June 2012
1 post
The wrong side of history.
I had no idea that my idiosyncratic “career” had any common denominator beyond - well idiosyncratic. Until Neil Clark unknowingly sorted that out in an article in the Guardian. On Eastern Europe, the Arab Spring, Burma, and the Western neo-liberal elite.
April 2012
3 posts
The Matrix: Algeria
While I am being driven from Algiers International Airport to my hotel I realise I have been wrong. It is the first time I come to Algeria and unlike what I had anticipated its capital strikes me as more Mediterranean than Arabic, developed rather than backwards. It is an image the regime likes to project to the outside world – that of a thriving democracy, a beacon of stability in an otherwise...
Egypt's Development Challenge: Another Lost...
Egypt’s ruling generals have agreed to sign a deal with the IMF for a loan worth $3.2bn to alleviate the country’s financial crisis. The series of measures required by the deal, though, may at best do little to help the country’s development challenges and simply restore macro-economic stability. At worst, they will be counter-productive.
As the clouds of revolutionary dust seem to settle...
It's the economy, stupid!
“De Egyptische revolutie is in gevaar.” Ik lees de woorden van de leiders van de Moslimbroederschap in de krant bij de kandidaatstelling van Moslimbroeder Khairat El-Shater voor het presidentschap en luister stil naar de geluiden van buiten. Het is rustig in Caïro. Maar schijn bedriegt. De politieke spanningen in Egypte lopen op nu het land het einde van de officiële transitieperiode nadert. Read...
March 2012
2 posts
The Muslim Brotherhood – Egypt's shepherd or a...
Securing an overwhelming victory in Egypt’s parliamentary elections the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party will with a doubt play a strong role in charting the course of Egypt’s future. But despite its strong mandate, and its traditional religious orientation, Egypt’s new power-broker will find that political moderation may be the lesser of two evils.
Securing...
What Has Happened to Egypt's 99%?
One year on from the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak Egypt is still facing a fragile transition to democracy. While all eyes are on Tahrir Square the struggles of the common Egyptian person remain largely inconspicuous. Still, tackling their economic woes remains critical in order to secure a truetransition to democracy.
It has been a year since the people of Egypt rose up and put an end to...
