The Unfinished Arab Revolutions
Lenin was reported to have said, “You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.” Revolutions are never simple affairs. The multiple Arab revolts are still in flux. Take Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood in that country was long declared illegal. After the fall of the Mubarak dictatorship, they came out in the open and ran in elections and their candidate Morsi was elected president. A year later he was overthrown by the military. The Brotherhood is now banned and its assets seized. Its leaders are in jail, and hundreds of its supporters have been killed. Egypt for three decades under Mubarak was in Washington’s pocket. It is unlikely the U.S. will give up one of its prize assets in its quest to continue to dominate the Middle East. Egypt and the region are likely to remain in upheaval for some time to come.
Interview by David Barsamian.
Recorded at the University of Denver.
Speaker
Rami Khouri
Rami Khouri has reported on the Arab region for decades. He is a senior fellow with the Middle East Initiative at the Belfer Center at Harvard’s Kennedy School. He was the Founding Director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut in 2006-14. He was Executive Editor of the Beirut Daily Star and before that Editor-in-Chief of The Jordan Times. His articles appear in major newspapers around the world.
Anita Shumway –
Thank you. I’ve never heard anything explained so well. I can now put my thoughts and questions on this subject into a context.