Regime-changers up against the wall in Egypt
by Justin Raimondo, February 10, 2012
Left: A Democracy Promoting Product Supplied by the US.
".......Again and again, US policymakers and commentators have underestimated – and misunderstood – the powerful wave of protest that has toppled regimes from Tunisia to Yemen. It isn’t an ideological drive for “democracy,” as such, or one motivated by the economic downturn, although these factors are surely present: what the “Arab Spring” represents is an upsurge of radical nationalism, similar to the pan-Arabism unleashed by Gamal Abdel Nasser in the Egyptian revolution of 1952. In each and every instance, the target of the crowds in the streets has been a regime sporting the West’s imprimatur. Even Gadhafi had finally made his peace with those he once denounced as “imperialists,” and gained a degree of legitimacy in Western circles.
by Justin Raimondo, February 10, 2012
Left: A Democracy Promoting Product Supplied by the US.
".......Again and again, US policymakers and commentators have underestimated – and misunderstood – the powerful wave of protest that has toppled regimes from Tunisia to Yemen. It isn’t an ideological drive for “democracy,” as such, or one motivated by the economic downturn, although these factors are surely present: what the “Arab Spring” represents is an upsurge of radical nationalism, similar to the pan-Arabism unleashed by Gamal Abdel Nasser in the Egyptian revolution of 1952. In each and every instance, the target of the crowds in the streets has been a regime sporting the West’s imprimatur. Even Gadhafi had finally made his peace with those he once denounced as “imperialists,” and gained a degree of legitimacy in Western circles.
The Arab world has essentially been under occupation by the West since the fall of the Ottomans in the aftermath of World War I. The “anti-colonial” revolutions of the 1950s and 1960s ended in the consolidation of sclerotic regimes that oppressed their own people and – as the cold war petered out – wound up in the Western orbit. Indeed, as Mubarak and Gadhafi prepared their sons to succeed them, these regimes became indistinguishable from the monarchies traditionally backed by Washington and London.
US attempts to hijack and manipulate this nationalist tidal wave, beside being futile, are likely to result in a serious case of “blowback” – unintended and highly unfortunate consequences that will reduce our influence and in the region and provoke an anti-American backlash. We are, in short, playing with fire – and no one should be surprised that, in Egypt and elsewhere, we are being burned.
By the way, before we elevate Sam Lahood, son of US Labor Secretary and former GOP congressman Ray Lahood, to the status of a martyr for “democracy” and “liberalism,” let’s note that his former gig was serving as a censor for the US Occupation Authority in Iraq. Putting him and his fellow “democracy-promoters” on trial is the Egyptians’ way of ensuring he never takes up similar duties in Egypt. "
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