A region in flux

The kaleidoscope has been shaken in the Middle East and it is impossible to know where the pieces will settle. Watching the scenes, one’s inclination is to be hopeful. But as Jeffrey Goldberg notes the challenges facing any new Egyptian order are immense.

One thing that is clear is that the autocrats of the Arab world are nervous. The Washington Post reports that the king of Bahrain is giving every family there $2,700 in an attempt to appease opinion before a planned day of protest on Monday. The Algerian government is offering to lift the state of emergency the country has been in for the past 19 years and the Syrians have stopped trying to ban Facebook and Twitter.

In Egypt, it seems that Mubarak’s statement on Thursday night was made in spite of reality. The New York Times reveals that when Obama administration officials contacted their Egyptians counterparts to try and understand what was happening they were told that Mubarak had been removed from his post and replaced by a military council and the transition was proceeding apace.