Egypt’s Harsh Crackdown Quashes Protest Movement

WOW ... I've heard rumors about NYT being a far left propaganda machine. This "report" has confirmed the rumors. As the saying goes, "No matter how thinly you slice it there will always be two sides."

This is horrible - and Trump enables al Sisi. For that matter, Saudi Arabia and Israel do, too, but as a US citizen I am appalled at our current 'leader'. Al Sisi is worse than Morsi, worse than Mubarak.

Does democracy mean rule by the majority or does it mean granting citizens basic rights, such as freedom of speech and freedom of religion? President Morsi was elected by a majority, but he was affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, whose goal is the establishment of a government ruled by Sharia--religious law. Does democracy include the right to elect a ruler opposed to freedom?

I was just there, came back September 26, and it was purely serendipitous that my ticket was before the weekend demonstrations. It was exactly as written. I could not get text messages in or out via Signal, WhatsApp, phone messaging, or Hangouts, phone calls only and at first I thought it was my apps. Tarir Square is vacant of most government services, those having been moved and scattered around the city. The roads/highways were blocked with extreme military and police presence. Vehicles pulled over and searched with dogs. I was questioned daily, although I tried to turn it into a light joke, but carefully. I would not go back.

Trump is complaining about a potential coup. Funny how silent hypocritical western leaders were when a true coup was committed in Egypt. A duly elected government, the result of a democratic election was overthrown by the military led by the current dictator. We should all be ashamed for allowing this to happen without a peep from alleged democracies around the world, especially us. I was no fan of the Muslim Brotherhood, but they won their election fair and square. We need to stop blindly trusting our leaders and question them at every turn when they fail to uphold the tenets of democracy.

I was in Egypt right after Mubarak fell as a journalist. It's so sad to see them go from having so much hope after Mubarak fell to losing it all, and basically end up right back where they started, and perhaps worse. My thoughts and prayers go the Egyptian people that one day they will produce and allow a loving, kind, and compassionate leader who listens to them and leads Egyptians into the future.