by Patrick Appel
Anthony Bubalo believes that Mubarak's speech was "a major miscalculation, not just by Mubarak but by the regime":
[The regime] had a chance to dispense with Mubarak but save (much of) itself. For a solid week and-a-half we were in post-Mubarak Egypt. Whether Mubarak was going to go now, or in September as he promised, was simply a matter of detail albeit a very important detail. In effect, what we were witnessing was a negotiation between the rest of the regime and the protesters about how different post-Mubarak Egypt would be from Mubarak's Egypt. The regime hoped to make the minimum concessions to get the protesters off the streets.
But now, by allowing Mubarak to hang around, by so spectacularly under-bidding in this negotiation, the regime has ensured that even when Mubarak is eventually forced to go as I still expect he will be the wrath of the protesters will remain focused on the system as a whole.
(Photo: Anti-government protesters react as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak makes a televised statement to his nation in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, Egypt Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011. By Emilio Morenatti/AP.