Writing over at Foreign Affairs, Stephen Kotkin stresses that powers such as China and Russia do not necessarily see themselves as characters in Shaw’s Pygmalion

Indeed, Egypt has been a European partner for the better part of several millennia, as little of European history can dispense with the ancient civilisation which has been both a progenitor of many elements of European civilisation as well as a trade and economic partner for most of European history.

by Radu Magdin*

Writing over at Foreign Affairs, Stephen Kotkin stresses that powers such as China and Russia do not necessarily see themselves as characters in Shaw’s Pygmalion, to be reformed by a Western patron of accents and diplomatic etiquette alike, but come with their own self-conception, history, narratives and, not least, visions of the world. The point might seem self-evident to European ears but that also applies much closer to home or Europe: Egypt.

In Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra, the latter commit suicide not so much following defeat but due her wish not to be ‘boyed’, a meta reference which in the parlance of the time meant to be acted about in reduced, simplistic version of her otherwise complex motivations and character. Unfortunately, Egypt often finds itself with others writing its own narrative in such a manner and, in the European case, that makes for quite a pity, because it risks obscuring the partner that Egypt can be for Europe at a critical juncture in the continent’s path forwards.

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