Like a lot of people, I’ve been riveted by the goings on in Egypt over the last few days. It’s one of those very rare events when the term “reality television” actually applies. The outcome is completely uncertain and the participants aren’t just performing for the camera, they’re actually trying to get something done. As of this writing, stalwart American ally Hosni Mubarak is clinging to power, crowds have taken over the streets of Egypt’s cities in defiance of a military backed curfew, and jets have buzzed downtown Cairo.
So far, the situation has been too fluid and too large to really open itself up to useful analysis. The halfwits who populate American “news” aren’t capable of much beyond “hurr, oil prices, hurr, Islamists”. More thoughtful commentators don’t have much to say either, but they tend to be more honest about it. In the meantime, if you get tired of the “here’s what we know right now” repetitiveness of even the best news outlets, here are four of the best general “background” articles you can read.
First is this long piece from the London Review of Books originally published last May. (And kudos to them for putting it right on their homepage in light of recent developments, I was all set to search through the archives for it.) For a basic outline of how Egypt got to where it is, including our rather ignoble contributions, this is hard to beat.
Second, this piece at Ars Technica goes into those American made tear gas canisters that spent so much time on television the last few days in an apolitical look at the business end of our foreign aid. Our longstanding practice of using military assistance to other countries as back door subsidies for our own arms manufacturers means that we will inevitably get some of the blame when those arms are used for less than heroic purposes.
Third, there has been a lot of loose talk about whether or not 2011 is going to be to the Middle East what 1989 was to Eastern Europe. This Monkey Cage post is the only piece I’ve come across that addresses the similarities and differences without being goofy, breathless, or stupid.
Finally, there’s this short, excellent primer from 2009 on the basic political calculation of state sanctioned violence. The actions, thoughts, and loyalties of “Tank Commander” are never more important than when thousands of people are defying a curfew that is theoretically being enforced by soldiers in the streets.
