Things in the Middle East are heating up. The protest movement has spread to Jordan, where the king has thrown out the entire cabinet and is replacing them all in response to public pressure. As technology has made the world more and more closely interconnected, it appears the Muslim world is finally at a tipping point, where the people are (mostly) peacefully overturning the established order and oppressive regimes they live under. Wikileaks, revealing that the US is constantly lying and stabbing Muslims in the back in a number of ways, has played no small role in this.
While the protests are not anti-American per se, we must not forget that the repressive Mubarak regime, long known for its abuse of dissidents, is armed by the US. Indirectly, it is the American Empire that has oppressed Egyptians, and it is the American government against which the protesters are indirectly rebelling. It is not without significance that the tear gas cans thrown into the crowds are marked “Made in the USA.” This is why Lew Rockwell is spot on when he entitles his thoughts on the recent perturbation A People’s Uprising Against the Empire.
And this leads us to Joel Watts’ recent note Maybe the Muslim Brotherhood isn’t behind the Egyptian Protests, in which he presents a document which might suggest that the US government could be involved in promoting the Egyptian protest movement. While I’ve got my doubts — the protests seem too spontaneous, among other things, it certainly isn’t outside of the realm of possibility that the good old US of A is involved in simultaneously backing two sides of a conflict in a Muslim world. It was only a few months ago that we all found out the US is simultaneously arming and fighting the Taliban. Indirectly, of course. We’re all too fond of hiding behind foreign governments to cover our tracks.
While we’re on the subject of Joel, he also shares two links to authors who see the conflict as indicative of real positive change in the Middle East. The first is CNN Paul Cruikshank correspondent who explains how the emerging popular protest movement has nothing to do with any desire on the part of Muslims to install hard-line Muslim government. Indeed, he explains that Al Qaeda has an Egypt Problem, because the current protest movement is full of secularized, middle-class youth who will have nothing to do with Al Qaeda. What Cruikshank fails to appreciate is that these young folk are marginalizing Al Qaeda partially because they offer a peaceful and secular anti-US movement. His failure to understand this is why he expects Obama to make strong statements of sympathy with the protesters. If we consider the fact that the protesters are threatening the continued existence of a US-backed tin-pot dictatorial tyrant, we shouldn’t be expecting any sympathy for them from the US government. Unless the US government decides that the protests in Egypt are becoming fashionable and could be good for poll numbers. Then suddenly the US will jump to their defense and celebrate their democratic spirit.
The second link, however is by far the most interesting. By Rabbi Michael Lerner, Jewish prayers for Egypt’s uprising is a fascinating op-ed which straddles the realms of theology and politics by working out a fascinating comparison between the Exodus and the current protests movements as two different forms of rebellion against Pharaoh. Other than Lerner’s irrational and nearly worshipful yen for democracy, which is basically an Orwellian failure to distinguish personal freedom from mob rule, his comments on Egypt are an insightful and helpful step towards understanding, and perhaps toward a world where Jews and Muslims can respect each other and live in peace.
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More on Egypt, etc.
Things in the Middle East are heating up. The protest movement has spread to Jordan, where the king has thrown out the entire cabinet and is replacing them all in response to public pressure. As technology has made the world more and more closely interconnected, it appears the Muslim world is finally at a tipping point, where the people are (mostly) peacefully overturning the established order and oppressive regimes they live under. Wikileaks, revealing that the US is constantly lying and stabbing Muslims in the back in a number of ways, has played no small role in this.
While the protests are not anti-American per se, we must not forget that the repressive Mubarak regime, long known for its abuse of dissidents, is armed by the US. Indirectly, it is the American Empire that has oppressed Egyptians, and it is the American government against which the protesters are indirectly rebelling. It is not without significance that the tear gas cans thrown into the crowds are marked “Made in the USA.” This is why Lew Rockwell is spot on when he entitles his thoughts on the recent perturbation A People’s Uprising Against the Empire.
And this leads us to Joel Watts’ recent note Maybe the Muslim Brotherhood isn’t behind the Egyptian Protests, in which he presents a document which might suggest that the US government could be involved in promoting the Egyptian protest movement. While I’ve got my doubts — the protests seem too spontaneous, among other things, it certainly isn’t outside of the realm of possibility that the good old US of A is involved in simultaneously backing two sides of a conflict in a Muslim world. It was only a few months ago that we all found out the US is simultaneously arming and fighting the Taliban. Indirectly, of course. We’re all too fond of hiding behind foreign governments to cover our tracks.
While we’re on the subject of Joel, he also shares two links to authors who see the conflict as indicative of real positive change in the Middle East. The first is CNN Paul Cruikshank correspondent who explains how the emerging popular protest movement has nothing to do with any desire on the part of Muslims to install hard-line Muslim government. Indeed, he explains that Al Qaeda has an Egypt Problem, because the current protest movement is full of secularized, middle-class youth who will have nothing to do with Al Qaeda. What Cruikshank fails to appreciate is that these young folk are marginalizing Al Qaeda partially because they offer a peaceful and secular anti-US movement. His failure to understand this is why he expects Obama to make strong statements of sympathy with the protesters. If we consider the fact that the protesters are threatening the continued existence of a US-backed tin-pot dictatorial tyrant, we shouldn’t be expecting any sympathy for them from the US government. Unless the US government decides that the protests in Egypt are becoming fashionable and could be good for poll numbers. Then suddenly the US will jump to their defense and celebrate their democratic spirit.
The second link, however is by far the most interesting. By Rabbi Michael Lerner, Jewish prayers for Egypt’s uprising is a fascinating op-ed which straddles the realms of theology and politics by working out a fascinating comparison between the Exodus and the current protests movements as two different forms of rebellion against Pharaoh. Other than Lerner’s irrational and nearly worshipful yen for democracy, which is basically an Orwellian failure to distinguish personal freedom from mob rule, his comments on Egypt are an insightful and helpful step towards understanding, and perhaps toward a world where Jews and Muslims can respect each other and live in peace.
Related Posts: