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The Egyptian people overturned a modern day pharaoh, Hosni Mubarak, to the astonishment of the world. But their society has proven too riven with sectarian, political, and ethnic conflict to give democracy a chance to grow next to the Nile. The reins of power where always in the hands of the military establishment even after the election of Mohammed Morsi. The coup against the elected president in office only a year allowed the generals to reassert themselves against the Moslem Brotherhood. 638 people were
killed yesterday as the army routed out Morsi supporters occupying two camps in Cairo. The country is again under martial law, as the country teeters on the brink of all out civil war. Centuries of autocratic rule has made the countries of the Middle East ill-equppied to build democratic institutions. Syria is in the throes of a civil war between sides that do not espouse democratic principles. 100,000 Syrians have died with the aid of weapons from the United States and Russia. Libya is now controlled by armed militias including Al Qaeda affiliates after NATO "liberated" the country from Qaddafi. The Arab Spring is now a nightmare of death and disillusion. Failed Arab revolts create refugee camps for citizens and havens for violent jihadists. As Europeans found out after the violent upheavals of the mid-nineteeth century, democratic institutions take a long time to build. The United States has been of little help to democracy's cause in Egypt. Despite the coup, it still gives $1.3 billion in aid to the Egyptian military every year.
