Changing of the guard

After the euphoria of Egypt’s revolution comes the more tedious work, and the devil is in the details. Egyptian society hovers between the yearning for stability through cobbling together the surviving fragments ofthe state and the urge to eliminate the remnants of a dilapidated autocracy riddled with corruption, brutality and incompetence. The military council that took over from President Hosni Mubarak on February 11 stands firmly in the middle and is disputing both sides of the argument. It is appealing for people to set aside their professional and personal grievances and go back to work, while promising that it will uphold the demands of the revolution and root out corruption. The council’s latest proposed cabinet shuffle reflects its ambiguous stance: Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik, a former air force officer and one of Mubarak’s younger protégés, will stay, as will Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, one of Mubarak’s most loyal defenders