TBA's Long Awaited (though not particularly humorous) Return

The paucity of recent posts here at TBA can be attributed to one of the following reasons:

* The innocent bystanders who may be mentioned in relaying the goings on of my day have a higher likelihood of showing up at a Sunday School class I end up teaching and perhaps be less than flattered at my portrayal of their index finger to nostril excavation exercises at one of Atlanta’s many stoplights.
* I am not as excited to share tales about the clearing of used plates and utensils which has come to consume anywhere from 20-45 hours of my life each week.
* Or, my life has become decidedly less interesting since I stopped carrying a purse and regained use of my pockets.


While I am no longer sure what the world revolves around since it clearly isn’t me, life has seemed to move on throughout the globe despite my lack of blog posts. This is especially true in the Middle East as longstanding autocracies are being protested against and, in the case of Tunisia, have already been overthrown.

Yes, the blog which brought you posts about dog poo and its writer’s new manpurse is now delving into the realm of foreign affairs.

Last year I took a course on Egypt which, in my 8 years of post-high school education was the most intensive – likely because I knew absolutely nothing about contemporary Egyptian politics and the Professor was…well…quite active in the Egyptian political scene. I spent the semester attempting to contextualize the present (Fall 2009) situation there which was tense, anticipating presidential elections that would likely see Hosni Mubarak’s son, Gamal, rise to power. In order to try to figure out why this was such a bad thing, I wrote my final paper on Mubarak’s “search for a vision” which turned into a broad overview of key events in the last thirty years of Egyptian political life as they affected public perception of Mr. Mubarak. The paper ended with some “crystal ball gazing” as our professor called it looking at possible scenarios for Egypt’s next leader. While I had guessed that it would be Gamal’s “election” that would bring about unrest the past week has shown that the mere possibility of Gamal’s election combined with the success of the Jasmine revolution were enough to bring about a long-awaited challenge to Mubarak’s rule. I’m posting the paper here for anyone who wants to learn more about why hundreds are reported dead and injured, internet keeps mysteriously disappearing throughout Egypt, and over 1,000 are reported to be imprisoned in Egypt as we speak.


Hosni Mubarak's Search for a Vision

Note - Since Gamal is highly unlikely to reach the Presidency and Suleiman was named VP yesterday, it looks like Suleiman will become President if Mubarak steps down in the coming days/weeks.