Egypt Bloodshed May Be Ill Omen for Broader Region

This is really f-ked up.

Previous reports here and here.

And a new report at the New York Times":

The ferocious assaults by Egyptian security forces to rout Islamist protesters on Wednesday have reinforced fears that political change toward tolerant democracies in the Arab world, exalted as the possible outcome of the revolutionary fervor that toppled autocracies in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia a few years ago, has faded into a fleeting and perhaps unattainable ideal.

In Egypt, where the first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, has been languishing in detention for more than a month, the polarization of society and economic paralysis have reached new extremes, a state of emergency has been declared and protester encampments in the capital, Cairo, are like war zones.

In Tunisia, the birthplace of the so-called Arab Spring, the moderate Islamist government that took power is increasingly fragile.

Libya remains marred by violent lawlessness and Islamist extremism nearly two years after its strongman, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, was killed. Syria, where the political opposition once drew inspiration from Colonel Qaddafi’s demise, has sunk into a catastrophic and jihadist-tinged civil war, with no sign that President Bashar al-Assad has any intention of leaving power and with increasing indications that his country could be the next big haven for Al Qaeda and its affiliates.

Throughout the region, the demands of millions of ordinary citizens who have clamored for change — for jobs, food, health care and basic security to live their lives in peace — have not been addressed by the political upheavals so far. If anything their grievances have worsened.

“What started out being an Arab Spring is quickly morphing into something much larger,” said Andrew J. Tabler, a scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. In Egypt’s case, he said, “you’re not only seeing unprecedented levels of clashes, but I think you’re seeing the increased demands of everyday people — now part of the governance factor. This is proving to be extremely unstable.”

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It's an ill omen for Barack Hussein's Muslim reset foreign policy as well. He went to Cairo to proclaim a new era, yet America's backing of the Muslim Brotherhood is one of the major causes of the bloodshed.