While what I’ve seen of the world’s media have been hailing a “triumph of people-power in Egypt, a small-but-nagging internal voice has been pointing out reality may be closer to an old-fashioned military coup. Jim Lobe offers analysis…
“WASHINGTON - Four days after the stunning departure of Hosni Mubarak from the presidential palace in Cairo, analysts here are still trying to determine whether his ouster represents a revolution heralding the advent of democratic governance or a coup d'etat staged by the already-dominant military. Egypt's new military rulers have vowed to pave the way for a democratically-elected civilian government, but there is still no true way of knowing how they will disperse their new authority over the transition. (Gallo/Getty> Despite the media euphoria, scepticism among Egypt specialists about the military's intentions has been running pretty high here since Mubarak's resignation. Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, for example, warned the "rise of the Military Command Council (MCC)" could result in a "huge step backward", while Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former CIA officer now with the neo-conservative Foundation for the Defence of Democracies, predicted that the army "will test to see how much autocracy (and wealth) it can keep in its hands." Click here for more
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The secret word is Smokescreen
The MCC running a country, will evryone in Egypt have to wear red and yellow striped blazers?
ReplyDeleteWe'll have to wait and see how it goes. It was a great start, toppling the dictator. In Shelley's formulation of peaceful revolution (which he invented, as far as I can tell), the people must show the military, by taking wounds and even death, the seriousness and benevolence of their intentions. The military is then supposed to see that they are actually on the same side as the people. In our corporate world, internal divisions within a nation are probably exacerbated, as sources of wealth and power are largely hidden. But the key issue here is that it is international--across the region. Hang onto skepticism certainly, but it is beautiful!
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