Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Tunisia's Spark and Egypt's Flame: the Middle East is Rising

by Phyllis Bennis from Foreign Policy in Focus.
Stirrings of popular dissent are already underway in Yemen and Jordan too. All the other U.S.-backed monarchies and pseudo-democracies across the region are feeling the heat. The U.S. empire in the region is crumbling.
This commentator from a liberal think tank provides a useful framework to view the events unfolding in the Middle East, especially in Egypt. 

As many pundits in mainstream media have correctly stated, the events there pose some very difficult problems for the US Empire. Egypt is a kind of lynch pin for the Empire's control of the Mid-East. Also, it must be noted that Zionists exert considerable  influence in the US ruling class. If Egypt were to come under the control of real popular power, it would be very threatening to the Empire.  For both of these reasons, I think it is likely that the Empire's agents will do everything they can to prevent any popular regime coming to power in Egypt. Hence, I see some very volatile days ahead for the Egyptian people. Thus, I do not share the optimistic tone with which this writer concludes her essay.