Hi, And IMHO, there's a real threat in Egypt's current situation of "balkanization", far away as it seems. It's an exergue that's not easy to get across in new media or old media. But I think it underlies why the Egyptian army was not acting oppressively; ready to listen. Paul Kennedy's _Preparing for the Twenty First Century_ talks about it and such depressed area and lack of preparation. Were we prepared? Demographically or otherwise? Cheers, William William Bain PhD Student Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona