The nature of the ruling regime in Egypt confirms that nothing passes it by. This regime has a large drawer from which it takes out what it wants whenever it wants. It usually says the opposite of what it thinks and does things that at first seem naive. Yet, you later find out that what seemed naivety was actually a stroke of genius.
This regime has an agenda of priorities and it never deviates from it or bargains over it. The survival of the regime is the undisputed priority and everything can be used for this purpose.
Based on this premise, one can understand Hisham Talaat Mustafa case.
Do you remember the Lego-theory we have spoken of more than once? It seems to me that the case of the century, which the Criminal Court decided to refer last Thursday to Egypt's Mufti, has been ruled by this theory since the very beginning.
The ruling regime, with its party and its government, has been building a huge building for businessmen by piling a brick of Lego above the other since the 1990s. Yet, it seems that a rift has occurred over the past few months in the intimate relationship and crucial partnership between the two parties.
After many years of lavishness, the regime has realized - too late - that some businessmen have discredited it after they lost the people's trust.
The government has realized that the matter has led to grudge and discontent and that it could bear no more crimes by those very businessmen that it had so tenderly bred for 20 years.
The regime has gotten angry and this anger has recently been very visible. The most important example has been President Mubarak's categorical refusal to let businessmen pay for the reconstruction of the Shoura Council after it burnt. Indeed, the President insisted that the government should incur the costs, no matter how huge they would be.
Another example was the speeches delivered on several occasions by some anti-businessmen pillars of the regime, most recently when the President explicitly called on businessmen themselves to stop boasting and to stand with the poor.
The regime has gotten rid of Hisham Talaat Mustafa, one of the closest persons to power. Was this part of the regime's anger?
I think this was a message to all businessmen warning them that enough is enough, that they have become a burden on the regime and that no one – not even Talaat Mustafa – is immune from being sacrificed at any time.
Hisham Talaat Mustafa was a brick that has calmly been taken away from the businessmen structure. It was a very large brick indeed, but not so large as to pull the structure down. Yet, its hugeness is useful for the regime. Taking away a large brick has not had a great effect, so it will even be easier to remove smaller bricks.
Have the businessmen gotten the regime's message? I think they have. Businessmen are astonished and shocked by what has happened to Talaat Mustafa, and this inevitably has made them afraid.
The most important question, though, is: where will this confrontation between the two parties eventually lead? Will the authorities remain angry or has this just been an ear pulling, just like a husband and a wife who make peace after flying off the handle?
After all, it is difficult for a man to get divorced from his wife after building such an intimate relationship with her.
