A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Friday, March 1, 2013

Bassem Sabry on How "Egypt Can Still Spare Itself"

 Bassem Sabry has a piece at Al-Monitor: "Egypt Can Still Spare Itself from Political Disaster." His conclusion, after reviewing several nightmare scenarios:
Despite everything, it still mostly hangs in the hands of Morsi and the Brotherhood. I’ve recently written on how complicated resolving the current Egyptian crisis appears to be, but it all remains solvable. But until then, Egypt and its immediate future remain hostage to intoxication of power and a degree of paranoia by the president and the Brotherhood, and a lack of effective strategy, disorganization, and the influence of radical voices on the opposition’s side. To top it all off, there is a profound ideological divide that makes everything at times even more complicated, as well as an international community whose contribution appears to be ineffective if not, at times, counterproductive. Nevertheless, with enough boldness, honest dialogue and willingness to fairly engage the concerns of all sides by enough people, Egypt can still be spared potential disaster.

1 comment:

David Mack said...

Some good news, I think. Plans for negotiations between Egyptian government and an IMF Mission to Egypt are back on. This will test mettle of Muslim Brotherhood dominated government in making and enforcing tough decisions regarding phase out of subsidies in favor of safety net for the really poor and collection of taxes on all. For Mursi, "It's the economy, stupid."