Word: sadat
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Mubarak's moves indicate he has taken a sensitive reading of the public mind. For all his popularity in the West, Sadat did not enjoy great love and esteem at home. Many Egyptians felt that his regime was not only repressive but insensitive to their needs. Sadat's imperial lifestyle fueled intense resentment among a populace with a per capita income averaging only $469 a year. And his "open door" economic policy, intended to attract Western capital, served mainly to flood the country with luxury consumer goods and create a new class of millionaire middlemen and hustlers...
Mubarak's personal style could hardly be more in contrast with his predecessor's. A career air force officer from Sadat's home province who was Air Force Commander at the time of the 1973 October War, Mubarak had never spent a day in politics when Sadat picked him to be his Vice President in 1975. He proved to be the perfect foil for the dynamic, charismatic Sadat: efficient, disciplined, self-effacing. He has not changed. Since taking office, Mubarak, 53, has made only four public appearances. His speeches are short and to the point...
...with relative ease he has been able to bring about a tangible if subtle change in the country's mood. He not only released many of the prominent intellectuals and opposition politicians whom Sadat had arrested last September, but invited a number of them to his office to talk. It is expected that, in time, most of the 4,000 dissidents now being held will be released. Some Egyptians have observed that the country seems freer now than it has in years, though it is still under a state of emergency. Cairo newspapers, tightly controlled during the Sadat...
Mubarak has dealt firmly with the country's Moslem militants without seeming to be vengeful. Like Sadat, he says he will not permit religious-based political parties. But Sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim of the American University in Cairo observes, "He is not doing things that antagonize the militants. He gives an image of being clean, firm and fair." The fundamentalists, in fact, approve of Mubarak's campaign against corruption, his proposal to curb luxury imports, and his studiously private family life. "Some of the militants think he is redeemable and that they can establish a dialogue with...
Mubarak is mindful, as was Sadat, that Egypt's economy was ruined by its wars with Israel. Without repudiating peace, he is expected to repair relations with the Arab states that broke with Sadat because of his overtures to Israel. One reason: Mubarak wants Arab investment in Egypt to help with his development plans. In similar fashion, he has tightened Cairo's military pact with the neighboring Sudan, begun diversifying Egypt's sources of weaponry with a new $1 billion contract with France for 20 Mirage 2000 fighters, and reasserted the country's fundamental commitment...