Haider Khan: Egypt after Mubarak: History Has Been Made, but What's Next?
[Haider Khan is a professor of economics at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.]
...There is no denying that history has already been made by the power of the people in Egypt. Many questions, however, remain during this crucial phase of transition. Former Egyptian Army General Samah Seif El Yazal has told the BBC: “There are two directions the Higher Military Council can go. The first is to ask the existing government to run the country for a transitional period of perhaps a year. The other option is for the military to run the country by committee. We are very anxious to hear from them about what they intend to do.”
The two best-organized forces during the current crisis have been the armed forces and the Muslim Brotherhood. The latter, however, has not been able to play a leading role, largely because of the earlier hesitations of its senior leadership. The leaders hesitated at least for two reasons. One is their aversion to and suspicion of the secular forces. The other is their initial pessimistic estimate of the level of anger and energy of the masses, and their staying power.
It is important to understand that this popular revolt is not about Islam – let alone an Islamic jihad. It is clearly about political freedom and basic economic needs....
Read entire article at CS Monitor
...There is no denying that history has already been made by the power of the people in Egypt. Many questions, however, remain during this crucial phase of transition. Former Egyptian Army General Samah Seif El Yazal has told the BBC: “There are two directions the Higher Military Council can go. The first is to ask the existing government to run the country for a transitional period of perhaps a year. The other option is for the military to run the country by committee. We are very anxious to hear from them about what they intend to do.”
The two best-organized forces during the current crisis have been the armed forces and the Muslim Brotherhood. The latter, however, has not been able to play a leading role, largely because of the earlier hesitations of its senior leadership. The leaders hesitated at least for two reasons. One is their aversion to and suspicion of the secular forces. The other is their initial pessimistic estimate of the level of anger and energy of the masses, and their staying power.
It is important to understand that this popular revolt is not about Islam – let alone an Islamic jihad. It is clearly about political freedom and basic economic needs....