Mubarak pledge to step down dismissed as too slow

Source: Reuters

... Soon after Mubarak's speech, state television, which had largely ignored anti-government protests, broadcast footage of smaller demonstrations held in support of the president.

These pro-government marches were an unusual development given there had so far been almost no sign of any counter-demonstrations.

...

But some analysts said tensions could rise even within the army if Mubarak were to hang on too long, and if senior officers were seen to be protecting a leader who had lost legitimacy.

"The longer this goes on, the more people will associate the military top brass with Mubarak. That is very dangerous," said Faysal Itani, deputy head of Middle East and North Africa Forecasting at Exclusive Analysis.

Read more: http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE71100520110202?sp=true

---

Posted for the record. Situation polarizing. Much more at link.

to Army tells protesters to help Egypt return to normal.

Main Al Jaz link here :

Unimpressed by president Hosni Mubarak's speech on Tuesday night, in which he vowed not to renew his rule, thousands of Egyptian protesters remain holed up in Cairo's central Tahrir Square, adamant in their demand that the president must step down.

>

"The speech is useless and only inflames our anger," said Shadi Morkos in Tahrir square. "We will continue to protest."


http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/20112272918301323.html

:hi:

but the headline I've quoted was still in place at the top of the actual article page at the time I posted.

Edit: Mighty Mockingbird Wurlitzer spinning into action here...

Have not been able to log on to the site since about 5am est. Anyone else having issues?

Its fine here in the UK.

I don't know if I should compare the two, but when Americans protested against Bush install, where the hell was the media? Oh well, I guess current world governments are going fall like dominoes, and maybe the PEOPLE can get on with their lives, someday.

There was plenty of coverage of the people in DC along the parade route and outside the inaugural. The numbers were far less than the bigger peace rallies in early 2003. In addition, there was not the same willingness to potentially be killed - no one thought that going to DC would carry any risk at all.

(In fact, I am not sure the numbers in January 2001 exceeded that of Beck and the tea party.