Some things the U.S. needs NOT to do regarding Egypt

[Ken Burch]

1)Let Mubarak come HERE. We can't EVER let another "friendly" tyrant have sanctuary in this country again, not after 1979.

2)Insist that anyone involved in the security mechanism of Mubarak's tyranny be allowed to keep their jobs, or be seen defending Mubarak's secret police in any way at all.

3)Insist that no American businesses in Egypt be nationalized. Some of them will probably have to be, simply in the name of restorative justice.

4)Push for an IMF austerity program. We can't ever do that to ANY new government again. We just can't. We all know why.

5)Add your suggestions for further things to avoid below.

[ananda]

1. Get out of the ME altogether and just stay out of it.

nt

[EFerrari]

2. They need NOT to ignore the fact that Mubarak has sent thugs out

to terrorize his own populace. Obama needs NOT to ignore that now.

[xchrom]

3. recommend

[XemaSab]

4. We can't prop that dude up any longer

He is DONE and we will make NO friends by helping him to stay in power.

[arcane1]

5. I'll be shocked if #4 doesn't actually happen

My fear is that this is what they are waiting to do, as soon as things calm down over there.

[Ken Burch]

6. #4 would do more than anything else to put the Muslim Brotherhood in power

HRC would probably do it just to make sure this has an "Ayatollah Khomeini" ending. She never WANTED Mubarak to fall.

[sabrina 1]

7. The people will not accept the Muslim Brotherhood or anyone

else 'taking over'. They have made that clear from the beginning. They have posted their demands online from the beginning. I have seen interviews with some of the protesters and all of them are saying the same thing, they've had enough of extremism of any kind. They want a democracy and won't stop until they get it.

We should leave them alone and trust them to sort this out on their own. We do NOT know what is good for other countries, we don't even know what is good for this one.

Eg, a lot of what is on their list of grievances, sounds very familiar to what is on ours. The imbalance of wealth distribution, corrruption, crimes against humanity etc.

We need to take care of our own affairs and get out of all these other places. They don't want us there and they don't trust us considering much of their problem comes from OUR support for dictators like Mubarak around the world for decades. It never ends well, especially for their people.

[Ken Burch]

8. Thank you for that post

Some people assume that Arabs are somehow genetically incapable of freeing themselves. Never mind that nobody ELSE would have been able to overthrow the regimes that Western arms have kept in power in the Middle East for the last six or seven decades.

[sabrina 1]

9. Yes, it's disturbing how Americans have internalized the idea

that Arabs are inferior beings who need the West to point them in the right direction.

Maybe it's guilt since the west has stolen and oppressed them for so long and is responsible for the fact that there ARE extremists.

I hope they succeed and I hope they do it without depending on any Western powers who clearly cannot be trusted. I think they know that.

Let the West start adjusting to the new world, where they actually have to deal honestly with other countries and use trade agreements rather than bombs and torture etc. to get what they want from them.

I hope this country lets go of its old, failed Cold War policies now as the world moves beyond them, because if they don't, I think they will be forced to.

Change is happening and we are being left behind, still supporting the old dictators even as they are being run out of town by their own people. We look silly supporting these old dinosaurs, in Egypt, Tunisia, Uzbekistan and elsewhere.

I hope these winds of change blowing through Latin America and Africa come this way. We surely need some change in this country's policies.

[Desertrose]

11. Well said Sabrina!

I agree with everything you said.


"I hope these winds of change blowing through Latin America and Africa come this way. We surely need some change in this country's policies."

[sufrommich]

10. I agree with all your points. Although I doubt they'll let

Mubarak come here. I think they learned thier lesson with the Shah of Iran.