ANOTHER CRITICAL VOTE – AT 9:12 A.M. ET:  This is a year of critical elections.  One, a multi-day election in Egypt, is one of the most critical.  It looks like the military will win.  Obama will be horrified, but it's probably good news for America.  Traditionally, the Egyptian military has been pro-American, if a bit rough around the edges.   From AFP: 

Cairo, Egypt (AFP) — The ex-army chief who ousted Egypt’s first democratically elected leader and crushed his Islamist movement was set for a landslide presidential election win on Tuesday, the final day of voting

The two-day election is the first since the frontrunner Abdel Fattah el-Sissi deposed Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in July, a move that unleashed the bloodiest violence in Egypt’s recent history.

Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood is boycotting the vote, as are revolutionary youths who fear Sissi is an autocrat in the making.

But the 59-year-old retired field marshall is expected to trounce his sole rival, leftist Hamdeen Sabbahi, amid widespread calls for stability.

Sissi himself voted minutes after polling opened Monday amid a throng of jostling reporters and supporters. About 53 million people are eligible to vote.

“The entire world is watching us, how Egyptians are writing history and their future today and tomorrow,” Sissi said.

“Egyptians must be reassured that tomorrow will be very beautiful and great,” he said, as supporters shook his hand and kissed his cheeks.

Many view the vote as a referendum on stability versus the freedoms promised by the Arab Spring-inspired popular uprising that ousted veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

COMMENT:  Okay, I doubt if Egypt is voting itself a model democracy.  But the last time Egypt voted, it elected the Muslim Brotherhood, which was a disaster.  I suspect the military government will be an improvement.  If el-Sissi is smart, which he seems to be, he'll loosen up on some of the controls and grant some freedoms, if only to show that he can do it.

A key, immediate goal for Egypt, is to bring back the tourist trade, which is the foundation of the country's economy, and which has essentially died out because of all the internal violence and upheaval.  Another goal will be to strengthen ties with the U.S.  I'd recommend that the Egyptians get to know key members of Congress, especially as the Obama era fades away.

May 27, 2014