There's been a lot of buzz about the protests in Egypt. I'm not so trilled. I'm no fan of Mubarak, and I'm all for the people revolting against a totalitarian regime, but the opposition in this case (IMHO) isn't a step forward. They're saying "Democracy!" at least for now. However I'm not sold that they won't exchange one totalitarianism for another.
I guess I shouldn't be so cryptic, should I? The main opposition is the Muslim Brotherhood, and organization devoted to reestablishing the Caliphate, and one with ties to white supremacists here in the US (seems strange, I know, but there it is). The Muslim Brotherhood is outwardly dedicated to "religion focused government" (ie. theocracy). Their hands aren't clean in this matter. They are a Pan-Arab organization, and as such has ties to terrorist organizations (Hamas, al Shabaab, and even al Qaeda). The ties are not strong or permanent, as far as I've seen, but they have been substantiated (more so than the terrorist ties to Saddam's Iraq).
If they gain prominence outside of the existing Egyptian Constitution, the US may be drawn into this to support Mubarak, and that would be bad. (War on Terror, Israel, Mubarak being legitimately elected - yes, I know, but they had elections, etc)
The media is connecting this movement with the Tunisia revolution (Jasmine, whatever, a revolution I think for the good, BTW). While the uprising in Tunisia (which is still not a fait accompli) can be seen as the spark for this fire (yes, that was intentional, ask me about the buddhist monks in Vietnam some day), other than timing and kicking out someone who has overstayed their welcome, there's not much else to tie them together.
So before we all start rooting for the underdog here we may want to look this horse in the mouth (to mix my metaphors). IMHO, Egypt is looking to trade a tyranny of one for a tyranny by committee.
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