Egypt Protests: Who is Mohamed ElBaradei?

The relentless Egypt Protests have created a very real possibility of the Hosni Mubarak’s 29-year-old regimes’ departure and possibility of Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei. But can this former nuclear inspector be anything more than a very efficient bureaucrat?

As the Egypt Protests have shown absolutely no sign of waning off, Mubarak’s presidency has been shaken to its core. With Egyptian Military sitting on the fence, choosing not to go outright to Mubarak’s defence, the regime’s fate has more or less been sealed (as pointed out by this blog when the whole drama began). Enter Mohamed ElBaradei. Over the last few days ElBaradei has emerged as the symbol of hope and democracy in the country and is likely candidate to succeed Mubarak. However, doubts to his leadership qualities remain.

For Dummies: Erik Prince, Mercenaries and Somali Pirates

Monday Backgrounder For Dummies is a DoT feature that discusses a new topic every week giving the reader basic knowledge about the subject so that you can pretend to know things without reading a newspaper. With Erik Prince causing buzz around the world over his possible involvement with mercenary fighting Somali Pirates, it seems a good time to talk about Blackwater and Erik Prince.

Note: there is no way to talk about Blackwater without sounding like a rant coming from a ultra-left conspiracy theorist. Unfortunately, the following stuff is true. 

In case you missed it: Last week, it was reported that a mercenary company, Saracen International, is putting together massive operations in Somalia to take on what American and European governments failed to- Somali Piracy. And to complicate the matters, the man behind it all is Erik Prince, the founder of controversial Blackwater, the private security company, infamous for the role of its mercenaries in Afghanistan and Iraq.