CAIRO - The January 25 revolt has turned the lives of young Egyptians round a full 180 degrees, as well as having an impact on their priorities. Yesterday's young people loved certain footballers and singers, while today they love two military characters. When he saluted the martyrs of the January 25 revolt in his speech on TV, Major-General Mohssen el-Fangari became instantly famous. Viewers are happy, because they know that the coming news is going to be good and fair, coinciding with their expectations and hopes. He is now a model for many Egyptians, while a Facebook page named after him describes him as a ‘good omen'. The number of people, who said they like his page, created on February 12, had reached 55,754 at the time of going to press. The second military character is ‘The One behind Omar Suleiman'. Yes, this mystery man was standing behind Suleiman, the former Vice-President, when the latter made his never-to-be-forgotten statement about Mubarak stepping down on February 11. People have been playing with this picture on Photoshop, while there's a joke going round that the same man stood behind late President Gamal Abdel-Nasser during the latter's famous speech of resignation. There's another joke that goes like this: “The CIA, Mossad and Al-Qaeda all claim responsibility for the man standing behind Suleiman.” According to another joke, the mystery man is waiting to be given a microphone so he can make his own speech after Suleiman. Anyway, this mystery has now been cleared up, as his son has created a Facebook page on which he says: “I respect the man who's standing behind Omar Suleiman, Lieutenant-Colonel Hussein Sherif. When the public read this page, they immediately created another page on which they wrote: “We apologise to Lieutenant-Colonel Hussein Sherif [the man who's standing behind Omar Suleiman] and his family.” This page, approved by 13,420 members, says that no-one meant to poke fun at or ridicule him, but he did look upset, despite Suleiman announcing the wonderful news about Mubarak's resignation.
