That Obama and his Administration are simply not on top of things becomes more and more evident by the day as it flays around in relation to what is going on in Egypt. Of course the latest move is to endorse the Egyptian VP - an unwise move on so many levels: see previous posts on MPS.
From truthdig:
"After a good start, the Obama administration’s response to the democratic revolution in Egypt has begun to exude the odor of betrayal. Now distancing itself from the essential demand of the protesters that the dictator must go, the administration has fallen back on the sordid option of backing a new and improved dictatorship. Predictably, it is one guided by a local strongman long entrusted by the CIA, Vice President Omar Suleiman, described by U.S. officials in the WikiLeaks cables as a “Mubarak consigliere.” The script is out of an all-too-familiar playbook: Pick this longtime chief of Egyptian intelligence who has consistently done our bidding in matters of torture and retrofit him as a modern democratic leader. But this time the Egyptian street will not meekly go along."
****
"The U.S. presidents whose military aid purchased the Egyptian government as America’s lackey have known the cost to Egyptians in omnipresent corruption, bribes, torture and political oppression. On the surface it seemed like a good deal: For a couple of billion dollars per year in military and other assistance, Egypt lined up with Israel in making the post-Six-Day-War occupation of Palestine permanent, and pan-Arab nationalism descended into a bargain between the oil sheikdoms and those without petrol to preserve the bizarrely skewed class divisions in the region. That the suffering of ordinary folks was well known to American policymakers right up to the moment of the current explosion is documented in the WikiLeaks cables and stands as an exposé of our foreign policy cynicism. But it was blithely assumed that the dictatorship would continue in the person of Mubarak’s son Gamal because, as one cable said, “due to the paranoia of the Egyptian dictatorship, no other name can safely or respectfully be bruited as a candidate.
In the cables there is no sense of alarm that something might be awry with this planned succession in the Mubarak dictatorship from father to son because the Egyptian elite was quite happy with the arrangement: “Many in the Egyptian elite see his [Gamal’s] succession as positive, as his likely continuation of the current status quo would serve their business and political interests.” That the young—many of them overeducated for the stagnant job market—and the Egyptian majority that lives in abject poverty, along with all those fed up with life in a police state endured for half a century, might complicate the U.S. alliance with the Egyptian dictatorship was dismissed by the deep cynics who run our foreign policy. A key cable discussing the enormous unpopularity of both Anwar Sadat and Mubarak, who replaced him 30 years ago, states: “Mubarak seems to have managed the dilemma better in at least one key area: he has systematically and ‘legally’ eliminated virtually all political opposition.” Our kind of guy?"
From truthdig:
"After a good start, the Obama administration’s response to the democratic revolution in Egypt has begun to exude the odor of betrayal. Now distancing itself from the essential demand of the protesters that the dictator must go, the administration has fallen back on the sordid option of backing a new and improved dictatorship. Predictably, it is one guided by a local strongman long entrusted by the CIA, Vice President Omar Suleiman, described by U.S. officials in the WikiLeaks cables as a “Mubarak consigliere.” The script is out of an all-too-familiar playbook: Pick this longtime chief of Egyptian intelligence who has consistently done our bidding in matters of torture and retrofit him as a modern democratic leader. But this time the Egyptian street will not meekly go along."
****
"The U.S. presidents whose military aid purchased the Egyptian government as America’s lackey have known the cost to Egyptians in omnipresent corruption, bribes, torture and political oppression. On the surface it seemed like a good deal: For a couple of billion dollars per year in military and other assistance, Egypt lined up with Israel in making the post-Six-Day-War occupation of Palestine permanent, and pan-Arab nationalism descended into a bargain between the oil sheikdoms and those without petrol to preserve the bizarrely skewed class divisions in the region. That the suffering of ordinary folks was well known to American policymakers right up to the moment of the current explosion is documented in the WikiLeaks cables and stands as an exposé of our foreign policy cynicism. But it was blithely assumed that the dictatorship would continue in the person of Mubarak’s son Gamal because, as one cable said, “due to the paranoia of the Egyptian dictatorship, no other name can safely or respectfully be bruited as a candidate.
In the cables there is no sense of alarm that something might be awry with this planned succession in the Mubarak dictatorship from father to son because the Egyptian elite was quite happy with the arrangement: “Many in the Egyptian elite see his [Gamal’s] succession as positive, as his likely continuation of the current status quo would serve their business and political interests.” That the young—many of them overeducated for the stagnant job market—and the Egyptian majority that lives in abject poverty, along with all those fed up with life in a police state endured for half a century, might complicate the U.S. alliance with the Egyptian dictatorship was dismissed by the deep cynics who run our foreign policy. A key cable discussing the enormous unpopularity of both Anwar Sadat and Mubarak, who replaced him 30 years ago, states: “Mubarak seems to have managed the dilemma better in at least one key area: he has systematically and ‘legally’ eliminated virtually all political opposition.” Our kind of guy?"
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