The burdens and frustrations of office

The failure of Abdel Fattah El-Sisi

Yet again, my old friend, The New Yorker, provided me with food for thought. An article about El-Sisi, the military ruler of Egyptian, by Peter Hessler, who spent five years reporting  from Egypt raised questions about the challenges of democracy, the obligation of a man with power to step in and take control, and the pernicious effect of dependence on charity. The promise of the revolution that heralded democracy and brought to power Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood resulted in chaos and political paralysis. In stepped the army and the general in charge of intelligence, the self-effacing General El-Sisi, seemingly untainted by corruption. He proved to be ruthless in face of military challenges. He confronted threats by Islamist extremists in Sinai, terrorism on the ground and in the sky. As a soldier he was trained to fight the enemy, whoever that may be. What he was not trained to do was to address economic challenges. Egypt's economy is entirely dependent on largess from the Arab states, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, and Qatar, which consider Egypt a a bulwark of Suni Islam against the threat of Iran and the Shiites. The United States funds the Egyptian military. But this dependence on hand-outs stunted the development of the economy. People with education and skills cannot find outlet for their creative talents, and unemployment or underemployment as well as a lack of hope and prospects leads to restlessness and ultimately threatens El-Sisi's rule, and political stability. There is a parallel with the threats faced by Mickhail Gorbachev, whose initial promise and success was undermined by his inability to manage the economy. It is failure to address unglamorous micro-details while focusing on the grand overall schemes that result in failure.