thank you. >> ambassador daniel kurtzer is the former u.s. ambassador to egypt and israel, and now a professor in middle eastern policy studies at princeton. good to have you on the program. >> thank you, tavis. >> president obama said earlier today that obviously egypt has to negotiate a path forward, and i think they are making progress. do you agree with the president? >> well, there certainly has been a beginning. the opening of discussions between the vice president, omar suleiman, and representatives of the demonstrators got off to a start. there is some difference of view as to whether or not progress was made. some newspapers are reporting that in fact there was some movement forward, while others are a little bit less sing win. we are at a very early stage. i would be hesitant at trying to characterize those talks because they have a long way to go not only in trying to reach agreement, but at the beginning of implementation of anything that is agreed. >> obviously there are many issues, but from your perspective, what is most critic

to examine that, we go to daniel kurtzer, former u.s. ambassador to egypt from 1997 to 2001. he's now a professor at princeton university. marina ottaway, director of the middle east program at the carnegie endowment for international peace. and ian lesser, a former state department staffer, now a senior fellow at the german marshall fund. welcome to all of you. marina ottaway i'll begin with you. two big developments. the army said they would not fire on peaceful protestors. late in the day the new vice president said president mubarak wanted to have a dialogue, wanted him to have a dialogue with these protestors. what do you think is going on here? >> first of all, i think the military probably feels that it cannot shoot the protestors. it's a conflict. many of those young men in the army now in a few months will be out in the streets facing the same problem the people who are demonstrating now. so i think it would be a very risky decision for the military to decide to shoot on the protestors. so if they want to bring some control to the country without shooting, without do

. >> reporter: princeton professor daniel kurtzer is a former u.s.gypt. >> but there were political parties and there was a debate. it was under the tutelage of a king. >> reporter: the experiment lasts 30 years. until king farouk, more interested in his lavish lifestyle than in governing, was overthrown in the military coups. >> in egypt the exiled king is open to the news reel camera revealing scenes of luxury and garishness. >> reporter: as the dynasty came to an end in 1952, the military took over and was seen in the first instance as a new form of legitimizing power in egypt, welcomed very hartley by the masses. >> reporter: sound familiar? nasser, one of the coups leaders, came to power in 1954. and established what became an autocratic military dynasty. all of egypt's presidents have been military officers. their legacy? stability but at a high price. when nasser died in 1970, his successor, anwer sadat won the nobel prize for making peace with israel but resorted to repression at home to crush political turmoil. >> sadat saluted as the variou