Karim Ennarah counters the pessimism of a post by Sandmonkey, a popular Egyptian blogger:
The army was quite confident in the first few months after Mubarak’s ouster that it could unleash extreme violence against protestors without losing the public’s trust. This calculation no longer holds. A growing number of protestors are willing to fight and die – even if this only inflicts small/negligible physical damage to the army. The army and SCAF have come to fear the protestors’ willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice. Even government prosecutors have come to fear the protestors’ bravery and power. In the aftermath of the November 19 demonstrations, prosecutors were systematically releasing activists who had been detained, fearful that, if they did otherwise, they could be on the wrong side of history. The prosecutors were right to have this concern. There are actually more cracks in the state apparatus now than on the day of Mubarak’s ouster.
(Photo: Egyptian protesters gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square on December 28, 2011. The murder trial of Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak resumed after a three-month hiatus that saw the ousted strongman's fate eclipsed by deadly clashes and an Islamist election victory. By Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images.)
The Dish 