Speculation

[xavierxalfonso]

A friend from university wrote once that Americans often start a talk or presentation with a joke, Germans with an apology, and Russians with a complaint. But people from the Middle East, he said, often start with a conspiracy theory. Now, I'm not exactly middle-eastern, but three generations of my family did live in Egypt

Comments

[egadfly]

I thought it was generally accepted that the military made the decision for Mubarak. The questions seem to be about his state of health (there was a slightly bizarre rumour that he's in a coma at Sharm el-Sheikh); and to what extent the US helped the Egyptian military make up their minds.

The popular protests did lead to Mubarak's "resignation" in the sense that the military men were responding to that situation. As for a coup within a revolution, the Daily Mash is being cynical, but they have a point.

[xavierxalfonso]

Maybe generally accepted in the UK: German media placed no such spin on the news of his resignation (though they did report rumours that he was due to go to Germany for treatment) *.

Thank you for the hilarious Daily Mash article link. I laughed a lot.

* (though what I had had in mind was the military moving Mr M. for his own safety and then informing the world that he had resigned without his prior knowledge. That was my theory, which was mine. Except now I see it's lots of other people's, too.)

[egadfly]

German media placed no such spin on the news of his resignation

I always find it a bit sobering to be reminded just how... mediated our understanding of the world still is.