Topic: Decline of the West
Ugh. Media pundits and prognosticators across the political spectrum are still giddy over the "revolution" in Egypt. That the despised strongman, Hosni Mubarak, was outsted not by the mob but by a cabal of senior military officers, seems to have escaped everybody’s attention. In short, Mubarak fell victim to a military coup. When it became clear to the generals who run the show behind the scenes in Egypt that he had become a liability, they got rid of him. In so doing, the generals bought the time they need to stabilize the political situation and assure their own continued dominance.
So don’t believe all this hopeful chatter about the birth of Arab democracy. The September elections, if they’re held at all, will surely be rigged in such a way as to keep the Army in charge. The Egyptian generals didn’t retire Hosni Mubarak as a favor to liberal intellectuals or Western media pundits.