Formspring Question # 76--Pyramid Schemes Edition

Are you going to comment on Egypt at all?

I do not think I have anything of particular value to say about Egypt. I have made some snaky comments about the alleged revolution on Twitter, but those are not meant to be taken seriously. As much as I arrogantly shoot my mouth off here, I keep quiet when I know I am ignorant on a subject.

Here is the problem--I am not idealistic when it comes to foreign policy. There is a romantic notion that democracy is a fantastic concept that ought to spread across the planet. To that, I say poppycock. If the Arab street--the ones who think the united states is secretly ruled from Tel Aviv--is going to vote the Muslim Brotherhood into power, then let them stew under an undemocratic stooge who is at least somewhat responsive to the United States because he needs the foreign aid.

Something like that is the most likely scenario to happen, anyway. The Egyptian army, lead by Lt. Gen. Sami Enan, has so far refused to use violence against the anti-Hosni Mubarak protestors because Enan wants to be the next president. The next president will have to have the backing of the military and the acceptance of the masses currently marching in order to hold onto power. Does anyone really think if he wins election in September--assuming Mubarak does not renege on his promise to step aside for elections--he will not fall into the same role Mubarak has enjoyed for decades?

For people who have been oppressed for so long, freedom is just as paralyzing as dictatorship. They make bad choices and are still susceptible to brutal rule.

I am calling this a no win scenario. Either Mubarak stays in people, crushing the will of the people, or Enan comes into people, in which case it is meet the new boos same as the old, or the Egyptian people really get their way and the country becomes a near fundamentalist theocracy. Which of those three outcomes do you prefer? Yeah, I have no idea who to root for, either.

If anyone cares to weigh in on how I am wrong here, feel free. Like I said, I do not know enough to intelligently take a position.