Lately, Egypt’s revolution efforts have been covered world-wide in the news. The revolution efforts began with the Egyptian’s dissatisfaction with their leader, Mubarak, who has been ruling with an iron fist for the past thirty years. The people who are protesting for a revolution want a more democratic government, one that better represents the people. With the change and uproar in society, Mubarak was silent for some time, although he created a 3PM curfew for the country to try and instill some order.

Initially, the revolution marches and movements have been relatively peaceful, with quiet violence-free military deployed to the site of protests. But in the span of the past two days, the revolution efforts took a drastic change.

Journalists and diplomats believe the change could be a result of Mubarak’s second rousing speech and event held for his supporters last night, provided with an expensive sound system and other morale boosting effects for Mubarak’s rally.

Last night, I was watching CNN’s coverage on rapid turn for the worse in Egypt after Mubarak’s rally. What used to be a peaceful revolution has become a bloody revolution, with molotov cocktail bombs and pro-Mubarak citizens riding through crowds on horseback and camels to try and harm the anti-Mubarak people. Cairo is quickly becoming a place of chaos, with tourists and non-natives trying to evacuate, hundreds being injured, and news reporters on lock down. Mubarak shut down all internet access in the country along with the 3PM curfew.

There are two common concerns which have been the topic of debate in the news. The first is how should the US react to what is happening in Egypt? The other concern stems from the military sitting back and watching the violent outbreak the other day and who will the military side with. Many fear that Egypt’s military could loose credibility.

On the Parker/Spitzer show on CNN, Spitzer interviewed Richard Hass, a Rhodes scholar who earned his Ph.D at Oxford to gauge a better understanding to the situation regarding those two questions.

Hass analyzed, “It’s possible that the Egyptian army will unravel if it doesn’t decide what side it’s on.”

And as for the question concerning US involvement, Hass believes that westerners and the US need to keep a low profile because no matter what the end result of this revolution is, if the US has a high profile of involvement, they will be blamed for whatever the outcome.

Personally, I hope that the revolution can return to peaceful protests, violence and blurred lines of objectives and ethics becomes dangerous.

If you are interested in reading about a first-hand witness account of the revolution in Egypt, there’s a really cool article on NY Times in Op-Ed written by a woman who participated in the protests.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/opinion/31eldin.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=egypt%20revolution&st=Search

** images and captions from NY Times and CNN