The Obama administration is condemning violence in Egypt, but only if it is done by the government. Apparently violence by the protestors is ok. Robert Gibbs:
“If any of the violence is instigated by the government it should stop immediately,”
Robert Gibbs is demanding that the government fold “yesterday” and Obama is openly embracing the Muslim Brotherhood. Now we have vicious pro-Mubarak protestors fighting back against the “freedom and democracy crowd.” What could possibly go wrong?
The rest of the world is stunned to learn that yes; Obama really is that naïve and incompetent.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142101
The Egyptian government, meaning the military, is underwhelmed by the anointed one. They view his irresponsible comments as inciting violence.
They also view his recommendations as hopelessly contradictory. He is demanding a quick, immediate, orderly transition to representative democracy, by embracing the Muslim Brotherhood. Right!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110202/ap_on_re_us/us_us_egypt_cairo_view
Gibbs is literally throwing gas on the fires of rebellion. The U.S. is now cheerleading for the protestors:
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-egypt-obama-violence-20110202,0,3875781.story
In summary, the Obama administration has bet it all on the protestors overturning the Mubarak regime with the Muslim Brotherhood leading the way to freedom and democracy. I am not even sure which is worse. Obama being right, or wrong?. At least from this angle, it would seem that if he is wrong, the Egyptian government maintains control and perhaps some stability is retained in the Middle East. However, I wouldn’t count of them being willing to cooperate with Obama on anything. It is really hard to believe that any government including the Muslim Brotherhood is going to turn out to be our BFF in the Middle East.
This is really dumb. Does the Obama administration really think the Mubarak regime is just going to roll over and play dead because Obama doesn’t like them anymore? For one thing, if the mob takes over at this point members of the current government will be lucky to escape with their lives. For another, it would be wise to remember that the military has controlled Egypt for a long time. While the military may be unhappy with Mubarak, they are unlikely to just willingly hand over the keys to their sworn enemies. They are far more likely to do what they did before, replace Nassar with Sadat and replace Sadat with Mubarak.
Frequently the protestors are seen begging Obama for help. What do they expect? Do they really think Obama is going to send in troops to fight a battle with the Egyptian military? Or do they think Mubarak will be so inspired by the annointed one that he will just gleefuly dance away into a peaceful and happy retirement? The truth is that Obama can’t do squat. In the end, I suspect it will be a very close contest to see who hates America most when this is done: The Egyptian government that was abandoned by Obama, or the protestors who discovered Obama’s support meant less than nothing.
If the military fights back, which seems more and more likely, they have a lot of advantages. They have planes, tanks, guns, fuel, food, water, money and ammunition. Latest reports even have the pro-Mubarak crowd riding in on horseback and camels. The “freedom and democracy” group has primarily taunts and tonsils. Unless a significant segment of the military switches sides, bet on the guys with the most guns.
The least likely result seems to be a wonderful new Egyptian democratically elected government that offers peace and prosperity for all. If the Obama administration had allowed Mubarak to leave gracefully and to allow for a smooth transition over several months to a fair election, that might actually have been possible. Now we seem to be headed toward one of two options, both of which are worse that before. If the Egyptian miltitary maintains control they are likely to crackdown even more on dissidents. On the other hand, if the mob wins, Egypt is likely to make Iran look good in comparison. Nice!
TDM