Egypt's Morsi Now the Boss with the U.S.

Mohamed Morsi, Egpyt’s President and former (sic) head of the Muslim Brotherhood, has decided he is the one to decide the terms of the United States-Egypt relationship. When asked why he took his own sweet time condemning protestors who climbed over the United States Embassy wall and burned the American flag, he said, “We can never condone this kind of violence, but we need to deal with the situation wisely.”

Morsi had a disingenuous answer for those who would question why a supposed democracy would behave in ways alien to the West:

“If you want to judge the performance of the Egyptian people by the standards of German or Chinese or American culture, then there is no room for judgment. When the Egyptians decide something, probably it is not appropriate for the U.S. When the Americans decide something, this, of course, is not appropriate for Egypt.”

It must be small-minded of us to question why Coptic Christians are being crucified in Egypt.

And, of course, the Islamic hatred of America is our fault:

“Successive American administrations essentially purchased with American taxpayer money the dislike, if not the hatred, of the peoples of the region.”

I guess they don’t remember who helped the Arab states figure out that there was oil under all that sand.

When it was mentioned that the Egyptian generals voluntarily removed themselves from opposition to his government, Morsi jumped in to make his case that he was simply reflecting the will of the people:

“No, no, it is not that they ‘decided’ to do it. This is the will of the Egyptian people through the elected president, right?”

Of course he belied that impression immediately:

“The president of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the commander of the armed forces, full stop. Egypt now is a real civil state. It is not theocratic, it is not military. It is democratic, free, constitutional, lawful and modern. We are behaving according to the Egyptian people’s choice and will, nothing else — is it clear?”

If anyone thinks for a minute that Morsi isn’t still joined at the hip with the Muslim Brotherhood, try this:

“I grew up with the Muslim Brotherhood. I learned my principles in the Muslim Brotherhood. I learned how to love my country with the Muslim Brotherhood. I learned politics with the Brotherhood. I was a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

And the Muslim Brotherhood believes in this kind of democracy: Morsi reiterated the religious arguments he championed when he ran the Brotherhood that neither a woman nor a Christian would be a suitable president: “We are talking about values, beliefs, cultures, history, reality,” he said, adding that the Islamic position on presidential eligibility would have to be decided by Muslim scholars.

The Muslim Brotherhood is determined to make sharia the law of every land they inhabit. And now one of their leaders is dictating policy to the United States. It’s an unequal fight; there is simply no comparison between Morsi’s determination and Barack Obama’s weakness.