The Academics and Analysts Told Us Not to Worry When The Egyptian Government Fell, Wrong
During the uprising which forced Egyptian President Mubarak out of office, we were told that this was a good thing for Egypt, and it was a sign of democracy in action.
That only good could become of the strengthening of the will of the people and the ouster of the president who had been in power for so long.
We were told that Mubarak was not of the highest integrity.
They assured us that just because Mubarak was being thrown out of office that we need not worry about the Muslim Brotherhood, or the devout Muslim fundamentalists.
In other words, no need to worry that the government would be taken over in the next election by individuals or groups which supported Islamic radical terrorism.
Indeed we were told by international political analysts, academic Middle Eastern scholars, members of the United Nations, and even our own State Department not to worry about it.
They said that the conservatives in the United States, along with the pro-Israeli lobby were blowing things out of proportion - they said everything will be fine, and Egypt will be a better place in the future.
Indeed, I can remember at our think tank we were not so sure about this, and we hesitated in believing that everything would be fine while complete chaos ensued.
We were also worried that 30 years of Egyptian progress towards free markets, capitalism, and a secular society would disappear.
Indeed, it is apparent that our fears were completely justified in hindsight.
There was an interesting article the other day in the Washington Post with Foreign-Policy - about an attack on a Christian church by radical Islamic individuals which caused the burning of the building, and the death of 12 Christians in the country.
The article was titled "12 Dead in Egypt As Christians and Muslims Clash" by Ernesto Londono on Sunday, May 8, 2011.
The article stated; "Clashes between Muslims and Christians in a Cairo suburb left 12 people dead, dozens wounded and a church charred in one of the most serious outbreaks of violence Egypt's interim rulers have faced since taking power in February.
The unrest began Saturday night in the Imbaba District northwest of Cairo, as a mob of hard-line Muslims attacked the Virgin Mary church.
" Apparently, there were other attacks of folks believed to be Christians in some apartment buildings half a mile away.
In looking at this in hindsight, perhaps it is important to note that when the academic scholars, and foreign affair diplomats get on our televisions and tell us that everything is going to be okay, we should take notice, and realize they have no clue as to what they are talking about.
Common sense would dictate that things would not be okay as a long-standing government, which had control was ousted, and the streets were engulfed in chaos.
The instability has shattered the Egyptian stock market, caused severe unemployment, and things appear to deteriorating rapidly.
Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.
If you have any comments, concerns, empirical data, case studies, apologies, or excuses - you may send me an e-mail, let's talk.
That only good could become of the strengthening of the will of the people and the ouster of the president who had been in power for so long.
We were told that Mubarak was not of the highest integrity.
They assured us that just because Mubarak was being thrown out of office that we need not worry about the Muslim Brotherhood, or the devout Muslim fundamentalists.
In other words, no need to worry that the government would be taken over in the next election by individuals or groups which supported Islamic radical terrorism.
Indeed we were told by international political analysts, academic Middle Eastern scholars, members of the United Nations, and even our own State Department not to worry about it.
They said that the conservatives in the United States, along with the pro-Israeli lobby were blowing things out of proportion - they said everything will be fine, and Egypt will be a better place in the future.
Indeed, I can remember at our think tank we were not so sure about this, and we hesitated in believing that everything would be fine while complete chaos ensued.
We were also worried that 30 years of Egyptian progress towards free markets, capitalism, and a secular society would disappear.
Indeed, it is apparent that our fears were completely justified in hindsight.
There was an interesting article the other day in the Washington Post with Foreign-Policy - about an attack on a Christian church by radical Islamic individuals which caused the burning of the building, and the death of 12 Christians in the country.
The article was titled "12 Dead in Egypt As Christians and Muslims Clash" by Ernesto Londono on Sunday, May 8, 2011.
The article stated; "Clashes between Muslims and Christians in a Cairo suburb left 12 people dead, dozens wounded and a church charred in one of the most serious outbreaks of violence Egypt's interim rulers have faced since taking power in February.
The unrest began Saturday night in the Imbaba District northwest of Cairo, as a mob of hard-line Muslims attacked the Virgin Mary church.
" Apparently, there were other attacks of folks believed to be Christians in some apartment buildings half a mile away.
In looking at this in hindsight, perhaps it is important to note that when the academic scholars, and foreign affair diplomats get on our televisions and tell us that everything is going to be okay, we should take notice, and realize they have no clue as to what they are talking about.
Common sense would dictate that things would not be okay as a long-standing government, which had control was ousted, and the streets were engulfed in chaos.
The instability has shattered the Egyptian stock market, caused severe unemployment, and things appear to deteriorating rapidly.
Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.
If you have any comments, concerns, empirical data, case studies, apologies, or excuses - you may send me an e-mail, let's talk.