Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
With intensifying international pressure to end hostilities, a brief lull in fighting currently prevails in Gaza. But a formal ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has proven elusive.
Washington’s reluctance to take a leadership role in Syria has played a part in increasing the threat to core U.S. interests.
Egypt is at a perilous juncture in a decades-long journey of change. Washington should focus on supporting the Egyptian people more than whoever is currently in power.
Since the removal of the Mubarak regime in 2011, the United States has struggled to develop a coherent policy of engagement that can protect American interests while winning trust among Egyptians and their leaders.
Continued repression threatens to lead Egypt into a dark tunnel of insurgency and instability. The United States must implement aid policies that make accountability to one’s citizens a key condition to receive U.S. aid.
Cairo will not be able to stray far from policy lines delineated by Riyadh while this high level of economic dependence continues.
The institutions of the Egyptian state that used to command respect because they were seen as being above the political fray—the judiciary as well as the army—now seem to be very willing participants in the repression of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Egyptians know very little about the man who will likely be their next president—including whether he can untangle the knot of problems ensnaring the country.
Egypt is far more violent and unstable than it has been in decades. With government repression driving a cycle of political violence, a different approach is needed.
Throughout the Middle East, the overthrow of Egypt’s Mohamed Morsi has heightened Islamist-secularist tensions and pushed actors toward zero-sum politics.
