Saturday, February 12, 2011

Egypt Rocks!

Congratulations to the people of Egypt!  It's so inspiring to see the peoples of Tunisia and Egypt make a change for themselves.  Let's hope that both countries will be able to create a new democratic government of the people.

I have been a little concerned with some of the media coverage of Egypt in the US.  They keep talking about "what does this mean for us?"  And harping on how good a friend Mubarak was in the fight against terrorism.  Of course, they don't mention that one reason he was such a good friend is because the US could send suspected terrorists to Egypt to be tortured.

I am also really sick of hearing how "stable" the Mubarak regime was and how we need stability in the Middle East.  I am all for stability, but not under a dictatorship.  Some of the media outlets have been pointing to other Middle Eastern countries that are stable and what might happen if they have protests.  This reminds me of US foreign policy during the Cold War, when we were propping up these brutal right-wing dictators in Central and South America.  But hey - it was stable!  It drives me crazy that so many Americans had no idea what was going on then, and have no idea what is going on now.  How can a country that wields this much power have people who are so clueless?

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