But it is actually because of this that I have an adverse reaction to the notion of anyone claiming to be "liberal" or "democratic" looking for help from the military. Frankly, if the military has as much power and political influence in Egypt as has been suggested, then liberals should be mighty pleased to see the Moslem Brotherhood face off against the military.
With any luck the Egyptian military will get their political arses kicked and be taken out of politics permanently by the religious movement. There is no way that the liberals/democrats can achieve anything against a social background where the military thinks it is their place to use force to meddle in politics. This time the army is threatening the Islamists, but I doubt the army will be averse to threatening the liberals next time, If they keep getting away with it. Or even worse actually get public applause for it.
If the political situation is such that the people of the country believe that the military might are their political 'saviours', then we can conclude that the public is not ready for any kind of democracy, as we know it.
The role of the army in a modern democratic society does not include being some kind of political umpire. So long as it thinks it is, liberal democracy is not an option. So calls for new elections in that context are arrant nonsense.
As for wishing for a enlightened philosopher-king, that's a fairy story of a similar delusional origin.
On 02/07/2013, at 10:20 PM, Sarah Hawas <sah2187 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I am Egyptian and I am proud that we cannot and will not swallow
> 'democracy' as you know it.