The potential for succession is nothing new in a dictatorship, but the geopolitical world around this one is unlike any ever before:

As he struggled through an address to the Egyptian parliament last month, President Hosni Mubarak seemed to lose his way. He stopped, coughed into a handkerchief and muttered, "The air conditioning is too strong here." Aides rushed up to escort him from the podium, and the state television network feed went blank.

Forty-five minutes later, the 75-year-old leader returned to a standing ovation by lawmakers and quickly wound up his speech. But his sudden absence -- he later said he had been weakened by strong doses of medicine he was taking for the flu -- caused public alarm and concern here and set off a lively debate over Mubarak's health and the future of his authoritarian government.

...[T]he emerging debate here is not focused solely on who will succeed the aging autocrat, according to interviews with Egyptian officials, analysts, critics and Western diplomats. It is more about the nature of the government, and whether the coming succession can become the moment when the most populous country in the Arab world takes a leap toward democracy by staging its first free and competitive presidential election. The fact that Egyptians are discussing the matter at all is an important change for a society in which politics and power have long been the domain of a chosen few.

"People are talking about it in their houses and with their families," said Ahmed Seif Islam, a lawyer and human rights advocate. "It's become a daily subject of discussion. This is a very new phenomenon."

The key, obviously, is to end authoritarian rule upon the death or capitulation of Hosni Mubarak. Though his son, Gamal, has shown a practical interest in political reforms, Mubarak's own regime has done little in two decades to change Egypt's governing structure - and familial succession without fair and open elections, keeping democracy as a side project and not a national imperative, does nothing for ending compulsory rule. Gamal would need to enter office with support of the people, if elected at all. Washington could help by at least gradually reducing the yearly billion-dollar payments sent since the Carter presidency, as that money apparently goes quite a long way to sustain Egypt's potentially ambitious military.

Challenges for successful transition aside, we shouldn't lose sight of the historic opportunity to peacefully move another Near East dictatorship towards liberty and away from dictatorial and terrorist cultures.