There are few things as exhilarating as a revolution, and few things as frightening, writes John Simpson in Cairo.
Egyptian army soldiers and tanks are positioned in front of anti-government demonstrators in Tahrir square, Cairo, Egypt Photo: AP
A square, an angry crowd, banners, the bitter smell of burning, the grinding noise of manoeuvring tanks, blood: this time it's Cairo, but for the last three decades we have seen similar images from a range of autocracies under threat, from the Shah's Tehran, Deng Xiaoping's Beijing and Ceausescu's Bucharest to the uprisings of the last couple of years in Iran, Tunisia, and now Egypt.
Some of these revolutions failed. An autocrat who has the support of his army and his secret police, and whose nerve does not crack, can often restore order eventually.
In Egypt, President Mubarak has so far kept his nerve, and is winning the test of will with the demonstrators and with President Obama: up to a point. But the remarkable courage of the demonstrators has succeeded in forcing him aside: they just haven't managed to get him to go right now.
With an old man's stubbornness and pride, President Mubarak is determined to have the last word; he won't simply pack up and leave immediately. And the demonstrators in Tahrir Square, having done everything they possibly could to dislodge him, are finding it impossible to exert the last twist of pressure which would drive him out of his palace at once. Read More
