Mubarak: I'm dissolving Egypt's government, new one forms tomorrow, I'm not going anywhere

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak just appeared on television, live, in what was apparently a pre-recorded message, to address the massive protests that have erupted throughout the country this week. At the end of his speech, which mostly addressed economic issues, he said he has asked the current government (meaning, basically, his cabinet) to resign, and says he will form a new one tomorrow. With him remaining in power as president.

Contrast this with the "demands" document widely distributed throughout Egypt today by demonstrators, translated here at manalaa.net...

People wanted to overthrow the regime

We are the masses in the sit in in Tahrir Square, who ignited the spark of the uprising against injustice and tyranny, where raised by the will of the people, the people who suffered 30 years of oppression, injustice and poverty under the rule of Mubarak, and his cronies in the National Party .

Egyptians have proven today that they are capable of extricating their freedom and destroying tyranny

The people's demands were vocalized today in their chants:

1. Mubarak's immediate stepping down from power.
2. The resignation of the cabinet.
3. the dissolution of the fraudulent parliament
4. The formation of a national government.

We will continue to sit-in until our demands are met, and we call upon the masses all over Egypt and the trade unions, professional syndicates, political parties, and institutions to rise up and extricate these demands.

let us strike and sit-in and protest everywhere, untill we topple the regime

UPDATE: The New York Times has updated their lead story with coverage of Mubarak's speech.

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PHOTO: Protesters carry a carpet with an image of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, with a shoe placed on it, in Suez January 28, 2011. Mubarak imposed a curfew and ordered troops to back up police as they struggled to control crowds who flooded the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities on Friday to demand that he step down. (REUTERS/Mohamed Abdel Ghany)

• [abulafia]

  Come in Mr Mubarak, your time is up.

• [MelSkunk]

  I nominate him for the international Missing the Point Epicly award.

• [EH]

  Finally, that Deputy Assistant Undersecretary for Transportation Affairs has had his boot on my neck for the last time!

• [Anonymous]

  Fail of the year… and 2011′s only just begun

• [Anonymous]

  In case you missed it, The Daily Show’s breakdown of what caused the Eqypt uprising was educational:
  http://gtcha.me/htpbCR

• [Anonymous]

  The past three days can be summarized into this:
  Population – “Step down!”
  Mubarak – “No”
  To be continued…

• [wispsmoke]

  I’ll take “Clinging to Power” for 200, Alex.

• [Chong]

  What’s the bet that come tomorrow all these cabinet members who resign will be offered their jobs back into the ‘new’ government?

• [mindysan33]

  Christ, what an asshole.

  I’d heard a rumour (or read, I guess) before his speech that he had already left (Israeli TV?). Could it have been pre-recorded? Doubtful, I guess.

• [Teller]

  “Everyone I hired is a major disappointment.”

• [Severius]

  According to the Mother Jones coverage “Important note: It’s a recorded speech, and we don’t know when it was recorded”.

• [bjacques]

  Tomorrow Mubarak’s firing the government. Sunday he’s firing the people.

• [Anonymous]

  Well, this is how revolutions work in Sid Meier’s Civilization. You know, where the civilians are only expressed through statistics. :(

• [Anonymous]

  Obama has stated that,

  “Surely, there will be difficult days to come, but the United States will continue to stand up for the rights of the Egyptian people and work with their government in pursuit of a future that is more just, more free and more hopeful,”

  So he will work with the (US-funded) Dictator Mubarak to ensure that he promotes democracy without stepping down from power. Cognitive dissonance anyone? Hope and Change?

• [Anonymous]

  Do not await the out come,
  become it!

  Hold an open, revolutionary, democratic convention here:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_International_Stadium

  Witnessed by the international media -