Thread: Egypt today

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_817992.html

JERUSALEM — President Barack Obama's response to the crisis in Egypt is drawing fierce criticism in Israel, where many view the U.S. leader as a political naif whose pressure on a stalwart ally to hand over power is liable to backfire.

Critics – including senior Israeli officials who have shied from saying so publicly – maintain Obama is repeating the same mistakes of predecessors whose calls for human rights and democracy in the Middle East have often backfired by bringing anti-West regimes to power.

"If there are elections like the Americans want, I wouldn't be surprised if the Muslim Brotherhood didn't win a majority, it would win half of the seats in parliament," he told Army Radio. "It will be a new Middle East, extremist radical Islam."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_818413.html

Mubarak fears chaos if he quits:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12356064

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12325128

Optimistic Egyptians say free elections, if they ever happen, would produce a vibrant democracy.

Pessimists say that the removal of the police state would lead to chaos - which would be exploited by Egypt's jihadi groups. These have been suppressed ruthlessly by the Mubarak regime.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa...rak/index.html
"

These (pro-Mubarak) protests were organized by the government and the ruling National Democratic Party," analyst Kamal Zakher told CNN. The government mustered government workers and lawmakers whose seats are threatened, he said.

The whole objective is actually to give the impression that there is still support for Mubarak and to force the demonstrators out of Tahrir Square," Shahin said. He said the embattled president "is presenting a very difficult choice before the Egyptian people -- either liberty or security -- and he is hoping that they will choose security at the expense of liberty."

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So what are your thoughts/opinions?
What do you think will come out of this? What stance do you believe the US should take?

What stance US should take?
Implying US or Obama had anything to stand on.

Hahaha. Welcome to Africa. I think the US should just go about it's business and ignore what's going on here.

No, wait, on second thought, send lots of money. Yeah.

I think the rest of the world should just leave most everyone in Africa alone. Egypt should be free to try and get a democracy up and running. Best of luck to them. If that fails and they get another autocracy, well, no major change. If they psycho religious groups take power, then the US can get involved and bomb the hell out of the country (please try to leave some of the ancient temples and artifacts in one piece).

I think Mubarak should go ASAP, but if there is any possibility that the radical islamists could get in then maybe he should stay till the end of his term. The problem then is that he would have time to engineer and install a puppet government.

I like.
I only hope it won´t turn into a massacre....

And I hope it´ll really turn into a democracy...really depends on the military now!

I heard that the president's has been in power for +30 years. I think it's high time to hand over the power...

It's freaking hilarious that the very same dudes in the US who were crowing that the invasion of Iraq was justified in order to spread democracy now argue that it's a bad thing when the egyptians try to introduce democracy themselves.

Apparently democracy is only a good thing when the people vote the way America wants them to.

^Isn't it all about Israel? Mubarak took a moderate stance on it, the Americans appreciated that, and there's concern that an Islamist government would not provide the same support, or at least acceptance, of Israel. And considering the current tension in that part of the world, that could be a pretty bad thing.

From what I understand, though, the Muslim Brotherhood is fairly moderate and also isn't so influential as to be able to get tons of power in a current government. A radical Islamist government doesn't seem very likely right now.

Though a few more months in office to allow a well-planned transition rather than a quick change with potential mistakes might be a good idea, too... the people don't seem very supportive, though. Fuck, it's a pretty big mess.

Originally Posted by Saizou

It's freaking hilarious that the very same dudes in the US who were crowing that the invasion of Iraq was justified in order to spread democracy now argue that it's a bad thing when the egyptians try to introduce democracy themselves.

Apparently democracy is only a good thing when the people vote the way America wants them to.

because "Their" democracy is more important that "Other" democracy

I can understand the USA's trepidation over this whole affair. As a country we want Egypt to be democratic but we cannot just leave it by itself to vote.

Think about how Mubarak won the last 30+ years. Every election has been sabotaged or corrupt in some way. If someone else ran against Mubarak, the regime would scare him from the running. Now all of a sudden we're just supposed to let them figure out how to have a fair election?? Don't think so.

Also, we cannot just allow anybody to run when it's so easily corruptable. If the Muslim Brotherhood wins and decides that it's not going to keep its Peace policy going and use fear/terror to keep people in line then we have another Afghanistan/Iraq problem on our hands.

We can talk about how the USA shouldn't be involved in foreign domestic affairs but the actual truth is, like it or not, that we are a world power and we need to oversee the powers of the world being good, honest, democratic leaders.

Not bold, lying, religious zealots who might decide we're enemies next

Not that it matters much but I'm arabic and I get all my information from Al Jazera and N.P.Radio.