Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

Filed in International by on February 11, 2011

Nicholas Kristof blogs this afternoon:

But the game isn’t over, and now a word of caution. I worry that senior generals may want to keep (with some changes) a Mubarak-style government without Mubarak. In essence the regime may have decided that Mubarak had become a liability and thrown him overboard — without any intention of instituting the kind of broad, meaningful democracy that the public wants.

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  1. Dorian Gray says:
    February 11, 2011 at 4:00 pm

    Look, I’m a big fan of Kristof’s work, but this is sheer speculation. What is the evidence for this? It’s solely his “worry?” The fact is that the Egyptian generals are American trained (Fort Benning, West Point), take a big chunk of American dough, fly American planes, drive American tanks… and have kept peace with Israel. (They’ve also tortured for us, but let’s stay on topic.)

    This isn’t some shadowy junta in some closed off country like Burma or North Korea. Look, I don’t know how this’ll play out, nobody does. but the musing and conjecture of some NYT columnist doesn’t mean much. All the real facts point toward some decent democratic ends here. Could these facts change now. I suppose they could. But this post is borderline fear-mongering. Next post you’ll mention that it’s the anniversary of the Iranian revolution and start screaming about the Brotherhood. Take a pill and let’s see how this goes…

  2. cassandra m says:
    February 11, 2011 at 5:07 pm

    A police state is still a police state — no matter their American training or equipment. Mubarak gone is a victory and a crossroads and the Egyptian Army is almost its own caste, with access to goods and money and status that are hard to get for lots of those Egyptians in the street. The Army has played their hand nicely so far, but the real work — the transition to a real constitution and to democracy certainly isn’t done. It is incredibly fair to worry about what that Army will do — they are STILL an outsize presence in the Egyptian police state.

  3. nemski says:
    February 11, 2011 at 5:40 pm

    From the Washington Post:

    The return of the uniforms to power does not inspire great optimism about Egypt’s trajectory. In superficial ways, it represents a victory for the protesters and a demonstration of people power in the heart of the Arab world.

    But in a more important way, the army’s return suggest a huge step backward. Military rule does not allow for bargaining between interest groups, nor does it presage a constitutional convention between an array of actors in Egyptian political life. Rather, it suggests even heavier management of the political process, on the one hand, and the removal of any timeline for change on the other.

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