Editorial: How Not to Save Egypt

It was clear from day one that President Mohamed Mursi and his government would face a daunting task at the helm of the Egyptian state. Hosni Mubarak’s civil order was mostly imposed through fear and coercion; political participation was a luxury enjoyed by only a select few. More significantly, the former president’s late economic reforms never managed to narrow the colossal gap between a rich minority and the millions of poor. Today, Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood are struggling t...

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A Syrian Spring?

Walid Saffour is sitting in a light, minimalist office overlooking Hyde Park. A representative of the Syrian National Coalition of the Revolutionary Opposition, he seems like a cross between a gentle Syrian uncle and a seasoned diplomat. Yet while he is affable and polite, there is an intrinsic reserve about him. Perhaps it is the sort of reserve born out of a regime with fifteen security agencies; the sort of reserve one has in the cafes of Damascus, where one treads carefully for fear of the m...

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