fbpx
Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program

The Egyptian Catastrophe

I haven’t blogged much about the ongoing catastrophe in Egypt, mostly because if you want to read opinion and analysis about it, there are far better places to get it. Me, I’m glad the Army overthrew the Islamist president, but then I read this by Walter Russell Mead yesterday, in light of the Army massacre […]

I haven’t blogged much about the ongoing catastrophe in Egypt, mostly because if you want to read opinion and analysis about it, there are far better places to get it. Me, I’m glad the Army overthrew the Islamist president, but then I read this by Walter Russell Mead yesterday, in light of the Army massacre of 51 protesters who were only praying, and found myself agreeing. Excerpt:

Ultimately, the controlling reality in Egypt remains that nobody in Egypt or outside of it knows how to build the kind of country and society Egyptians want. What could transform Egypt into an East Asian style economic powerhouse, or even a Turkish style success story? The IMF and the World Bank don’t have an answer; the Egyptian establishment doesn’t have an answer; the Obama administration doesn’t have an answer; the Islamists don’t have an answer; the liberal twitterati don’t have an answer; the generals don’t have an answer.

But life doesn’t stop just because no one knows what to do. Egypt must be governed even if it can’t be governed well. The next stage of Egypt’s revolution will be about the construction of a government without hope. Armies can be surprisingly good at that kind of work; order without hope is their stock in trade. The army has not exactly covered itself with glory in the days since the coup, but when hope fades, force is what remains.

When hope fades, force is what remains. God help those poor people. No one else can.

Advertisement

Comments

Want to join the conversation?

Subscribe for as little as $5/mo to start commenting on Rod’s blog.

Join Now