Probably Not A Good Week To Schedule A Visit To The Pyramids January 31, 2011
Posted by Benjamin Wendell in World Events.trackback
Watching the video from the streets of Cairo is surreal. In 2010 we have the opportunity to see a revolution in realtime. What might it have looked like if there had been cameras in Philadelphia in 1776? Would it have changed the outcome?
What strikes me is that the people of Egypt aren’t, for once, demanding a more piously proper Muslim government, like in so many Middle Eastern countries. They’re asking for the same things that the protesters filling the streets in Greece last year were asking for…decent jobs, decent pay, food on the table and roofs over their heads…and not being dragged to some prison dungeon by secret police in the middle of the night.
I’m also struck by the fact that while we’re expending uncountable dollars and precious blood in Iraq and Afghanistan, and deluding ourselves that we’re somehow making the world a safer place because of it, there are a dozen other trigger points in the same region that could explode at any moment. Egypt didn’t seem like the most likely, but it might not be the last. Yemen, Syria, Jordan, and Israel all come to mind, and what about Saudi Arabia? When you’re talking about tyrants and despots, it’s really not fair to leave the Saudi king and princes out of the discussion. Mubarek may have held power for 30 years, but how long has it been since the citizenry of Saudi Arabia had any voice in their own governance?
It’s going to be interesting and not a little bit frightening to see how this situation finally resolves itself. Mubarek has called out the army, and there are tanks and armored personnel carriers in the streets. There have been a few reported civilian casualties, but so far it isn’t Tiananmen Square. It gives one pause. The question is whether the guys in those tank turrets and the infantry in those personnel carriers will actually open fire on their fellow citizens if ordered to do so. What would happen if a similar situation developed in our own country? Lord knows there are whole compounds up there in Idaho and Montana dedicated to the proposition that at some point there will be armed conflict between the federal government and the civilian population. The last time Americans killed Americans on a massive scale was in the Civil War. Could such a thing ever happen again? Will it happen in Egypt now? Scary stuff.
BW
Comments»
No comments yet — be the first.