Egypt and the divide on the US right | Michael Tomasky

We have here an interesting situation in the schism on the American right over Egypt. You have the faction, chiefly either religious extremist or concerned first and foremost about Israel or both, that thinks the protestors are rabble and we must not desert Mubarak. Then you have the group, foreign-policy neocons who are at least consistent in their hopes for democracy for the region, that backs the protestors. The leader (one supposes) of the former faction is Glenn Beck, whose conspiracy theories about Egypt were nicely captured by Michelle Goldberg in The Daily Beast. Beck has been banging on about Egypt all week. I tried to watch one installment. It wasn’t even that it was infuriating. It was just incoherent. Goldberg: Beck, hero of the Tea Party, has become the hysterical tribune of the anti-democracy forces, linking the uprising in Egypt to a bizarre alliance of all of his bête noirs. “This is Saul Alinsky. This is STORM from Van Jones,” he warned on Monday, continuing, “The former Soviet Union, everybody, radical Islam, every—this is the story of everyone who has ever plotted to or wanted to fundamentally change or destroy the Western way of life. This isn’t about Egypt. Everything is up on the table.” It would all end, he warned, with the restoration of a “Muslim caliphate that controls the Mideast and parts of Europe,” along with an expanded China and Russian control of the entire Soviet Union “plus maybe the Netherlands.” Mike Huckabee has punched his ticket on this train, as well as Newt Gingrich. Others are behaving more admirably. Golberg cites AEI’s Michael Rubin as being with the protestors. And Max Boot of the Council on Foreign Relations and Commentary has been making good sense : I fully understand the dangers of what is happening in Egypt. I am as apprehensive as anyone about the possibility of the Muslim Brotherhood exploiting current events to gain power. I am fully aware of how Hosni Mubarak has been a useful ally in many ways. Yet, when I watch pro-government thugs attacking peaceful protesters, I am rooting wholeheartedly for the protesters and against the thugs… …The United States, a nation born in a liberal revolution, has no choice but to stand with the people. In many ways, this is a continuation of the same battle fought in the streets of Europe in 1848 and 1989: the quest of a people yearning for freedom against the representatives of a corrupt and entrenched ruling oligarchy. America’s role, as the champion of liberty, should be to usher Mubarak out of power as quickly and painlessly as possible in order to avert further bloodshed and to make it harder for malign elements to take advantage of the disorder for their own nefarious purposes. We did not do enough to aid democrats in Russia in 1917 or in Iran in 1979; in both cases, we stuck with a discredited ancien regime until it was too late and reacted too slowly to revolutionary upheavals. Let us not repeat that mistake in Egypt. The Weekly Standard rounds up 2012 wannabee statements here . Missing? The old half-termer, who’s been pretty mum on Egypt, which after all can’t be seen out of any American windows. This presents an interesting conundrum for her. On the one hand, she’s an inveterate chiliast. On the other hand, she is under the tutelage of some pure neocons. Republicans Egypt Michael Tomasky guardian.co.uk

Posted by on February 2, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry