External: What ever happened to Egypt? | Porkins Policy Review Talk

I've enjoyed Pearse Redmonds work on Porkins Policy Radio/Review for a while now- a radio show/podcast that covers many topics, but mostly the influence of intelligence services on the media and media narratives.

Imagine, then, the pleasure of being invited to converse for a couple of hours on a Tuesday night in Berlin and New York about Egypt, parallels in media and unofficial policies to the current situation in the US.

He describes our conversation thus:

"

Today I am joined by friend of the show Caram Kapp. Caram was last on episode 42 The Homeland Hackers, and returns to discuss the Egyptian uprising six years later. We start off by discussing the basics of the uprising and some of the behind the scenes actors. Caram explains his own experiences as an Egyptian, and as someone who was there on the ground around this time. We touch on the rumors of Western manipulation and how some of these allegations have overshadowed the real life grievances of the Egyptian populace and their reasons for wanting to get rid of Mubarak. Caram and I then move onto the two most important actors of the revolution (The Muslim Brotherhood and the Army) and how they became the ultimate arbiters of the revolution. Caram talks about his time in Cairo just after Brotherhood leader Muhammad Morsi was elected. Caram describes the parallels between Morsi and his brief tenure as president to that of Donald Trump. We talk about similarities in both personality and demeanor, as well as the ways in which Morsi represented “change” and ran on a campaign of making “Egypt Great Again.” Caram and I also discuss the notion that Morsi or those around him were well aware of the realities and influence of the Egyptian military, and understood that they may have been used as a stopgap to put the military back in place.

We expand on this more in the second hour exploring other parallels between Trump, Morsi, and current Egyptian President al-Sisi. Caram and I look at the ways in which al-Sisi and Trump have managed to normalize the military and the police, even when engaging in extreme behavior. Later Caram and I look at some of the recent geopolitical developments in Egypt and how they mirror actions here in the US. We look at the escalating tensions between Sudan and Egypt over the contested Halayeb Triangle and how this mimics Trump’s rhetoric against Mexico. Caram and I also discuss the current state of Egyptian media which like the revolution has returned right back to where it started. Caram and I finish off by looking at where Egypt may be headed and why it has lost influence within the Arab world, and has become one of the forgotten aspects of the Arab Spring.

The conversation can be found in full here: https://porkinspolicyreview.com/2017/05/17/porkins-policy-radio-episode-93-what-ever-happened-to-egypt-with-caram-kapp/https://porkinspolicyreview.com/2017/05/17/porkins-policy-radio-episode-93-what-ever-happened-to-egypt-with-caram-kapp/

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