Let’s face it, he’d get the “hands off” treatment from this administration. Regime change seems to be United States policy only for our friends.
Did Obama demand that Hugo Chavez transition to leave office when peaceful protesters were beaten in the streets of Caracas, or at any point as Chavez has used his thugs to intimidate the opposition?
Have we forgotten how Obama came to the assistance of Chavez-wannabe Manuel Zelaya in Honduras, based on plainly false arguments about Honduran law, and then helped organize international sanctions? Keeping an anti-American president-for-life in Honduras didn’t seem to be a problem, notwithstanding the rulings of the Honduran Supreme Court and legislature to the contrary.
Remember the non-interference policy when Iran erupted with protests in June 2009 over rigged elections, and how the administration went out of its way not to meddle? How is it that we insist on a policy of regime change for our closest Muslim ally but not our worst Muslim enemy?
This administration still talks softly with anti-American regimes and carries a big stick with our friends.
None of this means the administration is wrong about Egypt, but it sure would be nice for Obama to start making demands on our enemies too.
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The inimitable Spengler:
"Egypt is the world's largest wheat importer, beholden to foreign providers for nearly half its total food consumption. Half of Egyptians live on less than $2 a day. Food comprises almost half the country's consumer price index, and much more than half of spending for the poorer half of the country. This will get worse, not better."
"The regime's weakness, in turn, reflects the dysfunctional character of the country. 35% of all Egyptians, and 45% of Egyptian women can't read."
"Nine out of ten Egyptian women suffer genital mutilation."
"The most authoritative Egyptian Muslim scholars continue to recommend genital mutilation…That is not a Muslim view (the practice is rare in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan), but an Egyptian Muslim view."
"Egypt is wallowing in backwardness, not because the Mubarak regime has suppressed the creative energies of the people, but because the people themselves cling to the most oppressive practices of traditional society. And countries can only languish in backwardness so long before some event makes their position untenable."
"two-thirds likelihood that world wheat supply will change by less than 3% each year. Wheat supply dropped by only 2.4% between 2009 and 2010 – and the wheat price doubled. That's because affluent Asians don't care what they pay for grain. Prices depend on what the last (or "marginal") purchaser is willing to pay for an item (what was the price of the last ticket on the last train out of Paris when the Germans marched on June 14, 1940?). Don't blame global warming, unstable weather patterns: wheat supply has been fairly reliable. The problem lies in demand.
Officially, Egypt's unemployment rate is slightly above 9%, the same as America's, but independent studies say that a quarter of men and three-fifths of women are jobless. According to a BBC report, 700,000 university graduates chase 200,000 available jobs."
Asia Times
Spengler is aka David Goldman, a writer, neocon and a prescient commentator.
David P. Goldman
The story line is always the same; the nation is run by a dictator, the government is corrupt and cruel, the people are starving, their economy is a disaster, yada, yada, yada. So we have presidents who think that the cure will always be better than the sickness, never seeming to take into consideration they just might be wrong. So now we see what the cure has brought; Cuba, Iran and soon to be Egypt, all worse than before the U.S. decided to help with the cure.
I remember the news stories (we only had the alphabet bunch back then) about the glorious Cuban revolution. Fidel Castro, and his band of Cuban patriots, striving to rid the nation of a brutal, corrupt dictatorship. How grand it was going to be when the people could shed their shackels of oppression. And as that tiny island so close to our shores saw their people fleeing, leaving everything behind, our media pumped up Castro and his assassin, Che' Guevera. And our government stood by, and did nothing.
The Iranian story was no different. We turned our back on the Shah (you know, the corrupt and brutal dictator), knowing the cure would be so much better than the sickness. Gee, that has worked out so well, hasn't it?
Now, history is poised to repeat itself. Egypt is on the brink of turning into Iran on The Nile and then all the dominoes will fall. Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia. But rest easy, we are being told. Iran is Shite and Egypt is Sunni, and they hate each other. Except………….
the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
What then happens to the "Little" Satan? Will they stand alone in a region of large nations that want to drive them into the sea? And if the "Little" Satan falls, who stands next? Simple; the "Big" Satan.
We are in perilous times being run by an administration that seems to think his personality will trump all, and the Egyptian "problem" can be resolved with a simple waving of his hand and a demand that Egypt adopt western styled democracy. Just one problem; Islam is an antithesis to western styled democracy. People have to believe in free will before they are willing to demand it. But when you have a nation that believes that all human events are already predetermined by Allah, no matter what you do, the concept of free will does not exist.
When the Iranian people took to the streets, they were not only protesting their government, but their oppressive religion, as well. But Obama said that was their business, and we should but out. Now, he decides that we should not but out of Egypt, but wants to impose a cure that I fear will be worse than the sickness.
I can only pray for Israel. They are on their own.
well said … but i don't think he'll ever change. it's a personal trait – he's afraid only from those who express threats. his agressiveness is then exercised on those who don't – just a reversal to common sense and to human experience. no one will be spared – he'll throw all US friends under the bus, including his friends. you'll see …
This administration still talks softly with anti-American regimes and carries a big stick with our friends.
As a lazy, arrogant, empty suit, Obama no doubt finds it too risky to make demands on 'enemies'. They're likely to ignore him and therefor embarrass him by displaying his impotence.
It is far easier and more satisfactory to the ego to make demands of 'friends'. Our friends have an active interest (mostly) in remaining our friends and will jump appropriately when asked.
Some "friends" are not too happy.
"US agrees to tell Russia Britain's nuclear secrets
The US secretly agreed to give the Russians sensitive information on Britain’s nuclear deterrent to persuade them to sign a key treaty, The Daily Telegraph can disclose."
"The fact that the Americans used British nuclear secrets as a bargaining chip also sheds new light on the so-called “special relationship”, which is shown often to be a one-sided affair by US diplomatic communications"
UK Telegraph
I think now is the perfect time for Obama to pull out that 'Nobel Peace Prize' and have someone carry it around next to Him every minute of the day to assure us all of His brilliance and vision.
Pew Research has a number of studies on the views of the Egyptian street. They are not pretty. Egyptians claim to believe in freedom of religion, yet a majority say they believe in punishment for those who leave Islam. They hold to the practice of stoning and the chopping off of hands for theft. Not exactly a view that leads to democracy.
Yet, we are being told that these are the people who are protesting for "freedom". How can you have true freedom when you people do not truely believe in freedom in all aspects, including religion? Why are the Coptic Christians still be murdered?
I'm hopeful that wikileaks can shed some light on why we keep undermining our friends. So far, wikileaks has been a net positive.
Let's take a look @ some of Pew's findings re: Egypt:
85% of Egyptians view Islam as a positive influence on their politics
61% of Egyptians were very, or somewhat, concerned about the rise of extremism in Egypt
49% have a favorable view of Hamas (a Muslim Brotherhood spinoff)
U.S favorablity rating
2008 – 22%
2010 – 17%
So what does these figures tell us? That Egyptians are willing to accept Islamic shar'ia law in their political arena. That the are concerned about the rise in extremism from groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and that their positive view of the United States has diminised since 2008.
Oh, the power of null to negative thinking by our current government. This is mathematically dedicated to the sum of Barry's administration whose foreign policy is run by an old Blame America First blonde and/plus the prospects of good things to come in the Suez and elsewhere: Dylan's song, or 0 + 0 = 0, and 0 + 0 – 1 = -1.
Too bad those who delude themselves into thinking they're in (positive) charge can't more appropriately add: 1 + 1 + 1 + [etc] to equal an integer that gets us beyond nothing and to somewhere we all c/should be.
But then Obama is consistent in his policy by your own accounting as much as we disagree with his policy. Given that Obama met with the Muslim Brotherhood in 2009 in DC and the State Department facilitated meetings in New York for groups opposed to the Egyptian government for the purpose of replacing Mubarak, Obama is totally consistent.
http://floppingaces.net/2011/02/02/the-next-iran-reader-post/
Sometimes in defiance of our rational view of the world, someone holds the opposite view with their own set of rationalizations. Remember Obama opposes the view that the US is a leader of (free world) nations, in his world view the US is only one nation among many, thus his apology tour. There is a method to his madness, it is rational from his POV, it is not one we would conceive and therefore one we refuse to understand much less accept.
Regarding Egypt's food supply problem…you know, they have a lot of land and it's really a shame that they can't think of anyone who has some experience and expertise in turning deserts into productive farmland. I mean, who in the Middle East could know something about that, develops technology to increase food supply, and might even be eager to engage in cooperative activity like that? Anyone?
It's not surprising that Egyptians and Arabs so readily turn towards theories that others are plotting against them; if they looked at the real reason why they're in the mess they're in it might actually require some serious rethinking/