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HomeShop at BookSurgeHistoryMiddle EastGeneralThe Last Pharaoh: Mubarak and the Uncertain Future of Egypt in the Obama Age |
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12 of 12 found the following review helpful:
End Is Near for Mubarak's 28-Year Rule in Egypt Jul 31, 2009
By omaraladin
"omaraladin"
By Mohamed Elshinnawi
Washington, DC
The author of this book says the U.S. president will need to pay close attention to the volatile political situation in Egypt, one of America's strongest and most important allies in the Middle East. The author believes U.S. policymakers now face a difficult choice: continuing to support the iron-fisted rule of Egypt's current president and his likely hand-picked successor, or backing a beleaguered democratic opposition that some believe could open the door to Islamic fundamentalist rule.
In his new book, The Last Pharaoh: Mubarak and the Uncertain Future of Egypt in the Obama Age, Egyptian-American writer Aladdin Elaasar offers the American president his blunt assessment of Egypt's near-term outlook. Elaasar believes President Hosni Mubarak, America's "strong man" in Egypt and the recipient of billions of dollars in U.S. military and development aid, is losing his grip on power after 26 years of autocratic rule.
The author believes there are many signs that time is running out for Mubarak, who succeeded President Anwar Sadat after the 1981 assassination and who won a controversial multi-party election to a six-year term in 2005. Elaasar says Egypt's severe economic problems are just one sign that Mubarak's grip on power is loosening. "There is about 37% un-employment in Egypt," Elaasar notes. "There is about 2% to 5% of the people who monopolize the economy and these people are elites around Mubarak and his party. And there is at least 40% of the people in Egypt who live under the poverty line. So there are a lot of indications of social ailments and illnesses and we need to pay attention to that."
Elaasar cites the Mubarak government's well-documented use of repression and police-state tactics to intimidate or silence its political opponents. Those tactics earned Mubarak strong rebukes from the U.S. and other countries following the 2005 presidential election, which critics claim was massively rigged to ensure a Mubarak victory. And Elaasar sees a rising tide of popular frustration and dissatisfaction with Mubarak that encompasses labor unions, teachers, lawyers, judges and youth throughout the country.
Elaasar says the situation in Egypt today reminds him of Iran just before the 1979 overthrow of the Shah by Islamic fundamentalists. "Mubarak reminds me of the last days of the Shah," the author says. "He was living a life of extravagance and surrounded by his elites. He was so oppressive. And that paved the way for the extreme right to come in. And we know the rest of the story."
In The Last Pharaoh, Elaasar writes that the American president can expect one of several difficult scenarios to unfold in Egypt in the months ahead. "The Mubarak regime is preparing itself for the next step," the author explains, "which is making his son, Gamal Mubarak, to be the next president of Egypt. But the other scenario that can play out is that there are other political powers, so it could be the extreme religious right that can take over, or things can get out of control because of the poverty level and the suffering of the Egyptian people, so the people in the street can do something when things reach a very desperate level."
Author Alaadin Elaasar urges the American president to shift U.S. policies on Egypt toward strategies that promote democracy in the country."We really need to make sure that there would be democracy and change," Elaasar warns, "because if this does not start, people reach the extent of desperateness. And then desperateness breathes out all kinds of violence and all kinds of extremism that opens the door for extremists to jump in and pretend they have the solution."
The author says the worst-case scenario in Egypt would be a military coup, which would turn Egypt into what he describes as a "God-knows-what" regime.
Whatever the fate of the Mubarak regime, author Alaadin Elaasar believes significant change in Egypt's government will have profound effects on the region, and on U.S. interests in the Middle East. For that reason, he believes, the U.S. President will need to follow developments in this Arab nation with a watchful and wary eye.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Egypt is next after Tunisia Jan 20, 2011
By Will Smith
Silent Victims: Arab and Muslim Americans Post 9/11For Stars and Stripes: American-Arabs in the U.S. Military
The author of this book has been warning in his writings about authoritarian regimes in the region. Who could have imagined that Ben Ali the Tunisian dictator could have gone that way. Arab dictators have turned their countries into police states. In the West we imagined that these countries are oases of stability. Wrong. After reading this book, we never think the same of the Arab world. Actually, the Arab people are victims of their oppressive regimes. Some of these regimes are enjoying countless support from the West. Thirty years after the Khomeini revolution in Iran, we have not learnt the lessons yet.
Author & Book Promotions' Review of THE LAST PHARAOH! May 18, 2011
By Author & Book Promotions
The Last Pharaoh: Mubarak and the Uncertain Future of Egypt in the Obama Age is a timely account of what is currently happing in Egypt and broader Middle East and predicted the fall of Mubarak's regime. The book also discusses the impact that the collapse of Mubarak's regime and its aftermath will have on the world and American interest in the region. The book chronicles Egypt's history and provides an historic description of events shaping the Middle East, which readers will also find to be well documented and researched by author Aladdin Elaasar -- a teacher of Mid-Eastern studies. The easy to read narrative makes it an important book about the challenges America faces post-Mubarak and what will unfold in the near future. Author & Book Promotions highly recommends this book for anyone who enjoys history or wants to be engaged and informed about world affairs and politics!
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