Down and out in Cairo, a new day's gonna come?
Friday, January 28, 2011 at 06:39PM I'v been watching with fascination the lightning quick events taking place in Egypt. Like a wildfire, the events in Tunisia have spread to another Mideast country. This is huge for our country, Egypt is number two in foreign aid given by the United States, after Israel. Much has been said about this, as much as CAN be said in two days. Is this the same as the Green Revolution that was squashed in Iran a year ago? Another Tiananmen Square, where young people raise up against a tyrannical dictatorship and demand democracy? Or is it more similar to the Iranian Revolution in 1979 where the Shaw was disposed and that fine man who you would invite for dinner if you were serving live monkey brains, the Ayatollah Khomeini, came into power and brought with him the Morality Police and a security force worthy of Darth Vader? We don't know. But I can assure you that Islamic Fundamentalists see this as a clear opportunity to slam, slide, or slither into the vacuum left by Hosni Mubarak, if by some miracle he were to decide to check out of the Hotel Cairo and take a long vacation. Don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. My guess is the new management will evict him.
Dictators are SO predictable. Their actions and reactions are almost childish, dumbed down for what they perceive as an even dumber populace. And usually they're right, that's why there are dictators-they know how to manipulate. Anyway, about an hour ago I heard his speech where he has thrown what he thinks is fresh cake to the masses and announced that he is firing his government, dissolving parliament! He's going to throw the bums out. Apparently he didn't get the memo, relayed by the thousands in the streets, that HE is the bum. But of course, like all dictators, when the shit hits the fan, he throws everyone around him under the bus in a craven attempt to save his own skin.
And while we're on the subject of craven, last night's announcement by Vice President Biden, ending with him saying that 'Mubarak is no dictator' had an ironic and hollow finish considering that RIGHT after that re-assuring 'move on, there's nothing to see here' speech, Mubarak shut down the internet and all social networking sites in Egypt! Now there's democracy at work.
Liberals, wide eyed and blushing as usual with too- many- times- mis-directed idealism, came out right away cheering the downtrodden and the protesters. Conservatives came out right away with their usual fear mongering and condemnation of Obama- "Islamic terrorists are taking over and remember when Obama bowed and said 'why can't we all get along?".
This is how I see it. The truth lies somewhere in the middle, although in this case, I think the conservatives may be closer to the reality. Mubarak is one of the only friends we have over there. But he IS a dictator. He's a craven, power clinging dictator cut from the same cloth as all the rest who is NOT concerned with the welfare of his people but concerned about acquiring and hanging onto POWER. We throw money at him, he uses it to suppress human rights and in return, keeps the al quedas away. Once he's gone, which I think is very likely, there will be a short time where anything is possible. And the fundamental religious forces will move very quickly to inflame an ignorant public with promises of a better economy etc and of course all that is false, but they will say that to establish a religious theocracy. Another Iran. The Islamic Brotherhood, or some fundamentalist organisation will move to sieze the opportunity. The IB may or may not be a radical group, some say it isn't, conservative pundits of course lump it in with all the rest of Al Queda affiliated groups. If the internet is re-opened and everyone's 'better angels' prevail, then perhaps, for ONCE, a real democracy will be born in the Middle east. Will we align ourselves on the right side of history? For once? I hope so, the problem is figuring out which side IS right. And we have a dismal record of missed opportunities. We certainly blew our chance when the Green Revolution happened and our president chose to, once again, not chose. Stay tuned. We shall see.
Reader Comments (2)
I heard on the news tht the speeches given by Obama and Biden were slanted so that if Mubarak stays he'll still be our frend. But, not so supportive that if the opposition takes over we can't have a dialoge with them.
"We" support dictators because they are friendly to our country.
Yeah i heard that too and i believe it.