The author writes about Russian military involvement in Syria and discusses different countries in the region, including Egypt. He claims Islamic radicals in Egypt are "still calling for a religious dictatorship along with violence against Israel and non-Moslems in particular." He then claims "Copts  are still over ten percent of the population." Cornelis Hulsman comments: this is nonsense. That percentage is around 6%. See Arab-West Papers no. 52.

"The stubbornness of the Copts in refusing to convert to Islam has led to centuries of persecution."  Hulsman: that is a very simplistic and destorted way of describing the history of Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt. For a more balanced description see: the chapter on Egypt in: Freedom of Belief and Christian Mission, Regnum Books, Oxford, 2015.

"By 300 AD most Egyptians were Christians, nearly all of them belonging to the local Coptic sects. When the Moslems invaded threats and incentives were used to encourage conversion to Islam. By 1000 AD Moslems were the majority. Ever since, Egyptian Moslems have sought, often with violence, to convert the remaining Egyptian Christians. Some converted, but increasingly over the last century, Copts have simply fled the country. This is accelerating as it becomes obvious that the new government cannot or will not halt the growing persecution of the Copts. The new government has also proved unable to do much about the corruption, which was the main reason many supported the 2011 revolution. There is fear that there will be another revolution soon, not about radical Islam, but the crippling corruption."

Hulsman: This presentation of history is both super simplistic and mistaken. By 300 AD there a large part of Egypt's population was non-Christian. "Threats and incentives" disregards the periods that Muslims and Christians were living in harmony together. The presentation that Muslims, in general, are focused on converting the remaining Egyptian Christians is not true but this simplistic presentation fits well to explain Coptic migration. Where many Copts in Egypt are pleased with this government this author is falsely claims that the government "cannot or will not halt the growing persecution of the Copts." Such simplistic and untrue media stories are utterly unhelpful to understand the situation Egypt is in.