Egypt is paying a tardiness fine, as all the problems which the previous regime tried to ignore, bury and elude are nowadays rising to the surface. There are two last predicaments among these emerging from the heart of repression: the Copts and the army. The massacre that occurred in front of the television building in Cairo reveals the opening of the “Coptic file” in Egypt. There is nothing reassuring about the situation of the Copts and the clash between those of them who were demonstrating and the military forces guarding the television building in Maspero is nothing but the epitome of contradiction between a popular faction and the strongest body in the authority, i.e. the army. The burning of a Coptic place of worship likely summons acute anger, as it constitutes the third case since the January revolution which is left uninvestigated and which oozes the stench of collaboration between extremist Islamic movements and the remnants of the previous security apparatuses. Then the demonstrators who came to the television building to protest were treated in a violent way – despite the army's denial –resulting in the death of more than twenty Copts (in addition to a number of military elements according to the armed forces). Last Sunday's incidents can in no way be isolated from the long history of blunt and concealed segregation practiced against the Copts throughout decades, and even centuries. However, the problem takes deeper dimensions when perceived as one of the elements of the crisis facing Egypt during its current transitional phase. This phase, by definition, implies the country's move from one state to another, and the establishment – at the very least – of the methods to ensure peaceful democratic change and the handling of the crises, among which is the crisis affecting the relations between the Copts on one hand, and the state and the Muslims on the other. After it seemed during the last few months that the Coptic issue could be postponed, the Maspero incidents and what accompanied and followed them in terms of blunt instigation practiced by some media outlets against the Copts, in addition to the angry funerals of the victims and the confusion seen in the authority's performance while handling the situation, reveal that the continuation of the burning of churches and the disregarding of the Copts' situation constitutes a successful recipe to tear the country's fabric apart. At this point, a question emerges regarding the political, security and economic tools and committees that will defuse the sectarian conflicts. Indeed, all the state apparatuses are the object of discussion, so as not to say of disputes and conflicts, between various visions and movements each among which is trying to consecrate its presence on the public scene in preparation for the next elections. This is obviously one of the characteristics of transitional phases. Among the institutions whose status is on the table is the army, which considers itself to be the “only remaining pillar of the state.” It believes it is the target of a planned attack to push toward its collapse, and consequently toward the elimination of Egypt as a political entity. This viewpoint can be discussed and refuted, by drawing a detailed board of the Egyptian situation in which the army is present as one of the elements of the state and society and not the “only pillar.” If the vision is expanded, one could see who wants to thwart the Arab revolutions by exploiting the fall of the Coptic victims, and could hear the voices whispering that the Maspero crime is the real content – the killing of the Christians and all the religious and ethnic minorities – of the Arab Spring. However, reality is different and what happened in Cairo last Sunday is not a general characteristic shared by all the Arab revolutions. Yet, this should not be interpreted as being a downplaying of the difficulty of the transitional phase in Egypt, or the threat of sliding toward sectarian or denominational wars in other Arab conflict. Nonetheless, the insistence on rejecting change will only lead to the increase of the tardiness fi
