The Wilting Flowers of the Arab Spring

The U.S. keeps running into trouble trying to reconcile its stand on human rights with political reality and expediency. Countries which it helped or encouraged to liberate from oppressive regimes, have yet to achieve a decent track record on democratic values and freedoms. (Come to think of it, the American record on that is not all that spotless.) The Egyptian experience after the so-called "Arab Spring" is a case in point. The latest figures show that the current government -- which, by the way, came to power after a coup -- has detained 10,000 people, a figure that, in and of itself, speaks volumes about its fascist bent.

So, in the end, countries do what they will, regardless of what the U.S. thinks about them, given the poor example that it sets for them anyway.

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