President Mubarak used to say that if he were removed from power, then the Islamists from the Muslim Brotherhood would succeed him. He was right. Today, the Brotherhood is warning us that if their man falls from power, then the Salafists would be the replacement. This is not a theory I would want to test.
Egypt’s political class needs to grow up, and offer us more than the just the largest-ever crowds at the latest protests for and against Morsi.
Meanwhile, the United States has been right not to call for Morsi to resign. At stake is nothing less than bringing Islamism into the modern world ”” and ridding it of its anti-Americanism. When I met with Brotherhood leaders earlier this year, they repeatedly asked for greater U.S. strategic assistance to help govern Egypt and saw America as an ally. It is important that the United States seize this historic chance to tame the tiger of Islamist anti-Americanism.
Oh, please. The message I have from my Egyptian friends, several of them moderate Muslim women, is that the Brotherhood is not interested in the modern world so far as women are concerned. They are very happy Morsi and the Brotherhood have fallen from power
Peculiar. This article entirely fails to mention what sparked the protests against Morsi – the widely held belief by ordinary Egyptians that Morsi and his followers had attempted to unilaterally change the constitution in order to cement their own hold on power. The author might not agree with that interpretation, but how can he not even mention it – every newspaper editor talks about it, so why not mention it in a supposedly ‘independent’ article like this?
Instead the author tells us:
[blockquote] “They may not be Jeffersonian democrats, but they now believe in consensual government” [/blockquote]
Yes, they did believe in consensual government in order to obtain power. But then they moved to very non-consensual means in order to retain power.
[blockquote] “If Morsi is toppled, who replaces him?” [/blockquote]
What a surprise – the same argument used by Mubarak as to why he should not be challenged. And this very conveniently excused Mubarak in surpressing political dissent, which in turn meant that there was no organised political opposition which could replace him – it just becomes a circular and self-reinforcing argument. If you persecute and kill your moderate opponents, then it becomes all the easier to argue: “Look there is no-one but me and the radicals, therefore you have to accept me as the best of a bad lot”.
Hopefully Egypt will be able to evolve a political process with experienced politicians capable of providing leadership and governance to its people.