Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, known to Egyptians as “Mubarak’s poodle,” may be calling the shots in Cairo as head of the country’s military-led government, but the man who sits at his right hand side is the Pentagon’s poodle, and he’s likely to continue to play a key role in Egypt even after a civilian government succeeds the current military one.
The author spotlights the Pentagon's hold over Egyptian politics using the same imperialist model it developed in Latin America--wed a country's military elite to the US military-industrial establishment. Clearly the removal of Mubarak was only the first step in Egypt's revolution, but to assume it stops there ignores the fact that Egyptians have experienced real power and are not likely to merely submit to new dictators.