What I noted in my last post was that ironic position of the Obama White House and the Morsi presidency, two groups who have zero love for each other, but both meet on opposition to a military coup. Now the White House has seemed to tip its hand, pressing Morsi to hold early elections and in essence create a caretaker government of national unity. Read More

We’re two days before the Fourth of July, folks are on vacation, Congress is out of session. It’s slow news day. And yet, something of vast historic scope and proportions is happening in Egypt and I’m going to try to have us narrate the story for you today as it unfolds. On the one hand, it’s a non-violent popular revolt against President Morsi. But it goes way beyond that, not only for Egypt but for the rest of Arab world and less directly the non-Arab Muslim world. It goes to the basic question of whether Islamist parties – here based on the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood – or ideological kindred movements in other countries can not only come to power through democratic means (which Morsi did, though just barely) but govern with sufficient respect for pluralism that makes sustained democratic government stable and sustainable. Read More