Mubarak regime in Egypt falls

Another ruler who co-operated with the Western powers and did their bidding is thrown under the bus. Remember GTH's First Law of Middle Eastern politics: No matter how bad is the mope now ruling in a Middle Eastern hell hole, the mopes who succeed him are much worse.

Funny how that's now being played down...other corrupt fuckers must be shakin in their over-priced Italian shoes.

The regime has fallen, but has much truly changed? Democracy may not mean what the people on the streets think it does. Military rule followed by a neo-liberal government might not be much different than what was in place under Mubarak. That type of government inevitably yields a form of democracy that overlaps an oligarchical framework, where democracy simply becomes a process of voting between two rival factions of the same elite. Very similar to the choice we have here in the states between voting for Republicans and Democrats. I've already covered these ideas in many of my other prior comments and reviews. Egypt's military and political establishment is tied very closely to the United States in particular. Egypt receives about $1.5 billion in military aid yearly from the United States, and it is dependent on food shipments to feed its population. As such, it is very vulnerable to external control. Aid (really a thinly veiled bribe payment to Egypt's military and governmen... Read more

There have been two stories worth watching during the last few weeks. First was the internal dynamics of the Egyptian people, military and government trying to make change and at the same time keep a lid on a potentially explosive situation. Ultimately it appears that a compromise was struck - sacrifice the leader in an attempt to buy peace and maintain as much of the status quo as they can salvage. Second has been the American struggle to manage the situation. The administration and the opposition have been openly debating how best to influence events, being less than subtle that they think of the situation as a game of geopolitical chess - oblivious to the fact that in Egypt they are playing dodgeball.

An anonymous American official told The New York Times last week. “We’ve had endless strategy sessions for the past two years on Mideast peace, on containing Iran. And how many of them factored in the possibility that Egypt moves from stability to turmoil? NONE.” Desire for "Mid East Peace" means nothing without a coherent strategy and vision. The Obama administration has neither.