‘Weak western stance’ sustained Mubarak
Western states including Britain helped sustain Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in power, an expert has told politics.co.uk.
Nadim Shehadi of foreign policy thinktank Chatham House said the west’s tolerant attitude to Egyptian human rights abuses was part of a wider “weak” attitude towards pro-democratisation.
He said the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group which could yet emerge out of Egypt’s present crisis in a powerful situation, had been successfully played up by Mr Mubarak to deflect western criticisms.
“The preference that western policymakers have, especially after Iraq, is for stability and security over values,” he explained.
Foreign Office papers have emphasised cultural specifics, historic circumstances and the need to avoid imposing western values on Middle Eastern countries.
They “apologise for even raising the subject”, Mr Shehadi added. He defended the UK government and other western states for their tentative rhetoric in recent days, however.
“The situation was unexpected, it was a surprise. There was no predicting it,” he explained.
“Governments take a long time to absorb things, as you can imagine. They have to measure what they say.”
After a week of protests in Cairo the army has announced it will not use force against demonstrators.
The situation remains far from clear, however. Mr Shehadi said Iraq, still troubled after the 2003 invasion which ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, was now “much more stable” than Egypt.
“The example of what happened in Egypt shows us that stability is artificial when it’s not backed up by a solid system behind it,” he said.
“Iraq has problems, but you know what the problems are and they’re predictable, they’re expected, and you know there is a political system which can resolve them. You can factor all that into your decision-making, whereas when you have so much uncertainty [in Egypt] you cannot factor it in – you cannot predict it, even.”
