Arab Winter Uprisings & 158th Flag Day

Everyone has been asking me about my opinion on Egypt since I lived there only 6 months ago. Why now? How did this happen? What's the future of the most populous Arab country? While the Egyptian frustrations have been fomenting for years now, I would have to say we can trace the catalyst to the self-immolation of Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi. To those who have studied/lived/worked in North Africa, it is not news that a big portion of these populations are unemployed men in their 20s. While many of us are still waiting to see how the government transitions from the Tunisian "Jasmine Revolution," the awakening has spread to Egypt, Yemen and all across the Middle East.

Many have been live blogging, tweeting and facebooking about the current developments in Egypt. Mona Eltahawy wrote a great piece about what this young Facebook generation means for the future of the Arab World.

Above is a picture from an Egyptian friend who is in Cairo, if you want to see more from his album on Saturday's protests, click here.

There is also a great album circulating online of Egyptian women protesting. Below is a picture from the album.

Meanwhile, I hear the 158th A100 class has their Flag Day tomorrow so I wish them all the best of luck and I hope they get the posts they want. Shoutout to 158th bloggers (that I know of): Career Diplomat, The B Files and Zvirzdins at Large.