Egypt: Is Egypt Sinking?

The Economist has published a special report on Egypt and her future after President Mubarak who has now being recognized as the 21st century sick man of the Middle East.

With this shocking paragraph Zeinobia began her post.

Zeinobia starts her commentary saying:

This report is very interesting to the level I believe we will not see the magazine in our newsstand next month thanks to its cover.

She added that two Egyptian newspapers:

Youm7 and Al Shorouk online published a summary for the report without the iconic image of Mubarak. There is an elephant in the room, a big dying elephant to be correct and it seems the fact that the regime does not want confess it makes you wonder if it is an alienation from reality due to arrogance or it is actually fear to confess the bitter reality ; the end is so close and time is not in the side of the son who planned too much for this moment.

Mohaly read the same report and he blogged his confusion:

After 30 years of status quo, is Egypt sinking in sand or rising from it?! Will we live in isolated colonies, or will we work in teams?!

Imagine Egypt being the cover topic of the Economist. It is an article worth reading.

Issandr El Amrani, at The Arabist, weighs in too:

This week's Economist has a special on Egypt well worth checking out. Considering The Economist only does these country surveys about every decade, this might be very well be the third one about Mubarak. I wonder how it compares to previous ones.

The overall tone of the report is a mixture of cautious optimism and a lament of some of the Egypt's failings — its corrupt police state, its education. In light of the woe-is-us mood that dominates in the country and some alarmist accounts of Egypt being on the brink of collapse, it's refreshing to point out the dramatic social and economic changes that the Mubarak era has introduced. Will they turn out to be changes for the better, or not, or were they inevitable changes in a world that influenced Egypt much more than Egypt could influence it?

Start the conversation

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.