Topic: Decline of the West
So much for the so-called Arab Spring. Here’s what happened in Egypt over the last few days, a country supposedly on the road to democracy:
(1) An Islamist mob torches a Coptic Christian church in the city of Aswan. (2) The Copts stage a peaceful protest march in Cairo. (3) Islamist thugs, supported by the Army, bloodily disperse the protest march, killing more than two dozen people. Some of the victims were ruthlessly run down by armored vehicles.
Aside from its exemplary viciousness, this incident was really nothing new. Coptic Christians in Egypt—some 10% of the population—have long been prime targets for Islamofascist radicals. Foolishly, perhaps, they saw the fall of the dictator Murbarak as the dawn of a new era. Instead they find that they can't even trust the state authorities to protect them.
I found this quote (from the New York Times story recounting the events of the last few days) to be particularly poignant:
Mariam Telmiz, 40, sat at the bedside of a brother-in-law who had been wounded by a bullet at the demonstration. Another brother-in-law had been killed by a bullet.
The military was ready to protect Egyptian Muslims who carried a Saudi flag or even pulled the Israeli flag off its embassy, she said, “but the one who holds his cross high gets humiliated.”
Well, sure. Look where this poor woman and her family live.
And the Obama Administration's response? A craven statement to the effect that such violence should not impede Egypt's progress toward "democracy." What planet are these people living on?
