What a good idea, appointing the former aviation head as PM! Mubarak's going to need a plane soon. Maybe Shafiq can help him with that.
I was in Egypt until January 31. While the internet was out, I wrote down some things to keep from going stir crazy. I want to post them here. Part of why is political: I see a lot of people saying dumb stuff, and I want to say something different. But also, I just want to say it. I can't guarantee any of it is useful for anything. But it's what was on my mind. For where I got the name "colorless revolution", read the first post.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Deck Chairs and Airline Seats
When Mubarak appointed Shafiq, the former aviation head, as prime minister, I wanted to throw something at the TV, because the cabinet reshuffling was such an insulting non-sequitur. It's like a CEO dealing with a shareholder complaints by firing his masseuse. But what I really wanted to say was this:
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at first the aviation minister as PM thing made no sense... then I saw that he was chief of air force prior to being aviation minister (and Mubarak was chief of air force prior to being Sadat's veep), and the air force is the strongest branch... it made sense, in a sinister "I'm appointing a more military oriented government" sort of way
ReplyDeletein that light, the episode with the F-16s buzzing Tafrir Square soon afterwards was chilling... rationally I knew it was unlikely to be a bombing run (if only because Al Jazeera at least had cameras rolling), but the ghoulish thought did occur to me that if the army on the streets of Cairo had been semi-co-opted by the protesters, Mubarak might have turned to his old branch to do the dirty work... instead it turned out to be wacky attempt to disperse the crowd / end up looking like both a bully and impotent at the same time?
but yeah, so far Pharoh is 0 for 2 now on WTF/non sequitur speeches
Here comes the innovations of an aviation seats..
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