The hopes and promises of the Arab Spring is drying up like a raisin in the hot, arid Arab sun.
The election in Tunisia and the call for sharia in Libya have sent a chilling air through the halls of power in the West.
The treatment of Mubarak and the ugly killing of Gadahafi have sent a message to the other tyrants from Syria to Yemen that a similiar fate awaits them and their cohorts and thus, they have circled the wagons and dug in their heels. They will use all at their disposal to remain in power irrespective of the plaintive wailings from the West.
The Americans are distracted by their ongoing election and France and Brirain "have shot their load" and now must try to capitalise on their "Libyan victory", both politically and economically. Canada and especially its Defence minister are only good at making "yipping" barks. There is no bite (Canada has wasted/squandered half a century of goodwill and respect, earned by stalwart/ yeoman service as UN peacekeepers by becoming joining America's (adventure) "nation making", in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The courageous of Tahrir Square are making a valiant effort to save their dream of a democratic Egypt. The mistake they made was to trust their "respected" military , the same one that carried the suppressive orders of Mubarak for thirty fears. They were not organised with a leader ( not Mousa or Baradei, who while they had high profile in the wider world, lack the common touch), and so the gains they made frittered away and they lost the initiative. They are back, but this time the world is missing(no CNN, ABC, NBC et al rushing to cover events, they are too occupied with Republican "clown show" and Penn State).
So, the Egyptian military played a waiting game and now they are clampimg down. This is a military armed by the USA..check the bullet casings and gas canisters. The West is silent or merely tut-tutting.
In Tunisia, the Islamists have won the election and sharia, which is incompatible with democracy, is the law.
Now that Gadaffi is no more, the Islamists and secularists and tribalists and regionalists are fighting for a peice of the cake. Already the NTC has announced that sharia will be the basis of law. SO MUCH FOR DEMOCRACY.
Nothing has changed in Yemen. It is more important to defeat al qaeda, than to support democracy, which can rear up and bite you as in Tunisia.
Bashar al Assad is going nowhere. He will not give up power. Syria is a potential powder keg. Allied with Iran and Hizballah in Lebanon, the fall of Assad could unleash a conflagration that would envelop the Middle East and draw in the West. So the sanctions are as far as they dare to go.
So much was promised and so little has been realised. Too much self-interest and too little "interest of the people".
Short term gain for the West, but long term pain for the Arabs. Their day will come but until then "their dreams are drying up like a raisin in the sun"
The election in Tunisia and the call for sharia in Libya have sent a chilling air through the halls of power in the West.
The treatment of Mubarak and the ugly killing of Gadahafi have sent a message to the other tyrants from Syria to Yemen that a similiar fate awaits them and their cohorts and thus, they have circled the wagons and dug in their heels. They will use all at their disposal to remain in power irrespective of the plaintive wailings from the West.
The Americans are distracted by their ongoing election and France and Brirain "have shot their load" and now must try to capitalise on their "Libyan victory", both politically and economically. Canada and especially its Defence minister are only good at making "yipping" barks. There is no bite (Canada has wasted/squandered half a century of goodwill and respect, earned by stalwart/ yeoman service as UN peacekeepers by becoming joining America's (adventure) "nation making", in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The courageous of Tahrir Square are making a valiant effort to save their dream of a democratic Egypt. The mistake they made was to trust their "respected" military , the same one that carried the suppressive orders of Mubarak for thirty fears. They were not organised with a leader ( not Mousa or Baradei, who while they had high profile in the wider world, lack the common touch), and so the gains they made frittered away and they lost the initiative. They are back, but this time the world is missing(no CNN, ABC, NBC et al rushing to cover events, they are too occupied with Republican "clown show" and Penn State).
So, the Egyptian military played a waiting game and now they are clampimg down. This is a military armed by the USA..check the bullet casings and gas canisters. The West is silent or merely tut-tutting.
In Tunisia, the Islamists have won the election and sharia, which is incompatible with democracy, is the law.
Now that Gadaffi is no more, the Islamists and secularists and tribalists and regionalists are fighting for a peice of the cake. Already the NTC has announced that sharia will be the basis of law. SO MUCH FOR DEMOCRACY.
Nothing has changed in Yemen. It is more important to defeat al qaeda, than to support democracy, which can rear up and bite you as in Tunisia.
Bashar al Assad is going nowhere. He will not give up power. Syria is a potential powder keg. Allied with Iran and Hizballah in Lebanon, the fall of Assad could unleash a conflagration that would envelop the Middle East and draw in the West. So the sanctions are as far as they dare to go.
So much was promised and so little has been realised. Too much self-interest and too little "interest of the people".
Short term gain for the West, but long term pain for the Arabs. Their day will come but until then "their dreams are drying up like a raisin in the sun"
