What We Really Need Is Democracy

And (at Weasel Zippers) the Obama administration has congratulated the Muslim Brotherhood on their "milestone" victory; and Morsi has said that Jerusalem should be their future capital.

The military in Algeria, Turkey and Pakistan have kept a watchful eye on the politicians. Ditto for the Egyptian military. Morsi knows he has a military pistol in the back of his head.

Continued cash inflows from the West would also be jeopardized should he revoke Camp David.

And a growing population of restless youth yearning for the basic essentials of life (bread and iPhones) cannot be fed on a steady diet of anti-Semitism.

The Egyptian people are about to find out a self inflicted wound is the worst way to die.

A country that canot feed itself, that is running out of foreign currency reserves with which to buy food and now it has a nutte jihadi for a a president.

Such a screwed nation . . .

Goodbye Sphinx, goodbye pyramids, goodbye Copts, goodbye Cleopatra and King Tut?

It was a short spring in Egypt wasn't it?

When will al-jizz report on the new capital? All fiction. All the time.

They've bypassed summer, fall and headed right to winter.

Is it considered taquiya(sp) when he lies to his own people? Their rights? Riiggghhhtttt. As if shairia had any rights,except for the insecure muzzies who call themselves men. Where's that pippi laughingstock of our's? She should be on flight,ready to celebrate the Arab winter that is going to hit Egypt.

"Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos."

They won't be so happy when Egypt starts a war with Israel. Mean while they have their own to kill.

Is bad, but I think the military will keep them in check. It should be noted that the MB actually has a very free-market oriented platform. A weapon to use against military rule (the military dominates the economy). If worse comes to worse, they can just do what Algeria did in 1991.

Is bad, but I think the military will keep them in check. It should be noted that the MB actually has a very free-market oriented platform. A weapon to use against military rule (the military dominates the economy). If worse comes to worse, they can just do what Algeria did in 1991.

@ Revnant Dream, Israel is much tougher than you think, and I trust Israel to defend herself, with nukes if necessary.

Is bad, but I think the military will keep them in check. It should be noted that the MB actually has a very free-market oriented platform. A weapon to use against military rule (the military dominates the economy). If worse comes to worse, they can just do what Algeria did in 1991.

las,for cripes sake,smarten up.Youv been on this cite enough times that you KNOW that there is a lag time when you post.Get intelligent or get off.

Well the Western lefties are happy, Egypt definitely seems to have a democracy now. 51% of the population voted for Sharia law including, public hangings of homosexuals, genital mutilation, public virginity inspector’s (rape police) et al.

The other 49% are just pissing western Liberals off with their winging and whining now.

The best part for western liberals is that what’s left of Egypt’s Christians should be well murdered away within a few short months. “Yaaaa, we win”!

If I was a Christian I would get out right NOW!!

"Death in the name of Allah is our goal." -- president Morsi, speaking to U of Cairo students last Saturday before the election.

Did anyone notice the female, un-veiled, Al-Jazeera TV reporter was standing on a balcony high above Tahir Square.

Any closer and she'd be in danger of being gang ra... as happened to that American female TV reporter.

On Global, and other media outlets, they are cheerily calling Egypt's new government an "Islamic democracy."

I do believe that's an oxymoron of great proportions.

According to this article from the Telegraph it is not yet clear if the army will let him take power.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/9353052/Muslim-Brotherhoods-Mohammed-Morsi-pledges-to-be-president-for-all-Egyptians.html

The situation is clearly a grim one from a western perspective, laced with as yet untold danger and outrage to come. But I am reminded of Churchill's words to the Commons in October, 1940:

"death and sorrow will be the companions of our journey, hardship our garment, constancy and valour our only shield..."

In light of 9/11 and the many other terrorist outrages, I don't really see any alternative to the policy, fraught as it is with risk, of promoting democracy, capitalism, human rights and the rule of law in the Arab and wider Muslim world. "Stability" certainly wasn't working for us, and we've been in no position for a long time to try to preserve the status quo. As such, I think we're going to have to embrace the outcome of this election as best we can and as unseemly as that approach might appear at the moment. This approach may well fail.

But, as a number of other comments above point out, Sharia law and Islamic extremism aren't going to put groceries on the table for the Egyptian people: everything will depend on how Egyptians, and others in the region, come to define their self-interest. At least now they don't have the west to blame for the course they have set for themselves (although I'm sure many will try when the going gets tougher). For now, I think we should try to be as helpful and as constructively engaged as we reasonably can be.

Gee sorry spike. I got a 'script error' and it went crazy.

@Ken (Kulak)

Morsi will have the semblance of power. The military has been in power for around 60 years and will not ride into the sunset just because people voted for civilian rule (think Burma or Algeria).

Morsi will be given responsibilities but not power. He will be hemmed in by the Salafists who want to enforce a harsh theocracy, a military that wants to protect its power and privilege, restless youth who think democracy offers an easy short cut to the American way of life, a moribund economy, external creditors who themselves are short on cash and a vigilant Israeli military --- not an enviable position to be in.

Reality is about to bite.

Update on Weasel Zipper stories: Obama phoned Morsi to congratulate him on the win.

David Southam,
Exactly.
Once they have no one to blame but themselves instead of puppet regimes.
That bandaid has been ripped off and now the truth of their culture will be laid bare.

@David Southam & dance...dancetotheradio

They Egyptian people will not blame themselves for any economic strife, the MB will lay any failure on their neighbour and its allies, further stoking the flames of hatred. Mark my words.

Al the fish,
At least the scales will fall from the eyes of the people around here who thought that the Arab Spring would usher in democracy.
The Neville Chamberlain's of this world need an edukayshon.

Caroline Glick has a superb piece up on just exactly how the Muslim Brotherhood pulled off the hijacking of the putative face-book-revolution.
Go to her site.

The MB stayed back initially, worked with the secularists against the military AND worked with the military against the secularists. These cats are truly brilliant strategists.

To weep just juxtapose in your tired head, Hillary, or Condi, or GWB, or Obama, or Romney, or Cameroon AND the MB in action. Babes in the woods against brutal, vicious long-view killers.

Mohamed Morsi
Wiki cut and paste.

Morsi was born in the Sharqia Governorate, in northern Egypt. He received a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in engineering from Cairo University in 1975 and 1978, respectively. He then went overseas and received his Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Southern California in the U.S. in 1982. He was an Assistant Professor at California State University, Northridge from 1982 to 1985. In 1985, he returned to Egypt to teach at Zagazig University.[4] Two of his five children were born in California and are U.S. citizens by birth.[5]

Likely the last thing the Egyptian military wants is to be humiliated yet again by Israel. Thus, I suspect that Morsi is likely going to be kept on a very short leash. One thing that the muslim brotherhood should ponder is that by concentrating all of their top members in a small area it will make it very easy for the Egyptian military to liquidate them should this become necessary.

Economic priorities aren't likely going to be high on the muslim brotherhoods list given that it's far more important to ensure that women cover their faces while in public and that decadent western customs are purged from the culture rather than deal with Egypt being an economic basket case. Maybe the military is just waiting for the population to get angry enough at a government which has no clue about economics and then step in to save the country.

The big question is what fraction of the Egyptian military has islamofascist leanings. Of course, if things go downhill economically, having special perks for being in the Egyptian military will likely keep the soldiers loyal.

Almost a million votes invalidated (that they are willing to admit to) that says it all right there folks....

The battle has already begun:

http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-morsi-rethink-israel-pact-build-iran-ties-093641370.html

Tahir Square - the ground zero of Cairo, sooner than we thought.