As one supervisor informed me ( on the job), "its about deeds, and not words". This applies here. So what, there is an Arab spring. The Arab/Muslim worlds have been in disarray for centuries. Recall Nassers nationalism to unite their world. Recall Jordan vs Syria...Yemen vs Egypt, etc. Israel must NEVER become involved. Stay out of the termoil, except as it affects its security. The Arabs enjoy dividing Israel, religious vs secular, capitalist vs socialist, Charedi vs the state, rich vs poor, Sephardic vs European, etc., parties vs one another. Let the Arab movement evolve...and perhaps fragment, creating a worse situation. Israel need beef up ITS offensive and defensive capabilities. It should remind those that do not serve, that all Jews in Israel are Kassam targets.

Does it matter, the Arab spring? Who can determine with validity, the posture of these countries 25 years from now? Turkey and Iran were friends of Isael. That has changed as we know. Innocous flotiallas have divided Israel from Turkey, AND Turkish Islam. Blood is thicker than water guys. Beneath the skin, all Muslims will always give priority to Islam and Allah. Only we Jews often times are dangerously split ( JSt vs AIPAC, Peace Now vs ZOA, and New Israeli Fund vs common sense. Israelis applaud transparency and democracy over survival. ( Freedom of speech does not come free). Democracy ( pure) is an illusion. The protesters use extortion, not legitimate democracy, which they are critical of (Israels govt). Egypt/Tunisia/Libya....and Syria, may, or may not bec ome democratic. Israel should not always react. Sometimes its better to stay aloof.

Guy Bechor shows understanding of Arab psyche. Can likely leverage this for less aggression if only the Imams can reverse Wahabism and ignorance. Peak oil will see to that when they face hunger and starvation.

And if they did they would oppose it, because they feel it is their right to enslave anybody they feel is inferior to them. Egypt is going to be the next Somalia and it couldn't happen to a nicer people.

Islam for Aras is the antithesis to democracy. The West has an inborn incapacity to uderstad this. What is the weakness of the Arab understading of Islam? That is "Destroy if you want to prevail".

The real question for us is whether the military will somehow yield to forces, most likely radical Islamic voices calling for open hostility to us. The question of an Egyptian military threat is one , considering the threats we have elsewhere , another major source of worry for us.

citizens of Western orientation& values is most amusing. The usage of terms: "Spring/Democracy" is meant to conjure images of Paris '68. What a joke, except that it is not meant as one: it is the rabid, left-wing media's attempt at intoxicating the general public. It ain't working and it even stopped working in Israel: about time too!

Yea we know step #1 is everybody gets to vote and #2 is majority rules, but the Arabs gotta understand that the peaceful transition of power is what gives democracy its strength. There there is the transparency, the courts where everybody is equal, and you take the guy who shot the ex-leader in the head and put him in jail for life, because you don't shoot Gadaffi, you put him on trial and then make him live in a small cell for the rest of his life while you get the billions he stole back into the national treasury. Anybody out there note the story a couple of weeks ago (WSJ or FT I think) about the Egyptian generals firing the members of the central Bank of Egypt and appointing army guys in their place? Anybody out there watching the Egyptian cash register???

and charity. By 1954 they translated Mein Kampf and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion widely in Arab translations. So, voila! Here is Egypt today along with its jizya!

Greeks cultivated to levels rarely seen since invented democracy. Arabs do not do democracy. Islam does not permit it, and their nature as desert people forbid its practice The west are truly deluded if they think you can change Arab Muslims nature to live in a democratic fashion Take women: can you see equality with men? Can they show their feelings, indeed their limbs or faces Take factions : they have fragmented into more than a proverbial 57 Heinz variety. Jews in over 3000 years did not start to fragment till 200 years ago and then into less than 10 Christianity ain 2000 years gain, did not fragment anything like Islam That tells me there is unstability in Islam crying for reinterpretation by the self centred Imams and the Money Wahabis have spent the last 90 years

The muslim brotherhood were absent from phase I of the "revolution" they appeared only after Mubarak was overturned. They are now by and large absent from phase II and allied themselves with the military. In the end they may yet win and turn Egypt into Saudi Arabia i.e. a theocracy.

What did the author expect? That after decades, actually centuries of autocratic rule "THE" Egyptians push a button and switch to democracy in a few days? That's naive. So the author leans back comfortably and arrogantly and denounces "THE" Egyptians and "THE" Arabs as failing to understand what democracy really is. Doing this he shows that HE doesn't understand. There is nothing like "THE" Egyptians, what the current and obvious struggle for power between the military, the Islamists and new democratic forces clearly shows. But instead of going into details the author prefers simple generalisations. I learned that anti-semitism is creating a generalised link between Jews and certain negative characteristics. If this is true, the author is doing exactly the same - only that he puts Egyptians/Arabs in the place of Jews.

Democracy is utterly foreign to Islam. Ataturk had to deconstruct all things Islamic to establish a semblace of democracy (he was 100% dictator) to follow as his legacy. The Islamists in Turkey will within 10 years dismantle democracy in Turkey and turn it into the Islamic republic the populace wants it to be. Islam is like Japan: for democracy to be institutionalized and accepted in the Islamic world, they first has to suffer the same fate as Japan - loose 30% of their total population.

A week before Mubarak fell, Bechor published an article about how Egyptians worship authority and have since the Pharaohs. Now that they have proved him clueless, they love anarchy. The game's up, "Doctor" Bechor. Anyone who bothers to follow knows you have no clue.

...And he shall be a jackass among the nations, his hand raised against all others...

The so called "Arab Spring" is supposedly based on equality and freedom for the people. Nothing even closed have been achieved. And it won't be for centuries. Jews on the other hand never did riot, nor did they kill people for having a different opinion. Jews in general are the most democratic ethnic group in the world. Now that is a fact and does not have anything to do with prejudice.

With fanaticism and lust for power come greed, hate and envy and out of these come public distrust and anarchy, violence and war and ultimately the death of a country. We have seen these things take place repeatedly during the course of history - the Roman empire comes to mind. If there are four uniting factors among most Arabs, these would be: 1) Jew hatred 2) Envy expressed against successful, rich, abundant and advanced nations 3) Medieval primitive barbarian genocidal expansionist ideologies and 4) The anarchy of the street. Do I think that Arabs will unite against Israel? Yes and no. Arabs are incapable of uniting themselves politically. As I've said before, why would any Arab nation agree to become a subservient servant of another Arab nation? The nation that demands to take the lead will have difficulties to explain why it deserves this power and thus the Arabs will fall apart politically - again. Pan-Arabism has failed as history shows. Only two Moslem countries in the Middle East can unite the Arabs - and those two countries are not Arabs themselves nor will they speak of Arab identity but rather Moslem identity. These two countries are Iran and Turkey. Two scenarios are possible: 1) The Arab world will remain politically fragmented, leaderless, weak and pathetic - a toothless tiger united only by the anarchy on the streets or 2) Either Iran or Turkey will unite the Moslems of the Middle East. I would bet my money on Turkey. Why Turkey? The Turks are the only non-Arab Moslems that managed to unite the Moslem Middle East (I don't mean that the Middle East "belongs" to Moslems - I merely meant the Moslems living in the Middle East) for so many centuries. Turks have the most powerful army, navy and airforce in the Moslem world. Since Iran will most likely be crippled either through boycotts and sanctions or Israeli, American and British air attacks on Iran's military capabilities, Turkey is probably the Moslem country that will attempt to take the lead.

I agree wholly with your analysis in #14 as I find the article's title and much of it's content racist. I would not support such generalizations against any large blocks of people. However, I disgaree historically with your #18 post. Israel's demand that it be formally considered as the "Jewish State" is inconsistent with the unfettered democracy you claim. This demand hopelessly complicates the peace process as well. It's no different than the USA declaring itself a "Christian Nation". And regarding your claim that Jews never killed people who disgareed with them? What about the Stern Gang, Irgun and IDF execution of civilans?

Look at those faces in the picture above. I don't see any democracy loving individuals there. The arabs have proven time and again that they can tear down a government. What arabs sadly lack is the creativity, hard work, and self sacrifice required to build a democracy, hence, anarchy results

the myth that democracy is good is being shown by the mobs throughout the world and their self destructive tendencies. When Americans and their leaders talk about democracy as if it's what the world aspires for, do they not know that the USA was established as a constitutional republic and not a democracy? Apparently not, scary but true.

What a great country where people openly give up on equality and self-rule and opt for the form of government that nearly annihilated Ashkenazi Jews.

Is it "democracy" when elections are based on the votes of a largely illiterate population (35% of Egyptian males are illiterate, 45% of Egyptian females) governed by emotions, religious fervor and sectarian bias? Is it democracy when there is no presumption of equality before the law (Muslims have more rights than Christians in Egypt)? Is it democracy when the military controls over 25% of the country's economy? No, this is a dozen wolves and a sheep "democratically" deciding on dinner. And if the Alpha male doesn't get his due portion, he'll attack the other wolves.

The Egyptians are overdosed with islamic opium,the Egyptians don't need,and don't know what Democracy is,as long they can scream :allahoo akhbar,and kill the infidel,they are happy,their needs are different from ordinary people,like food for the family,and individual liberties,the Egyptians need a big daddy that will protect them from the infidels,evil Israel and the American infidels,democracy in the Arab world means the choice between hezbolla and hamas,both speak for big daddy, bad neighborhood.

Agreed but why??