IN TYPICAL/PREDICTABLE LIBERAL FASHION, NYTIMES BLAMES MUBARAK AND "PRE-OBAMA AMERICA" FOR EGYPT'S CURRENT WOES

For decades, since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Middle East has been caught in this crippling vise. All the ousted strongmen, from Hosni Mubarak in Egypt to Tunisia’s Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, were insistent that only they stood between their nations and jihadist takeover. This was the currency of their argument to the West. From Washington to Paris, the appeal worked. Money and backing flowed.

WHEN THE STRONGMEN ARGUED THAT THEY PREVENTED THE RISE OF ISLAMISM  IT WAS NOT A RUSE - IT WAS THE TRUTH. IRAN AND THE OTHER NATIONS PROVE IT'S TRUE!

... In fact the violent splits nurtured over decades under Mubarak — Westernized liberals against backward Islamists — proved insurmountable. 

SPLITS NURTURED BY MUBARAK; (ERGO BEFORE OBAMA!) !?!?!?!

BS.

THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD ASSASSINATED SADAT AND SPAWNED AL QAEDA - AND THESE ACTIONS SPRUNG FROM THEIR ADHERENCE TO ISLAM, NOT ACTIONS OF MUBARAK OR THE WEST.

... It was not for nothing that Al-Qaeda flourished in the incubator of Arab despotisms, nor that Mohamed Atta, a leader of the 9/11 attack, issued from Mubarak’s Egypt. 

IS THERE ANY OTHER KIND OF ARAB/MUSLIM NATION!?!? SHEESH!

For the United States and Europe, this amounts to a colossal strategic failure. Nothing — and certainly not the outcome in Afghanistan or Iraq — was more important than getting Egypt right. President Obama, who began his presidency with an attempt to build bridges to the Arab and Muslim world through a speech in Cairo, has seen his greatest failure in that very city. Post-Tahrir Egypt stands now as a monument to America’s declining influence in the world, even in a nation receiving $1.5 billion in annual aid.

ALL THIS IS OBAMA'S FAULT AND TRACKS BACK TO THE POLICIES OBAMA INITIATED.

INTERESTINGLY, COHEN/NYTIMES CAN'T AVOID GETTING CLOSER  TO THE TRUTH AT THE END OF THE COLUMN:

What now? A knee-jerk reaction would be to cut off U.S. military aid. That, however, would only increase the possibility of internal and regional mayhem. It is tempting, given the Egyptian military’s unconscionable attack on its own citizens, but should be resisted. The real lesson in Egypt is of America’s dwindling power under a wavering president whose hesitancy reflects that of most Americans after a decade of interventions. The price Egypt will pay has only just begun to be reckoned.

OBAMA HAS BEEN A TOTAL DISASTER: EGYPT IS A MESS; IRAQ IS SLIPPING BACK INTO CIVIL WAR; AFGHANISTAN IS SLIPPING BACK INTO THE HANDS OF THE TALIBAN... IT'S BEEN A DISASTER.

SADLY - AS LONG AS OBAMA IS POTUS - I CAN ONLY BELIEVE THAT THE WORST IS YET TO COME.