The military isn't some kind of unified entity that has a "side." The ordinary soldiers, the folks who have the guns, probably have a range of opinions but many are clearly not fans of the government. The upper levels of the military are presumably generally supportive of Mubarak (who appointed most of them in the first place) but are of course primarily concerned with their own survival. I would guess that right now they are trying to weigh the risks of defying Mubarak against the risks of trying to order their army to crack down and finding out that their soldiers won't obey them, which would be the end of them.

From what I have seen so far it looks like there is no way Mubarak & gang will jump ship this easy.
Things gonna have to get a lot worse and bloody (not that it was walk in the park so far, 150+ dead, tons injured and arrested etc)
But it looks like moar pressure is needed, it's a tough nut to crack.

Don't know if my pony is slow here, but on Saturday the Saudi stock market got clobbered with a 6% loss (the Saudi workweek is Sat-Wed). Really interested to see how the markets react in their Asian open tonight.

Also:

Apparently things are now so bad that all World 2 levels on both Super Mario Brothers 2 & 3 are now closed indefinitely.

Sure, I get that. But I was responding on the Airforce supposedly supporting the protesters with their low passes. A fighter pilot might be a sympathizing with the people but they're not going to steal some aircrafts to support the people if the command structure is still loyal.

Command is obviously loyal, it was put in place by Mubarak, it's his gang, question is will the soldiers on the streets of Egypt follow unreasonable orders coming from psychopats.
According to AJ the army has a licence to shoot, they have a licence to inforce the curfew but soldiers haven't shot anyone yet.

I think the military is showing Mubarek that he is done. The U.S wants Mubarek out but some type of reasonable government left to rule in his stead. Last thing we want is a radical government controlled by Muslim Brotherhood claimed in a violent overthrow.

Obama gonna nuke Egypt from orbit, in order to stop the spreed of democracy in ME.

Its also worth noting that the flyby was at 3:55pm, that is, 5 mins before the start of the curfew (or so I read - havnt checked it).

Could easily be read as a not too subtle reminder to the protesters.

Not conclusive either way obviously and the protesters did seem to receive it well (although reportedly the protests were much more subdued after) so who knows.

The idea that military plane flying over the protesters,in order to support them is ridiculous.
It's military plane,it has fly plans,orders,communication to tower and so on.
One doesn't take a military jet in order to make feel good trip above Cairo.

Um, remember in top gun when the tower SPECIFICALLY ordered tom cruise to NOT buzz the tower and he does so anyway...

Tom flew a F-14,try doing it in a MiG-28 and the MiG-28 will eject YOU!

pfffft

Family friend was texting us today for a bit from his Army base in Egypt. He said the pres has left the country (slow pony) and that there have been Israeli's all over the boarder. He also claimed Israel was, or is preparing, to take the Suez and the Egyptian army is moving **** that way. It was all a bunch of rumor it sounded like but then he also said his battalion is severely low on ammo and has very few armored vehicles and one of their outposts had been lost.

After a bit he said that they were going into a blackout and he couldn't communicate with anyone outside the base from then on and we haven't heard from him since.

Also, my cousin in the CIA is 'going out of the country' again this week, he never says where he is going but I bet I can guess where's he's going this time

So far all quiet on southern front.
P.s. if you serious,don't worry, Israel wouldn't do it with out massive mobilization,which is yet to happened.

They probably flew the planes overhead to scare the people. They said its just a scare tactic which wont keep the people off the streets. Mubarak is gone by Wednesday imo

how exactly will Mubarak be force to step down? can't he just stay put and as long as the army (along with other subordinates) listens to him in a month/whenever the protests die down he'll effectively still be the president?

yes if noone force him to step down, he will not be forced to step down

Israel should be beefing up the border so they don't end up with a slew of refugees coming in after a disaster. Common sense really.

true US State Departments Position on Egypt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBuMuzhvYeA

At the same time, the longer he feebly holds onto power, which is a pale imitation of the power he used to have, people in the army and security forces will have to start wondering about which side they should be on. If people keep it up, the less likely the army will keep listening to him.

El Baradei won't be president guys (obv.). It will be the military chef that came from the US. Mark my words imo.

Interesting interview with Paul Wolfowitz on democracy in the Middle East. Worth reading.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehou...olfowitz.thtml

I don't know how slow my pony is, but it's about to get really real yo:

Egypt Rapidly Running Out of Food

ZH link has the link to CNN article.

Also, what happens in all of these countries paying the price (literally) for The Bernank's (AKA The Artist Currently Known as Prints') torrent of hot money after they overthrow their tinpot governments only to discover that it does nothing to stem the tide of rising food prices?

The populations of these countries, where US approval ratings are rapidly approaching single digits, will rightly blame the US regime not only for propping up their dictators for decades, but also for bidding the food right out of their children's mouths. Can you say radical anti-american sentiment?

Whee for self-fulfilling prophecies. It must warm the hearts of the merchants of death.