Readers' corner
Border alert
Sir-- Egypt has always had the option of opening its crossing with Gaza, but chose not to do so in the interest of Egyptian security. Now it will have to deal with refugees who come to visit and stay. Everyone in the region needs to make sure that radicals do not take over control of the area, otherwise a ticking time bomb will be set off.
Youssef Ramzi
Cairo
Egypt
Myanmar II
Sir-- This is what happens when you protest and overthrow the government without having anyone that can take the place of the person you are overthrowing! If you revolt, at least have a plan and someone who will fill the space. I see Egypt turning into another Myanmar. I am sorry but everyone knew this would happen.
Martin Boyle
London
UK
Long overdue
Sir-- Mubarak and his family were too greedy for wealth and power. When he was in his 70s he should have stepped down with dignity and have others lead the country.
Hussein Kamal
Cairo
Egypt
Not the end-all
Sir-- It would be amusing if it wasn't so sad how the West sees "change" in the Middle East. Simply ousting a leader or government is by far no guarantee of a better leadership stepping in with respect to freedoms and democracy. This is one lesson the West never seemed to have learned.
The choices become limited but rather simple: we work with corrupt but friendly governments and put pressure to clean up their act and allow more freedoms or we abandon them and create a vacuum that allows extremist Muslims to take over and impose their interpretation of Islam and Sharia.
Farah Doman
California
USA
Early start
Sir-- I thought for sure it would take five years for radical Islam to take over Egypt. It looks like it will happen sooner than that.
Jaime Lendel
New York
USA
Another try
Sir-- I wish Amr Moussa luck. May he make Egypt as irrelevant as he made the Arab League.
Alaa Gouda
Montreal
Canada
Culture vs franchise
Sir-- Re 'Nostalgia or a new political direction?' ( Al-Ahram Weekly 26 May-1 June) Putin and Medvedev are performing a "rope a dope" for all those with a Western mindset. The ancient Russian double-headed eagle reflects both leaders, ie, one body sustaining two heads. This political rift you write about is only created for shallow academicians or pundits who think that Putin vs Medvedev is an actuality. Genuine Russian leaders (Yeltsin excluded) implicitly understand to the very marrow of the bone that the West is determined to Balkanise their great land, and are in the process of rearming to the teeth. There is no internal power struggle, only a puppet show. It is somewhat, but only on the surface, similar to the "good cop, bad cop" Americans are subjected to every four years; the exception being that with each change of administration there, a new group of politicians reserves the right to fill its pockets. And please don't imply that Putin is a multibillionaire coveting and hoarding his alleged wealth in some offshore bank eager to regain the presidency to increase his wealth. What is Putin going to do with his wealth? Open up a chicken franchise, buy a yacht and fly to it on his Lear jet? That scenario belongs to the West, along with their banana-oil republics. Concentrate real hard. The difference between Russia and the West is simple: Russia is a culture. America is a franchise.
Yuri Dia Konov
Moscow
Russia
How true
Sir-- "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
John F Kennedy, in a speech at the White House, 1962
Desmond Cole
Washington
USA
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