January 29: President Hosni Mubarak fires his cabinet, as a sort of good faith reform gesture. He does not announce any future political plans.
January 31:
Mubarak appoints a new cabinet. Still no deeper reforms, even though the United States is pressuring him to pass on another term.
February 1: Mubarak announces that he will not seek another term as president.
We can see where this is going. As Foreign Policy’s Blake Hounshell points out, Tunisia’s President Ben Ali had made three promises to ease out of power slowly before losing control, resigning, and leaving the control. (The official position is that he didn’t resign.)
