I can’t say I quite understand everything going on in Egypt, but here are some articles I found helpful, in no particular order —
Juan Cole, Egypt’s Waco; It’s not about Democracy: Top Ten Reasons Washington is Reluctant to cut off Egypt Aid; and Has Military Suppression of Political Islam ever Worked?
Andrew O’Hehir, Is Egypt’s blood on America’s hands?
I know you’ll all be happy to hear, that I’m actually speechless about something – what’s going on there in Egypt, as well as in Syria.
I don’t know much of anything about either country, except for some books on ancient Egyptian history that I read, decades ago.
I can react to stupid reactions – but when someone who actually knows a thing or two of which they speak, like Juan Cole, I want to pay attention.
Well, democracy was fun while it lasted..at least they weren’t all running around with purple thumbs.
I’m sad that all I can say for sure about both Syria and Egypt is that there is going to be a lot more killing and a lot more dying before either one starts getting ‘better’. Whatever ‘better’ would look like.
I remember thinking, as a bright youngster 40+ years ago, that it probably wasn’t such a good idea for the US, a nation that supposedly believed in good things like freedom and democracy, to be supporting strongmen and dictators in the Middle East. But it was the Cold War, and decisions like that weren’t being made by bright youngsters, so I learned to live with it. Now I’ve lived long enough to see that policy come all unraveled, and the result is so complicated that I, a bright experienced adult, can’t tell what the right policy should be now.
But I grieve for my species, because one thing I do know is that it would be a lot easier to figure out if so many of the people in those countries (and all over our planet) weren’t so eager to kill each other.
I don’t fully understand Egypt either. That said, I think the military coup was the best of a number of unpleasant options. The violence that followed was the MB’s own fault. They are like our own Republican party, but worse (how is that possible, you ask?); Morsi suspended the constitution and judiciary upon taking office. He was elected, yes, but so are many Republicans in the US south– he was elected by virtue of the clueless uninformed “sheeple” from the outbacks, no doubt against the better interests of said sheeple.
For Syria, The War Nerd has helped me a lot in understanding what’s going on … this is a guy whose schtick is that he’s one of those basement-dwelling fat slob cheeto-eating war-avoiding war cheerleaders. It seems pretty clear he doesn’t actually have a lot of use for the species, so he’s using this persona to basically say ‘if you’re gonna be a war nerd, here, THIS is how you do it’ … so he ends up being extremely informative… Anyway, this from him:
Our Ringers Vs Their Ringers
That really explains a lot about Syria to me … that’ll only be open another 48 hours from now, so if you’re reading this after that, well, ping me, I’ll re-open it. I get something like 20 unlocks a month and I rarely use them.
-Ian