Thursday, May 5

Egypt post Mubarak

First the story which I got via email.

The media sold the Cairo riots as the birth pangs of
> "democracy" in the Mideast. Egyptians yearn for our style of "freedom,"
> we were told. But a new survey of their attitudes shreds that story
> line.
> According to the Pew Research Center, 89% of Egyptians say a
> post-Mubarak government "should follow the values and principles of
> Islam." And 62% want laws to enforce Shariah — the barbaric legal code
> practiced in much of the Mideast.
> This may come as quite a jolt to the romantics in the Western press who
> expected liberalism to flower from Tahrir Square. But we're not the
> least surprised.
> Pew's poll — based on 1,000 face-to-face interviews with Egyptian
> adults in April — merely confirms a similar one last spring. As we
> noted during the riots, Pew found that 84% favor the death penalty for
> people who leave the Muslim faith; 82% support stoning adulterers; and
> 77% think thieves should have their hands cut off.
> Pew didn't ask such questions this time around.
> But it did ask what Egyptians thought of the U.S. and Israel. Despite
> the Obama administration's support for their uprising and the media's
> glorification of it (while enduring beatings and even gang rapes),
> nearly 8 in 10 Egyptians still hate us.
> Egyptian views on Israel are starker: A solid majority wants to return
> to war footing against the Jewish nation. By 54% to 36%, Egyptians say
> a new government should tear up the peace treaty with Israel.
> So who do they like? Fully 75% of Egyptians expressed a favorable view
> of the radical Muslim Brotherhood.
> The well-organized Brotherhood, previously outlawed by Mubarak, is in
> the best position to take advantage of the prevailing sentiment
> recorded by Pew.
> Running under the newly formed "Freedom and Justice" party, the
> Brotherhood seeks to replace the old regime in this September's
> elections and instate Islamic law. Its platform bars women and
> Christians from the presidency. It also establishes a board of Muslim
> clerics (read: mullahs) to oversee the government.
> Earlier this month, Brotherhood officials called for the creation of a
> virtue police to crack down on "those who commit immoral acts." It's
> aimed largely at women who refuse to cover their heads in public.
> Pew found that gender equality and religious freedom aren't top
> priorities for Egyptians. Only a third think it's important for women
> to have the same rights as men or for Coptic Christians to practice
> their faith freely. Since Mubarak's ouster, churches in Egypt have been
> firebombed, and Christians slaughtered in the street.
> All those pundits and politicians who cheered on the rioters against
> the secular, pro-American Mubarak should have been more careful of what
> they wished for.
> The Pew poll confirms that Egyptians were revolting against
> Western-style democracy. If so, we may face another Mideast regime
> violently at odds with U.S. policy.

Second, these feelings and opinions are not just emerging, these were there all along, just that the Mubarak regime kept a lid on it. Guess what’s coming out of Egypt now?

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