Rambling: Egypt

One thing that is fiercely disappointing as a Historian, especially one who enjoys studying the Middle East, is that you can't do shit about History, or the Present, or the Future when it comes to global events. You can, however, become unreasonably angry, disenchanted, apathetic and later intoxicated about it. We can only record, and guess at motives, and pretend that we know what is going on. (I've personally been doing some cheering for the protesters in the privacy of my home and informing other people of the situation in Egypt.)
No predictions. That is for the Political Scientists and Politicians themselves. They don't usually know either. The People do though, but The People are made up of individuals. Individuals can see the wheels start to turn, but they don't always realize that they are turning the wheels because their momentum is just a little part of all of the force it takes to move the wheels. Afterward, though, they can stand back and look at the images and fire on TV, see how the world was changed by a little movement, and say, "We did that."
And any day from then on will never be the same.

That's how I feel about the protests across the Arab world.
Egypt will not be a new place because Mubarak selected a new cabinet, but because the Arab world was tilted off of it's axis on Friday. It's only a matter of time before it is completely turned on its head.