"It’s not that I’m against democracy, or even against policies designed to encourage it over the long term. The problem is that what Americans actually mean by democracy is not just elections, but liberal democracy, the broader cultural attitude toward individual liberty that’s necessary to make elections work. Bring elections prematurely to a country with a deeply illiberal culture, and you are asking for trouble"

In other words, the Arabs have to remain in tyranny for now, because the best way to develop the "liberal-democratic values" is to live in tyranny. And only after this miracle happens, they should be allowed to vote for their leaders.

"For a more thorough look at the issue, here’s my take on the Middle East’s tribal culture and the barrier it poses to democracy.

Stanley had long ago promised a book on this matter, with a viewpoint derived from his experience as an anthropologist I believe.

But the Obama book came instead. I'd still like to see at least a long magazine piece on this.

Dave: I'm afraid I agree with you; this does smell a bit like Iran redux. But it would turn out differently because the Muslim Brotherhood are not the mullahs of Tehran/Qom.

Mr. Kurtz: Your thoughtful reflections on Egypt's cultural realities are spot on. I share your pessimism re a positive outcome in Egypt or in any of the ME countries that rely so much on a tribal culture.

I agree with Dave and Jay. The Muslim Brotherhood will fill the power vacuum, and those dissidents who are rising up because of Egypt's poor economic conditions and outlook, particularly for the young and educated, will become the fodder in the maw of the Islamist feudalism.

In order to deflect the attention of the masses from his autocracy, Mubarak has fed Egyptians a steady diet of antisemitism and paranoid conspiracy theories in the government-controlled press and through the educational system. Those rampaging, unemployed youths in the streets of Cairo are not demonstrating for a tolerant, secular republic, as Jay and Dave have noted.

Mr. Kurtz is correct, unfortunately. Much more important than democracy is rule of law, civil society, and culture. The countries of the Middle East are awful places not because they lack democracy, but because they lack those other features.

Do you think the Chinese media is carrying one story about this? They have something like 30 million party members and about a billion people who are currently listed as "unaffiliated". The US should be pushing this into Asia while controlling the fallout from the Middle East.

"Bring elections prematurely to a country with a deeply illiberal culture, and you are asking for trouble."

Sadly this is true for most non-European cultures.

I have little will doubt that Egypt is well on the way to becoming a version of Iran post 1979. In view of this, Israel must now make plans for retaking all or part of the Sinai peninsula. It simply cannot afford to have an Iran on its very border. One more observation: after the first rocket is fired from the new
Egypt into Israeli territory, Israel must respond with everything at its disposal--a full-out, no holds barred, "disproportionate" attack on Egypt's military structure--I mean total destruction, including the use of strategic nuclear weapons. It's either this, or Israel is doomed.

Anybody seen anything on Youtube lately that reminds them of "A Clockwork Orange?"

Maybe the cocky idea that ~we~ could handle liberal democracy was a delusion. Maybe all of us here have been living in the happy, climactic, pre-deluge, end times of a happy little historical bubble.

Given the abysmal ignorance of the American people (not to mention the decadence), it is ridiculous to presume that we can collectively manage ourselves. Unlike the libs, though, I feel my despair at ourselves and our culture as absolutes, not as comparatives. I have no plans to move to France or anywhere else. They don't know jack either about how to nourish and sustain civilization. There is evidence that they know less.