Get the latest analysis on the crisis in Egypt from BIU Scholars and the Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies at BIU
Dire Poverty Root of Egypt Revolt, says Mideast Expert
BIU Prof. Mordechai Kedar – As reported in The Cleveland Jewish News February 18, 2011
With 40 million Egyptians living on about 25 cents a day, abject poverty was the root of the revolution that toppled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last week. Not protests in Tunisia that ousted the dictator there. Not Twitter or Facebook. So said Mordechai Kedar, an Arabic studies professor at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University… Read more »
Ìý
Dr. Jonathan Rynhold – Perspectives Papers No. 128, February 7, 2011
The dream of turning Cairo 2011 into “Berlin 1989” is a chimera; the challenge is to prevent “Tehran 1979.” Obama administration policy, however, threatens to widen the crack in the strategic foundations of regional stability that has served as the indispensable basis of peacemaking since the mid 1970s.
Ìý
Prof. Efraim Inbar – Perspectives Papers No. 127, February 6, 2011
While it is uncertain at this point what Egypt’s fate will be, it is clear that whatever happens, it will have a domino effect on the entire Middle East. The current unrest is unlikely to result in a newly democratized nation; rather, the ongoing political turmoil will likely strengthen the radical forces in the region, such as Iran and its proxies, the Turkish AKP and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. The US position, which favors the protesters is highly troubling and may lead to greater instability in the region.
The Need for Minds over Hearts in the Egyptian Crisis
Prof. Hillel Frisch – Perspectives Papers No. 126, February 3, 2011
Supporting Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman in the current crisis will prevent a Muslim Brotherhood takeover of Egypt and avoid a bloody and protracted Egyptian civil war marked by foreign intervention. The West should support Suleiman and the military both for strategic reasons and out of concern for those demonstrators with democratic ideals who otherwise are likely to fall prey to a far worse fate than the regime they are attempting to overthrow. Read more »
