Whither the Arab Spring? Or, Egypt Makes Burma Look Good by Comparison
Two international headlines from this weekend worth juxtaposing. First, from the Associated Press in Burma:
Supporters of Burma's opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi erupted in euphoric cheers Sunday after her party said she won a parliamentary seat in a landmark election, setting the stage for her to take public office for the first time.
The victory, if confirmed, would mark a major milestone in the Southeast Asian nation, where the military has ruled almost exclusively for a half-century and where a new reform-minded government is seeking legitimacy and a lifting of Western sanctions.
It would also mark the biggest prize of Suu Kyi's political career, and a spectacular reversal of fortune for the 66-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate who the former junta had kept imprisoned in her lakeside home for the better part of two decades.
Second, from the New York Times in Cairo:
Hazem Salah Abu Ismail is an old-school Islamist.
He wants to move toward abolishing Egypt's peace treaty with Israel and cites Iran as a successful model of independence from Washington. He worries about the mixing of the genders in the workplace and women’s work outside the home. And he promises to bring extraordinary prosperity to Egypt, if it turns its back on trade with the West.
He has also surged to become a front-runner in the race to become Egypt’s next president, reconfiguring political battle lines here. His success may help explain why the United States offered signs of tacit approval over the weekend when the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest Islamic group, broke its pledge not to field its own candidate.
Even those of us who have been skeptics of the Arab Spring from the start would have been gobsmacked if you had told us during its earliest days that a year later (A) a Muslim Brotherhood candidate for the Egyptian presidency would have been preferred by the U.S. as the less radical choice and (B) Burma would be on a better trajectory for democratic reform than Cairo. One wonders if we should adjust expectations for a year from now accordingly.
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Comments:
Jul '11
Re: Whither the Arab Spring? Or, Egypt Makes Burma Look Good by Comparison
I had zero doubt in my mind that ugliness, oppression, and all the evil accouterments of Islamic zeal would result from Obama's meddling.
Jun '10
Re: Whither the Arab Spring? Or, Egypt Makes Burma Look Good by Comparison
The moving parts.
May '10
Re: Whither the Arab Spring? Or, Egypt Makes Burma Look Good by Comparison
It's amazing, the benign, neutral tone the Times piece takes describing overtly ill-liberal Abu Ismail. Were he any Republican candidate holding views even remotely similar, I think the tone would be much different.
Nov '10
Re: Whither the Arab Spring? Or, Egypt Makes Burma Look Good by Comparison
And the Women in our Country support Obama! Go figure!
Apr '11
Re: Whither the Arab Spring? Or, Egypt Makes Burma Look Good by Comparison
Like I told my brother, who posted a gleeful, cheery Fakebook post early on in support of the Occupiers comparing OWS to the Arab Spring, the Arab Spring is a democratic winter.
Feb '12
Re: Whither the Arab Spring? Or, Egypt Makes Burma Look Good by Comparison
You too, huh? At the beginning it was easy to just shake your head and think, "Oh this is gonna be bad", while staring blankly at the TV in awe of the grosse incompetence reflected in his Mid East Policy and blind support of the Arab Spring. But now I think we're all finally asking the right question..."What are you really up to, Mr. President?"
Aug '10
Re: Whither the Arab Spring? Or, Egypt Makes Burma Look Good by Comparison
So Etoile...do we put the $ 1,700,000,000.00 on the trap as bait !is hillary trained for setting legholds ?
And Mr Senik ? What is the worth of Egypt ? I understand that as a comparative metric with other Arab states it probably looks good but their history has been a dismal one , few lasting accomplishments benefiting anyone past government masons, frequent submission to foreign kings, and the most withering note I heard on tour a few years ago in a synagogue in Cairo, where Christ may have lived a short time as a child, that were maybe 65-75 Jews left in the country , all widows .
Edited on April 3, 2012 at 2:33amThat chilled me and confirmed that it was an intolerant pile of well-placed stones .
Now comparing Burma to any country ,except maybe Myanmar, seems to muddy the Irriwaddy.