According to the BBC, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak "must stay in office" during a power transition, a US special envoy says.
This statement would not have been made if the US imperial high command had not concluded that Mubarak has the resources it takes to remain in power. This tells me that the USraelians have struck a deal with the police/security/military commanders in Egypt.
If the "Egyptian spring" is really collapsing, it will probably go through two distinct phases: first, the core group at Tahrir square will gradually be expelled and/or repressed, and then the opposition will gradually turn to violent methods not unlike the "Troubles" in Ireland or even the type of widespread terror which followed the January 11, 1992, coup in Algeria against the electoral victory of the FIS which, in turn, will trigger more violence and repression.
In the meantime the US diplomats will express their firm support for the "democratic transition" and their equally firm condemnation of "Islamic terrorism".
