Egypt faces a serious and complex situation. Large crowds have taken to the streets and violence has broken out again. Clashes between opponents and supporters of President Mohammad Mursi have left several dead and hundreds more injured.
It should have been different. Egypt should have been moving towards democracy and political stability, but the two years that have passed since January 25, 2011 — the date of Hosni Mubarak’s fall — have witnessed increasing turmoil and confusion. Islamists and secularists at each others’ throats, the emergence of the literalist Salafists, the shadowy role of the armed forces in addition to direct and indirect foreign involvement, have all combined to block the country’s attempts at normalisation and the effort to complete the revolutionary cycle. In fact, never have democracy and stability seemed quite so far off as they do today. Even tracking rapidly evolving events and shifting strategic alliances has become quite a challenge.
looking beyond borders 