This Time, It’s For Real

Mubarak is finally out. The Army says it is now in power; but, of course–to paraphrase the hockey cheer–they always were. The key question remains, what comes next.
Some may draw overly optimistic lessons from events in Egypt. Max Boot writes, “The Tweet Is Mightier Than the Sword.” Unfortunately, it isn’t. Mostly-peaceful demonstrations may succeed against the relatively mild authoritarianism that the Mubarak regime represented. But power still grows out of the barrel of a gun, as this little-reported incident in Gaza shows:

In the Gaza Strip, a Friday protest inspired by the Egypt demonstrations–and organized on Facebook–against Hamas rule in the Palestinian territory attracted virtually no supporters.
Hamas security personnel in uniform and plainclothes were deployed around the areas where the protests, organized by supporters of the rival Fatah, were to take place. Police briefly detained two youths who were seen filming with a cell phone camera.

It will take more than tweets and Facebook flash mobs to dethrone Hamas.

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