As long as powerful players remain in their positions the birth pangs of the revolution are set to be painful and protracted
Magdi Abdelhadi
guardian.co.uk, Monday 4 June 2012
"For the first time in Egypt's history the pharaoh is behind bars. But the joy was not unalloyed. Some of his most powerful henchmen, the backbone of his police state, were acquitted of killing the protesters and are now free. That's why Tahrir Square in Cairo and other cities have erupted in anger.
What also infuriated the public was that Mubarak was found guilty not of what he did, but rather of what he did not do. That's how seemingly preposterous (but apparently technically correct) the verdict is. The former president was proven guilty of something like "serious dereliction of duty": he failed to stop the killing of protesters........
Now as the Muslim Brotherhood appears poised to rule the country, the same disinformation machine is portraying them as agents of foreign powers that include, bizarrely, in one swoop America, Iran, Qatar and Israel. The crassness of the allegations betrays panic, but works well where large swaths of the population are either illiterate or politically unaware.
These people have been in government for so long and appear to be psychologically incapable of conceiving of themselves shorn of power and influence. They will stop at nothing. However, sooner or later (it may be in a few months or a few years, yet the momentum for change is unstoppable) they will find themselves forced to hand over the levers of state to a new elite.
Will they do so quietly and peacefully? They will most certainly drag their feet, using existing Mubarak era laws to thwart change. One thing is sure, though: they will not go without a fight....."
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