International Crisis Group: Lost in Transition: The World According to Egypt’s SCAF

Yesterday, the International Crisis Group (ICG) published a report in attempt to explain the often misconceived views of the Egyptian Revolution’s once supposed caretakers: the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). The report gives a thorough timeline of the fickle transition from the onset of the revolution until today. The report goes into detail about how the SCAF views itself, how it views the current political actors, as well as detailing SCAF’s interests as the transition continues to unfold.

“The SCAF considers itself the sole actor possessing the experience, maturity and wisdom necessary to protect the country from domestic and external threats,” read the report. The report also points out that the SCAF leaders, having benefited from the very system the revolution has attempted to overturn, has pursued a coarse painstakingly slow coarse of action, balancing their own interests with the interests of what it sees as selfish and inexperienced protesters and political actors. The report goes as far as saying that the SCAF rulers are more intent on fixing what was wrong with the old system rather than a “revolutionary overhaul.”