In certain situations, thinking outside the box has proven to be a rather effective strategy and I feel that we’ve now got a situation in Egypt where other – more conventional – approaches are exhausted. Unless you have been living under a stone for a while (or in China), you have heard about the mass protests against Hosni Mubarak who has been the president of Egypt for about 30 years. People have been protesting on the streets, defying curfews and massive attacks from the police force. Although formally sent in by Mr. Mubarak himself, the army has not yet taken active measures to prevent people from expressing their anger with the current political system. There are mixed signals from the army’s allegiance in general and the recent job shuffle in the government under Mubarak seems to be shifting some power to the army, which is already a powerhouse in Egypt. One might actually call this a very slow coup d’etat.
The proposal I want to make has all the qualities of a win-win-win situation.
a) Mubarak could stay in power of “Egypt”
b) Egyptian people could have real elections and pick whoever they like
c) The United Arab Emirates could re-use some of their currently dormant projects.
Of course, I am talking about making Mubarak the ruler of the island “Egypt” on the artificial archipelago “The World” right off the coast of Dubai.
