Egyptian election followup

Yeah, I know. What's important about Egypt?
Plenty.
If the US expects that the sacrifices of more than two thousand of our military is to have meaning in the much-advertised fight for democracy in the region, then elections -- however misshapen they may be -- are the pulse of that dynamic. When the word "democracy" is used, our most important allies, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, ain't seriously on the list. Egypt is getting there. When and if the results are in for the region, I don't think most Americans will want to hear the vox populi of the Middle East.

My post about the election shows my own meager background.

Yesterday, Mark Lynch, The Aardvark weighed in.

Hopes for a democratic domino effect, where televised images of voting Egyptians inspire other Arabs to demand the same, are long gone. Al-Jazeera and even al-Hurra (which benefits from a talented Egyptian correspondent) have shown the regime's depradations in such graphic detail that few Arabs will come away inspired. Predictably, the Egyptian regime has respnded by arresting the al-Jazeera team, and Issandr el-Amrani notes that al-Jazeera appears to be jammed in Egypt right now, perhaps because they are showing riots in Mansoura. This isn't the first time -

Reuters reports that a number of journalists are getting arrested and roughed up for their coverage. And here's the kicker: the Bush administration did belatedly, and rather meekly, complain about the violence and call on the Egyptian regime to keep the elections honest. And the Egyptians simply ignored it. So much for American
credibility.

He also liked Baheyya's observations.

Looks like the picture of voters climbing makeshift ladders to vote will mark this historical event. Too bad. I liked the one I posted better, but it is too derivative of the Tienanmen Square image to take first place.