From an email to a friend with relatives working in science in Egypt, worried about what's going to happen:

Well, the objection that they'll elect Muslims sorta ignores that the country is 95% Muslim. If they're talking about an eventual takeover by the Muslim Brotherhood, well, that's the bad path.

The published statement by the Muslim Brotherhood carefully reserves the right to object to the divorce of the state and religion. That's a red flag.

Against that tendency is the observation of the shouting down of Islalmist advocates during the Tahrir protests, over and over again. Conceivably, the MB could be forced underground again, politically, their social work notwithstanding. I know it seems trivial, but did you see the cleanup work being volunteered in Tahrir Square? No one washes a rental car. They must think they own it!

Observing the parade of pundits AND actual street and internet activists being interviewed on Al Jazeera Live, which I get on my Roku box, I'd say there is currently, and likely continually, a strong countercurrent for relatively pure representative democracy, unbeholden to either military OR theological authoritarianism. That's my foolish hope anyway.

There is however, the waning, I hope, influence of the Israelis, who are pooping bricks about the possibility of the Egyptian border being opened to Palestinians, who were active in Tahrir.

However, the Palestinians, given access to real commerce, might not import rockets as their first trade item. They might actually just ignore the Israelis.

Win-win, but there's a hell of a war machine built up in the Israeli government, just like in ours. I hope the Egyptians wait a few years before they establish an income disparate corpocracy, like we have...

It's easy to say Egyptians aren't ready for democracy, but look who's talking! How well are we resisting our own religion of the invisible hand in our democracy?

Since I'm not normal, I may be correct in seeing this overthrow of Mubarak as the first in a series, caused by the internet and satellite TV. I must say al-Jazeera is doing a good job!

Align culture with our nature. Ot else!