Whether or not the day’s events in Egypt constitute a military coup d’etat, the removal from office of President Mohamed Morsi by the Egyptian military portends great excitement but even greater dangers.
The age of political reason is returning to the Arab world. The people are fed up of being colonised and bullied. Meanwhile, the political temperature is rising in Jordan, Algeria and Yemen.
The problem facing Obama is that of constructing “Mubarakism” without Mubarak, that is, to guarantee the continuity of the pro-American autocracy through an acceptable replacement recruited from the ranks of the regime.
