The attack on our embassy came as no surprise. As a matter of fact, I'm glad we got an excuse to get our people out of there. They have no business being in Egypt at this time.

This exposes the lie of the "peace" we signed with the Egyptians. Mubarak was our ally, mainly for his own interests, but he never educated his people to accept Israel. Hatred of Israel, and even rabid Antisemitism, run wild in Egyptian society.

The tragedy is, this is one of the main things that prevented us from reaching peace with our other neighbors. If the Egyptians showed us that they are sincere about the peace we signed, Israelis would have been a lot more willing to make sacrifices for peace with the Palestinians and the Syrians. Ask any Israeli, and they will tell you that.

So now, all the hate built over the years is exploding. But our hope is that Egypt does form some sort of democracy, and that will enable us to finally make ties with the Egyptian people, and in time, build a real peace.

So yeah, the last thing we need now is for SCAF to take over, and return to the faux-pax we had with Mubarak. Hopefully, now that there are no Israelis there to be used as scapegoats and distraction, the Egyptians will get to business.

Only last week you were writing:

" Friday is shaping up as a significant test of the continuing power of the activist groups after a summer where they have struggled ..."

Strange that you did not forsee the old "divert attention to Israel" card would be played!

Am surprised that you still think meangful reforms are on the table given the constitutional changes voted on had all been drawn up in Mubarak's time by the Egyptian armed forces and were put as a sop to the people only with the connivance from the Islamist parties, your beloved Muslim Bro-hood.

That, prof, is the immediate future of Egypt. Democracy has no part to play at this point in their history, otherwise they would have eschewed a strong-man presidential system in favour of a parliamentary one based on proportional representation - which would encourage the development of political parties - plus clear constitutional legislative brakes on executive power, as Iraq did.

Egypt clearly has many horrors to go through before it reaches that point of political maturity. You are wringing your hands, am afraid.

It's possible to create common causes for events occurring in Egypt and efforts by the Palestinians in the United Nations for statehood. Some connection exists between the rise of any Palestinian state and future events in the Sinai.

If Israel would just make peace with the Palestinians and refrain from bombing Gaza and Lebanon, Egyptians, and all Arabs, would stop resenting her.

It's that simple.

I quote: "But here in Washington I can only urge the Obama administration, Congress, and the American public not to allow the incident to be used as an excuse to delay elections or to avoid serious reforms."

Does this mean, as it seems to, that whether there is to be democracy or reform in Egypt is an American decision?

And what have been the recent changes in the Christian population of Egypt? What's being done to protect citizens under attack because they're Christian. Done, that is, by that scrap of an Egyptian government that exists at the moment.

Why don't we focus on protecting the rights of the majority of Egyptians first, and then worry about minorities. I'm a true fan of minority rights. But Westerners didn't seem too concerned when the Mubarak Dictatorship suppressed most Egyptians--not just Christian Egyptians.

If the New Egyptian persecutes only its Christian citizens, that means it will only suppress about 10% of its citizens. The USA was quite happy to support Mubarak when he was supressing 95% of his citizens.

Majority rights would be a major improvement.

People said to not give up on the Egyptian revolution. Now when a mob attacks and overruns a foreign embassy we're being told to have faith. When mobs start lynching Coptic Christians regularly we'll still be told not to lose hope and that it's just the load crazy minority causing all the mess.

It would be best for Americans generally and the Obama administration in particular to be objective about what is possible in Egypt, and also about how American influence can best be used.

Over the last six months, American influence has mostly be used in Libya. Egypt was foolishly considered a mission accomplished; academic experts visiting the country cautioned that much was still uncertain, but they were "tremendously impressed" by the energy, creativity and spirit of Egyptian revolutionaries. I am quite certain that one reason they were so impressed is because they thought they had found evidence to confirm a narrative about the Arab Spring that they wanted very badly to believe.

I believe this: that there is in Egypt as in other Arab countries no more than a weak democratic tradition. That the armed forces in Egypt (as in most predominantly Muslim countries along with many others) are less interested in democracy than in protecting their own outsized role and exaggerated status in Egypt's economy and society. That Egyptians -- again, like other Arabs -- have been distracted easily by their government before, and can be again. That a deep and abiding vein of barbarism and savagery, present in the political culture of other Arab states, is present in Egypt as well. That Egypt, once again like other Arab states, is ill-positioned to compete in the global economy regardless of the state of its politics. This factor may turn out to be the most important to the question of whether a more liberal political order, once established, can sustain itself.

But I also believe Egypt is not like other Arab countries, in ways that could be important now. Egypt is far larger, with ancient traditions as the leading nation in the region. It is able to distance itself from international quarrels if it wants to. Its protest movement, and I think also some elements of its military, seem to recognize what an historic mistake was the long period of stagnation under the Mubarak government. There appears to be some recognition that the military cannot govern the country alone, and that no political faction outside the military can overpower all of the others.

So, finally, I believe there is some potential for Egypt to move toward a more liberal, less arbitrary political order, with a responsible civilian government willing and able to grapple with the considerable economic challenges the country will face in the coming years. The Arab Spring narrative tells us such movement will be toward freedom and democracy, and driven by the Egyptians themselves without western "meddling." This is at once a delusion and a conceit. A more liberal political order, with better established property rights and greater acceptance of the rule of law is a worthwhile objective even if it falls short of full democracy in the Western sense (as it almost certainly will) -- but it is not an easy objective for any country in Egypt's circumstances. Considerable assistance from the United States and the West will be needed to increase Egypt's chances for success.

This includes material assistance, but also something easier to provide that may be at least as valuable. The Obama administration should adopt a tone of simple candor in its public statements about political developments in Egypt, eschewing the flattering rhetoric about how inspirational the Arab Spring is and emphasizing instead direct, frank assessments of the challenges Egypt faces and how its political factions -- including, indeed especially, the Egyptian armed forces -- are seen to be responding, or not, to those challenges. Such assessments will provoke criticism and argument in Egypt. Let them.

President Obama and his team should bear clearly in mind that if Libya and Tunisia end up as Jeffersonian democracies and Egypt slides either into turmoil or into Mubarakism without Mubarak, the Arab Spring will have been a setback for the interests of the United States. In the Arab world, unless we are talking exclusively about oil, Egypt is the country that matters.

Over thirty years ago, a era of great promise for the Arab Middle East was poisoned because Arab governments rejected Egyptian leadership. For the regional promise of the Arab Spring to evolve into something enduring in the region, some form of Egyptian leadership must come into being again -- and this is also necessary if the United States is to pursue a necessary policy of retrenchment in the region without leaving chaos behind. Whatever else might be said about America's deep engagement with Arab states from Iraq to Morocco, engagement on the scale of recent years is not something Washington can afford for very much longer. The United States has more important priorities elsewhere, and risks failure in addressing these if it cannot find a way to devote fewer material resources and time to the Arabs. There is no such way that does not require a strong Egypt.

"I do not say that democracy has been more pernicious on the whole, and in the long run, than monarchy or aristocracy. Democracy has never been and never can be so durable as aristocracy or monarchy; but while it lasts, it is more bloody than either. … Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. It is not true, in fact, and nowhere appears in history. Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence, and cruelty. When clear prospects are opened before vanity, pride, avarice, or ambition, for their easy gratification, it is hard for the most considerate philosophers and the most conscientious moralists to resist the temptation. Individuals have conquered themselves. Nations and large bodies of men, never" -- John Adams

I think some people here need to read their Lincoln (especially the Lyceum Address). What the Middle East lacks is reason, while mobs and passion are all too common. If the Arab Spring does not result in secular states, the free world should be worried. For the most part the Islamic world still maintains an Old World mentality. Egypt's quest for democracy is alive and well, but the democracy is subservient to an Islamic totalitarianism.

One can make an analogy between Islamic moderates and white moderates in the South during the turbulent Civil Rights era. It was near impossible to convict any "radicals" on crime, because the moderates could relate to the radicals and the status quo. Think about how much more dangerous that situation can be when religion takes center stage.

Democracy in the Islamic world will only be successful if the moderates appeal to reason and develop a secular state. While being religious, I am not a supporter of any religious state including Israel; however, this latest incident in Egypt just demonstrates how moderates are not demonstrating reason, but appealing to the people's passion through demagoguery . I personally don't believe the forms or institutions necessary for SAFE democracy exist in the M.E., and I think it is ignorant for people to believe that any democracy is just peachy.

Recent attack on Israeli embassy in Cairo has disrupted the ongoing preparations for conducting elections in Egypt and peaceful transfer of power to a democracy-based government. This attack has defeated the cause for which the Egyptian revolution was fought and raised suspicion in its allies about their preparedness to lead a democratic life. Egypt’s revolutionary attack is being viewed negatively by both the observers and the allies alike and does not forebode the end of military trials in the near future. Without involvement of something like natural anti inflammatory to repair this chaotic situation, it would only be wise to say that, Egypt will now need to wait for long to achieve its dream of a civilian rule.

ISRAELI DIPLOMATS REFUSE TO RETURN TO CAIRO

Since the attempt to storm the Israeli embassy in Cairo, the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu is making strenuous efforts in the search for diplomats to accept work in Egypt, amid a state of hostility to Tel Aviv, especially after the death of six members of the Egyptian security forces shot dead by Israeli occupation army on the border .

The newspaper «Maariv» Israel yesterday that the search is on for diplomats singles and single women only to work in the embassy, in addition to the continued search for a new headquarters to the embassy instead of the current headquarters in Giza .

The newspaper quoted officials in the Israeli Foreign Ministry as saying that it would be difficult for the ministry to find suitable persons to work in the embassy without having to have families, adding that plans are underway to reduce the number of workers in the embassy to only the ambassador and diplomat, politician and consul-only .

According to «Maariv» that even Jacob Ambassador Amity, supposed for more…www.visionnews.com/arabic

Am surprised that you still think meaningful reforms are on the table given the constitutional changes voted on had all been drawn up in homeideas Mubarak's time by the Egyptian armed forces and were put as a sop to the people only with the connivance from the Islamic parties, your beloved Muslim Bro-hood.