I hope they are merely stupid!

I have been reading recently about the period of Egyptian history between 1923 and 1952 when there was a level of political freedom unseen before or since in that benighted land. 

I was drawn to this exploration by a marvellous sculpture of Mahmoud Mokhtar's entitled 'Nahdit Misr'(Egypt's Awakening). I love that style of art and was thrilled to see such an excellent example in a place most would not consider to be of great significance to the 'Deco' period.

However what I discovered in my reading was how the political situation was manipulated by cynical, seditious and anarchic factions and how effective these strategies became:

The Nasser-led regime which emerged did not take long to devastate the entire Egyptian economy, and its civil society, even more thoroughly than the great fire of early 1952 had destroyed Cairo. Egypt would never recover. The regime’s destructive power prepared the perfect wasteland conditions for the Islamist recruiting sergeants of the 1970s and beyond.

I can’t help but think of the similarities that exist in our current political situation in Australia. This Labor government appears to be hell bent on destroying the Australian economy and the social fabric on which the country built its current prosperity . The decisions that they have taken and are continuing to pursue do not make any sense unless there is a hidden agenda somewhere.

If I stand back and look at what I am saying I think ‘how did I become a conspiracy theorist’? Yet there doesn’t seem to be any logic to the decisions that this government are taking.

One does not have to be an economic genius to observe how the irrational decisions being enacted are going to destroy this economy. To what purpose? To appease some UN committee, I think not. From the evidence readily available I can only assume that there are powers who wish to create chaos and unstable political and economic conditions sufficient to enable them to step in and rule by fiat.

Mugabe when asked why he allowed the ruinous policies that led to the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy replied in words to the effect that a people who rely on the government to eat are completely within that government’s power. So it appears a strategy emerges from a government that embraces deliberately bad economic policies; that is, another route to the ‘will to power’.

Who said History repeats itself:

The regime (Egyptian) which came to power with US support would soon abolish all vestiges of civil society that were not dependent on the state. Over the next several years, it proceeded to destroy economic property rights and the rule of law. All significant private businesses, and all publishing houses and media, were seized by the state. Thousands of Egyptians were ruined overnight. Many journalists and writers were sent away to camps for years.