tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541972558819085835.post946352251257088645..comments2023-10-24T02:43:56.654-07:00Comments on Gremalkinsburrow: Foreign Aid: Prosperity (for a few) and Population Control!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541972558819085835.post-52309264674904167172011-02-05T11:54:34.398-08:002011-02-05T11:54:34.398-08:00Caltech professor Egypt's next president? Nobe...Caltech professor Egypt's next president? Nobel laureate Ahmed Zewail's role in an uncertain Egypt <br /> - Whittier Daily News http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_17299206?source=rss#ixzz1D72frCDg<br /><br />By Beige Luciano-Adams, Staff Writer <br />Posted: 02/04/2011 08:28:20 PM PST<br />snips:<br />PASADENA - Ahmed Zewail, Nobel Laureate and distinguished professor at the California Institute of Technology, has not officially declared any personal political ambitions for a post-Mubarak Egypt - at least not yet. <br /><br />But that isn't keeping people from hoping. <br /><br />Zewail, 64, a resident of San Marino, arrived in Cairo on Wednesday, one of an emerging council of advisers working to dislodge embattled president Hosni Mubarak and guide the transition to a new, democratic government.<br /><br />Widely respected in the U.S. and abroad, Zewail - who serves on President Obama's council on science and technology and as his first science envoy to the Middle East - is a celebrated native son in Egypt. <br /><br />Zewail came to the U.S. from Egypt as a doctoral student in the 1970s, but travels back frequently, according to his wife, Dema Zewail, who said the historic uprising that swept his home country in late January just happened to coincide with a previously scheduled trip. <br /><br />"It would be wonderful to contemplate someone with the integrity of Zewail playing a major role, but the reality is that it's very hard for me to imagine something like that happening." <br /><br />Others are still less optimistic. <br /><br />Elie Chalala, editor of Al Jadid Magazine and associate adjunct professor of political science at Santa Monica College specializing in Mid-East politics, describes Zewail as a peripheral player who is acting on patriotic duty, trying to use a moral appeal to pressure Mubarak out of office. <br /><br />"But if Obama doesn't have a weight with Mubarak, do you think Zewail will?" Chalala asked, pointing out that the Egyptian military leaders, who enjoy a very lucrative relationship with the U.S. - Obama has taken an increasingly aggressive stance toward Mubarak - would be far more likely to sway the dictator. <br /><br />"If anyone has a weight with Mubarak, it's (Egyptian minister of defense Mohamed) Tantawi and the military - they're making millions of dollars," he said. "Mubarak is not the kind of guy to be morally convinced by a Nobel laureate or a scientist." <br /><br />Brand doesn't count Zewail out of some kind of role in Egypt's future government - "maybe he'll be put in charge of a ministry of human rights" - but knows the limits of Egypt's ossified political landscape.Greenway7xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03391909315600183367noreply@blogger.com