Can God Save Egypt?
When you fly along the Mediterranean today, what do you see below? To
the north, you look down at a European supranational state system — the
European Union — that is cracking up. And to the south, you look down at
an Arab nation state system that is cracking up. It’s an unnerving
combination, and it’s all the more reason for the U.S. to get its
economic house in order and be a rock of global stability, because, I
fear, the situation on the Arab side of the Mediterranean is about to
get worse. Egypt, the anchor of the whole Arab world, is embarked on a
dangerous descent toward prolonged civil strife, unless a modus vivendi
can be found between President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood
and his growing opposition. If Syria and Egypt both unravel at once,
this whole region will be destabilized. That’s why a billboard on the
road to the Pyramids said it all: “God save Egypt.”
Having watched a young, veiled, Egyptian female reporter tear into a
Muslim Brotherhood official the other day over the group’s recent
autocratic and abusive behavior, I can assure you that the fight here is
not between more religious and less religious Egyptians. What has
brought hundreds of thousands of Egyptians back into the streets, many
of them first-time protesters, is the fear that autocracy is returning
to Egypt under the guise of Islam. The real fight here is about freedom,
not religion.