TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

President Hosni Mubarak ordered his government to resign:

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt appeared on television late Friday night and ordered his government to resign, but backed his security forces’ attempts to contain the surging unrest around the country that has shaken his 28-year authoritarian rule.

He did not offer to step down himself and spent much of the short speech explaining the need for stability, saying that while he was “on the side of freedom,” his job was to protect the nation from chaos.

This will only anger protestors more, because it wasn’t even an attempt to respond to their desires. Mubarak basically said he will wait them out and won’t make any material changes.

Mubarak faces a choice, though. He can either order the military to crush protests, like the Iranians did during the summer, or he can relent and submit substantive political reforms. This is his fundamental choice; thus far, he has refused to decide, betting that he can wait for protestors to exhaust themselves.

If protests continue on this scale tomorrow, he will have to decide. Both decisions are unattractive; even if he proposes serious reforms—say, ending decades of emergency powers for the police, real and legitimate elections, and an attempt to eliminate endemic corruption—protestors may not accept it, because it doesn’t involve him stepping down.

Ordering the military to crush the protests is an even worse option. He may be able to take control of the situation in the short-term, but doing so would likely shift public opinion entirely against him and de-legitimize him as head of state. Or, even worse, the military could refuse his orders and side with protestors, which would mean an immediate end to his regime.