Looks like the army will assume charge. The short term question is how secular the senior leadership of the army is, and how well it can maintain social order and defuse discontent. the longer term question is how will the army address the more fundamental issues causing the discontent, and resist any inroad by Islamic fundamentalists into its ranks.
I personally see little that can meaningfully be done in Egypt to address the fundamental problems causing the discontent. Basically, Egypt has no oil, no competitive industry, and no ready means to improve the standard of living of its population. In the years to come, the prices of grain, which is the proximal cause of the current unrest in Egypt, will not only trend up, but also become more volatile, as modernization in China and India both directly displace local agriculture, and make greater per-capita demand on the world's grain production to satisfy increasingly middle-class taste in food types.
I think social apoclypse in North African Islamic states is yet to come as these countries are unable to match the rising spending power and standards of living in India and China, and would thus see increasingly acute food crisis as they are priced out of the world grain market.
I personally see little that can meaningfully be done in Egypt to address the fundamental problems causing the discontent. Basically, Egypt has no oil, no competitive industry, and no ready means to improve the standard of living of its population. In the years to come, the prices of grain, which is the proximal cause of the current unrest in Egypt, will not only trend up, but also become more volatile, as modernization in China and India both directly displace local agriculture, and make greater per-capita demand on the world's grain production to satisfy increasingly middle-class taste in food types.
I think social apoclypse in North African Islamic states is yet to come as these countries are unable to match the rising spending power and standards of living in India and China, and would thus see increasingly acute food crisis as they are priced out of the world grain market.
