evince
Truthmatters
http://www.salon.com/2017/03/20/america-has-no-deep-state-and-egypt-helps-prove-it/
Monday, Mar 20, 2017 04:39 PM PDT
America has no deep state, and Egypt helps prove it
Like fake news, deep states are real. But the United States of America does not have one. But Egypt does
It’s become the phrase of the week: the Deep State, a cabal of anti-Trump ideologues seeking a coup against a democratically-elected president hiding within the warrens of the CIA, State Department, and any other agency that can be labeled as “shadowy.” *The reputed “Deep State” is the boogeyman of the Trumpistas*frustrated that their president is unable to enact his agenda instantly and without opposition.
It appeared in*December on Brietbart, the alt-right news site, without much evidence to support the claim. *It has again appeared in this wildly distorted, irresponsible piece from the DC Daily Caller, which*fails to support itself even as it peddles conspiracy.
The term “Deep State” won currency after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, when media sources began to debate if pro-Mubarak regime elements might return Egypt to its status-quo ante. *It’s relatively new, and it appears to have originated in the 1990s to describe Turkey’s coup-happy Kemalist generals.
Like the term “fake news,” it has gone viral, and now is being thrown around with abandon.
Like fake news, deep states are real. *But the United States of America does not have one. *By looking at a true deep state, Egypt, we can understand why.
Deep states: ideological militaries who run weak states over strong nations. *
To make a deep state, you need a few key ingredients: like a cake, lacking a critical ingredient like sugar will spoil the dessert. *In geopolitics, it will cause a civil war, or worse.
Deep states can only take hold in very particular places. *They must be secure so a coherent ideology has time to develop and take hold, usually over decades. *The United States and Egypt both have that: the U.S. is secured by two oceans and two peaceful neighbors, Egypt by huge deserts, a treaty with Israel, and weak neighbors to the south (Sudan) and west (Libya).
Both Egypt and the United States*do*have dominant state ideologies: Egypt is still dominated by crusty old Arab nationalism, while the United States has democratic neoliberal capitalism. *Both states run militaries that are empowered and motivated by their respective ideologies. *If you’re a Brietbart believer of the American Deep State, so far, so good.
Deep states must also exist above strong, well-developed nations with cohesive identities. *Deep states function by manipulating the state, not the nation: they must be able to take the nation for granted. *When a deep state makes a power grab, it can only succeed if it’s playing for a very small set of turf within the state itself. *If it has to navigate between nations, it complicates its work, and risks civil war. *This actually happened in Kemalist Turkey: Kemalist deep state coups led to wars with Turkey’s Kurds, most recently when a coup in 1980 helped bring about a*murderous rebellion by the country’s Kurds who felt discriminated against in the aftermath.
Both the United States and Egypt have strong national identities (even if America’s sub-cultures can make it appear otherwise). *Once more, if you’re a believer of the Deep State, the evidence holds up.
Yet that is as far as the comparison can go. *If all you need to believe is that any country with an ideological military and a strong nation can develop a deep state, count yourself convinced. *But if you’re going to bother with critical thought, we must dig deeper.
And a major flaw of the American Deep State theory is that a deep state needs a weak state to survive; America’s is not. *
What does a weak state look like? *For one, it’s horrifically ineffective: not a “I can’t believe they made me wait 45 minutes for my driver’s license when there were only six people in front of me” nuisance, but “I can’t believe I had to spend 2 years, $4000, and know an official at the Ministry of Transport via a relative to get my license”-style corruption. *It is a state that fails to provide water, electricity, schools, and roads on a vast scale*every single day. *It is*thiskind of school system*in Egypt, not*this*outlier from the United States.
It can*seem*like the United States has a weak state when you compile the many anecdotes of bad roads, bridges, schools, water supplies, and other creaky public services. *But this is misleading: just because you know*a lot of stories about a topic doesn’t mean you know anything about its societal scale.
When it comes to the strength of the overarching American state vs. the strength of the Egyptian state, the U.S. comes well out well ahead. *Egypt is a 38th on the Fragile States Index; the U.S. is 158th*(with 1st being Somalia). *The United States is 8th on the Human Development Index; Egypt is 108th*(the 1st being Norway). *The*United States is 18th on the Corruption Perceptions Index; Egypt is 91st*(with Denmark as 1st).
Monday, Mar 20, 2017 04:39 PM PDT
America has no deep state, and Egypt helps prove it
Like fake news, deep states are real. But the United States of America does not have one. But Egypt does
It’s become the phrase of the week: the Deep State, a cabal of anti-Trump ideologues seeking a coup against a democratically-elected president hiding within the warrens of the CIA, State Department, and any other agency that can be labeled as “shadowy.” *The reputed “Deep State” is the boogeyman of the Trumpistas*frustrated that their president is unable to enact his agenda instantly and without opposition.
It appeared in*December on Brietbart, the alt-right news site, without much evidence to support the claim. *It has again appeared in this wildly distorted, irresponsible piece from the DC Daily Caller, which*fails to support itself even as it peddles conspiracy.
The term “Deep State” won currency after the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, when media sources began to debate if pro-Mubarak regime elements might return Egypt to its status-quo ante. *It’s relatively new, and it appears to have originated in the 1990s to describe Turkey’s coup-happy Kemalist generals.
Like the term “fake news,” it has gone viral, and now is being thrown around with abandon.
Like fake news, deep states are real. *But the United States of America does not have one. *By looking at a true deep state, Egypt, we can understand why.
Deep states: ideological militaries who run weak states over strong nations. *
To make a deep state, you need a few key ingredients: like a cake, lacking a critical ingredient like sugar will spoil the dessert. *In geopolitics, it will cause a civil war, or worse.
Deep states can only take hold in very particular places. *They must be secure so a coherent ideology has time to develop and take hold, usually over decades. *The United States and Egypt both have that: the U.S. is secured by two oceans and two peaceful neighbors, Egypt by huge deserts, a treaty with Israel, and weak neighbors to the south (Sudan) and west (Libya).
Both Egypt and the United States*do*have dominant state ideologies: Egypt is still dominated by crusty old Arab nationalism, while the United States has democratic neoliberal capitalism. *Both states run militaries that are empowered and motivated by their respective ideologies. *If you’re a Brietbart believer of the American Deep State, so far, so good.
Deep states must also exist above strong, well-developed nations with cohesive identities. *Deep states function by manipulating the state, not the nation: they must be able to take the nation for granted. *When a deep state makes a power grab, it can only succeed if it’s playing for a very small set of turf within the state itself. *If it has to navigate between nations, it complicates its work, and risks civil war. *This actually happened in Kemalist Turkey: Kemalist deep state coups led to wars with Turkey’s Kurds, most recently when a coup in 1980 helped bring about a*murderous rebellion by the country’s Kurds who felt discriminated against in the aftermath.
Both the United States and Egypt have strong national identities (even if America’s sub-cultures can make it appear otherwise). *Once more, if you’re a believer of the Deep State, the evidence holds up.
Yet that is as far as the comparison can go. *If all you need to believe is that any country with an ideological military and a strong nation can develop a deep state, count yourself convinced. *But if you’re going to bother with critical thought, we must dig deeper.
And a major flaw of the American Deep State theory is that a deep state needs a weak state to survive; America’s is not. *
What does a weak state look like? *For one, it’s horrifically ineffective: not a “I can’t believe they made me wait 45 minutes for my driver’s license when there were only six people in front of me” nuisance, but “I can’t believe I had to spend 2 years, $4000, and know an official at the Ministry of Transport via a relative to get my license”-style corruption. *It is a state that fails to provide water, electricity, schools, and roads on a vast scale*every single day. *It is*thiskind of school system*in Egypt, not*this*outlier from the United States.
It can*seem*like the United States has a weak state when you compile the many anecdotes of bad roads, bridges, schools, water supplies, and other creaky public services. *But this is misleading: just because you know*a lot of stories about a topic doesn’t mean you know anything about its societal scale.
When it comes to the strength of the overarching American state vs. the strength of the Egyptian state, the U.S. comes well out well ahead. *Egypt is a 38th on the Fragile States Index; the U.S. is 158th*(with 1st being Somalia). *The United States is 8th on the Human Development Index; Egypt is 108th*(the 1st being Norway). *The*United States is 18th on the Corruption Perceptions Index; Egypt is 91st*(with Denmark as 1st).
