When I'm not cartooning, I'm often working on stuff for The Middle East Channel at FP. Also been tweeting so please follow follow. Here's some suggested reading via today's today's MEC daily brief:
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| Cairo sketch, 2007 |
'Why Tunis, Why Cairo?' (Issandr El Amrani, London Review of Books)
El Amrani explores the underlying structural factors in common between the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. While the largest obstacle to the Egyptian opposition's protests over the last decade has been the entrenched state security establishment, "the system proved surprisingly unable to adapt when faced with a leaderless protest movement. It turned out that the biggest weakness of the Egyptian opposition - its inability to produce a charismatic leader with wide public appeal - was also its strength."
Also at the LRB, Adam Shatz looks at the US's options in the Middle East "After Mubarak." His bottom line:
From the Obama administration we can expect criticisms of the crackdown, prayers for peace, and more calls for 'restraint' on 'both sides' - as if there were symmetry between unarmed protesters and the military regime - but Suleiman will be given the benefit of the doubt. Unlike ElBaradei, he's a man Washington knows it can deal with.
Today's New York Times editorial, "Suleiman's Empty Promises," echoes this critique.
'The Muslim Brotherhood After Mubarak' (Carrie Wickham, Foreign Affairs)
Carrie Wickham, a specialist on the rise of Islamic activism in authoritarian settings, takes stock of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood's trajectory, mobilization capability, and political aspirations. Wickham notes the movement's pragmatism: "Although the Brotherhood entered the political system in order to change it, it ended up being changed by the system." Moreover, Wickham provides important historical context on how demands for internal reform within the Brotherhood have expanded the movement's "call for an expansion of public freedoms, democracy, and respect for human rights and the rule of law." Meanwhile, in the Los Angeles Times, Tarek Masoud examines the fabric of Egypt's opposition, including the Muslim Brotherhood's role.
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