Why Egypt is America’s Enemy
So what should we do now? Nothing.
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The Risks of Remaining Neutral on Egypt
As Egyptian protests rock the casbah, the U.S. responds with cautious words and a noncommittal position. What are the risks if the Egyptian people don’t feel that America is supportive of their struggle?
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Dreaming Beyond the Madman: Reflections on the Revolution in Libya
The tragedy of a dictatorship is that they so eviscerate their countries that, even after they are gone, it’s hard for people to pick up the pieces and move forward. But I am hopeful in seeing the banner of the pre-Qaddafi monarchy rooted in the Sufi orders that led the resistance to colonialism.
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The Islamists vs. The Markets: Egypt’s Election Analyzed
Left or Right, the market always seems to win. This is actually where I would locate the greater threat to Arab democracy, and the temptation to slide into some form of authoritarianism, older or newer. As the people of the region confront the reality that they have little say over economic policy, and will be forced to accede to the contingencies of global capitalism, they may well become immensely frustrated by the scale of change and demand something different. Considering how volatile European and American politics have become, and how frequently we now see street protests and even supposedly stable and demure countries, how much more so these new democracies?
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Neither Radical Nor Secular: The West Struggles with the New Islamism
What the anxious West has failed to recognize in the Arab Spring is that the political transformations of the Middle East are the coming of age of a new Islamism.
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The Shari’ah Spring: Media Gets It Backwards
If we read the Arab Spring as a zero-sum game between Islamists and secularists, we’re going to miss what’s happening; if we imagine Arab democracy will look like secular Western democracy, we will likely be disappointed. And if we assume reference to Islam and democracy reveals only hypocrisy, insincerity, or ideological confusion, we’re likely to be surprised.
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Hagee and Others See
End Times in North African Revolutions
How does it fit the Christian apocalyptic narrative of Gog and Magog?
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Updated with Audio: Secular Good, Muslim Bad: Unveiling Tunisia’s Revolution
The assumption that Arab states that aren’t democratic are oppressive Islamist states lazily equates the public practice of Islam with all things undemocratic.
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5 Reasons the Muslim Brotherhood Won’t Turn On Israel
Imagine a cabinet meeting in which a Brotherhood minister suggests negating the peace treaty and risking $1.3 billion in US aid.
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Democratic Egypt Tests a Divided Israel
Most of us are watching the unfolding events in Egypt with awe and anticipation hoping its citizens will nonviolently supplant a repressive and dictatorial regime with a democracy. Those of us who have physical or emotional ties to Israel see a more complicated picture. Israel is watching the…
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