Middle East 'Day of Rage'

It's all happening in the Middle East today as protesters take to the streets in Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia.

Perhaps the most interesting event will be the protests taking place in Egypt where the opposition aims to test the resolve of the government with what it is terming the 'Egyptian Intifada day'. So, the real question here is: If thousands of protesters do turn out and decide to take control of the streets, what will the Egyptian regime do?

Given the recent events in Tunisia it would be a safe bet to guess that Mubarak would want to would try to crush the protests as quickly as possible in a bid to stop them building any kind of momentum. However, this in itself may only escalate the situation, particularly if there are fatalities. The Mubarak regime therefore finds itself in a tricky situation and one that it is not used to: how to deal with possible mass civil disobedience.

The protests will also cause a huge dilemma for the Obama administration. The US is the primary benefactor the Mubarak regime with $1.3 billion annually in military aid. As, Shadi Hamid points in a piece in the Atlantic, 'if the army ever decides to shoot into a crowd of unarmed protesters, it will be shooting with hardware provided by the United States'. Given that unlike Tunisia, the US is a major player here, remaining silent will also cause problems.

The day of protests also marks Police Day, in celebration of an event 59 years ago when 41 police officers were killed by British forces in Ismailia after refusing to surrender to British forces. The protesters may well be hoping that Police Day may well rekindle some flames of patriotism among Egypt's police - now integral to Mubarak's oppressive regime - and that they may even join in the protests against the regime. I can't see that happening just yet but who knows, nobody predicted events in Tunisia.