Monday punditry, the Masters of the Universe edition. For ongoing coverage of the uprising in Egypt, see the mothership diary.
NY Times:
Leaders of the Egyptian democracy movement vowed Sunday to escalate their pressure for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, even as his government portrayed itself as already in the midst of American-approved negotiations to end the uprising, now in its 13th day.
America isn't directing what's happening in Egypt. Just sayin'.
Reuel Marc Gerecht:
President George W. Bush’s decision to build democracy in Iraq seemed so lame to many people because it appeared, at best, to be another example of American idealism run amok — the forceful implantation of a complex Western idea into infertile authoritarian soil. But Mr. Bush, whose faith in self-government mirrors that of a frontiersman in Tocqueville’s "Democracy in America," saw truths that more worldly men missed: the idea of democracy had become a potent force among Muslims, and authoritarianism had become the midwife to Islamic extremism.
Bush revisionism and self-justification ("Bush was right! Let's celebrate the liberation of Iraq! It stabilized the region And ushered in a new era of democracy at the point of a gun!) is all the rage. Be aware of it, it's going to get worse rather than better because there's no penalty for wrong if you're a neocon.
Paul Krugman:
The consequences of this food crisis go far beyond economics. After all, the big question about uprisings against corrupt and oppressive regimes in the Middle East isn’t so much why they’re happening as why they’re happening now. And there’s little question that sky-high food prices have been an important trigger for popular rage.
No, no, it was a Bush speech a decade ago! Floods and famine are merely God's instrument in carrying out the Bush agenda.
Fred Hiatt: Ah, yes, it was God and the Washington Post that was responsible for the freedom agenda. Thanks for the reminder, Fred.
Glenn Kessler fact checks Mike Huckabee's trip to Israel:
Huckabee of Judea
Ordinarily, at this point we would have a "Pinocchio Test." But Huckabee's statement does not lend itself easily to Pinocchios. The problem is less one of facts than in being completely divorced from reality.
EJ Dionne:
On a unanimous voice vote last Thursday, the Senate passed a resolution co-sponsored by John Kerry and John McCain urging Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to hand power over to a caretaker government as part of a peaceful transition to democracy.
It's easy to be cynical about this as mere feel-good politics. The president, not the Senate, executes foreign policy, and declaring a goal is far easier than bringing it about. Yet this should not distract from how American responses to events in Egypt have been as different as one can imagine from our responses to almost every other issue.
Juan Cole:
So the parallel is to 1919. After World War I, Egyptians began demanding independence from Britain, which had occupied the country in 1882. Nationalist leader and politician Saad Zaghlul and others wanted to lead a delegation (Wafd) to the Versailles peace conference to ensure that Egyptian aspirations for self-determination were heard. The arrogant British jailed Zaghlul early in 1919, and thereby provoked huge multi-class and cross-sectarian demonstrations throughout the country. Copts were as nationalistic as Muslims and as eager to see the backs of the British, and they are clearly visible in photographs of the day, carrying banners with crosses on them. Egyptian women also played a visible role in the protests.