An International Crisis

Less than a month after President Obama delivered the State of the Union Speech with little or no mention of foreign policy, the revolution in the streets of Egypt has captured the headlines. In the last few weeks, the countries in the Middle East and North Africa have been toppling like a house made of playing cards. Keeping up with the list of countries who are in revolt or changing their government leaders is a challenge. Tunisia, Jordan, Yemen, and Egypt have all made leadership changes or have riots in the streets calling for immediate resignations of government leaders in the last few weeks. For the most part, these countries have known upheaval and unrest for many years. While some of the nations give lip service to some form of democracy, mostly they have quasi dictators in control of the government with few freedoms allotted to the citizens. Several of these nations have also been allies of our country in the past.

As this column is being written, Hosni Mubarak, the head of the government in Cairo, Egypt, is holding on to his position. While the people of Egypt are calling for Mubarak to leave office immediately, he has transferred some power to the military and to his Vice President, but says he will remain in office until his term is completed in September. The crowds in the streets of Cairo are growing larger each day calling for him to leave now. Some people who track revolts around the world have issued warnings that behind the sudden changes in leaders in these Arab and Muslim countries could be a group known as the Muslim Brotherhood.   With a promise of democratic reforms that will restore and put in place freedoms that have not been known in many of these countries, there is a popular appeal to support these uprisings calling for change.

 Some people have drawn the comparison to what is happening in Egypt with the history of what happened in Iran when the Shah was overthrown with a promise of freedoms for the people of Iran. Once the Shah was removed, he was replaced with the strong leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini who quickly established Theocratic rule with the establishment of an Islamic Republic. Today, the sixth president of the Islamic Republic is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has used the strong power of his government to control the lives of the citizens of Iran. We would do well to remember what happened in Cuba when a young rebel by the name of Fidel Castro took to the hills to lead a revolt against the vastly corrupt Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista. The comparisons are made regarding these other government changes because each revealed plans that reported there would be more freedom and citizen involvement in everyday decisions with newer leaders, but in each case the new government leaders enslaved the people more or at the same degree as the former leaders.

In this region of the Middle East, there is one of the closest friends and allies our nation has, Israel. With the changes taking place in governments all around Israel, there is uncertainty about her future.  A quick glance at a map causes one to see that Israel is surrounded by nations that are not friendly toward her and some who have even called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

One can only speculate as to what would happen in these nations with the enactment of Sharia law in place. Once the fundamentalist power of Muslim Theocratic rule is in place, history leads us to believe that the citizens who are now calling for democracy would be muzzled with no freedom of speech or press. 

We are seeing that within the hearts and minds of all people is a desire to be free. Governments that control the least are the best. Forcing citizens against their will to submit to government control is never the answer. Replacing one dictatorial form of government with another will never satisfy the longing in the human heart to be free. Some government control is vital to the safety and well being of the citizens, but any nation that curtails freedom of speech, assembly, or the press will soon control every part of the citizen’s life. From where I stand our nation needs to reaffirm the alliance and friendship we have with the nation of Israel during this time of uncertainty in the Middle East and North Africa. 

Ray Newman February 2011 All Rights Reserved