Could be ugly today in Egypt

By Dave Anderson:

Three news items to flag:

• The Egyptian government is cutting off Egyptian internet connections.


• A large crackdown is occurring against the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition group in Egypt.


• And from an Egyptian expert on the Egyptian army:

Unlike Tunis, the army is probably quite willing to use force to back up the police. The army does benefit from the current institutional arrangement.

 

As long as a significant element of the security forces are willing to continue to follow orders to open fire on their own citizens and the rest of the security forces are willing to be favorable neutrals, the government has an excellent probability of crushing or at least containing the damage that protests can do to its short-term power.  And with the internet being cut-off, a crack-down is likely against both pre-exisiting opposition groups (the Muslim Brotherhood) and the protestors themselves.