Is America Behind an Iron Curtain of Silence re Egypt???

Egypt had the most riveting pro-democracy revolution of the Arab Spring, as millions turned out to demonstrate for their rights to live without the oppression of a dictator, and famously ousted longtime strongman Hosny Mubarak. That was certainly a miracle. At the time, the US and other democracies had no choice but to applaud the will of the people, especially as they rose up peacefully, the violence all coming from Mubarak's side. Further, theirs was an essentially liberal secular movement spearheaded by the youth of Egypt, who were nonetheless savvy enough to join hands with the Muslim Brotherhood, the only significant opposition allowed by Mubarak's government. They also notably united Christians and Muslims, even inventing a sign of this cooperation combining the crescent with the cross. This was unprecedented. The mood after Mubarak stepped down was euphoric. Peace reigned the streets, citizens happily performed public services such as street sweeping and policing/security. I remind us of all this because now it seems like a world light-years away. All of that goodwill and hope has been decimated. Egypt is now run by a dictatorship and overbearing military-police takeover that makes Mubarak look tame in comparison.

How did this happen? We all know there were elections. But did we know they were railroaded forward too fast by the Egyptian armed forces? We all know the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Muhammad Morsi was elected President. But did we know that he was not the brotherhood's first or even second choice, that the more charismatic and experienced first choice was forced out of the running by the Egyptian armed forces? We all know that Egyptians were unhappy with Morsi's favoritism toward brotherhood members and causes was angering the Egyptian people, but was that really the issue? We may also have heard that Morsi was an incompetent leader in many ways, leading to unhappiness among Egyptians with his presidency. Egyptian media was giving a daily accounting of the sins of Morsi at the time. But did anyone hear that the Egyptian armed forces wanted Morsi as a weaker personality they could manipulate or throw out if he proved problematic? Of course, he cut off his own foot by railroading a quickie constitution to the shock of the citizens who expected more democracy than that. But who heard about the Armed forces planning a coup all along to return Egypt to a dictatorship with the military-police complex again supreme, and that Morsi was to them nothing more than a stooge to throw off the burden of pro-democracy sympathy?

We all know there was a coup in Egypt. But why doesn't the US recognize it as such? That would mean the US would have to cut funding for Egypt completely. So why don't they do that? Because first, the US needs a dictator in place in Egypt to be able to control Egyptian policies towards Israel and America, and to prevent what some fear as an Islamic takeover of the Middle East, or worse, a democratic takeover of the Arab Street in the Middle East. The US buys Egyptian cooperation and "stability," code for loyalty to Camp David and continuing friendly relations with Israel. Human rights, the misery of ordinary Egyptians, egregious domestic policy are all collateral damage. Who cares? Our self-interest über alles. The coup benefits our self-interest. So why would we even bother to concern ourselves with the torture, the mass murder, the degradation of innocents and especially women, or the police state control on basic freedoms under Sisi, if we get perks out of it?

It's a huge disappointment that President Obama, after all his apparent interest in human rights and democracy, would wet-blanket the public recognition of Egypt as having had a coup. Is there more to this than meets the eye? Yeah, there's a whole lot more. But who knew, who hears about it, who knows a single thing about Egypt?  Did CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, PBS, or any of their affiliates, ever report about life under Sisi? Did you ever hear about the atrocities, about the mosques they leveled, the 4,000+ innocent citizens murdered in cold blood for protesting, the wounded thrown in prisons and left to die for trying to report and get treatment for those wounds, the unspeakable beatings, starvation and abuse at the hands of police and army against their own citizens they are supposed to allegedly protect? Is this not newsworthy? Is Egypt so insignificant? Or is the US hiding something? Is the US complicit in this coup? Why else would we be kept in this news blackout? Are we living, unbeknownst to us, behind an iron curtain of silence on Egypt and other issues that we have less than stellar sticky fingers poking in, and don't want to get caught? What happened to the media, to journalism? Something is very very wrong here...

Next I will bring you some of the details you missed about the dirty little coup that could. Could strongarm with the stupidity and brutality of...of...I'm at a loss for words. Stay tuned.