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Foreign policy expert explains why Egypt is the most important place to watch
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Senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Michael O'Hanlon.
Brookings describes itself as a nonpartisan public and foreign policy think tank.
And -- you just heard Jonathan talking about really violence and protests in dozens of different areas in North Africa in the Middle East as you look at your -- board you believe.
That that Cairo is the most important place to watch why.
Well Egypt is the heart of the Arab world -- can never be emphasized enough it's got a quarter of all Arabs on the planet.
Just in that one place.
And so as -- -- goes so goes much of the Arab world there -- obviously other Bellwether countries that are important Saudi Arabia for reasons of oil and the holy sites.
Iraq because it's where Sunnis and Shia live together in the largest numbers Syria because it's where the worst conflict is happening right now.
But Egypt is still the heart of the Arab world and I thought Jonathan's point was outstanding at the end when he underscored.
Two things about these protests that are very interesting and push in different directions and you summarized it well I saying the glass is half full half empty.
On the one hand these demonstrations are occurring in so many places.
That it really feels like.
All the social media and so forth that led to the Arab revolutions are coming back to haunt us and work against us because these are obviously -- -- connected.
And obviously many ways you know amplified by that video that you've been referring to on the other hand they are fairly small.
And that is huge news that is not just some footnote.
I'm very glad to Jonathan emphasized it.
And it makes me hopeful that today being prayer day in the Islamic world will have been the culmination of this and we'll have to obviously see.
But I don't expect this to get worse over the weekend.
As you're talking about both those points Michael we're looking at live video now this is actually in Cairo were talking about the size of the protests there and it does seem to be smaller tonight.
That it was last night.
And you see some kids kind of throwing rocks and bottles and others there.
-- interest in Michael do you draw any parallels with what's happening right now in Cairo to back in 1979.
Because there are some similarities.
On what was going on and -- -- 79 and maybe what was going a little bit in Cairo right now.
Well in some ways I think we've been lucky -- in this case I think the Egyptian opposition even though it's still a work in progress.
Has proven itself a lot more mature and responsible.
Then the Iranian opposition of 1979.
I think we've been a little -- here in that starting with President Bush and now -- President Obama we started.
Being a little more supportive of Egyptian reform not enough.
But we were a little better positioned to take that away -- -- Mubarak and we had been prepared to pivot away from the shop in 1979.
And so on balance I think this is a much more hopeful.
And you know promising situation I 97 and we'll handle it.
Michael I gotta go thank you sir I appreciate it.
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