As rebellions sweep the Middle East, US rulers are desperate to preserve the empire
A GOOD PIECE
by Justin Raimondo, May 16, 2011
"The tides of history are moving fast, these days. It’s hard for the average human being – who, after all, has a life to live, filled with troubles that are small in scale but no less earthshaking to the individuals experiencing them – to make sense of it all. Indeed, even the so-called “experts” are baffled, at this point – with US policymakers among the most clueless, and the most resistant to the great sea change enveloping much of the world.
As Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad unleashes his security forces on youthful protesters, across the way the Israelis are doing the same as youthful Palestinians mark the “Nakba” by demonstrating – and being fired on for their trouble, with 20 killed as of this writing. In Yemen, the “President” declares he’s not going anywhere, as protesters demand his exit, and in Bahrain King Hamad – a key US ally – is defiantly holding on to his throne in spite of demands that he step down.
In short, all the old regimes are besieged by the same storm, clinging desperately to power like barnacles on a rock – but with none of the staying power of those indefatigable mollusks. Without falling into some determinist eschatology, it’s safe to say, I think, that all of these regimes are doomed: the Israelis by demography, the Arab monarchies by the very forces of modernity that ended the reign of kings in Europe (and America) long ago......
It could end in a new Arab Enlightenment, the restoration of a high civilization that fell into Ottomanized decay and eventual ruin, or it could climax in a orgy of self-immolation and a regional war that will plunge the Middle East back into the darkness. Yet it is possible to draw at least one conclusion from the current chaos, and it is this: the US must get out of the way....."
A GOOD PIECE
by Justin Raimondo, May 16, 2011
"The tides of history are moving fast, these days. It’s hard for the average human being – who, after all, has a life to live, filled with troubles that are small in scale but no less earthshaking to the individuals experiencing them – to make sense of it all. Indeed, even the so-called “experts” are baffled, at this point – with US policymakers among the most clueless, and the most resistant to the great sea change enveloping much of the world.
As Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad unleashes his security forces on youthful protesters, across the way the Israelis are doing the same as youthful Palestinians mark the “Nakba” by demonstrating – and being fired on for their trouble, with 20 killed as of this writing. In Yemen, the “President” declares he’s not going anywhere, as protesters demand his exit, and in Bahrain King Hamad – a key US ally – is defiantly holding on to his throne in spite of demands that he step down.
In short, all the old regimes are besieged by the same storm, clinging desperately to power like barnacles on a rock – but with none of the staying power of those indefatigable mollusks. Without falling into some determinist eschatology, it’s safe to say, I think, that all of these regimes are doomed: the Israelis by demography, the Arab monarchies by the very forces of modernity that ended the reign of kings in Europe (and America) long ago......
It could end in a new Arab Enlightenment, the restoration of a high civilization that fell into Ottomanized decay and eventual ruin, or it could climax in a orgy of self-immolation and a regional war that will plunge the Middle East back into the darkness. Yet it is possible to draw at least one conclusion from the current chaos, and it is this: the US must get out of the way....."
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