The Chris Moeller Archives

A key moment for Egypt

The State Department's ball in Egypt is in mid-bobble. Optimism fades.

Are we supporting democracy? No. The counter-protesters, Mubarak's thugs, rolled in since last week. The scene turned bloody, revealing what we already knew about dictators: that they'll use any tool at their disposal to hold on to power. The U.S. has not demanded his immediate ouster, and they're pimping Mubarak's Vice President for less than two weeks, Omar Suleiman, our point man for outsourcing torture, to succeed the President as despot. WikiLeaks-- that name again-- has published evidence this week that Suleiman has been Israel's choice to succeed Mubarak. There are few surprises.

The United States cannot support free elections in Egypt only on the condition that we approve of the outcomes of the voting in advance. That's not democracy, that's imperialism. Despite the increasing threat of crackdown and violence, Egyptians continue to rally by the thousands for freedom, with waves of labor strikes breaking out this week. It's a thrilling spectacle, but deeply unfortunate that the United States government refuses to back these people.

John F. Kennedy said it best nearly 50 years ago: "Those that make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."

posted by CM @ 3:48 PM