New Era of Egypt and Middle East History

All the changes in the Islamic world (Middle East) started in Egypt in 1952 when Nasser started the communist revolution and took over the power. After that, another issue reuse in the air. Arab world in 1967 wanted to concur Israeli State and lost the war in three fronts. It was the biggest humiliation known until now for the Arab world and the biggest victory in the Jewish history. Than in 1979 another revolution happened in Iran – the Islamic Revolution.

Egypt today - 01-02-2011

This week another event happened in Egypt. Now will Cairo do the requested political reform after the death of 100 people in the weekend clashes between Egyptian security forces and protesters who are still asking for change. No it all depends on the current Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. The protesters are asking Mubarak to resign.

If the Egyptian drama ends with a peaceful departure of Mr. Mubarak, followed by an actual open election in the heart of the Arab world to pick his successor, hoping the for just possibly to be replaced by a new phase of moderation. The unrest in Egypt, coming on the heels of a similar story in less-important Tunisia!

It's no accident that each of these seminal events has centered on Egypt, the Western Arab anchor of the Middle East, or Iran, the eastern Persian anchor of the region. What happens in those two lands has always had an outsized influence on the entire Middle East, which is why American foreign policy is and remains so fixated on what happens in those two nations.

Egypt

Mr. Nasser was the force behind the 1952 revolution, though it took him nearly four years to consolidate power. Once he did, he advanced himself as the de facto leader of not just Egypt, but of a great, sprawling Arab nation still angry over the creation of the state of Israel. By banding the disparate Arab states together, he argued, a great Arab nation could emerge and take its rightful place alongside the world's superpowers. The defeat of 1967 Arab-Israeli war jolted that mindset.

Now Egypt offers the prospect of another turn. Which will be? The creation of secular democratic rule; or Anti-Western forces to complete the process begun in Iran?

Which is why the way the Egyptian drama is handled is so important. If Mr. Mubarak decides to lead an orderly transition to an open election; if Mr. ElBaradei can emerge as an effective bridging figure to a secular civilian government; if Mr. Obama can, as leader of Egypt's most important benefactor, prod all parties to such results—well, maybe the new phase is a happy one for Washington and the Western Democratic World.