President Bush's recipe of democratisation was met with scorn and derision by the very same Western commentators, civil servants and leaders who, since January 2011, have cheered the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood as if it were democracy's triumph and proof of American perfidy for its erstwhile support of local autocrats.

Sadly, that moment of moral clarity, calling for a third way between anarchy and dictatorship, was both short-lived and ineffectual. Had democrats been propped up ten years ago; had dictators been pushed to implement gradual reforms; had the more liberal forces of Arab societies been allowed to organise themselves politically, the landscape today might look different.

But alternative history is a pointless exercise and, besides, even these attempts may have failed. The Muslim Brotherhood is a genuine force with a compelling ideology that resonates across the region. Islamists might have gained the upper hand no matter what. The Muslim Brothers rule Egypt today and may rule Syria tomorrow. They may make us miss their predecessors in due course. And they may forever disrupt the stability their predecessors guaranteed.

As the Muslim Brotherhood takes control of Egypt and ousts the last remnants of the previous regime, its actions are proving how hollow were Western hopes that the Brothers, after waiting in the wings for 80 years, would somehow obey the rules of democracy and let their historic chance at power slip away in the name of pluralism. And it will not be a matter of replacing one docile dictatorship with another. Their policies will be virulently anti-Western.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Egypt, where the next crisis might begin. Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi has quickly disposed of the last impediments to a full Brotherhood takeover of the country and, thanks to a growing state of lawlessness in Sinai, he is proceeding to dismantle the already moribund Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty by militarising the Sinai peninsula, against the terms of the agreement. The Muslim Brothers never made a mystery of their ideological revulsion for Israel and  opposition to a peace treaty with their Zionist bane. Now that they are in power, why should they reverse themselves?

That the Western powers are vastly unprepared is due neither to a shortage of means nor a lack of advance warning. It is rather a failure of imagination and a philosophical predisposition to underestimate or misread the most recent regional developments that have cast the West in the worst possible position imaginable as Israel and Egypt move from allies of convenience to enemies once again.

Idealising protesters while refusing to step in to influence the course of events has not made democracy blossom. Throwing autocratic former friends under the bus has not won the West new friends. And expecting moderation, pragmatism and common sense of elected ideologues merely because of their countries' economic situation has left the West to gasp for air every time the Islamists have moved in the opposite direction.

An attack on Iran may still be the next war for the region — but other scenarios are no less likely. The West, though, has chosen to be a bystander and a spectator in most instances of the Arab Spring. When its worst consequences submerge the region and hurt Western vital interests, who are we going to blame — except ourselves?