Is the Immortal about to die?

Youmna (thank you darlin’) informed me that the word on the Egyptian street is that the Leader, the Chief, the Freer of the Land, the Commander of the Air Force in 1973, the Prince of the Believers, Hosni ‘Papa Smurf’ Mubarak was either sick and being treated abroad, or dead. See here, here, and here.

A journalist or two in jail for spreading the rumour, and a lot of ink being spilt on how succession will go. Will Jimmy-the-Heir access the Throne of Egypt?

Will Safwat ‘the Pimp’ Al-Sharif * and Kamal ‘the Pig’ Al-Shazli let it slide in the Mubarak family or will they put up a fight?

Hard to know. Especially that whatever constitutional framework we have for such cases is halted because there's no Vice-President, so the seat will be up for grabs.

The way I picture it will unfold is à-la-Cubana: the President, too sick to govern, will yield some powers to a close collaborator/relative or a group of those. Raul Castro would probably not be able to fill Fidel’s shoes if Fidel was 6 feet under; the latter just, well, took off his shoes and is sitting in bed watching.

Same here. I foresee Gamal Mubarak taking over, with a lot of support from people loyal to the President, gradually, until Papa Smurf is declared clinically dead, probably 4 months after he actually would indeed have died, in a nice remake of the Aqtay/Shageret el Dorr play where she governed in his name while he had died, hiding the news and the stench of the body. (that’s like 950 years ago, btw.)

In any event, sounds like a nice time to be in Cairo... Though I’m still mad at the country for limiting my mobility. Aywa, aafesh.

Word has it they released photos of president Mubarak yesterday (see to the right). Oh well.

* why the Pimp, you ask? Because that used to be his job, once upon a time, in the Intelligence Services: provide the girls to entertain the guests or reward the good boys. And no, this isn't classified info.