Egyptian Moderates in Difficult Position While More Americans View Egypt as an Ally
Taking a middle ground position in Egypt is becoming increasingly difficult.
From Reuters:
(Reuters)—Moderate has become a dirty word in Egypt. Since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi, anyone who refuses to support either side uncritically has become a traitor to both.
Polarized attitudes of "you're either with us or against us" have forced Egyptians in the middle ground to disappear largely from political view, making any reconciliation between Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood and the army-backed government ever more remote.
While the situation in Egypt since Morsi's overthrow has put Egyptian moderates in an unfortunate position, an increasing number of Americans are viewing Egypt as an ally since last July's coup.
Graph from YouGov below:
Many in the U.S. may well be relieved that Morsi, who is backed by the Muslim Brotherhood, is no longer in power. But the banning of the Muslim Brotherhood and the crackdown on its supporters by the military-backed government, as well as the polarizing political rhetoric in Egypt since Morsi's removal has hardly lead to an encouraging state of affairs from which some sort of trustworthy or respected democratic process can emerge.
More from Reason.com on Egypt here.