Notes from Cairo
RUBINSTEIN, ALVIN Z.
Notes from Cairo ... DESPITE the militancy of official proclamations, a visitor is struck by Cairo's pacific atmosphere: The shops and market places are well-stocked—no austerity here,- the parks...
...But if we could just beat them once, we could restore our pride and dignity...
...Mosi Egyptians are anti-Communist, particularly on religious grounds, and as a friendly, gregarious, urbane people, cannot fathom the reserve of the resident Soviet diplomats and technicians...
...He is the only one who has drawn attention to the fact that in 1956 the U. S. denounced the attack by Israel, Britain and France several days before the Soviet Union, and that this was crucial in saving Egypt...
...IN March Egypt signed a long-term economic agreement with Moscow, initiating loans of more than $400 million over the next five years for a variety of domestic projects...
...Seeing us here you know that we are a friendly, easygoing, cultured people, who would prefer closer ties with the West to our increasing involvement with the Russians...
...Thus the following joke: When Soviet President Nikolai V. Podgorny came to inaugurate the Aswan High Dam last January, he demanded to see Nasser...
...By dropping sequestration cases against several individuals and families of the "old bourgeoisie," he has increased his standing with the professionals and middle class, too...
...A measure of his success is that he has already superseded Nasser as the butt of political jokes...
...Egyptians know their economy is in hock to Russia, but shrug this off with a humor reflecting their belief that they have no other choice...
...PRESIDENT Anwar el-Sadat has moved to broaden the base of his popular support...
...Indeed, the average Russian remains very much a Sphinx in Cairo, where he is referred to as "the unsmiling one...
...Though bitterly attacked for his "defeatist" attitude, Heykal has continued in his weekly column, "Frankly Speaking," to call for an honest and open examination of the facts...
...The Russians do not mingle, even playing volleyball at the fashionable Gezira Country Club with other Soviet or East European officials...
...Nasser replies, "I can talk for three hours at a time," and is recognized...
...MOHAMMED Hassanein Heykal, editor of the influential newspaper A/ Ahram and confidant of first Nasser and now Sadat, has argued that Egypt has little chance of defeating Israel militarily, and therefore needs not only arms and technicians from the Soviet Union but diplomatic support from the United States...
...In one of these, God is admitting deserving people into heaven and asks each applicant to prove his identity by citing an outstanding characteristic...
...Alvin Z. Rubinstein...
...THE Russians are not popular here...
...Although travel for foreigners is still restricted and tourists are cautioned against taking pictures outside city limits, the military is maintaining a very low profile...
...When Sadat is asked to identify himself, he answers, "There is nothing outstanding about me...
...The Israelis have been responsible for creating the image of the Arab as incompetent and vengeful...
...Five minutes passed, 10, 15, 20, an hour...
...I wouldn't go all the way...
...An Egyptian, returning after a prolonged absence, asked a shoeshine boy at the dock his opinion of Socialist life...
...I know the United States would not allow that...
...But Podgorny was so insistent that they finally relented and allowed him to enter...
...EGYPT has, as one journalist put the matter, "Socialism but no Socialists...
...Deservedly or not, they have a reputation for being tight-fisted, which appalls the free-spending Egyptians...
...The Egyptians explained that this was impossible, it being against their religion to reopen the tomb...
...DESPITE the militancy of official proclamations, a visitor is struck by Cairo's pacific atmosphere: The shops and market places are well-stocked—no austerity here,- the parks and promenades along the Nile are crowded with vendors, young people and families out for a stroll, oblivious to the soldiers casually patrolling the bridges and key thoroughfares...
...Ah, yes," says God, "you must be Sadat...
...FROM many young Egyptians in uniform one hears the following: "How I would like to beat the Israelis in Sinai just once...
...He is wooing the lower classes by restraining the police and security agencies, improving Cairo's sorely overburdened system of public transportation, repairing roads, keeping the prices of staples low, and trying to push ahead with long-delayed social and economic reforms...
...For Kremlin-watchers in Cairo, Heykal's popularity with leadership circles serves as an inverse gauge of Soviet influence...
...A man of humble origins and modest intellectual pretensions from whom little was expected, he has been showing to advantage in this difficult period of "no war, no cease-fire...
...Motioning to several officials climbing into a new Mercedes, the boy said, "Socialism is for (hern...
...SADAT is often referred to as an "Egyptian Harry Truman...
...Curious and concerned, the Egyptian leaders went in and found Podgorny busily putting Nasser's thumbprint on hundreds of old lOUs...
Vol. 54 • May 1971 • No. 11
