I didn’t write a post for Monday the 23rd, which was dubbed #NoSCAF day as more than 370 bloggers wrote their  criticism of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Instead I wrote this article for Foreign Policy Magazine, which was published late last night.

For the record, I didn’t choose the title nor the subtitle so don’t hold those against me!

CAIRO, Egypt—During his stand-up routine at Cairo’s “Sawy Culture Wheel” last week, comedian Adham Abdel Salam quipped, “Our relationship with the army is that of a woman with the husband she knows cheats on her — but she won’t say anything because she’s worried about the kids.”

That may be about to change. Since Feb. 11, when Egyptian protesters jumped atop tanks and hugged soldiers to thank them for standing with the people against the regime of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, the relationship between January 25 protest movement and the military, led by its Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), has reached an all-time low.

At the height of the revolution, protesters chanted, “The army and the people are one hand” as fatigue-clad paratroopers, unlike the despised police, refused to shoot their fellow citizens. The SCAF’s first communiqué, issued on the eve of Mubarak’s abdication, expressed the army’s support of “the people’s legitimate demands.”

The honeymoon is definitely over.

[Read the rest of the article on Foreign Policy Magazine and come back for comments!]