‘Urban Authoritarianism’: Egypt’s Leader Cements New Dynasty With New Cities
NEED TO KNOW
‘Urban Authoritarianism’: Egypt’s Leader Cements New Dynasty With New Cities
EGYPT
Egypt recently announced it will build a new desert city named Jirian just west of Cairo, part of a massive urban and agricultural project to reclaim about 2.5 million acres of desert west of the original Nile Delta.
The project will reroute about seven percent of Egypt’s annual Nile River quota from fertile Delta land via a man-made channel winding through the desert, hoping to boost the production of key crops such as wheat and corn, and lessen the country’s dependence on imports.
Egypt, which is facing mounting water shortages and power constraints, as well as a deepening economic crisis, also wants the project to help increase the value of state assets and boost land prices through “non-traditional, innovative ideas” that are part of “an urban and development revolution,” said Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly, announcing the project last week.
“We are talking about full-spectrum development,” he added, describing a sprawling urban zone that will include industry, logistics hubs, a free economic zone, homes for “between 2.5 and 3 million families,” and create 250,000 jobs.
Still, as Nicholas Simcik Arese of the Architectural Association in London told CNN, Egyptians have heard it all before.
That is because the initiative is only the latest in a string of megaprojects launched by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi since he took power in a coup in 2013. His flagship project is a $58 billion administrative capital east of Cairo, part of the Egypt Vision 2030 project. But it is also part of the construction of what Yezid Sayigh of the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center calls the “Second Republic” in Egypt.
This means, in practice, the president granting himself “hyper-presidential” powers exceeding those of all his predecessors, he said, while keeping the military at the top of the political and economic food chain.
Even so, he added that the new republic is unlikely to be able to sustain itself in spite of the harsh crackdown by the government over the past 12 years on any form of dissent.
“President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi is remaking Egypt,” wrote Sayigh. “(He) is building a new republic defined by a social ethos of ‘nothing for free,’ a new form of state capitalism, and hyper-presidential powers set within a military guardianship that secures his regime but leaves it unable to resolve political, economic, and social challenges. … however, its inability to achieve social and political hegemony and its overreliance on coercion leave the Second Republic at permanent risk of unravelling.”
Part of the problem with the makeover is financial, analysts say. Egypt is broke.
Over the past year and a half, Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea have caused severe disruption in maritime traffic through Egypt’s Suez Canal, with revenues falling more than 60 percent over the past year, adding strain on the country’s already failing economy, according to the Atlantic Council.
Meanwhile, for years, the country has depended on billions of dollars from the International Monetary Fund and other lenders and donors, including the European Union and the United States, to keep it solvent and keep the population – and the political elite – from revolting.
Egyptian officials say these megaprojects are the solution to the country’s economic woes, and will promote long-term growth. However, analysts say they are contributing to the country’s soaring foreign debt, which quadrupled since 2015 to reach $155.2 billion by late 2024.
Prominent Egyptian billionaire businessman Naguib Sawiris recently called for a reassessment of Egypt’s large-scale development projects because of the financial strain they impose on the country.
“… we have an overambitious president who is doing mega projects that are requiring a lot of foreign currency,” Sawiris said recently. “We should have a second look at these projects.”
But that is unlikely to happen, even when the megaprojects fail to pay off, as they have in the past.
Part of the reason is that the military government, which essentially runs the Egyptian economy, has too much vested in these projects and too much to lose, wrote the McGill International Review in an article called “Urban Authoritarianism.”
A bigger issue, says Eurasia Review, is how Egypt views itself as too important to the world to be allowed to collapse.
“Over the past five decades or so, Egypt has capitalized on its geostrategic importance in the Middle East to obtain the financial support sorely needed to keep its economy afloat and its political order intact,” it wrote. “This pattern spawned the view… in short, Egypt will remain ‘too big to fail.’”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Colombian Assassination Attempt Sparks Fear of New Cycle of Political Carnage
COLOMBIA
A teenage assassin allegedly shot presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay over the weekend, in what officials described as the most serious attack on a Colombian political figure in decades and a stark reminder of the country’s history of electoral violence ahead of the 2026 presidential vote, NPR reported.
On Saturday, the conservative senator was shot in the head and chest while delivering a speech during a campaign rally in the capital of Bogota. Health officials said he remains in critical condition, with his wife adding that he is “fighting for his life.”
Authorities apprehended a 15-year-old suspect, who allegedly fired at Uribe Turbay from behind using a “9mm Glock-type firearm,” according to Al Jazeera.
Two other people were also injured in the incident.
Police are still investigating a motive for the shooting.
Elected as a senator in 2022, Uribe Turbay is a prominent right-wing figure and protégé of former president Álvaro Uribe (no relation).
He comes from a long-established political family in Colombia: His maternal grandfather, Julio César Turbay Ayala, was president from 1978 to 1982. His mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was kidnapped and killed by Pablo Escobar’s Medellín cartel in 1991.
Uribe Turbay has been a vocal critic of leftist President Gustavo Petro and has campaigned on promises of restoring security and order.
Petro condemned the attack as “an assault on democracy,” urging Colombians to unite in support of Uribe.
But his political rivals, including conservative frontrunner Vicky Dávila, blamed the leftist leader for the assassination attempt.
Criticism also came from abroad, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – a vocal critic of Petro – describing the shooting as “a direct threat to democracy” and calling on Colombia’s leadership to tone down inflammatory discourse.
Analysts said the attack is the first high-profile political assassination attempt in Colombia in decades and warned that it could worsen political tensions in the deeply polarized nation, one already grappling with an increase in violence from guerrilla groups and criminal gangs, ahead of next year’s vote.
Observers also drew comparisons to the cartel-era killings of presidential candidates in the 1980s and 1990s, such as the 1989 assassination of Luis Carlos Galán, a leading anti-corruption candidate.
How to Become Italian: Country Votes On Easing Citizenship Rules
ITALY
Italians are casting their vote on a series of measures in a referendum this week, most notably a proposal to ease the country’s current rules to obtain citizenship, with turnout expected to be low amid government opposition, the Associated Press reported.
The citizenship plebiscite, held on Sunday and Monday, aims to halve the residency requirement for foreign nationals to apply for Italian citizenship from 10 to five years, and would grant automatic naturalization to their underage children.
Backed by civil society groups, trade unions and left-wing parties, the reform could immediately impact up to 1.4 million people and align Italian rules with citizenship standards in other countries in the European Union.
Supporters said the change would promote integration and remove systemic barriers to full civic participation. But critics, including members of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition, rejected the proposal as undermining national identity, the BBC noted.
Meloni, who called the current law “excellent,” announced she would visit the polls without voting, a symbolic gesture criticized by opponents as encouraging abstention.
Citizenship advocates and opposition parties expressed concern that many Italians are not familiar with the referendum and could skip the vote: They complained of little public debate and sparse coverage from state media.
Last month, Italy’s communications authority, the Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AGCOM), filed a complaint against state television RAI and other broadcasters for inadequate and unbalanced reporting on the referendum.
Polls also showed that only 46 percent of Italians knew details about the plebiscite.
To pass, a referendum in Italy needs at least 50 percent of eligible voters supporting it to be valid. However, preliminary projections estimate a turnout of far less.
Analysts said the governing coalition’s strategy is aimed at suppressing turnout and ensuring the referendum’s failure without openly opposing the measures.
The four other referendums are aimed at restoring workplace protections by reversing liberalizing labor laws from a decade ago. These included increasing compensation for layoffs, strengthening job security, and reintroducing joint liability for workplace injuries among contractors and subcontractors.
China’s Great Firewall Is Torn Down, For Some
CHINA
China’s southern island province of Hainan is piloting a program that will allow corporate users access to the global Internet, a rare move for a country known for its harsh online censorship and its limiting of access to popular websites by its “Great Firewall,” the South China Morning Post reported over the weekend.
The Hainan International Data Comprehensive Service Centre (HIDCSC) announced that employees of companies registered and operating in the southernmost province can apply for the “Global Connect” mobile service.
The service will allow users to access many of the most-visited websites – such as Google and Wikipedia – without any additional cost. Applicants must be on a 5G plan with one of China’s three largest state-backed carriers and submit their employer information for approval.
HIDCSC representatives said there will be no restrictions in terms of the firm’s size or business scope.
While the changes effectively allow corporate users to bypass the infamous Great Firewall – which blocks many of the world’s popular sites – the representatives noted that some websites would still be off-limits.
They did not specify which ones or what content would still be blocked.
China is notorious for monitoring and censoring its Internet, citing concerns about the spread of illegal or dangerous information. Many netizens, as a result, rely on virtual private networks (VPN) to access the World Wide Web.
However, the use or sale of unauthorized VPNs to bypass the Great Firewall is illegal in China.
In the past, there was talk of dropping the Great Firewall in free-trade zones but it never happened.
Observers said Hainan’s pilot program is aimed at boosting the island’s ambitions to become a global free-trade port. Mainly known for its tropical weather and tourism, Hainan is preparing to launch independent customs operations by the end of 2025.
DISCOVERIES
The Bone Collector
Beyond Hawaii’s beautiful beaches lies a creepy caterpillar that camouflages itself with the body parts of other insects.
Scientists recently discovered this creature, a species of carnivorous caterpillar located in the Waianae Mountains on the island of Oahu, which they dubbed “the bone collector.”
Researchers Dan Rubinoff and his team explained that the aptly-named bug lives in spider webs and feeds on the remains of the arachnid’s prey.
But to avoid becoming a snack itself, the caterpillar collects the body parts of other bugs – fly wings, earwig abdomens, and weevil heads, to name a few – and decorates their portable, silken cocoons with them.
The researchers described in their paper that the larvae were very attentive in creating their macabre cases: They would measure and nibble on the body parts to get them down to size before using them.
This behavior was “a decorate or die situation,” Rubinoff told Science News, adding that such a shield would protect a caterpillar from a spider’s fangs.
The “bone collector” is one of the first known caterpillar species that lives directly in a spider’s hunting ground and exhibits this gruesome behavior.
The team explained that the caterpillar is a member of the Hawaiian Fancy Case Caterpillar group. Its lineage dates back at least six million years, making it far older than any of the current islands of Hawaii.
“The bone collector caterpillar is another example of how incredible and unpredictable evolution in Hawaii can be,” Rubinoff said in a statement. “Not only are they the only caterpillars in the world to decorate their homes with body parts but maybe more shocking, they make their living hanging around spider webs. This is something we never even imagined was possible. But in Hawaii, here it is.”
However, the study found that the species is endangered and has only been spotted in a 5.8-square-mile area of forest in the Waianae Mountains.
Rubinoff and others are now calling for habitat protection to allow the wacky species to thrive.
“I’m really glad we discovered it before it went extinct,” he added.