Smart Reads August 16, 2013

By Catherine Contiguglia
Egypt
♦ The Obama administration’s initial approach of staying mostly neutral following the ouster of Morsi is now moot, writes the FT’s Geoff Dyer. Though the United States currently has lost much influence, they must distance themselves from the military to have a voice in the longer-term political debate.
♦ It is “striking” how many people expected the recent violence in Egypt, writes Peter Hessler in the New Yorker in his analysis of why it happened now. Many Egyptians feel there was growing popular pressure to contain the Muslim Brotherhood movement following the removal of Morsi.
♦ The United States has lost all influence and soft power in Egypt by prioritising regional security interests over the interests of potential Egyptian voters in a fledgling democracy, writes Cynthia Schneider in Foreign Policy.
♦ The United States must cut off aid to Egypt, writes James Traub in Foreign Policy, because it is necessary for the United States to “look at themselves in the mirror, and to accept, if not like, what they see.”
♦ As the international community condemns the violence in Egypt that left hundreds of Brotherhood supporters dead, in the streets of a working class neighbourhood in Cairo, opinions are more nuanced. Many regret the blood shed but feel that the crackdown by the liberal government on Morsi supporters was necessary for the security of the country.
Elsewhere
♦ Following elections that kept Robert Mugabe in power, businessmen are holding their breath to see if, and to what extent, he will actually pursue his “indigenisation” policy where all enterprises must be 51 percent owned by black Zimbabweans.
♦ The virtual currency that started out as a nerd experiment has allowed drug dealers to “win the war on drugs.” Online black markets hidden behind sophisticated anonymity software are revolutionizing the drug trade, selling a range of illegal drugs in exchange for Bitcoin, and then shipping sales right to customers’ doorsteps.