It is time to choose...

The army has to choose between Egypt and Mubarak, read a banner held by protesters yesterday in Cairo.
As of yet, the army has refused to clarify its intentions.
Nevertheless, it did take one principled stand that may spell the end of Mubarak’s regime.
In a statement, the armed forces said the following:
The presence of the army in the streets is for your sake and to ensure your safety and wellbeing. The armed forces will not resort to use force against our great people
Your armed forces, who are aware of the legitimacy of your demands and are keen to assume their responsibility in protecting the nation and the citizens, affirms that freedom of expression through peaceful means is guaranteed to everybody.
That the army should be hesitant to support unequivocally the regime is not surprising.
The armed forces embody Egyptian nationalism.
A 1952 coup led by Gamal Abdul Nasser overthrew King Faruk and the monarchy.
The nation has been led by military men ever since.
An army composed of conscripts, it has close links with the Egyptian people.
As such, the lower ranks no doubt share the frustrations and demands of those demonstrating in the streets of Alexandria, Cairo and Suez.
The fact that the army has clearly stated that it would not fire on its own people may further embolden the Egyptian opposition movement.
Their leaders have called on all Egyptians to demonstrate today in unprecedented numbers in a march of millions, to commemorate the seventh day in the Egyptian people‘s campaign to rid the country of the autocratic Mubarak regime.
President Mubarak has refused to yield and appointed a new cabinet yesterday, including a new Interior Minister in charge of security, Mahmoud Wagdi, former director of Egypt’s prisons.
He did instruct his Vice President, Omar Suleiman (notorious for his role in the US extraordinary renditions program and his propensity to employ torture, when head of the country’s intelligence services) to begin talks with the opposition on constitutional reform. The president has asked me today to immediately hold meetings with the political forces to start a dialogue about all raised issues that also involve constitutional and legislative reforms in a way that will result in clear proposed amendments and a specific timetable for its implementation, he said, according to The Guardian.
The various strands of the opposition, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Ayman Nour, the former presidential candidate, Mohamed ElBaradei’s National Association for Change, and the young activists in the April 6 Youth Movement, appointed a committee to negotiate with the Mubarak government.
Though the Muslim Brotherhood constitute the most powerful and influential current, ElBaradei was asked to lead it.
Well known abroad since his days as head of the IAEA, winner of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, he was considered a more appealing spokesman than a member of the Islamic organization…
A national salvation government was also appointed, to be led by Mr. ElBaradei as well, should President Mubarak resign in the near future.
Young political activists, particularly in the April 6 Movement, have been at the forefront of the opposition coalition, using the internet and social networking sites to mobilize disgruntled Egyptians against the regime (Egypt’s internet is now completely down, as the last provider Noor, was shut down as well yesterday. Satellite TV, and the coverage of Aljazeera, now fuel the movement though the network was taken off the air Sunday by the Egyptian government, which arrested six of its reporters yesterday, and confiscated their equipment).
The young people are still leading this, Ibrahim Issa, an Egyptian intellectual, told the NYT.
Mohamed ElBaradei himself has been following the advice of the young activists. At their request, he went to Tahrir Square on Sunday afternoon and addressed the demonstrators.
Their alliance with the older, traditional Egyptian opposition militants has given the opposition more coherence.
Leadership has to come out of the people who are already out there, because most of us are under 30. But now they recognize that we’re in the street, and they are taking us seriously, Amr Ezz, a lawyer and 27, member of the April 6 Youth Movement, told the NYT.
What are the opposition’s objectives?
The resignation of President Mubarak; the formation of a new government, and amending the constitution such that free and fair elections can then be held.
Yet, Mubarak is still there.
Will he still occupy the presidential palace if millions do march in Cairo’s streets today?
Yesterday, some 250,000, according to Aljazeera, demonstrated in the capital, demanding Mubarak’s resignation. They are unlikely to settle for anything less.
As one Aljazeera journalist wrote yesterday, but it is now blatantly obvious to anyone who mingled in Tahrir Square crowds growing larger by the day that they won’t go home until they have a new leader.
We  have spoken. When the citizens speak, we cannot go back.
I came here to fight the fear inside me. Now people have lost their fear, Ahmed Mustafat, a demonstrator, told The Guardian’s Harriet Sherwood.
To hasten the autocrat’s departure, opposition leaders will encourage protesters to adopt what David Kirkpatrick and Mona El-Naggar of the NYT called the hug a soldier strategy, to entice the military to support their cause.
We are dealing with the army in a peaceful manner until it proves otherwise, and we still have faith in the army. Until now, they are neutral, and at least if we can’t bring them to our side, we don‘t want to lose them, Mr. Ezz told the NYT.
Moreover, Mubarak has not yet lost US support.
The way Egypt looks and operates must change, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday, but it’s not for us to determine…undoubtedly in this case, transition means change.
That position is no longer tenable…
The Egyptian people demand the fall of the Mubarak regime, because the President has repeatedly demonstrated these last thirty years that he cannot, or simply will not, cater to the needs of his people: freedom, justice, democracy and decent living conditions.
Only a new republic founded on democratic principles can now satisfy the Egyptian people.
The American government cannot ask the Egyptian people to believe that a dictator who has been in power for 30 years will be the one to implement democracy, Mohamed ElBaradei told CBS’s Face the Nation.
It’s better for President Obama not to appear that he is the last one to say to President Mubarak, it’s time for you to go, ElBaradei said.
French junior minister for youth affairs, Jeannette Bougrab was bold enough to say that Mubarak should leave, but was then promptly summoned by French Prime Minister François Fillon and reprimanded...
Though Western support for the Egyptian demonstrators has been subdued, it is still considered recklessly excessive by the Israelis.
The Americans and the Europeans are being pulled along by public opinion and aren’t considering their genuine interests, a senior Israeli official declared, according to The Guardian.
If only that were true….Let us hope that the millions demonstrating today will finally compel the leaders of the Western world to support wholeheartedly the brave Egyptian people.
Do MM. Cameron, Obama and Sarkozy really wish to be remembered as leaders who betrayed the very foundations of their own societies and preferred to support an ailing despot until the bitter end, instead of a proud people demanding what is rightfully theirs?
(the photograph above is by Reuters)