Egypt is in chaos. Cairo is burning and citizens are rioting.
Mubarak has been in power for roughly thirty years. The government is mostly secular. And perhaps therein lies the essential problem. The US has consistently supported Mubarak because he is not an Islamist. Now, the UK Telegraph says the US is “behind” Egyptian protests — including, of course, a “secret document.” All good conspiracies require a secret document.
On Friday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak asked his cabinet to step down. He himself, of course, is not doing so. Mr Obama likewise made a miniscule speech (with perhaps less pancake makeup) which, in a nutshell, indicated he was “concerned” and “monitoring.” Mr Obama “monitors” with “concern” when he doesn’t know what to do with regard to international situations. His speech on Friday proffered naught but multisyllabic political phlegmic drivel.
Yoni the Blogger indicates there is unrest in Jordan, unrest in Yemen, all over the Middle East. I’ll take the liberty of reproducing his complete blogthoughts on Egypt here:
The Game Is Over
Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan,Albania, Lebanon,Yemen.
Something is happening and it has the possibility of being a game changer.
Too long America has backed evil tyrants in exchange for cheap oil, that may be coming to an end. The people rise up and the tyrant is gone, more than likely they will meet an end similar to the Romanov’s .
But then what?
Do the people of Egypt, Tunisia,Jordan,Lebanon and Yemen take to the streets to demand Jeffersonian democracy or do they just want to get rid of the tyrants.
It is clear to me they just want to get rid of the tyrants . If these countries rid themselves of their tyrants look for the Saudi’s and oil emirates to also go.
In Egypt the military may take over running the government, only because the Muslim Brotherhood may feel they are better off in some sort of power sharing with the army.
But make no mistake in all of these governments in the end these countries will be ruled by Islamic fundamentalist allies of Iran.
This would be a huge game changer for both the USA and Israel.
For America it will mean the end of relatively cheap oil and this would have a negative impact on the American economy. It will also mean America will have only one ally in the Middle East, Israel.
For Israel it will mean an end of the peace game and a return to whole scale war with nation states and not fighting with the Palestinians and other terrorist.
Yoni pulls no punches as you can see.
An interesting viral YouTube video is here:
One other factor: the Copts are also shaking in their boots, as they are native Egyptian Christians and would be the first to be sacrificed or sought out in a pogrom if the Muslim Brotherhood or other aligned Islamists were to seize power.
And what few people have put into political play for consideration, not just in terms of oil: the Suez Canal. That is specifically why the stock market rumbled on Friday. Oil rocketed close to $100 per barrel just on this issue.
Check the map, and you can see why the Suez Canal is so incredibly important and relevant to the unrest in Egypt (click to expand in much greater detail):
It is said that The Muslim Brotherhood is covertly behind the unrest and stands to gain in Egypt. An excellent background article about the MB here. The Muslim Brotherhood is aligned with al Qaeda and thusly are Sunni. The Muslim Brotherhood has an English website here.
The only hope may be that the bulk of the younger people of Egypt are predominantly secular and will not hold with Muslim Brotherhood power plays just as they rejected Mubarak. Interesting post here.
I submit this: it is not an immediate “given” that Islamists will wrest control of Egypt as they may wish. Yes, they will attempt to take advantage; but there is no guarantee.
BZ
Good post BZ and I said as much although not so eloquently. I’m concerned about the “Diversion” tactic too. This is a “Homegrown” uprising that has it’s roots in the radical islamic world. It’s easy to stoke anger and get a ground swell when the turf is so right.
Watch out Israel, I suspect soon you will see an uptick in Rockets headed your way. This is the kind of chaos that enemy’s of freedom like. No control, except their control. Just think about it a second. What would happen if all of the sudden a dozen or so Rockets came from Gaza into Israel?
Israel responds with force and the idiots get stirred to anger over that rather than Mubarak? We could be looking at a whole new ball game very soon.
We’ve listened to our politicians, for well over twenty years, say we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. They have done nothing and if they don’t start tapping into our own oil reserves, environmentalist be damned, we’re in for some very very tough times ahead! Sooner than probably later.
The hand writing has been on the wall for many a year for those that have been willing to read it. It was only a matter of time. Most knew this was coming.
Maybe the veil will be lifted from those that still think Islam is the “Religion of Peace”. I think we’re going to be looking at another Iranian like state here.
Bill Whittle had a piece on PJTV some time back where he interviewed a retired FBI agent who indicated the Muslim Brotherhood has inflitrated our government to its highest levels. If you combine that thought with the idea of Al Qaeda sleeper cells ready to be put into action, we have a real nightmare scenario on our hands.
If you are not familiar with what is going on in Dearborn Michigan, you need to get your head out of your third point of contact.
Be prepared.
I’m not sure what dog we have in this fight.
Bushwack: the confluence of time and events exist in such a stream that any major event could be tipped off from the Middle East.
Scotty: the independence doesn’t exist unless we, as you essentially say, help OURSELVES. Then, when the grid is covered and you don’t have to turn the US into a Third World Country, you can concentrate on other energy sources. But this won’t happen overnight like the Religious Left wish. It simply won’t. But you DO have to make a plan, then stick to the plan.
Greybeard: be prepared is RIGHT. Human homicide bombers have ALREADY occurred on Russian soil and, as we well know, the Russians are not shrinking violets in terms of “bringing terrorists to justice.” I think Putin would be just as happy to spear the heads of those responsible on an iron pike.
So what makes us think there aren’t plans, right now, for homicide bombers on US soil?
WSF: the dog we have in this fight is to, first, get the FACTS and make strategic plans covering as many alternative courses as possible.
This could be “real,” or it could be diversionary.
BZ
If we aren’t careful this kind of uprising could very well take place in the United States.
This cannot be ignored.
very good post, BZ….
I don’t think this is an islamist thing, either, tho we all know they’ll try to take advantage of it. Maybe this will drive them more AWAY from radicals, who knows? I doubt it, but…
Geraldo on FOX tonight asked some guy “Will Egypt end up more like Iran or Turkey?” As if TUrkey isn’t nuts, too?
Greybeard…”to the highest levels?” Bill Whittle got that interview and our media doesn’t make something out of it? HOLY COW..THAT is when we know we’re in bigger trouble than OIL TROUBLE, tho that’s potentially huge, too, as Scotty says.
I’m worried for Israel and can’t imagine how THEY’RE sweating right now.
Leticia: I think we’ll be following Egypt’s and Greece’s path soon enough, but for different reasons; it will occur when the “poor” — who are not quite so — stop receiving the quantity of ENTITLEMENTS they believe they so markedly deserve. Let ONE welfare recipient have to cancel their cell phone and the riots will be on.
In Fornicalia, there are people on welfare who live in bigger homes than I do and drive Mercedes. In Moscow, for example, Russians I encounter at work tell me it is well known that for the “best” welfare you go not just to the US, you go not just to Fornicalia, but you go to Sacramento County — where I work, and where we laid of 132 deputies — because the dole is THAT much better than other states and other counties.
BZ