Free and Fair Egyptian Elections?
by tdaxp ~ February 27th, 2005
“Earthquake in Egypt!!,” by GM, Hello From the Land of the Pharoahs Egypt, http://bigpharaoh.blogspot.com/2005/02/earthquake-in-egypt-i-never-imagined.html, 26 February 2005.
Hello From the Land is to Egypt what Iraq the Model is to mesopotamia: a great source for native, on-the-ground news and opinion. I first heard the news this morning, but GM’s description speaks for itself
I never imagined what President Mubarak said today. He asked the parliament to amend the Egyptian constitution to allow multiple candidates to run for the presidency. This means that Muabark will have opponents running against him.
Now, I am not stupid nor am I living in la la land. Mubarak’s decision today came after immense pressure from the US and the current earthquakes (the purple revolution in Iraq and the Hariri revolution in Lebanon) that shook the region days ago. However, I credit US pressure as the number one reason. Condoleezza Rice cancelled a trip to Egypt scheduled for next week because of the arrest of Ayman Nour and Mubarak’s failure to “change”. Well, it seems that Bush turned out to be bloody serious about this democracy in the Middle East thing. It also seems that Bushie will in fact make it to the history books that my grandchildren will be reading at school 50 years from today. If Syria or Iran fell, Bush can rest assured that he will add his name to the Lincoln-Wilson-Roosevelt-Reagan quartet.
Well, what do I think about all this? I mentioned before that I didn’t want Egypt to rush to the ballot box. I wanted Mubarak to be pressured to open up the civil society of Egypt so that alternatives to his rule start to pop up. We simply do not know better and we needed time in order to see the alternatives and decide who is better.
Unless I am 100% sure that one of the candidates who will compete with Mubarak will be better than him, I’ll probably vote for Mubarak next October whom I believe will win because of the resources he has as the country’s sole authority.
GM speaks of the events of the last few days, but Bush’s actions in the last few years have been even more important. The Big Bang strategy took down Saddam and ushered in Baghdad Spring. Lebanon may slip out of Syria’s orbit and the big prizes of Iran and Eastern Arabia are just out of reach. And maybe we will get Egypt too!
I’m assuming Collounsbury‘s take will be biting, sarcastic, and informative, but for now I will be happy too!
The New York Times uses top 1% of income, not wealth. From the legend:...
June 30th, 2005 at 12:00 am
Egypt – African, not: false binary. It is both. Depends on what part of Egypt you’re talking about and what parts of Africa you’re talking about. E.g. North East the historical connexion is non-trivial. Through the Sahel in the Islamic period, also strong.
June 30th, 2005 at 12:00 am
Col,
Thanks for the information. Of course, I yield to the long-term Middle East – North Africa resident on such matters
I hadn’t heard of the Sahel before, either. Thanks for that, too.
June 21st, 2005 at 12:00 am
Collins,
Thank you for the link. However, Egypt is not “African” culturally — it is part of the Greater Middle East. Likewise, African attempts to be “African… not Western” have resulted in economic collapse and one catastrophe after another.
In “Empire,” Niall Ferguson wrote that premature independence for the African states was a disaster for civilization. I agree with him.
June 29th, 2005 at 12:00 am
Hi Dan
I think you are stating the same as Collins, if you read the pages 20 and 35, this emphasises that moves away from colonialism in Africa have been at the expense of neglecting or discriminating against those preserving the economic and social stability of such nations. I think this is one of the main points of the book!
see page 20 at:
http://www.africa.psend.com/chapter2_3/book19_20.php
and the reference to Zimbabwe’s dependence on the whites on page 35 at:
http://www.africa.psend.com/chapter2_3/book35_36.php
DM
June 29th, 2005 at 12:00 am
Dave,
Thanks for the link. I agree.
The expulsion of whites and asians from much of Africa has the same disasterous effects as the expulsion of Jews from reconquered Spain: the elimination of subgroups that commercially and financially connected the country to the outside world.
Because of gold from the New World, Spain was able to look like it was suceeding for a century or so. No one could say the same for Uganda, Zimbabwe, Congo, etc…
June 21st, 2005 at 12:00 am
Egypt like many African nations should look closer to home instead of the West for their political future. Africa is Africa not the UK or USA. Day1now:
African Democracy not Western !
http://www.africa.psend.com/
“day1now”
Ebu