Saturday, January 29, 2011

Walk Like and Egyptian...


When the news of the Tunisian revolution hit, the only thing I could think was...'wait, where's Tunisia?'  I thought it was near Libya, but truthfully, I thought it may be near the Horn of Africa.  The horn is a mess, and I'm not as worried about the pirates and the lawlessness, as I am the haven it provides to whatever evil wants to hide there (see Sudan mid-90's).



But I looked at a map.  Tunisia is not near the horn.  It is next to Libya, on the opposite side of Egypt (see current map of the world).

...pause...

When the protests in Iran were going on, I knew immediately that while not knowing what the end result would be...anything is better than what passes for a regime in Iran.  I also knew that I was thoroughly ashamed of the response of the leftists in our own government.

...reset...

Tunisia...Egypt...Now the news of Egypt.  If you talk to Egyptians living in America, Christian Egyptians, there is a reason they live in America

I stayed up last night and listened to Obama, Gibbs, and Hillary.  I think they might have hit the Reset Button.  Gibbs is a goof, a person like that should not be speaking for the President of the United States in public.  But I was actually impressed with what I heard from Obama and the horse's mouth itself. 





The danger in Egypt is that we have accepted Mubarak (accepted = 1,000 million dollars a year in foreign aid***) too long.  It is not our job to replace Mubarak, or Musharraf, or Assad, etc., etc., and it is a diplomatic dance dealing with these despots...but our position should be clear.  When revolution occurs, we have to be on the side of freedom. 

It will be interesting to see what happens in Egypt.  Stanley Kurts has written alot on Egypt and the consequences of our actions.

I think of it like Super Bowl XLV - while I know the Steelers are evil, I can't bring myself to fully support the Packers.  If the Steelers win, we know it will be more of the same, and none of that is good.  If the Packers win, it could open the door to a whole new evil... 



***And once again, what has our billions of dollars bought us?***

3 comments:

Mrs. K said...

Love the picture of the horse's ....mug.

LL said...

We shell out a lot in "buddy dues" to petty tyrants and it usually only fills the coffers of Swiss banks -- but I'm a cynic with no real world experience.

The situation in Egypt will end badly for the region because the Muslim Brotherhood will come out more powerful. Reliable reports show that the Egyptian Army has deserted the border in Gaza and the Hezbollah/Hamas types are crossing as a "show of non-violent support".

Shauna said...

hey I LIKE the Packers ;)