Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Tunisia, Algeria
That’s what I call a clusterfuck of mammoth proportions, and it’s a hugely complicated problem: it’s very difficult NOT to celebrate popular revolts against dictators. At the same time, these dictators have been propped up by the United States government, and there’s every reason to expect that if the revolutionaries win, there will be negative ramifications for our people, even those of us who never signed onto those policies of repression. Or to put it this way: I don’t think many people were sad to see the Shah of Iran get toppled, but I don’t think too many people were happy to see a hardline Islamic theocracy, and deeply hostile to the US to boot, take power.
As usual, I wonder how stupid a leader has to be to not understand that when you keep your people well-fed, gainfully employed with a salary that can support a family, largely left to say and do what they want, and generally content, you don’t get violent revolutions. Mubarek and the rest brought this on themselves.
For that matter, any blowback the US experiences is also self-inflicted. I think it’s good that Obama and Secretary of State Clinton seem to be sending messages that if the protestors win, the US won’t stand in their way, but the most I see that accomplishing is taking the sharpest edge off of what’s going to be a very difficult needle to thread.
