The overreach of the Muslim Brotherhood:
It is difficult to welcome a military overthrow of democratic results. It is, however, more difficult to regret a prophylactic coup against the exploitation of democratic success to adopt measures inimical to the development of a democratic culture.
I’d note that in passing ObamaCare, the Democrats didn’t follow Jefferson’s advice, either. It was a similar tyrannical overreach which John Roberts, to what should be his eternal shame, didn’t slap down.
Thoughts on why Islamists hate us. Unfortunately, Bush was right — they hate out freedom. And it’s appalling that the administration won’t put them on the terrorist list. Even the UK has done so.
Egypt in particular, and the Middle East in general, has a very sick culture.
It’s a poisoned chalice.
We’ve done enough damage there, I think.
Are they compatible?
The question is whether or not Islam as a religion is separable from the totalitarian ideology. Christianity had its reformation. Islam awaits its own.
We had a failed test of an interceptor.
This is why we test, but I think that an administration more serious about missile defense would be stepping up the testing.
It’s sure a good thing we got rid of him.
[[Update a while later]
Who lost the Middle East? The wrecking crew in the White House.
[Another update a few minutes later]
Who are the good guys in the Middle East?
Prospects for liberal democracy there have never been bright, except for the one exception of Israel, which was formed by transplants from elsewhere.
Also, related: “Dismiss the Egyptian people, and elect a new one.”
It’s been a century and a half since the beginning of one of the (if not the) most consequential battles of American (and indeed, world) history. It was the beginning of the end for the southern cause, particularly after Grant took Vicksburg the day after the end of the battle, cutting the south in two and freeing him up to come east command the army that would eventually become the greatest the world had known up to that time.
[Update later morning]
Some thoughts from George Will.
The battle is also a sharp rebuke to those who claim that violence never solves anything. Ultimately, it solved slavery in America.
…and “smart diplomacy“:
The demonstrators maintain Morsi has become a power-hungry autocrat who is intent on making the Muslim Brotherhood Egypt’s permanent ruling party.
They also blame the Obama administration and U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson for propping up Morsi and facilitating the Muslim Brotherhood’s power grab.
“We are very critical of the Obama administration because they have been supporting the Brotherhood like no one has ever supported them,” Shadi Al Ghazali Harb, a 24-year-old member of Egypt’s Revolutionary Youth Coalition, told the Washington Free Beacon on Friday afternoon during a telephone interview from Cairo.
The White House is “the main supporter of the Brotherhood,” he said. “If it wasn’t for the American support this president would have fallen months ago.”
Al Ghazali Harb specifically dubbed Patterson “the first enemy of the revolution,” claiming “she is hated even more than Morsi.”
Activists hung pictures of Patterson with a red “X” drawn across her face at Egypt’s Defense Ministry during smaller protests Friday afternoon.
“She’s done a lot to harm our relations with the United States,” Al Ghazali Harb said.
This administration’s done a lot of harm to a lot of countries’ relations with the United States. Not to mention our national security.
But “Bain!!” and “War on women!” (not counting Muslim women, of course), and 47%!!,” and “dog in a crate.”
[Update a few minutes later]
I would assume that the administration’s excuse for not siding with the protesters (despite the biggest protest in the history of the world) is that to remove Morsi (e.g., via military coup) would somehow be “undemocratic.” This ignores the fact that Morsi’s government, regardless of how it came to power, is intrinsically undemocratic. There is no democratic way out of this mess. But at some point, the military knows that it will have to remove these nutjobs if it doesn’t want to get into a war with Israel that it can’t win. These protests will likely embolden the generals.