It’s back to Egypt we go. Peaceful protests lasted long enough for most protesters to catch a shower, have a quick dinner, before going back out to face the new music. And the music isn’t soothing or attended by veiled women sensually gyrating to sounds of violence. Now there are camels in Tahrir Square, carrying thugs with clubs to beat the heat out of the disgruntled masses. Suddenly, Mubarak supporter’s are descending on the scene of distress ready and willing to create a bloody mess.
And a big fat mess it is. When Anderson Cooper is bashed over his silvery head, you just have to know he’s not in Manhattan anymore. Where is Brian Williams hiding-out? In a very secret safe zone, that’s where. Little tents can be seen in the background of his day time reports, while he tells us that he is, in essence, staying clear of flying fists and extreme hissy-fits.
I don’t hold that against any journalist in Cairo right now. No reporters had been attacked until Mubarak’s supporters/henchmen arrived to cut off the talking heads of universal information. President Mubarak may have been, and could remain so, a helpful force in Middle East stability; however, shutting down communication outlets, targeting (it would seem) anyone with a microphone, is serious mean sheet.
Now that Mubarak’s proposed exit in the fall of this year has done nothing to quell the outraged, we can expect to see a significant continuation of mass hostile responses from all sides escalating to a crescendo of a true revolution most of us haven’t witnessed in a very long time – if ever.
Who wouldn’t be pissed after 30 years of faux democracy without the perks of a true democracy? Hmmm. What perks? Right now America is slowly going the way of Egypt with regard to poverty, unemployment….
The difference is that our Mubarak has been in the form of Wall Street and Investment Bankers…the CEO’s of the Hallowed Halls of Greed. A mass protest against the guilty in those institutions would end up with most of the masses further in debt when they realize their wallets were cleverly snagged by the slick little pick-pocketer’s in the crowd. After all, like attracts like…chances are most would be employees of the corporations in question. Gotta get as much money out of the great unwashed as is possible, right?
One element of the riveting unrest in Egypt is the drumbeat of comparing Obama’s response to those of other president’s when faced with great international challenges. By now, I’m sure that most of you who follow the news have heard at least one pundit use Reagan’s “tear down that wall” as a primo example of leadership. My opinion is that Obama has been excellent in the wake of this latest Middle East human quake.
Unlike America’s relationship with Russia at the time of Reagan’s famous pronouncement, a wall going down between two sections of a country promised stability in the region rather than disastrous instability as we now face with an impending new government in Egypt. As Egyptian dominoes fall, so does Jordan, Israel, Yemen, China. Those countries in that lineup would give any person cause for pause before stepping in front of a microphone and demanding the removal of another country’s leader.
Either way, Obama/the U.S., is between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Fancy dancing is required to appease all concerned. What is said now could reverberate through the Middle East ad infinitum, bringing either more hate toward the United States or a wave of relief.
It’s true that no one can please all of the people all of the time, and yet Obama has been receiving good marks from unusual sources such as John The Pain McCain and Bill O’Reilly - of all people. I don’t want a reactionary loose-lipped president standing at a podium bow-legged from a day at the ranch spewing incomprehensible babble-talk at a time like this. A calm, steady and firm mind must flow with the events until all ducks, so to speak, are lined-up. Meaning, I’m sure the White House phone lines are sizzling between Jordan, Israel, Yemen, China (shah), among other country’s leaders to find a way to handle what’s lurking beneath Egypt’s many sand dunes.
So far, all I can see as the outcome is yet another rock falling off of The Great Pyramid from further erosion via the toxic air.
Developing……
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