The Cook Book Stirs Up Egypt Questions
Steve Cook's book adds a much needed dimension to discussions of Egyptian politics and the current transition phase in leadership. He touches briefly (understandably, as this is a comparative treatment) on several points that I hope we can expand in discussion. First, how does Steve view the interaction between the Egyptian armed forces and internal security forces? Does he view the security forces as simply a subset or as subservient to the military establishment? Where does someone like Intelligence Director Umar Suleiman fit in?
Second, it would be interesting to expand the discussion of how Gamal Mubarak and his coterie think about future relations with the military. To what extent will their drive for economic reform and privatization touch military economic enterprises? How do they think about civilian control of the military? And what are they doing to build support in the military now?
Steve devotes much attention to the Muslim Brotherhood and the pas de deux that the regime and the Brotherhood have danced for decades. My third question, then, is about the persistent rumors of significant sympathy for the Brotherhood in the military, perhaps even among the upper ranks. Did Steve find any evidence of this?
Good post. Egypt is vitally important to Middle East stability, and Mubarak has a witches brew to deal with. The Egyptian cleric Qutb is considered the father of today's radical movement, and the Muslim Brotherhood has a huge following. Add to that an economy that can't ever get out of 2nd gear, the Israeli issue, and you've got a volatile political situation.
The reality is that in Egypt as well as the rest of the Islamic world, there is a great deal of support for Islamic fascism. These are people who do not believe in democracy or the principles of individual liberty as we know them.
Many analysts consider that if Egypt were to hold free and fair elections, a radical Islamic party would win control -- just as they did in Algeria, which set off a 10-year civil war. I tend to agree. It remains to be seen whether the younger Mubarak is up to the task of holding this very large country together.
May 22, 2007 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink