Sisi Isn’t Mubarak. He’s Much Worse.

[TomSea]

Sisi Isn’t Mubarak. He’s Much Worse.
Egypt faced terrible repression during the Nasser, Sadat, and Mubarak eras, but nothing like today’s sustained cruelty.
BY STEVEN A. COOK | DECEMBER 19, 2018

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi achieved something impressive in the last few weeks: He made remarks that, in their loopiness, managed to outdo U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign rallies. In a televised address he declared, “The situation was this way, we were this way, and despite it being this way, we went this way. That is the miracle.” Then, a few days later, while imploring Egyptians to lose weight and exercise more, he added, “Even in the media we have to choose guests who take care of their bodies.”

One has to wonder whether Sisi is cracking under the extraordinary pressure of being in charge of a country that seems to be ungovernable. No doubt he has established some political control since coming to power, but it is hard to make the case that Sisi is actually governing. In the last six months, Egyptians have been forced to endure a potato shortage and water scarcity. Instead of addressing the issues that the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to housing recently highlighted, the government attacked her and the people she interviewed in the course of her research.

In the most basic sense, Sisi faces a crisis of authority; he seems incapable of using the authority he already wields. His supporters are now moving to solve that problem by giving him more. They want to amend the 2014 constitution either to extend the president’s term in office or possibly abolish presidential term limits entirely. Egyptian officials and Sisi’s supporters previously vowed that this would never happen. They claimed that Egypt had changed. No one believed them—and their skepticism was clearly justified. That Egyptians are now paving the way for Sisi to stay on as president beyond the two four-year terms outlined in the constitution is perhaps the least surprising development in the Middle East over the last few years. It is tempting to declare that history is repeating itself, but that is not what is happening. Rather, even with all the events of the past almost eight years, Egypt has never actually deviated from an authoritarian path.

Read more at: https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/19/sisi-isnt-mubarak-hes-much-worse/

I don't necessarily agree, it looks like an interesting article, worse than even Nasser?

[LucasWhite]

I found this line incredibly funny...

"The positive macroeconomic indicators that the government touts—especially growth—hide the unsustainable debt the government has taken on to make those numbers look good."

Hmm FP, who does that remind you of?  Don't say it though, especially not when a Democrat is President.

[LucasWhite]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Rothkopf
David Rothkopf
From 2012 to May 2017, he served as CEO of the FP Group,[2] which publishes Foreign Policy magazine,[3] ForeignPolicy.com, presents FP Events, and is a division of Graham Holdings Company.
Rothkopf was born to a Jewish family.[7] His father survived the Holocaust while three dozen of his relatives did not.


Now the interim CEO is Ann McDaniel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Policy
In September 2008, Foreign Policy was bought by The Washington Post Company (now Graham Holdings Company).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_E._Graham
Donald Edward Graham (born April 22, 1945) is the majority owner and chairman of Graham Holdings Company.

Donald Edward Graham was born on April 22, 1945.  His maternal grandfather, Eugene Meyer, was German Jewish and descended from a rabbinical family in Strasbourg