Cross-posted on the Corner:
Jihad Al-Khazen writes in Al Arabiya:
I expected the worst as I watched on television one day the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Badie, who was not elected by anyone, walking in front of President Mohammed Mursi.
The president is the first Egyptian, and must walk in front of everyone. But it is clear that Dr. Mursi continues to consider himself a member of the Guidance Bureau of the group, before being the president of Egypt. Therefore, he is attempting to impose on half of the Egyptians who did not vote for him his religious convictions, rather than a national policy that would accommodate all Egyptians.
I also expected the worst as I saw the draft constitution in the hands of religious groups, without there being a single woman in the drafting committee, as though women, half of the Egyptian people, are minors who need chaperons to hold their hands. In truth, I would have also expected the worst if the liberals, secularists and leftists had drafted the constitution without participation by the Islamists…
Half of the Egyptians took to the streets to protest the power grab, and I followed three major protests where no one was killed. Then when the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters came to confront the protesters, many people were killed or injured…
All of Egypt is paying the price for the Brotherhood’s tenacity, and I do not say the president. Indeed, Dr. Mursi could be just following orders from above, that is to say, the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood who walks ahead of him….
The Muslim Brotherhood waited 80 years to reach power, and when they did, they could not believe it. Thus, the lust for power defeated prudence, and the Muslim Brotherhood sought from day one to mold Egypt in their image and their example, despite the abundance of evidence that half of Egyptians do not want that.
Democracy should be pluralistic, but the religious parties cannot accommodate others…
This should not be a surprise.
… and under Obama we are still selling them armaments, including continuing to fill an order for 1500 Abram tanks which they are paying for with the $1.3 BILLION a year in continuous military aid money for which the American people are footing the bill(and having to borrow money to cover).
The various US intelligence Agencies have known all about the Muslim brotherhood for years, and yet… Yes I know some claim the Egyptian military having been trained to an extent by the US and being ostensibly secular in nature (so what, they owe US some loyalty? Good luck with that one…) will keep Mursi in check but think about that for a moment… we are hoping Egypt’s military leaders will move to over-ride or even depose if necessary, a “Democratically” elected president (if they disagree with a “temporary measure” he enacts) in a country that has not yet voted in a constitution for the president to honor and uphold?
The US gives Egypt two types of aid dollars: Economic, and Military. Why does our freedom-loving dictator-hating president not move to suspend the “military” aid (and weapons shipments) to Egypt until a constitution is established, the president swears to it, and actually appears committed to it?
The Neo Cons thought that if we could just selectively depose (or help provide the means for some Middle Eastern people to do so) certain dictators who we painted as the “worst of the worst”, that what would magically arise in its place is a more modern, less repressive power structure (under our benevolent, paternal guidance of course). This would happen because thousands of years of cultural imprinting and tradition would die with those dictators (the ones we deemed most villainous), and they would then see the light and model themselves after… what… us?
Our interventions in the internal power struggles of those countries have only cost us lives and treasure while doing little except delay the inevitable blood bath (with limited success even there) to come after we eventually grew weary of hanging around and endlessly attempting to referee between tribal and religious enemies.
Are we to believe that Obama is, in his own way, just as naïve as the Neo Cons in thinking we can help reshape the Middle East to more closely model our own standards of human rights, freedom, and justice? Do we think Obama really cares about so much about human rights when he photo ops with Aung San Suu Kyi, but does not go on tour to denounce the Saudi Royal Family (who are at least as brutal and repressive as Mubarek, or Saddam Hussein ever were)? …or is it not more obvious that all the noble BS whether from the mouth of Obama, Bush, Clinton (work your way back) is equally patronizing of a gullible American public.
I have no problem per se with trying to help balance out the power equation in the Middle East so that no ONE player can run the board. Why must these backward cultures insist on making it so difficult (by their own inability to form relatively stable systems of governance) for the West to simply buy their oil and fill their coffers?
It makes perfect sense to aid in the overthrow of the Iranian ally Assad regime… it makes even more sense to let the conflict in Syria to persist unresolved (with public displays of hand-wringing of course)as it helps divide other players in the area along sectarian lines (and obviously complicates Iranian efforts toward Islamic Unity), but it would obviously be viewed as immoral to openly express the desire for such an impasse.
My main annoyance results from having to watch wide eyed and gushing liberals self-righteously holding forth about how it will be the dawning of a new, kinder, gentler, more fair world under the unifying leadership of Barak Obama. I believe the calculations and decisions of Leaders (from the macro to the micro) always have and always will be decided on the basis of Realpolitiks, and every thing else is just a hustle and a sell job. As far as I can judge, Obama is as cold and calculating as anyone who has held the office of President
The weapons we are now likely to direct into the hands of Syrian rebels, just like the ones we funneled to the Libyan “freedom fighters”, will make the rounds and kill many on all sides. The weapons we sell to Egypt and Saudi Arabia may and likely will, eventually be turned on Israel, the US, and of course each other. In Egypt as in the United States there is AT LEAST ONE common theme: Meet the new boss… much the same as the old boss.