Chesler's liberal roots betray her here - there is not a shred of evidence that the masses of uneducated, impoverished Egyptians care one whit about democracy.

They are just hurting. To them, western clothing marks the ruling class, western ways are barriers thrown up before them by that ruling class. In contrast, the Muslim Brotherhood speaks their language.

Look closely at the coverage and you see middle-class Egyptians trying to articulate their desire for Western-style rule of law - but they are explaining it to their fellow-Egyptians as much as to the camera.

The vast majority of Egyptians does not know enough of Western ways to even think of demanding it. They just want relief from crushing poverty.

Every generation believes it is above savagery and widespread war. And they are all wrong.

If we were sitting in a sidewalk café in Frankfurt in 1936, and I said, "In ten years, Europe will be leveled, 50 million people will be dead, and six million Jews will go to concentration camps and not come out because of this new guy's radical policies" you'd have had me forcibly medicated.

As it is, the only reason there isn't a new set of Crusades is that non-Muslims have such a superior financial position that they don't feel the threat. When that changes, away we go, into another round of savagery - and soft, easily panicked Americans will be victimized again and again. They can't close their border, you know. Bcause, well, they just won't.

The worst possible thing an American administration could do is what this one does continuously: talk America down. No, we're not special. Our own First Lady is ashamed of the people who put her in the White House (Well, wait - I am, too). Yes, we're criminals abroad. Bow to the foreign despot.
Make enemies bolder. "America won't act at all - we can do what we want."

That's pretty much how I'm expecting it to play out.

@Radwaste: While I agree with the first half of your comment, well, America's historical pattern appears to be that of a sleeping bear. Poke, poke, poke, and not much of a response is drawn. Until you poke one time too many, and then it's straight from *grumble* to *HULK SMASH* with no pause in the middle.

That this dance has a high probability of ending with much of the Middle East turned into radioactive glass and blowing corpse-ash is pretty pessimal, in terms of futures one might choose - even just by the standards of our expected subsequent national guilt complex, let alone the relatively innocent collateral damage - but doesn't seem all that far out of the realms of possibility.

There are westernized Egyptians in my family, all native born. Their consistent opinion is that if there is a change in government, Egypt will likely revert to Islamism, or something marginally more palatable. While none of them like Mubarak, they do credit him with keeping these forces at bay.

I don't know who to attribute this to. I thought it was Stokely Carmichael, but couldn't find the attribution,

"There ain't nothing so bad, that it can't get a whole lot worse."

Fidel Castro came to power to replace the corrupt, US supported, Batista regime.

The Ayatollah Khomeini replaced the Shah of Iran

Ho Chi Min took over from Nguyễn Văn Thiệu.

Need I go on?

Shamefully, Obama did not even stand rhetorically with the demonstrating and bloodied democrats on the streets of Tehran and he is now only tepidly standing with their counterparts on the streets of Cairo.

I would say that Obama's response to these situations was sensible. No matter how many people in the U.S. changed their Twitter avatars, there was never any chance that the so-called "Green Revolution," which lacked any meaningful support outside urban centers and was opposed by the Mullahs, the Mehdi army, the police, and the rural areas where Ahmadinejad draws his support, had any chance of succeeding.

In Egypt, the simple fact is that we are going to have to be able to do business with whoever ends up in charge, whether that be Mubarak (most likely), a successor he appoints, or someone in the opposition. Egypt is too strategically important, and the situation there too uncertain for us to tip out hand. Further, the Egyptian people don't like or trust us, do to our past support for the Mubarak regime. Our support wouldn't help, and very well might make things worse.

We have a terrible track record when it comes to meddling in the politics of the Middle East. We're already saddled with the Iraq mess, and not too far away, the Afghanistan mess. Nothing good can come of us taking a strong position on Egypt or any other rebellions that come up. The only thing we can do is hope that what we are seeing is more like 1989 than 1979.

Don't know what's next, but 100,000 people is about 0.1% of the population, not some mass movement, or is it?

When we support tyrants, it eventually backfires on us. We become the enemy of the people. The list is long - Cuba, Iran, Vietnam, etc. Sometimes it is probably necessary (Stalin in WWII, China in the Cold War) but we need to understand the cost. More recently, I think that in order to invade Afghanistan, we needed to support Musharraf in Pakistan.

But, I think we should gradually end our support of all dictators starting with Mubarak and followed by the rest of the Arab world. They need our money as much as we need their oil. Each fall may be chaotic but at least we have a chance to be on the side of the revolutionaries.

"Each fall may be chaotic but at least we have a chance to be on the side of the revolutionaries."

By this logic, the US should have been kissing Hitler's ass in 1933 when he usurped the Wiemar Republic Neville Chamberlain did, and look where it got him. I find the idea that we are better off "on the side of the revolutionaries" naive and stupid. It also displays an appalling ignorance of 20th century history(and Arab culture)

The death toll in Egypt has passed 100. No word on whether any of the corpses in the street belong to members of the largest organized opposition group. The Muslim Brotherhood is letting the protesters do all the work and take all the risks & casualties. Then they hope to fill the vacuum when Mubarak flees the country. A similar dynamic played out with the ayatollahs, the shah, & Iranians in '79.

Ms Chesler seems to have nailed it, or at least conventional wisdom's version of it.

I'd say good cause not to to get involved, in any Mideast nation.

And jeez, the so-called "experts" are only likely to get us entangled...

In the coverage of the protests/marches held here in the US in support of the people in Egypt, I noticed one thing: All the non hand-drawn signs were very familiar and I was not the least bit surprised to see that many of them had the calling card and (likely all) were made by ANSWER. They probably coordinated the protests here anyway.

I have only skimmed the concepts of the "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" -- but this reminds of the section about Pax Romana area. There is a difference between being a bully and standing up for yourself.

The U.S. has made bad decisions in the past, and the present. If it is taking the Morton's fork -- the idea is take the third option -- opt out.

Let them sink or swim on there own. But put the caveat on it -- you hurt or threaten an American citizen -- you have to face the the full wrath of the United States from personal assasination to turning your country into a glass parking lot.

Unfortunately we have had politicians, not statesmen, for the past 40+ years.

Truth is no matter what is said the government doent give a fuck how any particular country is run so long a our interests are forwarded in some way.

And niether does the majority of the american public. They'll talk a good game, but wont do shit. Just look at feminism, femist political leaders spend more time trying to con american womne into thinking that men control them thru some insidious from of social mind control and leave women in the thrid world to rot.

If tommorrow a real US style democratic republic took hold in every middle eastern country and there were no more terrorist ever, but gas jumped to $20 a gallonas a result, most americans would perfer the despotic regime that torute and kill their disedents

I am beginning to believe that Obama's will curry favor with the Muslim world is to simply let it change into a super caliphate which will subjugate Europe and destroy Israel.