08-27-2014, 02:55 PM
The Egyptian women who were assaulted and raped during the Popular Democracy Demos at Tahrir Square could probably express an opinion about the "flowering of democracy and respect for individual rights".
Similarly the Coptic Christians.
While you were out celebrating liberal democracy, the populations of most Arab countries were ignoring or rejecting it. In the couple of places it did work (Tunisia and probably someplace else), it was nice. In Turkey (yeah, I know, 'not Arab') democracy has yielded an increasingly Islamist and authoritarian regime.
We have to face the fact that with the major influence of poverty and religious extremism, this whole enterprise just isn't working out to be Des Moines.
Similarly the Coptic Christians.
While you were out celebrating liberal democracy, the populations of most Arab countries were ignoring or rejecting it. In the couple of places it did work (Tunisia and probably someplace else), it was nice. In Turkey (yeah, I know, 'not Arab') democracy has yielded an increasingly Islamist and authoritarian regime.
We have to face the fact that with the major influence of poverty and religious extremism, this whole enterprise just isn't working out to be Des Moines.