Egypt

The events in Cairo and other Egyptian cities confirm my pessimism about what is happening to a state that is struggling to become a true democracy.

There is no justification for the military government to shoot its citizens when they are asserting their rights to peaceful protest.

No democratically elected or approved head of state should ever be overthrown and imprisoned without first being impeached and put on trial under a fair judicial and democratically approved process. It is no wonder that the supporters of the former President  Morsi are angry. It is to be hoped that they do not turn to violence to register their discontent. It is to be hoped that the former president is not subjected to physical harm.

Like it or not, Morsi was elected by a majority of the Egyptian people so the only way he should have been replaced was by another election or legal and constitutional impeachment. His election was seen to be fair by the international community.

Western governments seem unable to produce a coherent response to what is essentially a military coup. Surely, the response should be simple: military and financial aid should be cut off until a constitutional democracy is restored. The only aid which Egypt should now receive should be humanitarian.

What is wrong with Western Democracies asserting their values? A state should be run by a democratically elected parliament and/or head of state which assures the rights of all citizens to non-violent free assembly and freedom of speech. The state should protect the legitimate political, social and economic interest of all its minorities and it should protect the freedom of worship and the freedom to be an atheist or an agnostic. No-one should be jailed without a fair trial.

These principles have allowed true democracies to flourish.

With regard to foreign policy, no nation should interfere in the domestic affairs of another state without the specific approval of the United Nations and only then under extreme circumstances when international law has been violated.

Some peoples and their states may freely wish to have a theocracy or even military rule or an absolute monarch or dictator. There is nothing to stop us having diplomatic relations with such states or trade with them but provided that they adhere to international law. We do not have to subsidise them, however, or give them military aid.

When they become true secular democracies we should give them all the aid necessary to ensure the continuance of democratic values. This would help to ensure that the West is given full support by the people of the emerging democracies. Supporting military regimes and dictators wherever they are is self-defeating.