Northwestern University’s Jeffrey Winters has just published at HuffPost a provocative, historically informed essay in which he outlines how those close to Suharto are now back in power in Indonesia; family members of Ferdinand Marcos are now back in government roles in the Philippines; and that most likely — at some point down the road — members of the Mubarak “franchise” will be back in some leading capacity in Egypt.
History doesn’t work in straight lines, and the emotion people feel today will become distant memories for some — and the tenaciousness that some in the Mubarak world will exhibit to reclaim what they feel is theirs shouldn’t be underestimated.
Happens with less drama in the US, but family dynasties wherever they may be — some of them — have a way of coming back and back and back again.
— Steve Clemons
