The so-called Arab Spring is looking pretty parched right now. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is on the rise and has struck up an electoral alliance with even more openly radical Salafis. Muslim attacks on Egypt’s besieged Coptic Christians continue. Mass demonstrations by the secular (but often hard-leftist or Nasserist) Facebook revolutionists have sought to quell anti-Christian feeling by turning anger against Israel instead. This continues even today. (The Facebook revolution was supposedly not anti-American or anti-Israeli, but any serious study of the revolutionists background would have shown that hope to be false.)
The Syrian government, under siege from its own people, is permitting civilian attacks on Israel as a way of diverting attention, and to warn the West away from further pressure. Israel’s foes have united and seem primed to provoke a war designed to tilt the Middle East’s playing field toward Iran, and perhaps even draw in a post-election “democratic” Egypt ruled by Nasserite nationalists and Islamists against Israel. Our incoherent Libyan misadventure is bogged down in a stalemate, with no greater clarity on the true political intentions or leanings of “our side.” The Gulf states remain on a low boil, with Iran well positioned to take advantage of further chaos.
But what about Tunisia? At least there we should find reason for hope. Tunisia is where the great Arab revolt started, after all. Unlike most other Arab states, Tunisia has a history of coherent national identity, relative secularism, fairly successful development, and a continuous and robust alliance with the United States. Tunisia’s military (as opposed to the dictator’s personal security forces) supported the revolt with enthusiasm. If the Arab Spring can succeed and bear fruit anywhere, it’s Tunisia.
While that may still happen, as elsewhere in the Middle East, the outlook for genuine liberal democracy in Tunisia is now tenuous. An Islamist party quite like Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is on the rise and fledgling secular parties are now worried that the Islamists will dominate Tunisia’s July 24 election.
Whatever the outcome, it’s now clear that the supposed Arab Spring has substantially empowered the region’s Islamists. Unfortunately, few of the secular counter-forces are genuine liberal democrats, and those few liberal democrats who do exist are by no means sympathetic to American interests. We’ll have to wait at least until after the July election in Tunisia and the September election in Egypt (if there is one, which is not yet entirely certain) to make reliable judgements on the initial outcome of the Arab Spring. The preliminary outlook, however, is decidedly bad.
How is it America can do what it is doing to Israel and think G-d is going to protect them from war on our soil…He is a G-d of Justice. Has warned the world in scripture that when the nations go against HER , HE will destroy them…Some are claiming to have visions of bombs dropping on the U.S. One thing I know is G-d’s word is true. ALL of it, not part of it. and look at Europe, thinking even like America that our gov will take care of them……….what a joke. we sit on our fist and lean back on our thumb and tell ourselves everything will be alright? They have not long as we see all the nation hate us too. Islam hates Christians just as much as Jews. just like Hitler did. they are here in gov and all over our land ..will AMerica wake up and evict Wash DC traitors or not…hammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
All revolutions, as history shows, lead to blood, death and revenge. More interesting that so called democratic countries in Europe and America rapidly moving to fascism, specifically, islamofascism, through their democratic institutions and constitutions. The question is: do we need democracy that is indefensible and working against their own people? Definitely NOT. Look at China or former Soviet Union. China is the only stable country today. Soviet Union was very secure and stable until idiot Gorbachev decided to change the system overnight resulted in chaos, anarchy, destruction, collapse and eventually weak and unstable Russia, dream for US and Europe. Now, they try to destabilize China using the same technique: so called Human Rights issue, regardless the fact that America lives on the land stolen from American Indians who were put in concentrations camps “RESERVATIONS”. What is the hipocricy.
Can you say mideast caliphate? I just did
But they have no clue how to govern, so it should be very interesting. You can’t eat emotionalism.