Into The Air – Or Over The Cliff?
By Mitch Berg
Mubarak is out; the Egyptian military finally staged a coup:
The protest movement that began on Jan. 25 grew from small groups of youth activists organizing on the Internet into a mass movement that tapped into the discontent to become the largest popular uprising in the Arab world.
Up to the last hours, Mubarak sought to cling to power, handing some of his authorities to Suleiman while keeping his title.
But an explosion of protests Friday rejecting the move appeared to have pushed the military into forcing him out completely. Hundreds of thousands marched throughout the day in cities across the country as soldiers stood by, besieging his palace in Cairo and Alexandria and the state TV building. A governor of a southern province was forced to flee to safety in the face of protests there.
This was the interesting part:
His fall came 32 years to the day after the collapse of the shah’s government in Iran.
Here’s the big question: the military is in control. In the Moslem world, military rule frequently means stability – the Turkish constitution requires the military to depose a government that tries to junk the constitution’s secular rules. And the military is, if not friendly to, at least closely linked with the US; those tanks you see in the streets were built in the USA. Will the combination of stability and influence work to the long-term benefit of an Egyptian demcoracy?
Or will it tamp a kettle onto any Islamicism fermenting in the country, allowing it to manufacture itself some martyrs and become an extremist movement?
One things’ for sure; however it turns out, it’ll be a surprise to the Obama Administration.
February 11th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
This post needs a title, but we’ll come back to that. 🙂
February 11th, 2011 at 1:36 pm
I give Egypt about one year before it becomes an Islamic theocracy. This is a seriously dark day.
February 11th, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Somehow this all seems like the General Lee suspended in midair while we’re going to a commercial break–except what is at stake is the lives of 80 million people there and millions of others elsewhere in the Middle East.
Yikes. Better watch CNN carefully, Barack, or else you’re dealing with a new Holocaust.
February 11th, 2011 at 4:29 pm
however it turns out, it’ll be a surprise to the Obama Administration. Heh. Heh. Heh.
February 11th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
I am old enough to remember how the US media covered the fall of the Shah. This week’s coverage is similar. There was and is a deeply held bias on the part of mainstream journalists. They believe that the end of any regime which oppresses intellectuals results in an improvement, that is, that the revolution is in some sense “progressive”.
There has been too little mention of the fact that Mubarak replaced Sadat after Sadat was assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists who had infiltrated the Egyptian armed forces.
February 11th, 2011 at 8:02 pm
Terry, you give them far, far too much credit. The real equation goes like this: “The US supported this dictator, therefore it’s good he’s gone.” It’s not about other journalists (they have little concern for them), or about intellectuals, it’s about US support being a bad thing. Look at how they report on Cuba and Venezuela, nothing but good press for a tin-horn oppressive dictatorships, but approved of because they are opposed by the US.