The harvest season is over and still nowhere in the bounty is there a sign of any meaningful yield from the seeds sowed during the Arab Spring. Tunisia's Prime Minister has warned the West that the transition to democracy has run into political and economic obstacles and the West must provide more financial backing "before it's too late". President Morsi of Egypt has assumed dictatorial powers. Apparently Egypt has replaced a dictator with strong military ties with a dictator with strong religious ties. Libya has become a haven for terrorists as shown by the deadly attack on the U.S. embassy last month in Benghazi.
The road to democracy is full of bumps and wrong turns but I doubt that democracy as we know it will ever be a fruit of the Arab Spring. To achieve any workable degree of a democratic society, Arabs must break the stranglehold that religion holds over their destiny.
Whoever said that democracy as we know it is the answer for meaningful human rights reform in the Arab world? Taxpayer dollars and American lives do not build democracies. At best they help instill stability. That is the Gospel according to Tony this Sunday morning. Go in peace.
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