Their President of 29 years is very ill. But with no nominated successor, an uncertain future awaits.
A GOOD PIECE
By Robert Fisk in Cairo
"So here comes the latest Egyptian joke about 82-year-old President Hosni Mubarak. The president, a keen squash player – how else could he keep his jet-black hair? – calls up the sheikh of Al-Azhar, the highest Sunni Muslim cleric in the land, to ask if there are squash courts in heaven. The sheikh asks for a couple of days to consult the Almighty. Two days later, he calls Mr Mubarak back. "There's good news and bad news," he says. Give me the good news, snaps Mr Mubarak. "Well," says the sheikh, "there are lots of squash courts in heaven." And the bad news, asks the president? "You have a match there in two weeks' time!".....
A lot of them want him dead – not out of personal animosity, but because they want political change. They probably will not get it. Telling Egyptians that "only God knows" who the next president will be – Mr Mubarak actually said this – is ridiculous. Will it be his son, Gamal? The head of Egyptian intelligence, Omar Sulieman? He's probably had too many heart problems.
But either way, it would change nothing.....
...For, two months ago, a 28-year old human rights activist called Khaled Said was dragged out of an Alexandria internet cafe by two cops, Awad Sulieman and Mahmoud Salah Mahmoud – the names are important because Egyptian policemen are usually allowed anonymity – who, in a vicious assault, smashed his head against a wall and killed him......
Complaints against the government – for widespread corruption, of course, for suppression of human rights, for police brutality – rise almost monthly. There is widespread criticism of Egypt's new agreement with oil companies over the sharing out of profits on oil exploration in the desert, on the grounds that it gives greater advantages to foreign investors than to Egypt....
Meanwhile, even in education, the Mubarak regime plays off Muslim and Western fears....Give state school Muslims a taste of secularism here, make the secular schools remember religion. It's typical "Mubarakism" – it confuses the masses while you arrange the next elections.....
...ElBaradei is what you might call a "nice" man, but Egyptian elections, which usually anoint the pharaoh with a result in the 90 per cent range, are unlikely to embrace the former UN arms inspector.....
...And the peace treaty with Israel – which Anwar El Sadat believed would give international prestige to Egypt – has neutered his country's independence. In Gaza, Egypt finds itself acting as a colonial vassal, sealing off 1.5 million Palestinians to maintain Israel's outrageous siege.
The American-Israeli alliance, along with the UN and the EU, has forced Egypt into the complicity of semi-occupation...."
A GOOD PIECE
By Robert Fisk in Cairo
"So here comes the latest Egyptian joke about 82-year-old President Hosni Mubarak. The president, a keen squash player – how else could he keep his jet-black hair? – calls up the sheikh of Al-Azhar, the highest Sunni Muslim cleric in the land, to ask if there are squash courts in heaven. The sheikh asks for a couple of days to consult the Almighty. Two days later, he calls Mr Mubarak back. "There's good news and bad news," he says. Give me the good news, snaps Mr Mubarak. "Well," says the sheikh, "there are lots of squash courts in heaven." And the bad news, asks the president? "You have a match there in two weeks' time!".....
A lot of them want him dead – not out of personal animosity, but because they want political change. They probably will not get it. Telling Egyptians that "only God knows" who the next president will be – Mr Mubarak actually said this – is ridiculous. Will it be his son, Gamal? The head of Egyptian intelligence, Omar Sulieman? He's probably had too many heart problems.
But either way, it would change nothing.....
...For, two months ago, a 28-year old human rights activist called Khaled Said was dragged out of an Alexandria internet cafe by two cops, Awad Sulieman and Mahmoud Salah Mahmoud – the names are important because Egyptian policemen are usually allowed anonymity – who, in a vicious assault, smashed his head against a wall and killed him......
Complaints against the government – for widespread corruption, of course, for suppression of human rights, for police brutality – rise almost monthly. There is widespread criticism of Egypt's new agreement with oil companies over the sharing out of profits on oil exploration in the desert, on the grounds that it gives greater advantages to foreign investors than to Egypt....
Meanwhile, even in education, the Mubarak regime plays off Muslim and Western fears....Give state school Muslims a taste of secularism here, make the secular schools remember religion. It's typical "Mubarakism" – it confuses the masses while you arrange the next elections.....
...ElBaradei is what you might call a "nice" man, but Egyptian elections, which usually anoint the pharaoh with a result in the 90 per cent range, are unlikely to embrace the former UN arms inspector.....
...And the peace treaty with Israel – which Anwar El Sadat believed would give international prestige to Egypt – has neutered his country's independence. In Gaza, Egypt finds itself acting as a colonial vassal, sealing off 1.5 million Palestinians to maintain Israel's outrageous siege.
The American-Israeli alliance, along with the UN and the EU, has forced Egypt into the complicity of semi-occupation...."
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