Revolution is in the air but US sticks to same old script (addicted to propping up tyrants)

[kpete]

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Revolution is in the air but US sticks to same old script
January 29, 2011
Washington appears addicted to propping up tyrants
Paul McGeough.

Events in the Middle East are moving too fast for the Obama administration to think it can get away with Plan A and Plan B reaction strategies according to the regimes or leaders it wants to keep in and out of power.

Consider the response of the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to Hezbollah tightening its grip on power in Lebanon this week - Washington might have to pull its funding worth hundreds of millions for Lebanon, her office warned.

But as democracy demonstrators were confronted by thousands of baton-wielding policemen in the streets in Cairo, there was no mention of pulling the $US2 billion-plus cheque that Washington writes for the octogenarian President, Hosni Mubarak, each year.

Instead, a rhetorical nugget that Mubarak's mouthpieces would use in their defence - ''our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable'' and then some namby-pamby words about how Mubarak was ''looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people''.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/revolution-is-in-the-air-but-us-sticks-to-same-old-script-20110128-1a8e6.html

[tabatha]

1. Actually, the Egyptian commentator

on Hardball had the correct interpretation.

I hope there is a video. Very perspicacious.

[ixion]

2. Make no mistake: Those who maintain the status quo will fight like hell to keep doing just that

[democrank]

3. Maybe President Obama could send a few million

"Yes We Can" buttons.

[Wilms]

4. That would be a perfect example of continued De Nile. n/t

[MissDeeds]

7. And we excel at De Nile

Or maybe we could just tell them to hope for change. It worked so well for us.

[katnapped]

21. Nah, would be "Win The Future" buttons

And indeed that's what they'd be saying--"WTF"

[madamesilverspurs]

5. What?

So we should run over there and remove Mubarak, inflict "freedoms" on the Egyptians with a little bit of "shock and awe"???

Been to that play, didn't like it AT ALL.


-

[Alexander]

10. Maybe cut our foreign aid to Egypt?

There's a middle ground between doing nothing and invading other countries.

[jberryhill]

12. Which is precisely what the Obama administration has stated

...that if Mubarak does something foolish, the aid gets cut.

[Alexander]

15. I'd rather the aid have been cut from the beginning.

[bhikkhu]

6. From reading the Wikileaks cables, this is no surprise

I have to say, the primary revelation is not some name or other dropped, or some event or other misconstrued, but the large-scale portrait of a US State Department, as an expression of US policy, which is as corrupt as any organization in the rotten world.

Given the opportunity to stand for something, the State Department falls on its face, shoots itself in the foot, has no idea what to do or why it should do anything. Given the opportunity to curry favor, lick boots, lie and cheat, threaten and intimidate, keep secrets and grease palms, thats the ticket - that seems to be the natural language we speak in the world...

[lovuian]

9. yep

Wake Up ....the masses are rising up

[Matilda]

8. The big problem seems to be that there is no revolutionary leader at this stage.

El Baradei doesn't seem to want the position, and without somebody to keep people focussed, the dissent will either wither away, or one of the fundamentalist groups,like the Muslim Brotherhood, will fill the gap. Either of those scenarios would be a shame.

They need a leader, and they need one now

[EFerrari]

11. Elbaradei said he was willing to lead an interim government.

So, there is an opportunity here if our government will take it, which I doubt they will left to their own preferences.

[davidinalameda]

13. the Muslim Brotherhood being in charge would be a "shame"?

I'd say that's a big old fucking understatement

[wtmusic]

14. As mlitary intervention is out of the question, a muted US response is appropriate. nt

[bhikkhu]

16. Our "big stick" is the 2 billion a year in aid we give each year

Perhaps the army would dump Mubarak if that were the price?

In any event, I think its moronic to give aid to a repressive dictatorship, and even more moronic to give aid to a repressive dictatorship and feel shy or "muted" about what behavior we might expect of them as the price.

[kentuck]

17. Do I sense a similarity to Iran, 1979?

I most certainly hope not.

[Baclava]

20. eerily similar to 1979

Tanks have surrounded the US and British embassies in Cairo, Al-Jazeera reports.

"The BBC is reporting that Egyptian Army tanks have allegedly surrounded the embassies of the United States and United Kingdom. This comes after Israel evacuated its entire embassy staff via helicopter."


CBS Radio news is now reporting that the staff of the Israeli Embassy have been evacuated. This is eerily similar to 1979.

“The entire staff of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo has been evacuated by helicopters.”

[Odin2005]

18. The US will ALWAYS prop up a dicator in Egypt for geostrategic reasons.

1. The Suez Canal.

2. An Islamist Egypt will cause the Israelis to go nuts and do dumb things.

3. The risk of a chain reaction that threatens the supply of "our" oil.

This is why nobody should be surprised by Biden's support for Mubarak. All concern for "Democracy" and "Human Rights" by our leaders is for public consumption, it is not the reality, it will NEVER be the reality.

[burrowowl]

19. AMEN!

When will Americans take to the streets, the conditions: poverty, food going up, unemployment, etc. are the same ....
C'est la lutte finale!