LÖVE

For those of you who haven't been keeping up with the news (shame on you!):

1) The Egyptian president and his government was really bad - oppressive has hell. Half the country in poverty, and he has seventeen billion dollars of cars and treasure and stuff.
2) Egyptians have been nonviolently protesting for a month, first asking for improvements and the president's resignation. The president responded by deploying the military and cutting off the entire country's Internet and phone networks.
3) That didn't stop the protests, though. Eventually the president agreed that he'd resign at some point in the future. The protesters responded by calling for him to go to trial, jail, and/or the gallows.
4) Today, the president has resigned. The protesters won. The entire parliament has been dissolved. Switzerland has frozen all of his bank accounts.

Currently the military is in charge of the country, but they've always been on the people's side - nobody is afraid of the new government they're going to set up. And hey, even if they /did/ make a new bad government, the people know they change it.

The entire country is one big party right now - you can't walk across a street, the crowds are so thick. Singing and dancing, fireworks and balloons, praying and laughing. No looting or violence.

Great job, Egypt!

While the circumstances are of course horrible, it still makes me happy to see that there are still still people who are willing to come together and force their government to change when it needs to. Too bad it takes a dictatorship for people to start acting, though.

No one has won quite yet, this is only the first (or second, I guess) step. Good for them though.

I'd like to note that while topics like this are allowed, intense political debate is not. So don't decide upon starting a flamewar.

That said, any leader who takes down the internet is wrong.

How could this possibly start a flame war? Anyone who supported the ex-president needs to be drawn and quartered! Just kidding. But seriously, how can anyone be anything but happy about this?

It's great news, but the "war" isn't over yet. Old corrupt power structures run far deeper than the parliament, so while Egypt has a chance to get a more democratic government, there is still a lot that needs to be done.

Of course, you're right. But now that the people /know/ they can make a difference, and they have a feeling of freedom, I think they're going to see it through. And they're going to want their descendants to feel it. They're never going to forget the celebration they're having right now.

I have more than a little Egyptian heritage: I'm pretty glad things have turned out as well as they have, all things considered. It's far from perfect, but it's a massive leaping bound in the right direction.

They will not let anyone forget it Taehl, because that's the way Egyptians are. They NEVER forget.
Especially when you say that you'll ride in one of their falukas another evening...

Respect for the Egyptians. They were able to do what we failed 19/12/2010.