President Morsi has rejected the military’s ultimatum, and Egypt seems to be careening toward a dissolution of the current government. The military apparently intends to suspend the constitution and dissolve parliament and replace it with a governing council that would be more “representative.” Violence is Egypt is accelerating and there does not seem to be a stable equilibrium point at this time. Much depends on how the Muslim Brotherhood responds to the changes–it will be a real test of how close Egypt is to creating a democratic civil society.
As much as I disagree with her policies, I will easily concede that Angela Merkel is a gifted leader. She demonstrates her acumen in an interview with The Guardian in which she surveys the problems currently facing Europe Her assessment of the significance of youth unemployment on the continent (and in the rest of the world as well) is spot on. I wish more politicians were as insightful as she is.
The world is sadly watching the slow deterioration of one of the greatest leaders of the 20th and 21st centuries, Nelson Mandela. President Obama payed him a great tribute when he recently visited South Africa. I have no doubts about President Obama’s sincerity. But I have long and bitter memories of US support for the apartheid regime over many years. And our admiration for Mandela’s accomplishments should not obscure the fact that the US government treated Mandela as a “terrorist” for a long period of time. The cartoonist, Mr. Fish, captured the hypocrisy of US policy quite well:
World Politics News 
Leave a comment