juan cole pops the bubble on the "iran 1979 = egypt 2011" comparison. unfortunately, he does not address all of the reasons that this comparison keeps being made. they are as follows:
(1) egypt, like iran, is a predominantly muslim state.
(2) ...uh, there is no 2.
and that's pretty much it. if you really believe that the course of a revolt is determined by the dominant religion in the country then you would expect that the 1986 "people power" movement in the philippines would end up with exactly the same form of government as the cuban revolution in the 1950s. actually, cuba and the philippines are at least both predominantly catholic. the majority of egyptians and iranians don't even follow the same sect of islam.
(1) egypt, like iran, is a predominantly muslim state.
(2) ...uh, there is no 2.
and that's pretty much it. if you really believe that the course of a revolt is determined by the dominant religion in the country then you would expect that the 1986 "people power" movement in the philippines would end up with exactly the same form of government as the cuban revolution in the 1950s. actually, cuba and the philippines are at least both predominantly catholic. the majority of egyptians and iranians don't even follow the same sect of islam.
