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Predicting the Future of the Middle East — The Easy Way

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Special update: Avi Spiegel will be speaking on a panel called "Perspectives on Egypt: Understanding the Popular Revolt" at the Musuem of Man on Feb. 12 at 11 a.m. regarding the issues that have arised in the Middle East.

 

Huffington Post -- Avi Spiegel, a fellow at the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin, is Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of San Diego, California. He is completing a book on the next generation of political Islam, based on his fieldwork among young activists from both legal and illegal Islamist movements.

The swift turn of events in the Middle East demands a certain amount of humility on the part of any so-called Middle East expert. Despite what anyone will tell you, no one predicted the rapid and dramatic overthrow of President Ben Ali of Tunisia, let alone the eventual departure of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt.

One analyst has even written that if he were asked a month ago which countries might have faced revolutions, Tunisia and Egypt would have been the last two he would have mentioned. Fareed Zakaria says of today's Middle East, "Anyone making predictions with confidence is being foolhardy." (Full Story)

 

 Photographs of the January 25 Revolution in Egypt by Leslie Lababidi

Lesley Lababidi, who raised three children during her 22 years in Cairo, is an author of five books including Cairo's Street Stories Exploring the City's Statues, Squares, Bridges, Gardens, and Sidewalk Café (AUC Press) and numerous magazine articles about Egypt.

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