The pool of possible successors to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak became smaller today with the death of former minister of defense Abdel-Halim Abu Ghazala. The Associated Press is reporting that Abu Ghazala died late Saturday at age 78 (President Mubarak is 80).
Field Marshal Abu Ghazala would not have been a real contender for the Presidency in 2011, since he lacked any significant constituencies and has stayed out of public view for the past two decades. But this wasn't always the case. He will primarily be remembered as one of the last individuals in Egypt with the public prestige, institutional constituency, and ambition to challenge Mubarak (Current Secretary General of the Arab League Amre Moussa is another). Field Marshal Abu Ghazala's challenge effectively ended in 1989, however, when President Mubarak fired him as minister of defense in the wake of an arms-smuggling scandal, replacing him with the less politicized Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. Nearly twenty years later Tantawi remains minister of defense, and with the death of Abu Ghazala he becomes Egypt's only living Field Marshal (roughly equivelant to a five-star general in the American system).
Field Marshal Tantawi is known to be loyal to President Mubarak, and has shown little if any aspirations for succeeding him as president. In fact, Tantawi's stewardship of the Egyptian Armed Forces away from politics is one defining theme of the Mubarak years.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
