I came late to this discussion and I have just read all the comments.
Everyone except SPQR and Divergence have got it entirely wrong.

It is not the evil west or those in power in Egypt that are the problem.
Read the link from Divergence that has all the info.
Egypt has for years been subsidising their food prices with funds from
selling oil but after Egypt's oil production peaked and then gradually
fell until they became an importer of oil, then they had to stop the subsidy.
The increased cost of food was what the revolution was about, but they
do not realise that their revolution cannot fix the problem.

Over the years since oil was discovered their population rose to 80M.
There is only one solution, about 60 million of them must starve.
Then their land will support their population.

Welcome to the post peak oil world !

Bazz and SPQR,
Do you know where Egypt's rapid rise in population came from, It cannot triple in 30 years just from natural increase.

Poirot,
Contrary to what you say, I recall the war in Iraq being over in a very short time and the whole population rejoicing after the statue of Hussian came down. That lasted for all of a fortnight and the Sunnis and the Shites started blowing each other up. Each vieing to be top dog, our involvmet since was to stop civil war. These people are so stupid that they see minor religous differences as being far more important than democracy. The Kurds copped it from both the others. Maybe they need a tough dictator to keep them happy.

Egypt may well go the same and the Yanks are not there to prevent it.

Hard to beat stupidity.

Banjo, I have seen reports that some 80% of their population is under 25.
I think it implied they were all born there but there may have large
influx, I just don't know, but just that about 60 million must die or
emmigrate and starve somewhere else.

Banjo,

So you recall the war in Iraq being over in a short time...

I presume the "war" for you consisted of lots of bright lights and booms on the telly, while the U.S. set about obliterating Iraq's infrastructure...but wait....once the statue was toppled all was well.

Such is the symbolism of the modern news grab....Statue toppled = War is Over.

The "yanks" knew there would be a vacuum left in the wake of Saddam...so it was always factored in that there would be an occupation following the premeditated destruction.

"The yanks aren't there to prevent it."

Don't waste my time with guff about U.S. altruism. They were happy to send Rumsfeld as an emissary to Saddam in the early eighties. Happy they were to supply him with weapons - and turn a blind eye as he merrily gassed the Iranians.

I don't know about stupidity, but it's sure hard to beat ignorance.

Poirot,
You can put any spin you like on it, but the war in Iraq was over when the statue was toppled. No question, the defeat of Saddam's regime.

The population was joyous, but the idiots, the Sunnis and the Shites, started to blow each other up, in effort to be top dog. It was the continued presence and work of the coalition forces that prevented total civil war. The population was/is too stupid to grasp the democratic opportunity given them.

The yanks,or others, are not in Egypt to prevent civil war so it is likely to happen. So much for the Arab Spring.

Syria and Libya could be the same, civil war killing people but they are too stupid to do otherwise. Religous and tribal differences are far more important to them.

The only decent thing to come out of the Arab states for years is that Iran has shown the world how to reduce the birthrate from 6.5 to about 1.7 per woman, by education and contraception.

Banjo,

"The population was joyous."...."but the idiots, the Sunnis and the Shites started to blow each other up.."

The Sunnis and the Shiites "are" the population you alluded to.

According to your spin, the U.S. thought they could just drop in, bomb the heart out of the place, remove the tyrant and quietly exit the scene having delivered "democracy"....then, deary me, they were taken aback when there was a bit of a squabble to fill the power vacuum.

Well, who'd have thunk that?

The destruction of Iraq was an extremely profitable enterprise for private U.S. corporations. There was profit to be made for the arms manufacturers in the knocking it down - and profit to be made by private contractors in the building it back up. Countless billions were funnelled from U.S. government coffers to private corporations during the war.

Nothing short of the devastation wrought would have sufficed.

What a wonderful way to provide Iraqis with a "democratic opportunity".