US, EU to Egypt's Ruling Regime: Commit Suicide

It's oh so nice, warm and fuzzy when we insist on projecting our western democratic values on an entirely different culture.

Meanwhile, we here the honorable Ms. Clinton coming out with the following statement:

Clinton on Wednesday said that the United States supports the Egyptian people's rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association. She said the Obama administration was hopeful that the government would act to meet the "legitimate aspirations" of its people.

In case the stock of current American Foreign Policy makers that make the decisions under the current administration don't realize, is that although a large minority of Egyptians would like to see a western style democratic consensual government, the true 'legitimate aspirations' of the vast majority of the people is to see a radical Islamist regime that is much more similar to what's going on in Iran.

We see the EU taking a very similar line:

The European Union says that Egyptian authorities should listen to their people, deal with their problems and respect their right to demonstrate.

The office of EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton on Wednesday called on "Egyptian authorities to respect and to protect the right of Egyptian citizen to manifest their political aspirations."

Her spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic says Egyptian authorities should "take note of their legitimate wish for political action to deal with the problems that are affecting their daily lives."

 Also, very nice, warm and fuzzy. The Shah of Iran was urged to listen to his people in 1979, we got the genocidal Islamic Republic. They urged the Palestinians to express their aspirations, we got Hamas.

So as we can see, aspirations go a long way in the Middle East. If Americans and Europeans encourage the Middle East to adopt an America/European style democratic system of government, they must be willing to understand the extent of their consequences.

In the case of the Egypt, giving in to protesters demands would mean increased pressure and increased likelihood of violent revolt toppling the regime. I simply no see other option.

So in a sense, what the west is telling Egypt's ruling class is: "start packing your sh*t and look for a new home, because we aren't going to support you". 

It's perfectly legitimate to express distaste of any autocratic regime such as Mubarak's. But its fall will have vast ramifications for American and European geopolitical interests, all of them are negative pretty much. Are they really aware of it, or are they really that foolish to believe that the replacement is going to be a true reflection of their own systems?

-QP