Militants killed Egyptian tribal leader Khalaf al-Menahy and his son Aug. 13 as the two were returning from a conference in east Sinai organized and attended by tribal leaders to denounce militancy, according to Sinai security forces. The senior al-Menahy was a prominent proponent of bolstering the Sinai Peninsula’s representation in Egypt’s parliament and of improving security in the region. He also was a prominent sheikh in the Sawarka tribe, said to be the largest in Sinai. Following his burial Aug. 13, the tribe vowed to seek vengeance.
Although the militant tactic of targeting tribal leaders is new to Sinai, the tactic has been common in conflict zones in the Middle East and South Asia, such as in Yemen, Iraq and the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. Though it can offer many benefits to these militants — including weakening the targeted tribe and possibly leading to its co-option — these kinds of attacks tend to only succeed in zones with little government control and against tribes that cannot effectively retaliate. Examining similar instances of this tactic thus provides a helpful tool for assessing the consequences of attacks against tribal elements in the Sinai Peninsula.
So what does it mean? The Phrase Finder gives the meaning of the expression as competing against someone who you are no match for. Before we consider whether this is an indication of bravery or stupidity or something else we should check to see if we have any comrades in arms, so to speak. It turns out that we have.
We suspect that the need to be seen to punch above one’s weight stems from a feeling of inadequacy and insecurity – the need to have to prove something to someone. The problem is that a good part of the world is feeling the same way so the effort is somewhat denigrated. If everyone is punching above their weight, what’s accomplished other than a waste of lives and resources?
And if we hear the phrase used one more time we may throw up – or start punching above our weight.
