The 360° turn

[mahnmut]

We don't want experiments, we want stability. That's how the predominant moods among the Egyptians could be read as of now. They've overwhelmingly supported the new constitution on a referendum. The problem is that it very much resembles the old one from the Mubarak times.

The Gaddafi-style 98% support for the constitution effectively legitimizes

Comments

[htpcl]

Having lived on both sides of the collapse of totalitarianism, I can tell you the road to democracy is long and thorny, and it often takes generations to walk. Often it happens that you make two steps back before making one forward. Whoever thought democracy would just dawn upon the Egyptian people overnight, had been a fool.

[luzribeiro]

Obama looks kinda cute over there.

[sophia_sadek]

It looks as though he had a falling out with his razor.

[sophia_sadek]

The use of a black hand as a symbol for the Muslim Brotherhood seems both ironic and appropriate. I fear that the more the government tries to crack down on the organization the more legitimacy it will achieve in the eyes of devout Muslims. That is not to say that there is nothing positive in the organization. It has done some good despite the brutality of its more zealous members.

I do not agree that Egypt urgently needs to restore the world's trust. That can come later. What it needs most is to establish domestic civility and distance itself from agitators on either side of the Arab/Israeli divide. The world's trust will follow in its turn.

[mahnmut]

what Egypt needs is for its whole people to be able to have a say in their own political and economic process

That's the long-term need, indeed.

That, of course, doesn't remove the urgency of getting their economy back on its feet even one bit. And which industry does Egypt heavily rely upon to sustain its economy? Which parallel reality do you inhabit where tourism holds no significance to Egypt's economy whatsoever?

Assumptions are in the eye of the beholder. If you genuinely believe democracy precedes having bread on the table in the list of priorities of homo sapiens, then I suppose this conversation is beyond finding a common ground.

[mahnmut]

Me too. For the record.

Btw,

So many assumptions there

Which other ones did you have in mind, save for this one that you described? "Many" means more than one.