The timing of Hosni Mubarak's speech Thursday night to the nation was no accident, said Prof. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a sociologist and visiting scholar at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, who was imprisoned three times by Mubarak.

"He's trying to preempt a call for a general strike tomorrow," Ibrahim told CNN Thursday in a telephone interview, noting that workers began joining the demonstrations early this week and were calling for demonstrations throughout Egypt on Friday. "Usually, after the Friday prayer, people congregate, so he was trying to preempt that."...

James Gelvin, a professor of history at UCLA, said Mubarak had little choice but to act on Thursday. "He had to do something," Gelvin said in a telephone interview. "Today followed on the biggest demonstrations in Egypt's recent history. It's not just in Tahrir Square, it's up and down the country, and it's labor unrest as well. You've got a perfect storm of economic grievances and political grievances at the same time."

The timing of the next move is up to the military, which both supports the protesters and wants order, he said. "They can't have it both ways."...