BRATTLEBORO — The events sweeping the Middle East are causing great difficulty for some and, in particular, our present, fine administration.
For decades, successive administrations have turned a blind eye to all the outrageous human rights abuses meted out to a defenseless Egyptian population. For decades, Hosni Mubarak has been a faithful ally to America. In return, he receives $3 billion in U.S. aid each year, along with all the military equipment needed to suppress the Egyptian people.
The quid pro quo has been that the most populous country, with the largest army in the Middle East, has been removed from the equation. This has enabled Israel to go on its merry, imperial way unhindered, stealing Palestinian land at will and helping imprison the Gazans. Mubarak has maintained Egypt in isolation throughout all the wars that have erupted across the Middle East over the last 30 years.
Mubarak has also made sure Egypt has behaved itself with regard to American foreign policy. And what is good for Israel's foreign policy is good for American foreign policy, which is exactly as the Israelis would wish. Mubarak has also done the dirty work for the squeamish Americans, taking in prisoners (supposed terrorists) and torturing them, to the horror of 80 million ordinary Egyptians.
But now there has been a beautiful, seamless, delicate shifting of gears, as Hilary Clinton reorders our priorities. Suddenly, we really care about human rights, about democracy, about the peoples' will in Egypt. (We really do.) And Mubarak should now meet his people's expectations, great as they are.
This subtle code says that Mubarak has lost his usefulness. He is about to get the good old-fashioned heave-ho, over the starboard bow, as the USS Hypocrisy steams on to the land of freedom and democracy. As for loyalty to a staunch ally of 30 years standing - well, times are hard, you know.
In any case, a perverted shell game has produced Vice President Omar Suleiman, who will now step into the void. In charge of renditions, he is exactly what the establishment wants - no change in the status quo.
President Obama rather likes that option. I wonder, what all the other fiercely loyal dictators around the world are thinking now? Or what the people of Chile, or the Congo, or Iran, are thinking regarding American imperial duplicity?