The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #135264 Message #3086465
Posted By: Steve Shaw
01-Feb-11 - 05:48 AM
Thread Name: BS: Middle East Unrest
Subject: RE: BS: Middle East Unrest
Good stuff, Peter. Things have moved on since I first posted to this thread. The army's apparent conciliatory tone sounds far more optimistic now than could have been hoped for a few days ago. Large numbers of Egyptian men have served in the army as conscripts, so the soldiers on the street seem to have a good appreciation of the hard facts of Egyptian life, which is something. If and when Mubarak goes the army will have to retain control, but who's going to predict the next step after that? The US won't be in any hurry to see elections that might bring a non-army opposition to power (I can currently see only one candidate party there). The army is bankrolled by the US so there will still be string-pulling going on. Egypt lives in interesting times.