Hundreds of thousands of protesters endured a disheartening anticlimax Thursday night as Hosni Mubarak dashed hopes of an early resignation by vowing to stay in office until September's presidential elections.
Mubarak said in a national television address that he would delegate some powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman but that he would ignore "diktats from abroad,” and would “carry on and protect the constitution and the people and transfer power to whomever is elected next September in free and transparent elections.” The embattled president reiterated that he would not run as a candidate.
At this stage it is still unclear as to the role the army and Suleiman will play because Mubarak's comments were so ambiguous.
This is pretty much where things stand as of this writing. However, Debka has turned up some interesting information which is pertinent to this situation:
Deep US-Saudi rift over Egypt: Abdullah stands by Mubarak, turns to Tehran
The conversation between President Barack Obama and Saudi King Abdullah early Thursday, Feb. 10, was the most acerbic the US president has ever had with an Arab ruler, DEBKAfile's Middle East sources report.
Those sources disclose that the call which Obama put into Abdullah, who is recuperating from back surgery at his palace in Morocco, brought their relations into deep crisis and placed in jeopardythe entire edifice of US Iran and Middle East policies.
The king chastised the president for his treatment of Egypt and its president Hosni Muhbarak calling it a disaster that would generate instability in the region and imperil all the moderate Arab rulers and regimes which had backed the United States until now.
Abdullah took Obama to task for ditching America's most faithful ally in the Arab world and vowed that if the US continues to try and get rid of Mubarak, the Saudi royal family would bend all its resources to undoing Washington's plans for Egypt and nullifying their consequences.
You can say what you want about the Saudi leadership, but one thing is for sure, they have their finger on the pulse of the Middle East situation far more than the U.S. does (at the risk of stating the obvious).
According to British intelligence sources in London, the Saudi King pledged to make up the losses to Egypt if Washington cuts off military and economic aid to force Mubarak to resign. He would personally instruct the Saudi treasury to transfer to the embattled Egyptian ruler the exact amounts he needs for himself and his army to stand up to American pressure.
Through all the ups and downs of Saudi-US relations since the 1950s no Saudi ruler has ever threatened direct action against American policy.
Abdullah stressed he had more than one bone to pick with Obama. The king accused the US president of turning his back not only on Mubarak but on another beleaguered American ally, the former Lebanese Prime Minister Sa'ad Hariri, when he was toppled by Iran's surrogate Hizballah.
It gets even worse:
DEBKAfile's intelligence sources add that replacement aid for Egypt was not the only card in Abdullah's deck. He informed Obama that without waiting for events in Egypt to play out or America's response, he had ordered the process set in train for raising the level of Riyadh's diplomatic and military ties with Tehran. Invitations had gone out from Riyadh for Iranian delegations to visit the main Saudi cities.
The initiation of dialogue between Riyadh and Tehran is the most dramatic fallout in the region from the crisis in Egypt. Its is a boon for the ayatollahs who are treated the sight of pro-Western regimes either fading under the weight of domestic uprisings, or turning away from the US as Saudi Arabia is doing now.
The opening of the Saudi door to the Iranian push toward the Red Sea and Suez Canal tightens the Iranian siege ring around Israel.
We'll just have to keep watching this situation as it develops. But seeing the Saudi's begin to pull away from American influence is simply one more step in the diminishing influence that the U.S. has in the world, as we watch our decline continue.
But it has to be this way.
America is no where to be found in the detailed descriptions of the various world powers who are in play during the 7-year Tribulation. Additionally, it is impossible to imagine the events of the Tribulation playing out as described with a powerful, free America. The America that we have known for the past century would have never allowed a world dictator to seize control with a centralized government along with world financial control. These are just two of many reasons that we know a potent America won't be a factor in these remaining years.
What a paradox. We know that a fading U.S. will be part of the overall plan. It is both difficult and painful to observe. However, if it brings us one day closer to being with the Lord, in Paradise, then bring it on. Lets get these remaining events - events that are unavoidable and pending - done and done soon.
I'm ready to go home. How about you?
Maranatha. Come quickly Lord.
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