Hook, Line, and Sinker

This is how easily the world seems to be buying the situation in Egypt as a real chance at democratic reform. I've already posted previously about how I believe, as well as many of my fellow bloggers, that this is a replay of Jimmy Carter's disastrous handling of the '79 Islamic Revolution, wherein the Shah of Iran, a tyrant and despot supported by the U.S., was overthrown and replaced by the Ayatollah and his mouthpiece, Ahmidenijad. Add to this our support of the corrupt Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai and, coupled with our support of Mubarak, a man who has tortured family members and willingly tortured innocent people for the crime of running against him for president, or has ordered the internet shut down throughout the region to prevent the spread of information. To be fair, that first was in part due to U.S. urgings. Nevertheless, that doesn't excuse our part in propping this guy up for thirty years. I've always seen the American flag as a symbol of freedom. I still do. I always will, because I know that at its heart, it always will be. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case with most Middle Eastern countries (in fact I think Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has a favorable opinion of us, or had one, anyway.)


The Middle East has been a powder keg for decades. Centuries, even, if you go back far enough and connect the dots. the pro-Western Shah was deposed by radical Islam, Iraq was under the control of radical Islam until George W. Bush sent in the big guns, and still could potentially crumble if things go bad. This, though, these riots breaking out first in Tunisia, then in Egypt, as well as in Jordan, Yemen, and who knows where else? This has the potential to change the balance of power not just in Europe or the Middle East, but in Russia and China as well. Already, the Russian Federation and the People's Republic are the two most powerful players in that area of the world. Now we have the Muslim Brotherhood fomenting rebellion and unrest in Egypt. Whether they're behind the other rebellions or not remains to be seen in my eyes, but if they are, they could very well be well on their way to accomplishing their goal of restoring a unified Muslim Caliphate, which would leave the Middle East under a form of government not seen since the Middle Ages.

Let's be realistic here. The people of Egypt do in fact have a chance at real democracy being implemented, but not as easily as the pundits in America seem to believe it is. We in this country seem to take freedom for granted. Like John Adams before us, we seem to believe that democracy is the rule because to us, it's the obvious thing to do. This is not the case in the Middle East. Before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, there was only one democracy that even came close to being a government of, by and for the people: Israel. Now Iraq is taking its first fledgling steps into that area of the political spectrum and it's proving to be a bumpy ride. Until that began, however, the idea of democratic government was, and still is, seen as downright blasphemous. Government by the people? It's laughable to them in large part because they still hold to the theory of the Divine Right of Kings. To them, the people don't choose the leaders, Allah does. And the leaders do not serve the people, the people serve the leaders. This is, obviously, a completely backwards idea in the eyes of many in the West.

If the situation in Egypt is to have any chance at improving in a way that serves the best interest of the United States and her allies, most notably Israel, then we have no choice in the matter. We must support the people of Egypt and let them know that we will stand with them against any tyrant, Muslim Brotherhood, Mubarak, or otherwise, We must, as John F. Kennedy declared in his inaugural address to the nation in 1961, "support any friend" and "oppose any foe to ensure the survival and the success of liberty." This seems to be somewhat lost on our president, however, who it has been pointed out, cannot even seem to utter the word "democracy" even as he throws out such buzzwords as "reform" and "freedom". Don't get me wrong, he should be mentioning those things as well, but it will all be for nothing if he doesn't use that all important D word while he still has a chance to do so.

Still, as I realized after watching a video at The Other McCain, I came to realize that this is just another attempt by the Obama administration to vote "present" and play both sides in the hopes of coming out somewhere in the middle. This will not bode well for our Dear Leader, as that is exactly the kind of stance that Jimmy Carter took when dealing with the Shah! History repeats itself boys and girls, and never exactly the same way. These events playing out now could have a significantly WORSE outcome than the Islamic Revolution did if my above analysis is correct.

Let's hope it's not, however. The last thing we need is a unified radical Islamic Caliphate consolidating power in the Middle East. If and when that does occur, it'll bring us one step closer to World War III.