni Mubarak has resigned as the head of the country’s ruling party, the NDP. He will remain on as President until the end of his term, however. The party’s secretary-general Safwat el-Sharif, and Gamal Mubarak, Hosni’s son, also quit the NDP. This is a trifling concession [...]

The masses are gathering in Tahrir Square for the “Day of Departure,” with the goal of getting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to leave office. Al Jazeera has a live blog of events with some pictures. According to the New York Times, the Obama Administration shares the goal of the protesters to get Mubarak out. But [...]

The state TV interview with Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman was kind of a joke. Suleiman rejected the early departure of Hosni Mubarak from the government due to the risk to “stability and security” (because Egypt looks so stable). He intimated that satellite TV stations like Al Jazeera “are arousing you against your country.” He [...]

In his second major speech since protests began, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced that he would not stand for re-election in September. He said that, at 82, he was actually not planning to run for re-election anyway, so… there. Mubarak said that he would direct his Parliament to pursue Constitutional and legislative reforms, in particular [...]

When this came down a while ago on Al Arabiya, the collective response from the Twitterati was that this signals the end of the Mubarak regime: Egypt’s powerful military said yesterday it would not open fire on protesters as a coalition of Egyptian opposition groups called for a million people to take to Cairo’s streets [...]

In another step that could signal the end of the Egyptian regime, intelligence chief Omar Suleiman has been sworn in by Hosni Mubarak as Vice President of Egypt, the first Vice President in the history of the Mubarak regime. Al Jazeera showed the swearing-in ceremony live on Egyptian television, and its analysts said that this [...]