dagblog - Comments for "Egypt.... the coup ... The bill? "

Ditto. What makes Shenker's

acanuck — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 01:43:01 +0000

In reply to I agree, acanuck, and so does

Ditto. What makes Shenker's piece credible is that he goes out and talks to some Brothers instead of just thumb-sucking about them.

Very good comment, thanks.

David Seaton — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:32:18 +0000

In reply to I agree, acanuck, and so does

Very good comment, thanks.

As if! Prez made Omar's

jollyroger — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:56:37 +0000

In reply to I agree, acanuck, and so does

As if! Prez made Omar's opposite number deputy CIA Director, IIRC..Don't want any of that tiresome accounta....uh, that is, rear view

I agree, acanuck, and so does

anonymous — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:27:21 +0000

In reply to The whole sharia issue is a

I agree, acanuck, and so does Jack Shenker. In fact:

"But amid all the discussion about the impact the Muslim Brotherhood is having on Egypt's uprising, another story of these remarkable few days might be about the impact the uprising is having on the Brotherhood. Anani believes the protests have shifted the balance of power within the organisation, boosting the influence of younger reformists and weakening the more conservative old guard.

"Egypt is witnessing the creation of a new regime, and is reconfiguring all its internal political structures - obviously the Muslim Brotherhood will not be immune to that process," Anani said.

"The revolution has brought us into much closer contact with other secular protest groups with whom we're working now on a regular basis. The elder leadership respects those new links, because they have to," confirmed Assas, the 35 year olde Brotherhood member. Indeed many believe the triumphant surge of youth activism seen in Egypt this past week could have as significant effecti on the Brotherhood as on Mubarak's beleaguered National Democratic Party."

As others have pointed out, once there is a new government formed, journalists will go wild with Disinfecting Sunlight.

But Obama and Carter should stop endorsing Omar Suleiman in any way, IMO. The People know exactly what sort of torture program he ran--for us.

When the army said they

David Seaton — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 21:36:02 +0000

In reply to The whole sharia issue is a

When the army said they wouldn't fire on the demonstrators that was "Goodbye that's all she wrote".

The whole sharia issue is a

acanuck — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:38:45 +0000

In reply to Contrary to many I don't

The whole sharia issue is a red herring in this discussion. Netanyahu is going on about the danger of an Islamist-dominated Egypt, but even he (and President Shimon Peres) seem to know events are now beyond their influence. It's telling that Peres referred to his old friend Mubarak in the past tense.

Egyptian VP Omar Suleiman just told Egyptian TV that talks would be opened with "all political parties" about constitutional changes, and frauds committed during November's parliamentary election would be investigated. He didn't say Mubarak is stepping down, but earlier the army issued a statement calling the protesters' demands "legitimate" and declaring it would not use force against tomorrow's mass demonstration. Tick, tick, tick ... .

Contrary to many I don't

David Seaton — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:45:03 +0000

In reply to The Brothers aren't

Contrary to many I don't think a government of the Muslim Brotherhood or Islamism is necessarily a disaster. The first thing they would have to do is feed all the people and that would keep them pretty busy and out of trouble. They are not corrupt and actually supply most of the real social services in Egypt already. As to Sharia, it is a legal system that all Muslims understand with very strong traditions of jurisprudence. Not something you'd want to apply in the USA, but has worked reasonably well for centuries in the world of Islam... Not our problem,

What is our problem? Basically by backing Israel unconditionally for so long we have completely fucked up in the Arab world. If Saudi Arabia goes the way of Egypt we will have zero influence in that area... The Chinese and the Indians can buy all the oil the ME can produce,, and the EU can buy from Russia.

I think we owe it to the

acanuck — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:40:40 +0000

In reply to I'm not convinced you're

I think we owe it to the Egyptians to let them pick the kind of government they want, regardless of what they decide. There are strict interpretations of sharia that I find barbaric (stoning for adultery comes to mind) but I also find it barbaric that some U.S. states seek the death penalty for 13-year-olds, or jail people 20 years for a joint.

Unlike David, I don't fear an Islamist takeover of Egypt. But suppose for a moment that were to occur. Exactly how would the combination of democracy and sharia in that country be less acceptable to the West than the combination of autocracy and sharia in Saudi Arabia, which U.S. leadership appears totally cool with?

I'm not convinced you're

Verified Atheist — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:21:52 +0000

In reply to I wasn't stating a general

I'm not convinced you're wrong in this particular case, but neither am I convinced you're right (about what the Egyptian opposition leaders surely see). If there's one constant in the universe, it's the stupidity that power can engender. That said, we owe it to the Egyptian people to let them guide this ship the way they see fit - prime directive and all that. I'll admit, if I were convinced they would end up with sharia law, I might rethink that, but I'm not, and I want to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I wasn't stating a general

acanuck — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:14:54 +0000

In reply to I agree with you on

I wasn't stating a general rule, Atheist. But Egyptian opposition leaders of all stripes can surely see the straw that broke Mubarak's back was not three decades of political oppression but the economic stagnation and income disparity that came with it. Under a democratic system, they'll have to tackle those problems head on, or they'll be quickly cast aside.