heading back soon

There are no seats left for Tuesday, but I’m booked for Wednesday. Three things made me decide to go back now.

1. The very impressive accounts of the citizens’ neighborhood defense committees. This exceeds all of my expectations. I’m confident now that random thuggery will not be an issue. (A friend here just told me that the same thing spontaneously happened in Bombay during the riots some years ago.)

And by the way, my Egyptian contacts all say that the looting reports are wildly exaggerated anyway. Also, I again just went down the street in Bombay and made a withdrawal from my Cairo bank account, and I do mean an Egyptian bank, not Citibank or something global like that. But there was not even the slightest delay in the transaction.

2. The unified opposition. Very important what happened yesterday. And if the Defense Minister is really involved as well, then there will be no internecine combat among the opposition, another of my early concerns about the city.

3. I read a newspaper account about some help that is needed in Cairo, and it’s help that I can provide, and I know how to get to where it’s needed.