Page 12 - John Alterman News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Afghanistan and iraq. and bahrain is home to the u.s. fifth fleet, which patrols the persian gulf and pirate infested waters off somalia. the u.s. spends billions of dollars in military aid and assistance across the region in return for all of this access. but the question may now be, if the social unrest that is emerging leads to regime change, will the new regimes want to do the old business with the u.s. military? barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. let's bring in john alterman from the center for strategic and international studies. good to see you, john. >> good to see you again. >> kind ...

and that they aren't able to kind of squeeze the square and try to put the pressure on the protesters. people are still very defiant, still wanting president hosni mubarak to step down. >> how are the protests or demonstrations this evening any different from nights prior? >> reporter: well, fredricka, tonight they've actually -- i just got off the phone with a person who is still in there, and they said everyone is ecstatic, they're elated by the recent news of the reshuffle of the egyptian government by certain ministers, you know, resigning and stepping down, and everyone is just ...

atta rear square this morning found smiling soldiers working with opposition organizers to set up checkpoints so no troublemakers got in. and if there was any doubt which side the army was on, this mob of mubarak supporters was left on the outside looking in, blocked by tanks. today the square felt like the safest place in cairo with an air of celebration. but the underlying ang we are mubarak hasn't gone awap. >> he's dealing with us like a group of animals, not respectable people. >> reporter: opposition organizers called this the day of departure and they asked for hundreds of tho...

all that and more "early" this saturday morning, february 5th, all that and more "early" this saturday morning, february 5th, 2011. captioning funded by cbs the empire state building on yet another icy, cold, rainy day in new york city. >> a little overcast. good morning, welcome to "the early show," i'm rebecca jarvis. >> a lot to get to. it is, of course, day 12 of the crisis in egypt. this morning a dangerous stalemate, about 100,000 anti-government protesters remain in the heart of cairo, promising to continue demonstrations until egyptian president hosni mubarak leaves office....

>> couric: good evening, everyone, hosni mubarak insists he won't step down as president of egypt until a successor is elected in september. but behind the scenes, u.s. and egyptian officials have begun talks aimed at getting him to leave now as demonstrators in cairo have been demanding for more than a week. one plan calls for a transfer of power to the vice president until the election. at the white house today, president obama said "the future of egypt is going to be in the hands of egyptians." anti-mubarak protests continued today in cairo's tahrir square. tahrir means "liberatio...