Egypt: Fallout of US Duplicity

by Arindam Chaudhuri

The kind of double standards practised by America for decades, even as it arrogantly talks about democracy and preaches the virtues of free speech, dissent and human rights to the world from a pulpit, is a shame to say the least. The fact is, be it Latin America, Asia or Africa, America has always supported brutal dictators who have tortured and killed their own citizens in the most horrific manner.

During the Cold War, America used to argue that propping up unsavoury dictators in strategic pockets was a necessary evil because it had to stop the march of communism, which apparently was supposed to be far worse when it came to freedom, free speech, dissent and human rights. After the Soviet Union disappeared and communism was no longer the enemy, many had hoped that America would actually help other nations to move away from dictatorship to democracy.

Sadly, those hopes were belied and crushed when America started citing the global war on terror as an excuse to encourage and prop up nasty dictators. Of course, most of these dictators happen to be now in the Arab world whose oil reserves are the real reason for American interest rather than the mumbo-jumbo about democracy and human rights.

The fall of the Shah of Iran came to mind while reading about citizens in Tunisia rising in revolt and throwing out their ruler—a staunch American ally who ruled that country ruthlessly for more than two decades. That sense of déjàvu was reinforced when reports started pouring in from Egypt about protesters taking to the streets. The protest in Egypt has become a symbol of the suppressed aspirations of millions of Arabs finally finding an outlet.

President Hosni Mubarak—an American plant —has ruled Egypt like a dictator for 30 years and was in the process of trying to install his son as the next ruler when the sudden wave of protests engulfed his country. More than the people’s revolt in Tunisia, it is Egypt which is causing more sleepless nights in Washington, D.C. As of now, Egypt, to use that familiar cliché again, is a staunch ally of America and has diplomatic relations with Israel. It is also the acknowledged leader of the Arab world.

What happens in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria is bound to have a huge impact on the rest of the Arab world. Citizens in Arab countries have been watching in helplessness, frustration and rage till now as Egypt repeatedly winked at the atrocities committed by Israeli troops against innocent Palestinians in the name of fighting terror. Cables released by WikiLeaks also show that the US has had no illusions about the regime.
The US and its allies now stand thoroughly exposed for using more than $ 2 billion in aid a year and maintaining silence over internal repression to turn Egypt into a crucial agent of their regional policy, particularly in suppressing the demands for justice for the Palestinians. The Egyptian people’s uprising is showing the world that this highly prized Western ally is utterly devoid of legitimacy. And without doubt, that message will echo through every other dictator-ship in the region.

•

AS of now, a nightmare is haunting Tel Aviv and Washington over the nature of the regime that will take over eventually in Egypt. The best case scenario for the strategic and foreign policy cowboys in America and Israel is a situation in which Egypt evolves from a dictatorship into a country ruled by a moderate Islamist party as in Turkey. Incidentally, Turkey is increasingly taking a stand against the strategic interests of America and Israel. No wonder, many have started nursing hopes that an ‘Islamic’ Turkey will become the new leader against an Imperial America and its ally Israel.

Egypt becoming another Turkey will surely become a headache. But it will be a nightmare if the country falls into the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood—the organisation that gave the Al- Qaeda Ayman al-Zawahari—and emerges as another Iran, implacably hostile to America and Israel. And don’t think for a moment that such a situation will never come to pass. Who had ever dreamt in 1978 of Iran becoming what it is in 2011?

No one had thought that citizens of the Arab world, suppressed for so long and denied both political and economic opportunities, would be in a position to rise in revolt against dictators. But Tunisia showed the way and a firestorm is sweeping across the Arab world. In fact, many analysts are calling this the ‘Soviet Union’ moment for America as history turns full circle in a wickedly ironical way.

To me, the uprising in Egypt is nothing short of a civil revolution. It has the potential to not only transform the political scenario of West Asia but also every other region wherein anarchy and dictatorship have been the mainstay. Right now, for example, China’s 457 million Internet users (and 180 million bloggers) can no longer use the Chinese word for ‘Egypt’ in microblogs or search engines. Why is China worried about controlling the use of the word “Egypt†on the Net? The government’s goal is to pre-empt any contagion effect that popular uprisings against autocracy might have in China.

(Courtesy: The Pioneer)

The author is a management guru and the editor, The Sunday Indian.