http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324461604578191513459319542.html?mod=WSJ_article_MoreIn_Opinion
The riots and deaths in Egypt signal another grim turn in a story once filled with hope.
THE SO CALLED “ARAB SPRING” DID NOT FOOL ANYONE FAMILIAR WITH THE HISTORY OF THE MOSLEM BROTHERHOOD AND JIHAD….THAT EARLY BLIND ENTHUSIASM WAS INDULGED BY FANTASISTS RATHER THAN POLITICAL THINKERS…..MEMRI, DAVID GOLDMAN, ROBERT SPENCER, ANDREW BOSTOM, IBN WARAQ, ANDY McCARTHY WERE AMONG THOSE WITH EYES WIDE OPEN….RSK
The Arab Spring has reached its second anniversary, but in the swath of countries upended by continuing populist revolts, it is getting hard to find a safe place to throw a party.
Egypt on Friday began a long weekend of violence as dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured in demonstrations—many of them directed at government buildings—in Cairo, Suez, Alexandria and elsewhere. A court decision in Port Said on Saturday sparked a riot that left at least 27 dead. Cairo’s Tahrir Square has been a scene of frequent protests by Egyptians unhappy with the consolidation of power by President Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. On Friday, tens of thousands descended on the square less intent on celebrating the anniversary of their revolution against the autocratic Hosni Mubarak than on raging against what replaced him. The protest descended into a chaotic street battle between demonstrators and police.
Frustration and violence in post-Arab Spring Egypt is nothing new: Last month protesters gathered at the presidential palace after Mr. Morsi granted himself broad powers beyond the reach of judicial oversight. Islamist supporters of the president detained about 50 demonstrators (including four minors), bound their hands and beat them in an apparent effort to extract confessions of a conspiracy to undermine Mr. Morsi’s fragile government. Such tactics haven’t been seen in Egypt since the days of . . . well, Hosni Mubarak.