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What If Insurgents Close the Suez Canal?
(Los Angeles Times) David Schenker - Shootings, kidnappings and bombings have become routine occurrences in Sinai and the burgeoning Islamist insurgency is spreading to other parts of Egypt. On Aug. 31, two militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at a Chinese-owned cargo vessel traversing the Suez Canal. Sooner or later the militants will succeed in damaging, disabling or scuttling a ship in the canal, a development with potentially catastrophic implications for Egypt and international commerce. In 2012, more than 17,000 vessels transited the canal. The writer is director of the Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.