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It is entirely possible that should the Egyptian police escalate (as it appears they have done), actual physical violence against them, even to the point of kil

It is entirely possible that should the Egyptian police escalate (as it appears they have done), actual physical violence against them, even to the point of killing some of them, may be necessary. Dictators only lose when their underlings no longer do the dirty work for them.

jacquesm 16y ago
It may be unavoidable, but to start off from the premise that that's how it should be done is simply wrong. The more people that are fighting the bigger the chance that instead of changing the regime you end up with civil war. The best bet in situations like this is on the regime having lost control over enough of their armed forces that they lay down their weapons, if it comes to violent confrontations between protesters and police/army then the loss of life on the civilian side will be considerable and it will actually increase the chance of further escalations. Don't forget that the 'regular' police and military have family too, that's the trump card of organized resistance anywhere. That's also the reason that in countries like China and the former USSR (and others besides) the military is heavily rotated away from their place of birth.
- yummyfajitas 16y ago
  The more people that are fighting the bigger the chance that instead of changing the regime you end up with civil war. Perhaps, but even if that occurs, it's probably a good thing. A civil war is rapid, violent and photogenic - we see it on TV and we think "how horrible". Slow stagnation under dictatorship is quiet, the violence occurs behind closed doors and is spread out over many years, and we just don't see it on TV. But it's often far worse than a violent revolution would be.
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    Agreed. If it has to be then let it be like Romania or Albania. The best we can hope for is for the police and the military to be either restrained or to desert, if they continue to support Mubarak it could get extremely messy.

jacquesm 16y ago

It may be unavoidable, but to start off from the premise that that's how it should be done is simply wrong. The more people that are fighting the bigger the chance that instead of changing the regime you end up with civil war. The best bet in situations like this is on the regime having lost control over enough of their armed forces that they lay down their weapons, if it comes to violent confrontations between protesters and police/army then the loss of life on the civilian side will be considerable and it will actually increase the chance of further escalations. Don't forget that the 'regular' police and military have family too, that's the trump card of organized resistance anywhere. That's also the reason that in countries like China and the former USSR (and others besides) the military is heavily rotated away from their place of birth.

yummyfajitas 16y ago
The more people that are fighting the bigger the chance that instead of changing the regime you end up with civil war. Perhaps, but even if that occurs, it's probably a good thing. A civil war is rapid, violent and photogenic - we see it on TV and we think "how horrible". Slow stagnation under dictatorship is quiet, the violence occurs behind closed doors and is spread out over many years, and we just don't see it on TV. But it's often far worse than a violent revolution would be.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  Agreed. If it has to be then let it be like Romania or Albania. The best we can hope for is for the police and the military to be either restrained or to desert, if they continue to support Mubarak it could get extremely messy.