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Mohamed ElBaradei



For three days last week the new prime minister of Egypt was the fellow named in the headline of this entry.

ElBaradei was appointed to that post by the interim president, Adly Mansour, who until quite recently was  Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. But on Tuesday, President Mansour shuffled the playing cards of his very new and tenuous government. It appears ElBaradei is now going to be vice president (and it isn't at all clear what that title is going to mean), and the new prime minister designate is the former finance minister Hazem el-Beblawi.

Anyway, the significance of ElBaradei's involvement, whatever exactly its contours, is that he is the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. In that capacity he was skeptical of US (Bush administration) claims about weapons of mass destruction in either Iraq or Iran, but he took a hard line on the subject of North Korea, saying "I see a very serious crisis -- a country that's completely defying the world."

So what, if anything, does it mean that he is now prime minister of Egypt?

First, if the post-coup regime is to gain any international stature at all it will have to do so with the help of individuals at the top who have credentials, credibility on that global stage. So if you want this regime to prove a stable one, then his appointment is good news.

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