How Do You Get Sprung From The Arab Spring?

In Egypt, promoting democracy is now a crime.

We Think We Have Church Vs. State Problems

The complexities of the Middle East's only democracy: The ultra-orthodox haredim, who don't think Israel's secular government is legitimate (but who are paid to pray at the Western Wall under an agreement that dates from Israel's founding), battle back against the government's effort to keep them from further oppressing their women.

Tilt To Tunisia

SNL once joked that Ronald Reagan wanted to make America proud again by fighting a war, "but with a little country, so we can win." Doyle McManus believes the U.S. should devote its scarce resources to supporting democracy not in Egypt, where problems run too deep, but in an Arab country where the foundation has already been laid:

[Tunisia is] relatively small (about 11 million people). It's a middle-income country, with a per capita national income of about $9,500. Its population is relatively educated; one reason for the revolution was that too many college graduates were unemployed. Its revolution was largely peaceful; it suffers from no major ethnic or sectarian conflicts.

The people of Tunisia were the ones who started this wave of democratization. Now we should help them complete it.

The Danger Of One Man, One Vote, One Time

From Charles Krauthammer, a stark warning about Egypt that unfortunately can't be overlooked:

The Egyptian awakening carries promise and hope and of course merits our support. But only a child can believe that a democratic outcome is inevitable. And only a blinkered optimist can believe that it is even the most likely outcome.

Yes, the Egyptian revolution is broad-based. But so were the French and the Russian and the Iranian revolutions. Indeed in Iran, the revolution only succeeded - the shah was long opposed by the mullahs - when the merchants, the housewives, the students and the secularists joined to bring him down.

And who ended up in control? The most disciplined, ruthless and ideologically committed - the radical Islamists.

This is why our paramount moral and strategic interest in Egypt is real democracy in which power does not devolve to those who believe in one man, one vote, one time. That would be Egypt's fate should the Muslim Brotherhood prevail.

Hat tip to Hugh Hewitt