The people of Egypt suffered beatings - and death for many - when they repeatedly gathered in Tahrir square to break the hold of thirty year dictator Hosni Mubarak. The turning point came when the Egyptian army came over to their side - and Mubarak capitulated.
Now those same people are back in Tahrir square - and once again they are facing truncheons and rubber bullets because their glorious revolution is slipping away. Next month they will go to the polls as promised, but this election will not deliver the government they were promised.
It is an all too familiar scenario. It has been said that " power corrupts " - and that " absolute power corrupts absolutely ".
When Mubarak stepped down it was on the understanding that the military would take temporary control. It seems that power is so addictive that the generals are now refusing to hand back full control to a civilian government - and this is a scenario that has been repeated in other countries on so many occasions. Pakistan. Turkey. Burma. - come to mind.
Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi has become the new Mubarak. The election will go ahead as promised and it will create a civilian government, but the military will not hand full control to that elected body. Instead, the military will stand aloof from civil control and it's operating budget will remain under it's control.
It seems that the civilian government will simply be tasked with those annoying functions with which the military can not be bothered - like education, health, transport and the provision of housing.
The real power will reside with the military - and should it disagree with this new civilian government - then it will be the regime commanding the men with the guns.
An interesting situation, which will not be lost on the freedom fighters now planning their future in countries like Libya and Tunisia - and those still trying to escape from tyranny in Syria !
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