Spending our days on the interwebs has its advantages, one being that we come across lots of excellent pieces of journalism. This week, we bring you the best online articles making sense of the horror in Egypt. Disagree with the selection? Leave your suggestions in the comments or tweet #bestreads at @HuffPostWorld.
A Feckless Response To Egypt’s Avoidable MassacreReuters -- David Rohde"The message the White House sent to young Islamists in Egypt this week was clear: What jihadists have been telling you about American hypocrisy for years is true. Democratic norms apply to everyone but you. Participating in elections is pointless. Violence is the route to power. Wherever he is hiding in the mountains of Pakistan, Ayman al Zawahiri is likely pleased."
A Future Worse Than Mubarak’s ReignThe New York Times -- Shadi Hamid"It’s no surprise when armies use force. That’s what armies do. But it is scary to see ordinary Egyptians, “liberal” political parties and much of the country’s media class cheering it on so enthusiastically."
The Storm Before The StormThe Economist"Perhaps, as so often in the past, Egypt will find a way to muddle through. But the situation, which looked a great deal worse after the coup of 2013 than it did after the somewhat-similar-looking revolution in 2011, now looks even less hopeful."
Enough Is EnoughForeign Policy -- Marc LynchMarc Lynch argues on the Foreign Policy website that the U.S. should suspend to Egypt and close its embassy in the country. "The hard truth is that the United States has no real influence to lose right now anyway, and immediate impact isn't the point. Taking a (much belated) stand is the only way for the United States to regain any credibility -- with Cairo, with the region, and with its own tattered democratic rhetoric."
Speak Softly And Carry No StickForeign Policy -- James Traub"Silence has consequences too. To register nothing more than disappointment in the face of a military coup, the arrest and imminent trial of overthrown leaders, and the killing of hundreds of civilians is to make a very blunt statement about the relative importance the United States gives to democracy and human rights, on the one hand, and national interests, narrowly construed, on the other. It is the message the elder George Bush, a master of consequentialism, gave when he restored regular working relations with China soon after the massacre at Tiananmen Square."
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