After Mubarak's departure today, who will assume legitimate leadership roles in Cairo? How will American foreign aid be "distributed?" Apparently no one in the White House is willing to say whether the Muslim Brotherhood will get its mitts on our filthy American dollars. That unwillingness, in itself, leads me to raise both eyebrows, and to harbor even deeper displeasure not only that Barack Obama sits in the Oval Office, but also that he will not rule out sitting at table with jackals.
These filthy American dollars of which the White House is so loathe to discuss are in addition to the current $1.3 billion we already pump into Egypt's military. If we turn off the aid spigot, who will step in to fill the bucket again? Friend or foe?
Do we truly even have any friends abroad anymore?
The Egyptian Army is probably the safest option to maintain a semblance of stabililty in the region for the time being, but who among the opposition parties has the big picture in mind as the youth of Egypt keep the Bacchanalia of Freedom alive in the streets? Who among the opposition parties has enough trust in (and the trust of) the Army to be able to work with it come election time? Who among the opposition will adhere to the fragile notion that Israel does indeed have the right to exist? Who can resist the seductive lure of caliphate?
A solution to this modern Egyptian mystery is going to be difficult to wait out.
Can't remember where I heard it, but it went kind of like this:
ReplyDelete"So they (Egypt) have one of the world's oldest civilizations. So what. They've lived there for 10,000 years and they still haven't figured out how to grow their own wheat. Now we're supposed to suddenly believe they're capable of self-governance?"
People are championing the "freedom" of the Egyptian people... like they have a Judeo-Christian American mindset.
ReplyDelete"Isn't this wonderful?"
Freedom... really?
Free to do what? Kill us? Destroy the capitalist, Jew-loving, American infidels?
They did NOT share our worldview... therefore "freedom" is a scary thing. Democracy in the hands of the wrong people is not a good thing. The Founding fathers were very wise in this regard.
I'm not saying I am against the Egyptians or in them having a better life. I'm just saying... this may not be as wonderful as everyone makes it out to be.
Who among the opposition parties...
ReplyDeleteWHAT opposition parties? Mubarak managed to stifle most of the formal "opposition," according to what I've been reading/hearing. The Talking Heads I've seen maintain it will take at least a year for political parties to be formed and organized.
I still think giving the military control of the country was the best option. Then again, I could put the sum total of what I know about Egypt in my eye and it wouldn't water.
Yep. To all of the above.
ReplyDeleteWhile I believe it's never a wholly bad thing when a tyrant is overthrown, neither is it wholly a good thing. Freedom to do what?. Precisely.
But, wouldn't it be cool if we could send a bunch of Egyptian/Tunisian "youths" to Venezuela?