"This
is what the global press calls a 'revolution'? Perhaps it is, but only in a
strictly astronomical sense: a complete revolution is, for example, when the
Earth circumnavigates the sun in a year, only to return to where it was before.
… The most eloquent proof that nothing has changed in Egypt is the satisfaction
shown by the president of the United States, Barack Obama."
Televisions around the world have
shown Egyptian demonstrators dancing in Cairo's Tahrir Square because the
military had taken power. But that didn’t just happen now. They have held
power - at least - since General
Muhammad Naguib overturned the frivolous King Faruq in a 1952 military
coup. Then Colonel Gamal Abdel
Nasser, in turn, overthrew General Naguib in 1953. Nasser died in 1970, and
control was inherited by his vice president, Anwar Sadat, an Army
general. After Sadat was assassinated eleven years later, his successor was an
Air Force general, Hosni
Mubarak. Now that Mubarak has retired, the reins of power have been handed
to a field marshal, Mohamed Hussein
Tantawi, who is head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (composed
of five generals). At 75, he spent 20 years as defense minister and is a pillar
of the regime - the military regime that has ruled Egypt not for 30 years, as
the press is telling us, but for close to 60 years. It has transformed Egypt
into what it is today: a miserable, corrupt and oppressed country, where only the
military caste thrives, fueled by corruption and armed by governments of the United
States.
And this is what the global
press calls a "revolution"? Perhaps it is, but only in a strictly
astronomical sense: a complete revolution is, for example, when the Earth circumnavigates
the sun in a year, only to return to where it was before.
That the Western press and television
is exhibiting satisfaction with what happened in Egypt is understandable. A
military coup (an auto-coup: only the top figure retires) ensures the continuation
of a secular military regime (if a military regime can be called secular), which
serves as a barrier against the militant Islam of the Muslim Brotherhood. Apart
from the Army itself, the Brotherhood is the only relatively organized
political force in the country, despite the fact that it is outlawed. What's
incomprehensible is that Egyptians themselves should also rejoice, particularly
since for starters, they are mostly believing and practicing Muslims, even
within the ranks of the Army: they aren't suspicious of Islam.
In spite of all that, the
Egyptian "revolution" has sparked disquiet within Arab governments throughout
the region, from Mauritania to Saudi Arabia. For these governments, the people
can never be trusted. Not because they actually fear these people will, "take
their destiny into their own hands," as the most lyrical voices in the
Western press are singing; such things have happened only very rarely in history.
But because the rulers fear that with all the tumult, they might be replaced by
other governments. After Tunisia, where it all began a month ago, the unrest spread
to Algeria (where, as in Egypt, the military is in command; when they had free
elections, they were won by Islamist extremists), Colonel Qaddafi's Libya, Bahrain,
Yemen and Saudi Arabia. All of these are countries are ruled by old dictators
who have held power for decades or, in the case of monarchies, several
generations.
But the most eloquent proof
that nothing has changed in Egypt with the so called "Youth Revolution"
or "White Revolution" (by the way, we are running out of colors: the "Green
Revolution" of Iran was thwarted, Ukraine's "Orange Revolution"
faded, while botanical attributes - "Jasmine Revolution" or the "Reed
Revolution" - are too corny to be taken seriously), is the satisfaction
shown by U.S. President Barack Obama.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
Following the firmly-rooted
tradition of his country's leaders, he abandoned Mubarak, his faithful ally of
30 years, the moment difficulties occurred, and didn't even mention his name in
the speech in which he welcomed Mubarak's downfall. Without even batting an eye,
Obama employed his most flaming rhetoric, which is perhaps the only thing left of
the hope awakened by his election. He called the Egyptian succession process "the
triumph of human dignity", evidence of what can be achieved by "people,
not by violence but by moral force", and he saluted the arrival of "a
true democracy."
Then, after saying that what
had occurred in 18 days at the Tahrir Square (which means Freedom, in reference to
the coup of 1952) is comparable to the fall of the Berlin Wall that marked the
end of communism in Europe and Gandhi's 25 years of "peaceful resistance"
in India against the British Empire, he concluded: "The Egyptians have
changed their country, and by doing so, they changed the world."
If the president of the
United States really believed that, he would be extremely worried.
![[Arab News, Saudi Arabia]](http://arabnews.com/opinion/cartoons/article267195.ece/BINARY/large/0217_cartoon.jpg){kind=link}