The Mursi Ikhwan made a fundamental mistake: they focused on appeasing the West, the IMF, the army, and the monied gulf sheikhs and totally forgot the Egyptian wo/man on the street. Mursi succeeded in appeasing these powers, and hasfashined himself and his Brothers as more subservient to outside powers than Mubarak was. In the mean time the economy went from bad to worse, with the cost of living escalating, unemployment and poverty hitting the roof and investors fleeing. You cannot do that to the Egyptian people just after they broke the fear barrier for the first time in 6000 year and are ecstatic about their newly found power to mug presidents through the mud. Mursi is gone, but the problems remain dire, and no one has a solution. It is easier to change the caps and the beards at the top, much harder to change the economic system especially that much of the keys are not in Egyptian hands: the country is too dependent on aid, tourism, western money and influence, gulf money, and foreign investors. So any attempt to radically restructure the economy to make significant improvements in living conditions possible will be countered by mighty reactions in the other direction. The maximum that can be achieved in the foreseeable future is minor improvements here and there and a diffusion of political tension, but even this low ceiling is iffy and difficult to attain. And so the crisis may drag on for a very, very, very long time...And at the end of the tunnel there may be yet another darker tunnel.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 07:28:54 +0000