Cario Ironies: Same Cast of American Characters, Different Play

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

The United States’ public position on Egypt is “flexible.” That in and of itself is not surprising, given the ambiguities surrounding the Cairo uprising. Continue reading “Cario Ironies: Same Cast of American Characters, Different Play”

The Middle East and the Multicultural Nightmare

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Obama’s Multiculturalism vs. Bush’s Freedom

Let us be honest. Most of George Bush’s admirable support — as voiced in his 2005 inaugural address — for freedom abroad was de facto abandoned by 2006-7. Condoleeza Rice had championed Egyptian dissidents, but within a year that advocacy was dropped and we were back to the Mubarak paradigm as usual. Continue reading “The Middle East and the Multicultural Nightmare”

Why the Egyptian Revolution Can Be the Best or Worst Thing to Happen

by Raymond Ibrahim

NRO’s The Corner

It is clear that the media and its host of analysts are split in two camps on the Egyptian revolution: one that sees it as a wonderful expression of “people-power” that, left alone, will naturally culminate into some sort of pluralistic democracy, and another that sees only the Muslim Brotherhood, in other words, that sees only bad coming from the revolution. Continue reading “Why the Egyptian Revolution Can Be the Best or Worst Thing to Happen”

What’s the Matter with Egypt?

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

In the Stars or in Them?

So what’s the matter with Egypt? The same thing that is the matter with most of the modern Middle East: in the post-industrial world, its hundreds of millions now are vicariously exposed to the affluence and freedom of the West via satellite television, cell phones, the internet, DVDs, and social networks. Continue reading “What’s the Matter with Egypt?”

Egypt on the Brink: Bradley Reveals Instability in Modern Egypt

by Raymond Ibrahim

Middle East Quarterly

A review of Inside Egypt: The Land of the Pharaohs on the Brink of a Revolution by John R. Bradley (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009).

To the general reader, Inside Egypt is a good introduction to some of the problems rife in the most populous, Arabic-speaking country. From regime corruption and oppression, to widespread poverty and discontent, to human rights abuses and the plight of Egypt’s minorities, most of the important issues are here. Bradley, formerly a Middle-East-based foreign correspondent, also provides useful insights, such as how the current regime exploits the West’s fear of the Muslim Brotherhood to its advantage.

Unfortunately, there is a myopic tendency to view nearly every problem in Egypt as a byproduct of Husni Mubarak, Egypt’s president since 1981, and in Bradley’s view, the “most corrupt offender of them all.” Even things one might have supposed were products of time or chance—from the condition of Egypt’s Bedouin, who have led the same desperate lifestyle for centuries, to the radicalization of Muslims, a worldwide phenomenon—are somehow traced back to Mubarak.

While the Mubarak regime is responsible for many of Egypt’s woes, blaming all of the nation’s problems on it is misleading. By minimizing the Islamization of society and the influence of the Brotherhood, which the author claims “has made only limited inroads into the mainstream” since Egypt’s Muslims are “intolerant of extremist Sunni doctrine,” Bradley moves from fact-based evidence to conjecture and, perhaps, wishful thinking.

Indeed, this is the book’s chief problem. Bradley is convinced that, given a chance, through the elimination of Mubarak, Egyptians would create a liberal, egalitarian, and gender-neutral society. This tendency to project things that are important to the author (though often not to Egyptians) is highlighted by his fixation on homosexuality in Egypt. The topic permeates the entire book, including a rather out-of-place section recounting the in-and-outs of Western gay tourism in Luxor.

In short, while the book is a good primer for novices to Egypt’s culture and politics, the author’s own proclivities mar his objectivity. And while he is convinced that Egypt is a byproduct of Mubarak, one is left wondering instead whether Mubarak is a byproduct of Egypt.

©2011 Raymond Ibrahim

The Dangers of Democracy

by Bruce S. Thornton

FrontPage Magazine

The parliamentary elections that have begun in Egypt will impress only the most starry-eyed of democracy champions. Continue reading “The Dangers of Democracy”