KSU prof: Egypt crisis years in the making

CLEVELAND - The crisis in Egypt has been years in the making and will likely end with the ouster of its president, said a Kent State University professor who has spent years studying its government.

"The days of the Hosni Mubarak government are numbered," said Joshua Stacher, a KSU expert in authoritarian governments.

Stacher (pronounced Stacker) says the opposition movement in Egypt started over the internet years ago.  When Mubarak cut off access to the internet this week, protestors used a grassroots approach.

"They were handing out pamphlets saying come out to a protest.  This was done the old fashioned way," Stacher said.

President Obama called for restraint by the Mubarak government Friday while simultaneously calling for democratic reforms.  But Stacher believes it's too late for the 82 year-old leader to change.

"You don't start immediately reforming with the tanks come down the streeet," Stacher said.

Should Mubarak step down, Stacher said the military, an institution Egyptians generally respect, will fill the power vacuum, at least temporarily.

"The protesters major strategy has been to warm up to the military to kind of win them over, to kind of say 'hey we're not protesting against you.  We just want this man out, " Stacher said.