"Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton touched on several of these points Thursday, saying that “there can be no going back on the democratic transition called for by the Egyptian people.” Unfortunately, the Obama administration undercut its credibility with Egyptians and its leverage over the military in March when it decided to hand over $1.5 billion in military aid, waiving pro-democracy conditions that had been imposed by Congress.
The generals may have been encouraged to believe that the United States would accept further backward steps, such as the dissolution of the parliament. For that reason, the administration must now be clear in its public and private communications to Cairo: If the democratic process is not restored, U.S. relations with the Egyptian military will be ruptured" Washpost
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I predict that if the US does what the Jacobin editorial page of the Post advises the Egyptian military will go elsewhere for "relations." China, Russia, the Saudis for money, there are "possibilities.
The US continues to overestimate the extent of its own power and leverage. People who are faced with a future in which they will live in what would essentially be a medieval society or as dhimmis will not be pushed to jump off the cliff. The conflict between semi-modernity and Salafi Islamism and its MB variant is very clear to those who stand to lose all if the Islamists win. They have the example of what has happened in countries where the modernists were foolish enough to listen to us.
Our obsession with this kind of historic meddling is leading us down some dark paths. In Egypt we are pressing for the resumption of a democratic process that will create a government of our enemies. In Syria we are aligning ourselves with a medieval plutocracy (Saudi Arabia) and our Al-Qa'ida enemies.
Women in Syria and in pre-2003 Iraq have or had a great deal of freedom within the context of their societies. Now we are seeking to advance the interests of those who will put women back into the kennel of their kitchens and purdah.
The die has been cast. The US Government is now firmly behind the propaganda drivel generated by the insignificant liberal minorities and the lying spokesmen of the Islamists.
We HAVE met the enemy, and it is us. pl
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Years ago I wrote a book proposal on the subject of American inability to deal with the world outside the context of our own delusions. It was rejected. Here it is for those who may be entertained. "Are you entertained?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/getting-tough-with-egypt/2012/06/15/gJQAvm5rfV_story.html
