I think the US is in a no-win situation here. We _cannot_ back the protest movement, if we want it to succeed. Nothing would de-legitimize the movement quicker in the eyes of Egyptians and the rest of the Middle East than US backing.
We _cannot_ back Mubarak if we want him to live out the month. Our backing would doom him quicker than his own secret police. I think the best we can do is warn Mubarak in private that suppression will mean loss of funding. And I think we need to talk to the military separately, and make sure they understand that they will retain funding if they don't weight in on the side of Mubarak against their own people. But, truthfully, I think we can expect a little (or a lot) of blood to be shed in the next few days. Revolution is seldom bloodless. And the thugs and police are not going to go easily. But, once they start going to town, I think that will be enough excuse for the military to step in and shut down the violence, which will mean the end to Mubarak's police, since without violence they have no power. On Wed, Feb 2, 2011 at 4:09 PM, Vivec <gel21...@gmail.com> wrote: > > It's the truth. > > It is what caused Condeleeza Rice in her speech to say that in the > past the United STates has pursued Stability in the middle east at the > expense of Democracy, and now has ended up with neither. > This was 5 years ago. > > *now* however everyone takes a hands off approach. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:333936 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
