Blue Crab Boulevard

David Warren:

For 30 years since, Hosni Mubarak has tried to advance his country in the direction Sadat pointed, while fully aware that he was straddling a volcano. Those who judge Mubarak by the standards of western constitutional democracies must tinge every observation of Egypt with fantasy.

Mubarak’s greatest difficulty has been securing reforms which have included the gradual replacement of incompetent (and usually army-managed) state enterprises with free markets, and the “normalization” of relations with Israel, from behind a rhetorical cover. His very survival in office has been an extraordinary accomplishment, to which Egypt owes what peace and prosperity it has had.

There’s a lot more, please go read it. Yearning for a constitutional democracy in Egypt is all well and good, but it really is important to not tinge reality with wishes. I’ve mentioned that I am not a fan of Mubarak’s style of rule – but I also do not want the Muslim Brotherhood to take his place.

They are not harmless, as far too many Western apologists and talking heads are insisting.

Far too many of the people offering “expert” commentary on the situation in Egypt could not even locate said nation on a labeled map. Far too many of the people offering their “expertise” are projecting their own values onto others who may or may not actually share those values. (Most do not, I’d wager.)

They are largely ignoring the very real threat of the Muslim Brotherhood. They are completely missing the cheerleading by Iran for the uprising.

That cheerleading alone should make people think hard about what is really going on in Egypt.

As I said in the first post I made about the situation in Egypt “I don’t know of anything good to say about Mubarak, other than he has kept peace with Israel for all these years.”

I fear that will not continue for long.

Egypt’s future is being decided right now by a few power brokers:

It is a safe guess, though, that while the media are in Tahrir Square boosting “revolution,” and commenting that nothing will ever be the same again, the future is being settled over their heads by the half dozen power brokers who count. The media always manage to select protesters who say in good English that they are staying in the square until they are victorious and Mubarak has gone. These interviews are really promotions of the reporter’s own political prejudices.  Remember the book by Ed Behr making a mockery of slanting the news in this sort of crisis with the title Anyone Here Been Raped and Speaks English?

Yeah, pretty much what I suspected would be the outcome. The question is, how much influence did the Muslim Brotherhood just get? The other big question is how much will the army take before it decides to step in and take over entirely. Note the importance of the last two sentences in the quote. This tendency has been on blatant display from every media outlet. UPDATE: And BINGO! The fix is in

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Egypt’s popular uprising against Hosni Mubarak faltered on Sunday as opposition leaders including the Muslim Brotherhood embarked on negotiations and the ranks of street protestors was reduced by the arrest of key ringleaders.

The power brokers have spoken. The mob’s usefulness is at an end.

Malawi lawmakers ponder great things:

Malawian lawmakers will next week debate a law change to criminalise public farting, which a cabinet minister said had been encouraged by democracy.

“The government has a right to ensure public decency. We are entitled to introduce order in the country,” justice and constitutional affairs minister George Chaponda told independent radio station Capital Radio.

“Would you like to see people farting in public anywhere?”

Thank heavens they are focused on the really important issues facing their nation. (Harry Reid is an ardent supporter of less smelly public environments. No doubt he’ll follow Malawi’s lead here.)

Incidentally, these guys will be the first up against the wall in the new, less smelly Malawi.