If they want to remain moderate, they’re going to have to behave “immoderately.”
Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice.
2 thoughts on “Egyptian Moderates”
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If they want to remain moderate, they’re going to have to behave “immoderately.”
Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice.
Comments are closed.
Rand, I was going to ask you if you if this and your previous post on this subject is a broad metaphor to the Fiscal Cliff. But the Egypt situation is not a joking matter for the 80 million people in Egypt and many others.
I guess Mr. Obama and his advisors cannot help themselves, but what were the “moderates” or “liberals” in Egypt even thinking when they went down the road of supporting the overthrow of Egypts military-backed government, i.e., Mr. Mubarack?
Everyone saw what happened in Iran. The “liberals” were the public face of the Revolution as the talking heads who were giving interviews to the Western TV and talking tough. Those talking heads that made us want to throw shoes at their smirking faces on the TV with their offering excuses for our diplomats being taken prisoner, those folks to a man all lost their heads in the Terror that naturally followed.
We are seeing what is happening in Turkey with our-man-Reh-chep. The military was the backstop for the Mustapha Kemal Ataturk secular reforms, and Reh-chep has been dismantling the military power structure, one head at a time.
So what are the liberals and intellectuals — in Egypt! — thinking? They see how this all plays out in their own back yard. Our liberals and innalegshoe-alls have an excuse for not knowing any of this, but does liberalism so cloud the mine with magical thinking that the folks in Egypt couldn’t see this coming.
Even the Saudis who already has a Sharia state saw this coming and begged Mr. Obama to support Mubarak. As keepers of Mecca and Medina, the Saudis engage more in appeasement than suppression of the “ultra” faction, but they get away with it owing to an authoritarian monarchy that also has oil money to buy peace. The Saudis have a tiger by the tail, and how long the royals can maintain their rule is an open question, but they don’t seem to be fools.
In Egypt the Ultras are hardcore soccer fans. They were at the storming of our embassy and have close ties to anonymous who were also there. But the Ultras also turned out to brawl agaisnt MB protesters a month or so ago. I am not totally sure what to make of them.