On the fourth day of protests when the death toll has risen, the Egyptian authoritarian, Husni Mubarak, received three calls of solidarity. The first call came from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who expressed his support to the Egyptian government and people who are facing, according to him, a wave of destruction, burning, and terror undertaken by “some who are hiding behind the slogan of freedom of expression.”
The Libyan despot, Muammar Qaddafi, also called Mubarak to tell him that he is confident that Egypt will continue its path to building a strong nation capable of defending its interests and the interests of the Arab world. A similar message came from the head of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas.
The rush of these aging leaders to support a president rejected by his own people is not necessarily a vote of confidence in Mubarak’s ability to withstand the unprecedented pressure to step down. Rather, it is more driven by utterly selfish motives since these three leaders, along with almost the rest of the Arab dictators, know that if the Egyptian people succeed in bringing down the tyrant Mubarak, they will suffer the same fate. In other words, Arab leaders want Mubarak to hold back the flood gates.
Sadly, Arab leaders are so out of touch with the reality. Mubarak thought that Egypt is no Tunisia. Now that Egypt is Tunisia of three weeks ago, he is simply being stubborn. he seems to be willing to overthrow his people before they overthrow him. What he does not seem to realize is that the Egyptian people feel that they reached a point of no return. There can be no reconciliation, no business as usual. There can never be a new government because he was, has been the government.
For all intents and purposes, Mubarak is history, to quote some protesters’ posters, “game over.” He has a couple of choices to make: fly to Saudi Arabia and find a villa in the gated complex where Ben Ali lives or stay in Cairo where he will be arrested and tried for crimes against humanity for all the torture he inflicted on helpless citizens.