by Pavel Podolyak

Created on: June 25, 2009   Last Updated: July 04, 2009

Obama's speech in Egypt should be seen through a lens of economic nationalism. As such, his speech seemed intent to weaken the Egyptian regime. How would that help United States?

Obama's primary focus is domestic and revolves around stabilization of the American economy through industrial policy, to crawl out of the economic depression. Everything he does will have to be sufficiently congruent with that goal. Internationally, we should begin to see Obama trying to save as much money as possible through creating conditions for withdrawing expensive troops and financial support.

Obama chose Cairo University as his venue to give a major speech to the Muslim world. This university was among the earliest modern institutions in the Middle East and its large size created one of the biggest breeding grounds for radical thought. Muslim extremism and pan-Arab nationalism had a lot of its roots among students in Egypt.

The historically large campus (presently accommodating 200,000 students) allowed a diverse marketplace of ideas and vast radical social networks to incubate and give rise to organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood. Thousands of the faculty have been there for decades and lived through the consolidation of the Egyptian nation with all the social pressures involved.

The previous and current faculty have influenced and been influenced by thought ranging from Ba'ath socialist nationalism, to Leninism, to Nasser's pan-Arabism, to religious revolution, and finally to Anglo-American liberalism. The brief period of Egyptian history as a nation state, has seen the country be the van guard of attack against Israel, of briefly lived efforts at confederacy with Syria and Jordan, of leading efforts to reconcile and co-exist with Israel, and of becoming one of the biggest recipients of American military aid.

Obama knew exactly what he was doing by picking one of the biggest audience halls in the Middle East. The educated people, who teach and study in Cairo university, are used to major swings in national public opinion. These swings are often a direct result of majority of academic elites being overcome by one particular idea and mood.

Egypt, unlike the monarchist Saudi Arabia and Jordan, has been substantially more influenced by the Western world. It had longer contact with western infrastructure and institutions (dating back to Napoleon invading in early 19th century), more absorption of British law, and more experience as a non-resource economy with its control

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