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Yes, let's support brutal dictatorships on the off-chance that a revolution might result in an even more brutal dictatorship.

by jbri 16y ago

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
hugh3 16y ago
The sarcasm is unbefitting of the seriousness of the occasion. What if it's not an "off-chance" but a 90% probability. Or even a 50% probability? The situation the way I see it is this: currently the bad guys are in power. The opposition forces are the not-so-bad guys (liberal democracy types) and the much worse guys (radical Islamists). The Muslim Brotherhood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood) are, after all, not just radical Islamists -- they're pretty much the dudes who invented radical Islam. Their obtaining power would... well, it would be bad, especially for non-Muslims in Egypt. And probably anywhere else. My opinion on whom to support? Well, I'm just thankful that it's none of my fricking business and I can't do anything to change the situation anyway, so I don't really have to make a decision. But I am uncomfortable with the level of optimism I'm seeing from some western folks who assume the good guys will necessarily triumph (or worse, that the Muslim Brotherhood aren't really bad guys after all because they say they're not in favour of violence and they only want to form a unity government with the liberal forces whom they're totally not going to kick out at the earliest opportunity).
- nkassis 16y ago
  The support for the Muslim brotherhood is overestimated. By the best data we can have they have about a 25% support rate. That is not enough in my view to take over. The situation in Egypt right now and in Iran during their revolution is very different.
- aurem1 16y ago
  This is a valid concern. But by preaching democracy and human rights on the one hand and supporting dictators like Mubarak on the other, we just end up providing ammunition to radicals of all sorts and driving popular support towards them. Freedom of information is a human right or should be and kudos to Google for supporting it
- khafra 16y ago
  "Support" isn't a fine-grained enough word. Selling the revolutionaries guillotines is probably bad. Providing them the means to tell their story to the world is probably good.

Yes, let's support brutal dictatorships on the off-chance that a revolution might result in an even more brutal dictatorship.

by jbri 16y ago

Yes, let's support brutal dictatorships on the off-chance that a revolution might result in an even more brutal dictatorship.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

hugh3 16y ago

The sarcasm is unbefitting of the seriousness of the occasion. What if it's not an "off-chance" but a 90% probability. Or even a 50% probability? The situation the way I see it is this: currently the bad guys are in power. The opposition forces are the not-so-bad guys (liberal democracy types) and the much worse guys (radical Islamists). The Muslim Brotherhood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood) are, after all, not just radical Islamists -- they're pretty much the dudes who invented radical Islam. Their obtaining power would... well, it would be bad, especially for non-Muslims in Egypt. And probably anywhere else. My opinion on whom to support? Well, I'm just thankful that it's none of my fricking business and I can't do anything to change the situation anyway, so I don't really have to make a decision. But I am uncomfortable with the level of optimism I'm seeing from some western folks who assume the good guys will necessarily triumph (or worse, that the Muslim Brotherhood aren't really bad guys after all because they say they're not in favour of violence and they only want to form a unity government with the liberal forces whom they're totally not going to kick out at the earliest opportunity).

nkassis 16y ago
The support for the Muslim brotherhood is overestimated. By the best data we can have they have about a 25% support rate. That is not enough in my view to take over. The situation in Egypt right now and in Iran during their revolution is very different.
aurem1 16y ago
This is a valid concern. But by preaching democracy and human rights on the one hand and supporting dictators like Mubarak on the other, we just end up providing ammunition to radicals of all sorts and driving popular support towards them. Freedom of information is a human right or should be and kudos to Google for supporting it
khafra 16y ago
"Support" isn't a fine-grained enough word. Selling the revolutionaries guillotines is probably bad. Providing them the means to tell their story to the world is probably good.