You’re Not Gonna Protest!

CNN is reporting that the Egyptian military has outlawed protests in the country, threatening offenders with jail time. There are also reports that the military is rounding up those pushing for greater democratic reform in the country, and that some have been subjected to torture.

This is an extremely worrying development, and one hopes that the Egyptian people’s push for democracy is not subverted by the military it so respects and had helped protect protesters before Mubarak stepped down. It is also worrisome given the U.S. military’s strong ties to the Egyptian military and the influence the U.S. apparently wielded over it during the protests.

Anderson Under Attack

CNN’s Anderson Cooper was attacked by pro-Mubarak forces in Egypt today. There are those that have criticized Cooper for getting too close to the story, and thus too emotional, but I haven’t heard of many other cable news stars that would willingly enter the fray instead of staying in a nice, cozy studio.

Egypt, the US, and the Internet

Over at the Daily Dish, Conor Friedersdorf highlights the irony of the US Senate contemplating giving the president the power to pull the plug on the internet (with no judicial oversight) while Hosni Mubarak did just that in an attempt to quell protests against his government.

We laugh at Tea Party-types that call parts of the Obama agenda dictatorial, but this is exactly the type of power that our founders wanted to keep out of government hands when they wrote the Constitution (or would  have, if they could have known that the internet would exist).

Check that last statement: the Tea Party cries tyrannical wolf and makes legitimate debate over the real encroachment of government on personal liberty appear hyperbolic. And that includes warrantless wiretapping, the indefinite detention of US citizens as terrorists, and the use of torture.

More on Egypt

Since I’ve been remiss in my rather limited coverage of the crisis in Egypt, I turn to the brilliant staff of writers at Slate to help me out. They’ve put out a number of great articles that should be required reading for anyone looking to seriously and critically think about the revolution in Egypt and its overall importance:

1. The Explainer details the ways in which Egyptians’ right to free speech is curtailed.
2. Hitchens argues that dictators like Mubarak face overthrow not because of their ruthless control over their citizenry, but because they insult their citizens by holding fake elections and the like. He also reminds us that the lure of the stable dictatorship is illusory and ought to be tossed in the trash.
3. Shmuel Rosner preaches caution, because revolutions are unpredictable and dangerous. Remember Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution, which Rosner points out has crashed and burned.
4. Foreign Policy profiles eight US allies besides Mubarak that embarrass the US.

Also check out this brief NPR interview with Egyptian dissident and Harvard professor, Saad Eddin Ibrahim, who discusses US aid to Egypt and how it can use that aid to promote human rights.

Revolution in Egypt

A few notes on Egypt:

1) I think the reaction in the US to the Egyptian crisis has been interesting. Many on the left are upset that President Obama has not done more to promote the removal of Mubarak, while most on the right have chided him for abandoning Mubarak, an important US ally in the Middle East. The talk on the right seems to be motivated by concern over the Muslim Brotherhood taking control of Egypt and the possible threat that might pose to Israel (most of what I have read, to the contrary, states that the Muslim Brotherhood, while Islamist, is actually quite moderate, and the party would be unlikely to capture more than 30 percent of Egyptian votes).

I do understand the concern for Israel. Revolutionary state theory suggests that unclear perceptions and motives in this environment make conflict more likely. Still, I believe in liberalism, and I believe that a democratic Egypt can be an even greater ally to Israel than an autocratic Egypt.  And the popular, democratic rights and desires of the Egyptian population should not be sacrificed for Israeli security concerns. If and when a new Egyptian government is formed, the US and Israel can make clear that they want friendly relations and will not tolerate threats to the Israeli state.