EGYPT: Moment of Opportunity

Some 70 years ago, a reform-minded general named Arabi Pasha led his brother officers in overthrowing a corrupt Egyptian government. After a sharp look at the crusading officers, England's great colonizer, Lord Milner, wrote: "It is possible to approve their aims and yet to disbelieve entirely in their capacity to carry them out." Eight months after he took power, Arabi fell, unable to control the forces he had unleashed.

Now a new reforming general, Mohammed Naguib, is in power. How is he doing? In three weeks he has become Egypt's Indispensable man. Rarely in history has so much power been...

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