How should the United States react to events in Egypt?
Posted at 2:15 PM on January 28, 2011
by Eric Ringham
(9 Comments)
Filed under: International affairs, Politics/Government
Protesters continue to battle police in several Egyptian cities. The demonstrators are calling for an end to the 30-year-rule of President Hosni Mubarak. Today's Question: How should the United States react to events in Egypt?
Comments (9)
I'm just glad we have a president with a cool head, who isn't going to use this as an excuse to invade some country he has a grudge against.
I don't know why it is so hard for the Obama administration to show their support to the Egyptian people and say that it's time for Mubarak now to leave before it's too late.
The Egyptian people have spoken, but Mubarak is still relying on the US support. Please Obama, say what needs to be said. People there want CHANGE, sounds familiar?!?!
It's not fair to give someone a second chance when he had a thirty-year first chance.
Every country we interact with EXPECTS us to support them. And those in the country sometimes expect us to be like Santa Claus.
When we don't do miracles or worse support groups that seem to NOT support democracy our actions can have a reversal effect on our effectiveness.
Many times our country supported others because of capitalistic gains and not the honest true humanistic, dare I say liberal ideals.
This has always gotten us into a lot of trouble.
One could argue how do you afford to support anything without some form of revenue.
Heck one of the arguments of going into Iraq was that the oil there could help augment the funding of the military action. Granted that was maybe a political pundit wanting to go in.... but his words were heard and believed. And given our track record, matches our past actions.
The leader of Egypt has for the most part kept the country stable. And maybe that is due to the eyes we see from so far away in the USA. Maybe we are not getting all the news from the country, at least not filtered news. I am tired of news that shines light up our rear all the time.
For democracy to work one has to be educated, both the leaders and the people, with unfiltered fact based information. Granted what I am seeing looks like a long time coming....
So there is a LONG gap in information for the US it seems to KNOW what to do in Egypt.
Right now our actions should be to gain information what the bleep is really happening, advocate non-violence, and offer support to the one who follows this.
List the grievances, and let the diplomats get to solve and find the solutions for those problems. And be realistic on what is achievable and what is just a 'greed' issue.
The US (officially and unoffically) should have no opinion and stay out of it. When the US interferes or tries to exert influence and control, then the US (or any such country) has a responsibility to see it through to its logical conclusion and assist with the recovery.
I feel sorry that the Egyptian people have to go through this. And to those in the US with Egyptian connections, it is my sincere hope that your friends and family remain safe.
Not sure now. The Muslim Brotherhood will soon be taking over. The Suez Canal will be in the hands of radical Islam. Yemen is also having an uprising, so the other end of the Red Sea will also be in the hands of radical Islam.
Mubarak was the lesser of two evils, he acknowledged Israel, he coexisted with Israel, he kept radical Islam at check.
Now, we have another Iran. History repeats itself.
Yet again, our support for a dictator who happens to have a common enemy with us comes back to bite. At long last we should learn the lesson we should have learned from our experience with Saddam, the Shah, and the dozen or so Latin American tyrants we backed as Cold War allies. Start toning down our support for some of the others, such as the Saudi royal family.
The US should respond by scuttling plans to give the president a so-called "kill switch" for the Internet. The experience in the Middle East should show us that true democracy must have access to unfiltered communication to flourish.
I think the U.S. should work with the Egyptians to find good leadership from the protestors to ensure that the extremists do not gain power which would be the worst possible outcome.
It's totally ridiculous that we support a government that does not reach the people. It's time for us to hold to our values and help the populace and also protect our security in the region.
forgiveness for our past support of the repressive dictator can only come with official full-throated support for the popular will of the Egyptian people.
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