Month: July 2013

Egypt and Pakistan

Tanks on the street in Egypt.
Tanks on the street in Egypt.

On 3 July, Egypt’s first democratically elected president in six decades, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted in a military coup. One country that has had no shortage of military coups is Pakistan, which recently celebrated its first ever democratic transition from one civilian government to another. I wrote a piece for the August issue of Prospect magazine comparing the two countries and exploring what Egypt could learn from Pakistan.

The piece is online here (behind a paywall), and here it is as it appeared in the magazine:

prospect egypt army cutting

I also wrote several blogs on the situation in Egypt for Middle East Monitor, notably here, here, and here.

Posted on by Samira Shackle 0

Recent speaking

Earlier this week, I took part in a Google Hangout for the BBC’s World Have Your Say. I’ve appeared on their TV and radio shows before, but this was a new experience! The video, where I’m discussing the future of Pakistan with the BBC’s Lyse Doucet, and Pakistani journalists and bloggers including Bina Shah and Sana Saleem, is still available to watch here:

I’m a regular contributor to Monocle radio, and have appeared on a few shows recently. On 24th June, I discussed the big stories in Pakistan that week (podcast here), including the massacre of foreign tourists in Gilgit, and the charges against Musharraf. On 2nd July, I appeared on the Asia Show to explain the energy crisis and Nawaz Sharif’s plans to tackle it (podcast here).

Posted on by Samira Shackle 0