The Middle East’s most pointless feud — and that is a very crowded field — is finally over. After a 10-year diplomatic freeze, Turkey and Egypt are finally exchanging ambassadors. Having led their countries through a decade of political repression and economic pain, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Egyptian leader General Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi are hoping the resumption of normal relations will yield dividends.
But these are unlikely to make up for the opportunity cost of the years the two men have wasted in mulish mutual antagonism. Over the same period, Erdogan and Sisi turned their countries into the proverbial sick men of the Middle East, each desperately in need of an economic crutch.
It may seem as though Erdogan is riding high off the NATO summit, where he parlayed Turkey’s veto power to extract some concessions from Sweden and won praise — and possibly a fleet of F-16s — from President Joe Biden. Sisi, too, has enjoyed Biden’s good graces, despite the Egyptian regime’s appalling human-rights record. But both men face enormous economic problems at home, and the resumption of ties between their countries is a timely reminder of the chances they have missed.
