Monday, January 31, 2011

F Egypt, And The Rest Of The Middle East.

So we've got all this mess in Cairo taking up our airwaves. Why do we care? Because we have been too involved in other people's' shit for far too long.

Egypt has been run by a kleptocracy that only differs from the one ours has become by a matter of degrees. One big, glowing difference to take note of though: much of what has been 'klept' in Egypt came from the pockets of American taxpayers. So how's that grabbing you, huh?
All these years, paying these folks to stay calm, and this is how they repay us? Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, France... seems everybody we 'aid' just gets mad at us.
Am I the only one noticing this pattern?

Now we are supposed to be concerned with the outcome.
If we weren't so involved in the first place, the outcome wouldn't much matter. Ever stop to think of that? It just so happens other people tend to get pissed off when you're in their grill all the time. There will be retribution, and don't be surprised when some of the blood gets shed on American soil by some raging Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood guy with a hard-on for Paradise.

This will not end well. Not only should we have learned sooner, we probably won't learn it this time, either.

8 comments:

Brian said...

Hmm...I find myself in the unusual position of feeling the need to defend the American government. I'm certainly critical of much of US policy and most US politicians, but I really do think the differences between the US and Egypt are more than a matter of degrees. I mean, I think George W. Bush and several officials in his administration are arguably war criminals, but he/they were lawfully elected and peacefully ceded power to one of his more vocal critics when the time came. In the annals of human history, that ain't exactly trivial. In the US, it has been the norm for over two centuries and nobody seriously expects otherwise.

Mubarak just fired the entire government to prove he's not an autocrat. That's like something a Russian dissident satirist would have written, except that it actually happened.

RobertDWood said...

Beats talking about Loughner for another week.

Gino said...

brian: i'm talking the kleptocracy. we havent gotten to the point where a president could refuse to leave office, but i honestly dont think we are more than 50yrs away from it. of course, i hope to be wrong, but it will get here. the warning signs have been evident for a while that our democracy becomes ever less as time passes.

PB: who? ;)

RW said...

I'm on the side of the protests. This is largely a secular, middle-class uprising that wants democratic elections. Is it dangerous because it may open a power vacuum into which Islamic extremists may walk? Yes. But I don't think any alternative they would put up would be sustainable. Egypt is not Afghanistan.

This has been internet driven and is an action being taken against a dictator. Some of my pals from a meme I know of did the same thing here that they did in Iran when the woolie-mullahs tried to shut the internet down after their phony elections - helped local people stay in touch.

The harsher language - down with America and such - what should we expect after, in your own words, "we have been too involved in other people's' shit for far too long"? What was "klepted" never trickled down. The hundreds of thousands of people in the streets never got a dime of that money - so to them what's the big deal what we gave Mubarak (who will now retire with that money nice and comfy when he leaves).

I care about what's happening in Tunis, Egypt - Lebanon next - because I have a granddaughter and I believe what we're seeing in the streets of the "Arab World" will do more to counter the 7th century tyranny pushed by recidivist morons in al Qaida than all our bombs and drones and my Marine nephew about to be deployed put together.

Bike Bubba said...

Ya know, as long as there is a Suez Canal, we've got to be involved in Egypt. Agreed that the scheckels we're sending there are largely being wasted and stolen, which rankles me as a taxpayer, but at some point, what happens there is of crucial significance to Europe and the United States. Persian Gulf oil coming to our shores generally comes through Suez on its way to the East Coast.

Brian said...

Well said Rw.

Bike Bubba said...

In other fun things with you meschugenim, it's inspiring to see how much Yiddish is being used to describe the chorbn in Mizraim.

OregonGuy said...

Old Egypt fans are aware of America's important place in establishing the independence of the Egyptian state in the 1950's. The alliance between Egypt and the U.S. isn't simply a predicate of foreign aid. Sure, there is some bifurcation of public opinion based upon our--to date--unswerving allegiance towards Israel--but it is that old relationship between us and the Egyptians that allowed the peace accords to move forward. American foreign policy had clear goals and adopted clear policies to advance those goals.

Now, I'm afraid, the certainty of American foreign policy is facing the same certainty domestic businesses face when contemplating investment in capital and labour. There is a certain insouciance in the current administration's view toward certainty and predictability.

This could be short-hand for they haven't a clue.
.