[batman911]

Originally Posted by blueash

This is an interesting post. It reveals much about why America is disliked in so many places. The idea that "the west" has any right at all to play a role in the election of the Egyptian government by the Egyptian people bespeaks our national arrogance. We tout the importance of democracy, of the will of the people. But if the election goes in a way America doesn't like, it seems that we feel betrayed, blame the electorate for being uninformed or even ignorant, and too often we seem to play a role in overthrowing that elected government. This is not new to our national policy. Whether it was the Shah of Iran being placed on the peacock throne, or the will of the Chilean people being usurped with the CIA interventions that lead to a military dictatorship and Allende's death, America has intervened in "free elections" both before and after the voting too often. When Hamas won in Gaza, when Hezbollah won in Lebanon, when the Muslim Brotherhood won in Egypt these elections reflected not just the citizens' support for Islamic government, but also was a clear repudiation of the possibility of America telling them what to do.
So now in Egypt a democratically elected government which was opposed by the US has been overthrown in a military coup. Those new leaders, using weapons largely supplied by the US have brutally slaughtered their own citizens who were peacefully assembled in protest with the death toll near 300. There are no good guys in this story but clearly the people in charge in Egypt now have lost whatever moral authority they may have hoped to claim. And if the next election is a fair one I would expect that the Muslim Brotherhood will have a very successful day as nothing works so well to turn the unsure against the US supported leadership as a massacre.

And yet we all enjoy and the economic and security benefits resulting from all that interference. A lot of the wealth and security we have in the USA has come from using our power and influence in other countries to benefit the USA. What do you think Iran or Egypt would do if they had that power? I do not believe you would like the result. Everyone likes to eat chicken but no one wants to butcher one. Don't blame the butcher if you are eating the chicken.