Renewed focus on Egypt.

• Author: Abrahamson, James L.

Renewed Focus On Egypt

By Mona Salem, Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff, Marina Ottaway, and Ramadan Al Sherbini

middleeastprogress.org/news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100316/wl_africa_afp/egyptpoliticsmubarakhealth_20100316183827www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1156289.htmlcarnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=40332gulfnews.com/news/region/egypt/egyptian-opposition-s-push-for-reforms-hits-bumpy-road-1.598502

Reviewed by James L. Abrahamson, Contributing Editor

This review's title and the first of the five web addresses that follow will take readers to a Middle East Bulletin collection of print excerpts speculating about Egypt's next president in the wake of early March news that President Hosni Mubarak had traveled to Germany for gall bladder surgery. Each of the excerpts provides access to the full article, or readers might access them directly using the last four addresses listed above. Each provides insights into the coming struggle, as Egyptians prepare to elect a new Shura Council (June) and People's Assembly (November) followed by presidential elections in 2011.

Nor is Mubarak's health the only issue feeding speculation. The return of Mohamed El Baradie to Egypt following service with the International Atomic Energy Administration has roused the small, though weak and poorly led, opposition parties, the Egyptian media, and many civil society...