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Good article about a complicated subject.

It is quite remarkable for people to be talking about the prospect for a democratic transition at this moment. A population that was convinced just two months ago that sharks in the Red Sea were implanted by the Israeli Intelligence Services is hardly at a stage of creating a liberal democracy in Egypt...Until someone actually starts addressing the real issues and stop the chatterbox of clichés on democracy, things will not get better at all.

The real issue is the one the author himself never discusses, unfortunately. The elephant in the living room is Islam. It is completely incompatible with democracy or in fact with any "rival" state, because it is itself a brutal, authoritarian political system and will not share power. The reason the ME has so many authoritarian governments (dictatorships or not) is that this is the only way to repress Islam and keep it from taking over.

I'm sure some of the more starry-eyed protesters probably thought they could have a secular democracy if they just wished hard enough, but Islam will not permit that and I think they have just opened the door to the worst and most oppressive form of government of all.

I read it. I read it slow and with intent to comprehend.

It was very informative. Perhaps it’s because I’m an American and can’t get my mind around the concept of military rule, but a lot of it is still vague. to me.

I followed it through all the events that led to the street riots and I understood.

Came the time to describe Egypt’s recent evolution, I got confused.

Again, the notion of the army ruling boggles my mind. I sure can understand Egypt’s admiration of its army, we also admire our army. But an army ruling the country? I don’t see how this happens, how it would work.

Love how he calls El Bareidi “CNN’s chosen replacement” for Mubarak and appreciate that this former UN weapons inspector is a nobody in Egypt, utterly disdained by the Egyptians. Gotta love our media, heh, THEY’re going to decide who replaces Mubaral and they’ve chosen El Bareidi.

I also am unclear on what a “close economy” is and what a “technocrat” is. Maybe in time and more reading I’ll understand it.

I did not know that Mubarak is, literally, dying, as the writer asserts.

Seems to me that the writer’s conclusion is that nobody really knows where it’ll all end, probably by army rule.

If we had some REAL leadership in Washington, this would be a hell of a chance for America to jump in and help guide this country to a democracy.

But we all know Clinton, Obama, et al, will only work to make it all benefit THEM and their Marxist colleagues.

[Egypt] was moving towards a full capitalist system but no explained why that was needed or why it was ultimately beneficial. While such restructuring is naturally painful for a population that was dependent on the government for all its needs, the people were fed the same socialist rhetoric nonetheless. It mattered very little that the country was improving economically, people did not see that. It is not that the effects were not trickling down, they were. It is that the people were used to the nanny state for so many years that they could not understand why the government was no longer providing them with those services.

Thanks for the link. This part struck me particularly.