Maybe we should back him - maybe we shouldn't.
Maybe we should back those protesting - maybe we shouldn't.
While America likes to think of itself as being the World's Police - America is seen by much of the world in much the same way American citizens view their local police departments. (It all depends on how one benefits or is abused by those entrusted with power.)
Mubarak was seen as a friend to the West.
Which is to say; Mubarak allowed the West to use his country in ways which benefited the West, often at the expense of those in the rest of the world.
America's wealth often came at the cost of another country's (or culture's) poverty.
For the past couple of weeks, many young, educated and newly informed Egyptian citizens realized that someone else was eating their piece of the pie while they were going hungry.
The Internet allowed the better informed younger generation to see beyond the state controlled propaganda being spun by those who ruled their country.
And as memes go - this one seems to be transforming itself faster than the speed of a microchip.
The problem is, we can neither back Mubarak nor the protesters.
If we back our 'friend', we are seen as being more to blame than Mubarak himself.
Mubarak would only be a puppet while those making our policies would be seen as the ultimate evil puppet masters.
If we back the protesters, their efforts would be seen as an instrument of the West.
Their revolt would be seen as Washington-made and inspired.
By taking a side we dilute the value of any final outcome.
Regardless of ones race, it seemed that every guy found these girls to be attractive.
I also had another clique of girls as friends who hated the "Joy Luck Club" (As we called their friends and them).
One night, one of the girls from this group had heard that one of the sisters had hooked-up with her boyfriend.
For days, the girls from this clique talked a lot of ish about the sisters and threatened to beat the ish out of the Joy Luck Club on sight.
This all came to a head when three or four girls from this clique spotted the two sisters walking up to a nightclub.
My boy 'Turtle' saw this and ran to tell me what was about to transpire.
"Oh, hell no." I said.
"Get to the sisters before those girls and tell them that I need to talk to them... RIGHT NOW.", I continued.
Turtle ran to the sisters and said as I had said in an effort to remove the sisters from harms way.
As my talking to these sisters seemed to be more important than beating the girls down on this day, the clique moved aside to allow the sisters through their ambush.
I didn't say a word to either group but enough was said by my actions.
The clique did not wish to offend me so they never brought the problem up again.
The sisters were thankful for allowing them so save face so they never mentioned this problem again.
So what does this have to do with Egypt?
We cannot tell Mubarak to step down - he would lose face.
We cannot support the protesters because we would be betraying a friend.
In the case of Egypt - our best move might be to allow the Egyptians to solve their problems themselves.
But this leads to another problem.
If Mubarak were to leave today - who would run the country?
Who would make sure that America still benefits from their country's new 'autonomy'?
An angry mob?
If Mubarak is allowed to transform the country himself - wouldn't this allow him to save face?
(Every leader worries about his legacy - no one want to be thought of as his country's Jimmy Carter.)
For America to be actively involved in the transformation of Egypt would be a lose/lose.
In this case, maybe we should "Beware of Foreign Entanglements.".
2 comments:
I don't think America can pretend to sit on the fence with this one. They propped him up for 30 years and for 30 years these people have endured tyranny and for the U.S and other Western countries to now pretend like they're neutral in this matter would be erroneous and downright impossible. Remember BFF Israel's future and Europe's economy are also at stake here as well as Obama administration's international and domestic reputation is at stake - as well as with other Western countries.
In any case, they're already convening abt Egypt, sending envoys and issuing statements so to me it matters more what they are saying now rather than to ask if they should say anything at all.
BTW this:
"For the past couple of weeks, many young, educated and newly informed Egyptian citizens realized that someone else was eating their piece of the pie while they were going hungry."
Egyptians aren't 'newly-informed' they've always known about the abuses of their govt. In this case, the protest history of the specific groups (April 6 Movement & We Are All Khaled Said) that started these protests goes back a few years. It takes years of activism to get to get to this point of national mobilization.
...peace
@ Kay Dub - I'm not saying that the Egyptoians were ignorant - only that many used the social media to their advantage in getting those who would have been passive to take part in a fairly peaceful revolt. The logistics enabled them to be more effective inreaching their goals. The Internet enabled more people access to real stories that weren't determined by that State news.
But yeah... the US cannot pretend to be innocent when it comes to the past regime - we've done too much to support them and then look the other way when abuses took place.
When people wanted a response from Obama, he should have said less but supported any outcome from a free and sovereign nation which was moving to a somewhat peaceful move towards a more democratic form of government.
While the past thirty years may have had an American imprint - their future should be of Egypt's own making.
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