On 2013-07-18, at 6:50 AM, c b wrote:
> Earth to Bill, The reports were 33 million _civilians_ protesting.
> It's big time world news. R u under a rock ?
>
> On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 5:13 PM, Bill Bartlett <william7 at aapt.net.au> wrote:
>>
>> On 18/07/2013, at 3:48 AM, c b <cb31450 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> 33 million
>>> people changing the government twice in this short a period of time is
>>> direct democracy,
>>
>> The egyptian military has 33 million troops does it? And they all get a vote when and where they are deployed? Wow! That sure is direct democracy if so.
>>
>> If not so, unfortunately I think it means you have completely lost touch with reality. Its not so is it?
>>
>> Earth to Charles: a military coup is not direct democracy.
Well, it was many millions of protesters at any rate.
I was surprised that the anti-MB forces were larger than the ones which the Morsi government was able to muster. I thought the relationship of forces was strongly in favour of the Brotherhood. That was a widely held view, probably shared by the government, which underestimated just how quickly its support had been eroded by the deteriorating economic situation and its clumsy political and constitutional maneuvers.
The inspiring show of strength by the secular urban youth shows which way the tide is running in the Middle East. Unfortunately, those who turned out in the Egyptian squares are not yet as politically well organized as the Brotherhood and the Nour, with their strong base among the rural poor. The military high command which runs the show only has the strong support of revanchists from the old regime, although the liberals have embraced them for now as a "lesser evil" against the Islamists.
The American and European leaders are worried that the liberals will radicalize the supporters of the Islamist parties by encouraging their repression and excluding them from the electoral process. They want to tame the Islamists by incorporating them into the parliamentary system, much as they did with the social democrats in the West in the 20th century, and the liberal backlash is getting in the way of that.