On Mubarak's departure I'm in a wait and see frame of mind. In case you missed it, President Mubarak has resigned today as President of Egypt. One one side you've got the possibility of a Muslim Brotherhood, anti-American leaning nation as an outcome and on the other side you've got the possibility of a peaceful transition to a democracy in the Middle East with an unchanged peace treaty with Israel. The former outcome would be a disaster and the latter fantastic. Neither outcome is by any means assured.
Neither is a peaceful transition in Egypt, and neither is a spillover into other nations in the region. It is not certain what the impact will be on American interests in the region. It's not certain whether President Obama will follow Reagan's lead and flood Egypt with advisers on democracy (as Regan did in Eastern Europe) or Carter's lead in doing nothing as happened in Iran when the Shah fell. I'm not optimistic since the President was virtually silent on Iran during the Green Revolution and schizophrenically was over the top on getting rid of a military ally in Mubarak. Still, there is no reason to predict either way how President Obama will react or leverage this opportunity for democracy.
What is absolutely certain is that it is too early to start making judgement calls either way. Let's wait and see how things develop over the next few days before we start assessing this event as a success or failure for democracy and for the United States.
We can all agree that Mubarak was a tyrant in the eyes of his people and deservedly so. And people here in the West cannot begin to imagine the hardships and travails of life in a country like Egypt or for that matter any Third World country, be it Egypt, Sudan or whatever. Too many of the citizens of the U.S., even if they were to look at it, are too busy whining about their own supposed problems to even consider what’s going on around the world. So be it. That’s what class warfare and the entitlement society have done to us.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as we look deeper into the Egyptian situation, we can see a rather disturbing pattern emerging. Listen to the talking heads of the MSM. Listen to the President and his out of touch administration, Hell, they can’t even get their stories straight. Hillary says one thing. Clapper says another. And the President openly welcomes the very element that can and will destroy Egypt and in turn put Israel and the West in dire straits. Of course I and many others will be called alarmists, racists or Anti-Muslim bigots for pointing this out, but it has to be said.
One only has to remember the Iran situation. Yes, the Shah as far as the people of Iran were concerned was a despot. As the people rallied there, the talking heads including our good buddy “lost in space Carter” went on and on about how the Ayatollah was in fact a moderate Muslim who would bring peace and open Democracy to the country. I distinctly remember the few brave souls who had done their homework and warned of the impending disaster that was coming. As it is now, they were branded as subversive or worse. The world sat back and we all know what has transpired since then.
As the Iran situation came to a head, the morons in the press and government here in the States put out the fallacy that the people of Iran, having grown use to the Freedoms they did have and their supposed love for all thing U.S. would in fact turn their back on radical Islamic fundamentalism and continue to embrace and expand the Western ideals to which they had grown accustomed to. Well, we all know how that worked out! Typical head in the sand gobbley goop from the West and presto!, an Islamic hell was born.
While one can hope the army there can keep the order and help transition to a free government, the chances of that happening in my view are slim at best. First, let’s take a look at the army. They have always been the power in Egypt since the overthrow of King Furuk. No secret there. Will they give up power?
As there is a vacuum in leadership right now can we assume the radical movements, those that any idiot can see are the best organized will in fact take their shots at power? You can bet your ass they will. The head of the Muslim Brotherhood is a known terrorist with a deep seated hatred for Israel. As we move forward, one has to assume they along with infiltrators from other radical Muslim states will do their best to install a Radical regime in Egypt.
It took about 30 days from the overthrow of the Shah, to the Ayatollah’s homecoming and then an almost instant plunge in radical Muslim horror that is now Iran. Is this what one wants for Egypt. And what about Israel? As we have a President who seems hell bent on hastening her destruction, will we come to the aid of Israel when the crap really hits the fan? If Egypt is taken over in the end by the radicals, will Israel survive? Hell, let’s not even go into the oil situation right now or the fact the Egypt controls the Suez Canal. At least Mubarak was honor bound to a treaty and kept too it. Can one even think for one moment that any radical function will not immediately turn on Israel?
That deserves a longer reply, but for now - well put Joe!
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