We will now pause for the bitter laughter of the foreign policy hawks:
An Egyptian security official says 650 people, mostly backers of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, have been detained for allegedly trying to storm a military facility, an incident the military claims sparked violence that left more than 50 pro-Morsi protesters dead.
The detainees were largely pro-Morsi protesters seized during clashes early Monday outside the Republican Guard headquarters. Protesters and Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood deny any attack took place on the headquarters, saying troops opened fire on their sit-in nearby as the protesters finished dawn prayers.
Via Hot Air. And do you know why there is laughter, and it is bitter? It is because there is no “right” answer here. You can choose the hardcore Islamist thugs with unpleasant gender issues who nonetheless happened to win an election; or you can choose the (at-best) endemically corrupt and definitely authoritarian military cabal who nonetheless would like to get the country out of its current death spiral. Have fun!
Moe Lane
PS: Both answers are wrong, by the way. This is all about what sucks less.
PPS: Yeah, Barack Obama tried the Let’s insist that Egypt acquire a democracy-loving government that will make the place break out into sunshine and rainbows! gambit so beloved of political science amateurs and retail assistant managers*. We call this “magical thinking” – and here’s the thing about magic: it doesn’t work. Believe me, I’ve checked.
*”Look, do you want this done fast, or do you want this done well?” “I want it done fast and well!” “Yeah, and I want a pony. Now come up with an answer that takes into account that I’m making minimum wage.”
…But I’m not bitter.
The military did get the Coptic Christian church involved in the post-Morsi government, which is more than I could say about any of the other groups there that want power.
The military Generals are corrupt thugs, no doubt but at least they only want to limit their thuggery to their own neighborhood unlike the boys at Muslim Brotherhood. Those boys at MB want a one caliphate from Morrocco to Iran under their control. They are interested in Democracy in the same way Hitler was – as a way to get power that doesn’t end with you in the gulag (note that various key, strategic US allies like Saudi Arabia & Israel are in the way).
I don’t care. I’m rooting for chaos, here and there (there being defined as anywhere but here).
Well, some have observed that regimes that merely want to hold power often end up killing significantly less people than the ones that also want to overturn the social order and fundamentally transform the society.
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There is the argument that the Obama Administration’s strong intention to be allies with the Muslim Brotherhood, given the Muslim Brotherhood’s close ties to Hitler, the Nazis, and the Holocaust, makes those who continue to support Obama, or maybe anyone who voted for him last year, Hitlerites. On the one hand, Godwin’s law. On the other hand, an excuse to apologize to people I disagree with politically, whenever I say something that may offend them because it criticizes the Nazis.
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Applying ‘use them if they kill Nazis’ to the conflict with the Salafi would suggest similar choice in allies. Of course, we have relatively few even anti-communist pseudo-Kemalist allies to choose from. We’ve done a poor job of cultivating such, especially in recent years. Especially in the Obama administration, where it looks like we’ve been sowing a crop of nuke fodder. Combined with the destabilizing effects of reducing the size of the nuclear arsenal, one must wonder if Obama hates foreign populations.
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Whether or not pre-MB and post-MB Egypt regimes were very interested in killing Salafi is a question that involves matters outside of my expertise. However, the MB is pretty much Salafi by definition. The conclusion is pretty clear if one prioritizes killing Salafi, followers of a murderous political ideology hostile to the constitution.
I never consider comparing MB to Nazi’s & Hitler a Godwin’s Law violation because it is entirely appropriate. Muslim Fascist is exactly what they are. I call it the “Truth Corollary”. If a group is acting like Nazi’s, it is not an affirmation of Godwin’s Law to say they acting like Nazi’s.