Egypt's political crisis, now well into its third week, shows no real sign of slowing down, and as of Friday afternoon, millions of protesters remained on the strees of Cairo, Alexandria, and smaller towns across Egypt. After a defiant speech from president Hosni Mubarak on Thursday night, protestors were moving to surround two key state buildings (and classic revolutionary targets), the presidential palace and the state television headquarters. Both are heavily guarded, making the likelihood of a showdown between protesters and the Egyptian armed forces much more likely.
While nobody knows how this crisis will end, or what kind of government will rule Egypt in its aftermath, the current ruling regime and its patronage network stretching across the business community and the armed forces, is undergoing its biggest stress test since the 1952 revolution that brought it to power. Cracks are beginning to appear between the army and the family of president Hosni Mubarak, as well as between Mubarak and the businessmen and polticians that surround him.
One clear trend is that business tycoons who rose to wealth under the Mubarak government are now being targeted: by protesters, by the government itself, and by public prosecutors. With that in mind, it is worth keeping an eye on public companies with ties to the regime.
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