Rasha Saad assesses why the army is still the country's best bet The return of Egyptian revolutionaries to Tahrir Square was the focus of pundits this week. In the London-based, pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat George Semaan wrote that unless the revolution's youth in the square recognise that change is not as easy as they expected, that there is a major predicament facing the demands and slogans they raised and that the future is not solely determined by them, and unless the regimes that are rejecting change and their remnants recognise that turning the clock backward is impossible, the spring of Arab action will last much longer. Semaan also gave advice to both the revolution's youth and the military council. He called on the youth in Egypt to "realise that there is a price to be delivered to the military council, and that the latter will have the final say since it played a key and pivotal role in ousting the former regime." He also called on the military council "to realise that its role is not to reproduce a regime similar to the ousted one" and that the policy of "loaning" youth the required steps one at a time -- as is currently the case -- is unfruitful and is extending the deadlock, deepening the gap, increasing the absence of trust and causing a deterioration in the economic situation. "Both sides must realise it would be impossible to go backwards, and that the current situation cannot be sustained," Semaan argued. Also in Al-Hayat, Mohamed Salah wrote that, unlike the Egyptian police, the most prominent characteristic of the Egyptian army is that it is not politicised, and that the greatest threat it could be exposed to is that of becoming politicised. In 'Politicising the army' Salah wrote that they are engaging in politics by obligation after the revolution. To the army's credit, Salah believes that it is managing the transitional period and laying the foundations for some form of post-revolutionary state "in the manner and with the views which it believes to be in the best interests of Egypt, not in the interest of one or another political faction. "On the whole, the transitional period will end sooner or later, but it is important for the army to preserve its independence, regardless of objections to its policies during the transitional period, so that it may after this, return to its barracks and hand over power to a civilian government that will come from the ballot box, not from army garrisons," Salah wrote. In the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat, Tariq Al-Homayed compared Egypt's liberals with Iraq's Sunnis Al-Homayed warned that the liberals of Egypt are devoting themselves to conflict after the fall of the Mubarak regime "in the same way that the Sunnis of Iraq devoted themselves to delusion after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime." Al-Homayed quoted a well informed source on the region as explaining that in Iraq, the Sunnis were told that as long as you complain about Shia parties that are loyal to Iran, the Sunnis should ally with the Kurds. The Sunnis, however, rejected this possibility "and presented a list of their delusional complaints about the Kurds" forcing the Kurds to ally with those Shia groups loyal to Iran, thus putting themselves in the worst situation possible. In the same way, Al-Homayed explained the liberals of Egypt are sceptical of the Muslim Brotherhood, the military council, America and the international community, and want to try and convict symbols of the former regime, even the innocent ones among them. "Yet the beneficiary of all of this is the Muslim Brotherhood," Al-Homayed maintains. Today, he warns, youth and liberals are wholly engaged in criticising the MB and the military council. To the MB's credit, Al-Homayed believes that "they are playing politics in accordance with reality rather than delusions. Meanwhile, the liberals are still chasing idealism." Al-Homayed wrote that "the political reality tells us that youth and liberals should be hand in hand with the military and should, first and foremost, call for the drafting of the constitution and then for presidential elections." Also in Asharq Al-Awsat, Abdel-Rahman Al-Rashid wrote that the military council assumed power and took over the helm without a clear plan. In 'The military is without a political plan' Al-Rashid wrote that the council is "merely playing the role of a policeman regulating movement in the political arena, amidst the vacuum resulting from the fall of a major political regime." Pointing out contradictions in post-revolution Egypt, Al-Rashid wrote that the revolution's youth want justice, but are demanding a rush through of criminal trials. They also want to dismiss the government of Essam Sharaf, despite previously rejecting Ahmed Shafik, the military's candidate, and instating Sharaf, considering him a comrade. They are also demanding better wages in a country where the economy is semi-paralysed and reserves are in serious decline. On top of all this, Al-Rashid wrote, there is still no elected government. He maintains that the military establishment in Egypt is still the only safety valve, especially as the revolutionaries are from different spectra, and the differences among them are widening. "The military still has dignity and respect amongst the general public, but it is losing the battle of public opinion because of its inability to express and defend its stances," Al-Rashid declares. In the UAE daily Gulf News, Abdel-Bari Atwan warned that "while much of the rest of the Arab world is in the grip of momentous struggle and change, the Palestinians -- the architects of the Intifada -- remain bogged down by in-fighting and weak, self-interest leadership." In an article entitled 'Infighting and ineffective leaders weaken the cause,' Atwan wrote that it was time for the Arab Spring to reach Palestine. "The old, corrupt regime has delivered nothing but disappointments. The Palestinians deserve a strong, representative government with the integrity, the determination and the clout to continue the real struggle which is against the Israeli occupation," Atwan wrote.
