Monday, August 01, 2011

Barry Rubin: A Day in the Life of the Middle East, July 28-29, 2011 (Egypt, Islamist Terrorism, Libya, Turkey)

by Barry Rubin
Good evening Mr. and Mrs. North and all you ships at sea!

FLASH: There was a huge demonstration in Tahrir Square. The main slogans:

–We demand Sharia!

–Free Omar Abd al Rahman! (in an American prison for bombing the World Trade Center the first time. Coming soon no doubt: anti-American terrorist attacks demanding he be freed)

–Hang Mubarak!

–Muslim-Christian unity (that’s nice but dependent on the Egyptian Christians supporting all of these other positions and then some).

–Reject US aid. (Great, go ahead. But the army won’t like it and President Barack Obama will insist on iving the money.)

–Down with Israel. (How many times have we been told there were no anti-Israel signs or slogans in Tahrir?)

–Most popular of all in terms of cheers: “The people want Sharia.”

–Some heard,, “Oh, Obama! Oh, Obama, We’re all Osama.”

As Martin Kramer added, “Told you so.”

Not all Egyptians think this way, of course, just somewhere from a minimum of 20 million people up to 95 percent of the population.
Continue reading A Day in the Life of the Middle East, July 28-29, 2011 (Egypt, Islamist Terrorism, Libya, Turkey)

Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). His latest book is Israel: An Introduction, to be published by Yale University Press in January 2012. You can read more of Barry Rubin's posts at Rubin Reportsand now on his new blog, Rubin Reports, on Pajamas Media

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