Egypt, Tunisia, and the fight against US imperialism

[Karmadillo]

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/pers-j28.shtml

Egypt, Tunisia, and the fight against US imperialism
28 January 2011

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From the outset of the spreading revolt in the Middle East, official Washington has been taken aback by events. In Tunisia, just three days before Ben Ali boarded an aircraft and fled the wrath of his own people for exile in Saudi Arabia, US Secretary of State Clinton expressed her concern over the “unrest and instability” in the country, while extolling the “very positive aspects of our relationship” with the country’s longtime dictator. She insisted that Washington was “not taking sides,” as US trained and equipped troops were shooting down demonstrators in the streets.

Only after the downfall of its ally Ben Ali, did the Obama administration discover, in the president’s words, “the courage and dignity of the Tunisian people.” In his State of the Union speech he proclaimed that the US “stands with the people of Tunisia.” He extended no such verbal backing to the people of Egypt, where that very day riot squads and secret police thugs had carried out mass arrests and beaten demonstrators and journalists alike.

On Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden made clear the administration’s continued commitment to the hated dictatorship in Egypt. “Mubarak has been an ally of ours on a number of things. And he’s been very responsible … relative to (US) geopolitical interests in the region … to normalizing relationship with Israel,” Biden declared. “I would not refer to him as a dictator,” he added, insisting that Mubarak should not step down.

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Washington fears, above all, the entry into mass political struggle of the tens of millions of Egyptian workers. In a country where 40 percent of the population subsists at the poverty level of $2 a day or less, US-fostered “freedom” has been delivered in the form of “free market” capitalism, which has promoted wholesale privatizations, opening of markets and other measures that have enriched a thin layer at the top, while driving the bulk of the population into deepening misery.

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[Catherina]

1. I'm in joyful shock. Rec'd. Bookmarked to read later n/t

[Warren Stupidity]

2. the more we prop him up the worse it will be for our interests

there - which interests have never really been of much use to the people of egypt.

[Kip Humphrey]

3. The US is on the wrong side of "We the people..." yet again... Here's to stupid!

[Obamanaut]

4. Other countries dislike the US, yet continue to accept foreign aid payments,

and 'allow' the US to lease land for military sites for wads of money and jobs for the local citizens.

Close the bases, bring the military personnel and dependants home, stop the foreign aid. Spend those dollars on the people in the US.

[Yuugal]

5. "enriched a thin layer at the top.......

....while driving the bulk of the population into deepening misery."

Just like in the good ol' USA!