What a relief it was when Egypt got rid of Hosni Mubarak and his nasty henchmen -- Omar Suleiman, Habib Al Adly and others in 2011. M.H. Mubarak operated like a colonial administrator, dividing and exploiting Egyptians while serving his foreign benefactors.
At the same time, the dictator tried to promote the notion of Egyptian leadership of the Arab world, again exploiting the cultural, historical and religious greatness of Egypt.
He faced competition from fellow dictators Hafez Assad and Saddam Hussein who also vied for the "leadership" of the Arab world. Saddam had two major advantages -- military strength and oil money -- and didn't really take Mubarak or his Gulf buddies seriously.
Not being a confrontationist like Saddam, Mubarak was liked by the petrocrats of Arabia. The Arab League politics never ceased to be useless when Mubarak ruled Cairo. It was occasionally entertaining though. It has become rather boring as most Arab dictatorships are grappling with people's rising expectations and anger since the 2011 uprisings.
Egypt as the most populous Arab nation (its population of 82 million is more than three times the total number of citizens in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, UAE, Qatar and Bahrain), is hugely important to the region for a number of reasons.
Al Azhar in Egypt is the most respected seat of Islamic learning, which is not in agreement with the Saudi ideology. And don't forget the 'peace treaty' under which the Egyptian military needs Israel's permission for internal movement. Egypt's reward is commensurate with how much woes it can inflict on Palestinians.
No one can afford to ignore what happens in Egypt and how Egyptians think about Arab issues. But not all those interested in Egypt are its friends. The US, Israel, Gulf petrocrats (Saudi Arabia and UAE more than others) are heavily involved in Egypt. They are so self-absorbed that no trick is too dirty to play if it serves their interest.
It helps unscrupulous people if Egyptians are subjugated by a mukhabarat police state run by ruthless men. If it can't be a pure Mubarakist dictatorship, let it be a coup-on-demand system. The next elected government (one day!) must dismantle the repressive mukhabarat machine of the Interior Ministry and create a modern law-abiding police force.
It helps unscrupulous people if Egyptians are subjugated by a mukhabarat police state run by ruthless men. If it can't be a pure Mubarakist dictatorship, let it be a coup-on-demand system. The next elected government (one day!) must dismantle the repressive mukhabarat machine of the Interior Ministry and create a modern law-abiding police force.
Egypt's potential is being wasted. A dictatorship will produce misery, not manufacture exportable goods. Mubarak was great for tourism because he could invite war criminal Tony Blair to enjoy Sharm El Sheikh's beaches. No problem if there are more belly dancers -- already there is one for every 3,000 of population. No problem also if there are more jobs as managers and makeup artists for belly dancers but fewer as teachers, petrochemical engineers, doctors.
The so-called liberals in Egypt have no shame in suppressing other Egyptians as long as their Mubarak-era privileges continue.
The new coup masters in Cairo are smiling at their lemmings.
