As of this writing, there is widespread speculation that the Obama administration has made and could still be making every effort possible to save the Muslim Brotherhood's man, Morsi, from being overthrown by the Egyptian people and army, which has publicly promised to defend the people against Islamist terrorism and thuggery.
Clearly, the administration is dazed and confused by the epic events in Egypt, an eruption of secular opposition to Islamic clerical fascism (Islamism) in the Arab world's most populous and important country.
Notice the term Arab world. It exists. But you wouldn't know this from listening to President Obama since his 2008 election victory. He has insisted on addressing--and bowing to--"the Muslim world," an inherently Islamist conception. The Arab world, united by language and culture, includes observant and secular Muslims, Christians and other minorities. (Jews were once part of the Arab world, before their forced emigration from lands in which they had lived for centuries.)
Obama believes in the Muslim world; or, rather, he believes that it is important for an American President to pay tribute to the idea of the Muslim world because it is central to Islamist ideology--the notion that Muslims constitute a global nation, transcending all political boundaries and national, ethnic, theological and philisophical differences.
And supporting Islamism is central to Obama's foreign policy. Like Republican and Democratic Presidents before him, Obama regards rightwing political Islam and overlapping Islamic fundamentalism as useful tools for furthering American interests--that is to say, for increasing U.S. influence in predominantly Muslim lands and for making Muslim "markets" safe for U.S. corporations.
Like his predecessors, too, the current U.S. President sees Islamism/Islam as both a shield for containing and a sword for cutting up Russia and China. Hence, Washington's idiotic support for Sunni Islamists in restive Russian and Chinese territories, and Russian and Chinese support for Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria. Moscow and Beijing are not afraid of Shiite Islamism; and Syria's Shiite-Alawite-dominated regime is secular.
But Obama has another reason for aligning with Islamism--ideology. His ideology, that is. He and his advisers actually see Islamism as progressive, incredible as this may seem. At a minimum, parliamentary Islamic rule--Islamocracy--is regarded by the administration and fawning pundits as a transitional stage between secular authoritarianism and full-blown democracy, the attainment of which is used to cover a whole host of sins, from needlessly intervening in Libya to stirring up and supporting an insurrection in Syria in order to install Islamist regimes.
But Islamism is fascism--period. Moderate fascism is a dangerous oxymoron. A Muslim Brotherhood regime indeed represents a transition, or bridge--to Al Qaeda. What happened in Libya, what is happening in Syria proves the point.
Millions of Egyptians agree. They have no intention of forcing themselves or their wives and daughters back behind burqas and veils and under ugly headscarves, even though Obama has gone out of his way to "respect" such barbaric and backward customs. Islamic law isn't for them, as much as Obama may believe otherwise.
The anti-Islamist revolution--the movement to roll back Islamic clerical fascism--is well underway. Today, the battle ground is Egypt. Tomorrow, it could be Saudi Arabia, or, looking beyond the Arab world, Turkey, once again, with the army this time freshly inspired to remain true to its traditional role as guardian of the secular system.
Iran, too, could erupt. Contrary to the White House view, millions of Iranians long for the day when the mullahs will be swept from power like so much garbage.
Revolution, not reform, is the way forward--the complete smashing of Islamist institutions, ideology and oppression everywhere.
