Michael Totten reflects on his most recent visit to the country:
Egypt does feel more pluralistic to me now than it did just a few years ago, and a few years ago it was more pluralistic—if still authoritarian—than during the early days of Nasser's rule. At the same time, the country is terribly weighed down by despotic traditions and habits that go back thousands of years. Which means that these three figures [Gamal Abdel Gawad Soltan, Hala Mustafa, and Ezzedine Choukri Fishere], who are among the more sober of Egypt's liberals, are probably correct in declining to characterize the country's nascent culture as democratic. It is not so easy to pitch 7,000 years of heavy history over the side.
The Dish 