Egyptians continue to mourn their loss of freedom and dignity since last year's military coup.
This is an extraordinary reversal of fortunes for all those who celebrated the birth of a new Egypt in January 2011 after Hosni Mubarak's decades-old tyrannical regime fell.
In the euphoria that followed the uprising, we forgot that two key backers of Mubarak's dictatorship treated the Egyptian revolt as their own defeat in that country.
Though restrained in their emotions in public, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were sad, angry and upset.
There was a feeling of helplessness in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi; they had created a network in which the Mubarak regime became crucial to the well being of the Gulf states' own systems.
When General Abdel Fattah El Sisi toppled Egypt's first democratically-elected president in July 2013, Mubarak's old Gulf buddies were quick to welcome the military coup.
They soon pledged billions of dollars to support the military rulers of Egypt.
The role of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates must never be forgotten in the restoration of dictatorship in Egypt. The moneybags funneled cash to those who worked to revive the mukhabarat state. And look at the result!
Speaking on Al Jazeera on 25 January 2014, political analyst Omar Ashour said: "It's going to be worse than Mubarak's era."
There are many explanations and points of analysis about Saudi and Emirates politics, which is governed by bedouin codes.
The bedouin code of honor prescribes "vicarious revenge for seven generations" (I am quoting from an essay written by an Aligarh professor).
Therefore, we may not have seen their full revenge against the Egyptian people for bringing down Mubarak.
It's not clear how far Saudi Arabia and UAE are prepared to go to maintain a regime of their choice in Egypt.
Egypt is a bloodied, brutal and fractured society under Sisi.
It must not suffer for the sake of perceived or real insult or offense to the honor of Mubarak's old friends.
