Ugly reality has dashed the high hopes of the "Arab Spring." Although the dream of democratic reform lives on, only Tunisia appears on course. In Egypt, the fall of Hosni Mubarak has encouraged religious intolerance and persecution, especially against the Coptic Christian community.
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Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and the Senior Fellow in International Religious Persecution at the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is author of Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics (Crossway).
Dr. Ron Paul, "Our military's purpose is to defend our country, not to police the Middle East.
"As the President prepares to send even more support to Egypt, we should be reminded that it was our foreign aid that helped Mubarak retain power to repress his people in the first place. Now we have to deal with the consequences of those decisions, yet we keep repeating the same mistakes.
"I am not the only one who can see the absurdities of our foreign policy. We give $3 billion to Israel and $12 billion to her enemies. Most Americans know that makes no sense.
"We need to come to our senses, trade with our friends in the Middle East (both Arab and Israeli), clean up our own economic mess so we set a good example, and allow them to work out their own conflicts."
There is one truth in the Middle East - they hate us if we don't give them money and hate us if we do? So why should we continue to play the sucker. If the eco-freaks would let us we don't need the middle east - right now they are just cheaper - at the moment.
It's called "jizyah." Ransom that supposedly protects us from their attacks. Throughout history they have done what they are doing in Egypt. Brutalize, kill, and enslave non-muslim populations. Because the victims were/are not islamic it is acceptable (Holy Quran). Clinton the idiot bombed the wrong side in the Balkans. Obama the muslim has been silent on this "democratic process" in Egypt.
Copts have insinuated themselves into every aspect of Mubarak's regime for the last 30 years. They are survivors. 10% of a population of illiterates and thieves.
No major business deal there does not have the fingerprints of a Copt. Sharm Al Sheik being the best example of this.
They are the only Egyptians that can sit down and have a "drink" with an infidel group, the only ones that can deal with Turkey - the gatekeepers of Arab commerce in Europe, and the only ones that can dance with Tel Aviv when the Muslims lose their nerve.
Mubarak was especially savvy in this area as he knew the bench strength of Muslims in these areas of commerce was a void, and cleverly manipulated Coptic support in lieu of partial security.
The new regime will soon realize how deep a hole they are in and the spectacular absence of expertise they have before them if the Copts are not brought along.
Nothing I have read to date even remotely suggest that Islamist want Copts to do anything but go away. Dance with Tel Aviv? Gatekeepers of commerce with Europe? Where did you hear these things? According to your sources are Islamist trying to peacefully coexist with Israel also?
What an ugly, hateful post.
Copts are a small minority. Amazing power they have for evil.
Unlike Muslims, huge in numbers but incapable of wickedness unless goaded into it by the West, which they charmingly and no doubt affectionately call "The Great Satan".
I wish the world would turn around and watch what is happening when Muslim extremists are left to multiply and become a majority. And whats even worse is that they are turning against themselves, Salafiis turning against Bahaais. The way we are going maybe America and the rest of the world will become Egypt, where the Muslim becomes majority and everyone not Muslim having their ears cut off and killed.
This is another phase of the religious cleansing islam demands. Jews were burned out of every muslim country decades ago. Where there is no foreign infidel they define the less rabid muslims as kaffir. The Copts need either to get out or secure themselves a territory within Egypt that is politically and militarily defensible. Considering Egypts new fleet of 125 Abrams that sounds like a tall order.
it is kafir not double ff...with double ff the word would the equivalent of the n word in usa
Irrelevant. The orginal American English spelling of mozlem was "musselmen". Besides, there are few one to one corresponding letters between the English and arabic alphabets.
Intolerant muslims....now THERE's a real shocker.
Does the American spectator have to publish a quoto of these islamophobic articles to please uncles aipac, Zionist. Copts have lived under muslim rule for 1500 years. And they will continue to live for another 1500 years. There are more Copts today I'm Egypt then ever before. The Muslims of egypt are the descendants of the Copts. The descendants of the beduin army from the deserts of Arabia are very small by comparison. The salafists are very small minority in the Muslim world. Then tend to target Muslims more than any other group. Under mubaraks dictatorship extreme ideologies were able to prosper in shadows. Freedom will bring a strong light on these people that will burn them away. egypt, egyptions. Long may they prosper inshallah .
You're obviously Muslim, and obviously can't handle the truth.
That makes you, and people like you, a big part of the the problem.
"Who us? Nooooo! Islamaphobe hateful Americans! Shut up! Everything is fine, we tell you, fine!"
CalMark: I must, unfortunately, disagree, because I am genetically coded by eutely to only have 302 Neurons. I am C(lint) Elegans, a free living round worm. I love Ron Paul!
I think a policy of Non-Interventionalism will solve everything, and not expressing our disgust of their behaviors will certainly keep the Coptic Christians alive and healthy. My name is C. Elegans, and I have 302 neurons, thanks to eutely.
I am a devout Catholic who won't do a damn thing to protect my fellow Christians from massacre, but don't you dare call me non-Christian! I'm sure the Copts will be fine because the new Egyptian Government is bound to be secular and not want to violently impose Sharia Law and Dhimmitude on Copts. I have 302 happy, cheerful neurons, and I, as a hermaphrodite, self fertilize to reproduce!
My name is C(lint) Elegans, and I love Ron Paul! If the Copts get massacred that's not my problem, because even though I'm Catholic, and therefore, a Christian, you heathen Jewboy ToolJobs, I am in no way bound to defend my friends in the presence of their enemies. If they get killed by secular Islamic fanatics (everyone claiming to be a Christian is secular, of course, except for me and the Pope, who I know is impressed by my fanatical loyalty to him---I'm a devout Catholic who sits by when little Jewish girls get their heads cut off or Coptic Christians get massacred.) This is because I am genetically coded to have precisely 302 Neurons, just like my hero Ron Paul!
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