Tout ça change...et la même chose

Just considering the Egyptian situation. There was a rebellion against General Mubarak, acceptance into the body politic of the Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi's subsequent grandiosity, a return of the crowds to the streets, the crushing and alienation of the Brotherhood -- and now a return to army rule in the person of General Sisi.

Full circle. 

With the suppression of the Brotherhood, Egypt returned to the conditions that created the philosophy of Sayyid Qutb and thus Salafism, the Taliban, and alQaeda.

Maybe more Egyptians should read Orwell's "Animal Farm." 

Speaking of the Brotherhood, it has also been gravely suppressed in central Syria, first by Hafez and now by Bashir Assad. The problem is that, under such circumstances afforded in Egypt and Syria, the Brotherhood becomes secret and more detatched from the rational discourse that characterizes such points of view in more open societies.

Even the social systems on the internet are less than helpful. Any radical, armed with a Koran, a distorted viewpoint, and a blog can generate apostasy among young and impressionable Muslims. The  social net has democratized speech and enabled anyone with an attitude to broadcast poorly reasoned interpretations of the holy books to an even less informed, but aggrieved audience.

There is also reason to fear the resurgence of distorted Salafism exported as part of oil influence as in the Saudi case, but also the intellectual vigor from the now re-forbidden Brotherhood. There will be more success in failed states such as Yemen, Libya, Somalia, or Mali. There will also be successes in the dynamic of disenfranchised urban, Muslim youth in Europe.

All has changed, yet remains the same...the old colonialism of Sykes/Picot is dead, the new colonialism of commerce remains...robotics and finance are the pincers crushing any value of humanity. The Muslim World with its myriad of human values is so buried under the collossus of Mammon that there will undoubtably be frustrations and explosions.

Be prepared to meet a few jihadists on the way...