Amir > Status Update

"...the Islamic Republic of Iran had never found a stable ally among the predominantly Sunni Arab states until it was able to cobble together a relationship with Syria’s ‘Alawis. (Although ‘Alawism is in some sense a branch of Shi‘ism, theology is not the basis for the relationship; what matters more is that the Assad regime depended upon repressing Sunni political aspirations within Syria.)"

"What was more, the military had close ties to the government of the United States, Egypt’s primary source of foreign aid. The continued presence of the military as a public force in Egyptian life served as an assurance to its American allies that things in Egypt had not changed so much that the U.S.-Egyptian relationship had to be rethought."

"The results were fully consistent with the hypothesis that Islamic democrats would prevail in any fair election in the Arabic-speaking world. The party associated with the Muslim Brotherhood took 45 percent of the seats. In a surprisingly strong finish, another Islamic democratic party, Al-Nour, took a quarter of the available seats."