But first, a word for dictators. I think most of them, save for a few monarchs in Middle Eastern countries who haven’t done too badly for their peoples, should know by now not to sell their souls to the devil, sorry, the USA. It is not my invention; calling the USA devil. Hugo Chavez regularly does. And on the streets of Mexico, there is a saying; ‘Mexico, so far from God, so close to the USA’. The devilry of the USA may be annoying, but it is perhaps inevitable and oftentimes, necessary. It is the era of the USA. The world is its empire. And just like other empires before it, the USA will wield power to the hilt and maximize the advantage accruing from imperialism. No one should believe that any of USA’s actions is propelled by anything other than self-interest.
That sad, this is how dictators rise and fall around the world; the superpower, usually USA or any of the powerful European ones (East or West), approaches the dictator to take over power from someone they deem to be unapproachable. They sing sweet songs into the would-be dictator’s ears and tell him only he (the dictator), can save his people. They send down consultants and bankers to lend the third world country money, which it will never be able to repay, and to paint great pictures of a great future for the third world country. The dictator buys the bogey, and signs of his body, spirit and soul, as well as his country’s entire future, to the almighty superpower. Indeed most, if not all, dictators have good intentions for their country and people. But as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Most dictators mean well initially, until the deals struck with the superpower begins to fall through. Then the story changes. Sometimes the scale covering their eyes fall and they see the total mess that they have caused, and then try to get something back for their people from the superpower. It is at that point that the superpower, notably the USA, decides to get rid of them. It is standard procedure. The dictator would have known too much about how they operate. He would have bought loads of arms and ammunition from the superpowers over the years. He would have racked up dozens of real estate around the world. He would have built up unimaginable bank balances. But now he must be done away with and silenced forever. The superpowers know the traits they look for when creating these monsters. He must be naturally greedy. He must have serious inferiority complex which he covers up by outward display of power and money. He must have a large ego and think he is next to God.
To seal the demise of the dictator, the superpower would usually plant information in the press about how much he has stolen. That amount will usually be heavily inflated for effect. In the case of Mubarak, it was $70billion. In Mobutu’s case it was $8billion. In Ben-Ali’s case it was about $40billion. People will naturally get angrier and call for the dictator’s head. But no one will ask how come the superpower allowed their ‘friend’ to take so much, and invest most of that sum in their ‘squeaky-clean’ country, only to now cry blue murder. But people will usually be carried away by frenzy. And when excited, people don’t make good judgments. The superpower plays on that human weakness, by using the press to create more frenzy and excitement and appealing to the negative emotions of the people.
Is that what happened in Egypt? Very likely. And this was made more obvious because Mubarak held on for 18 days. He knows his friends, the USA, very well. And he knows what was at stake. But his is the lonely life of the wasted dictator, like many others before him and many others after. It’s a Machiavellian world, where the winner takes all. The winner of our times is the USA. Next time, it may be China. Before that, it was the Islamic era, the Spanish Conquistadors and so on.
If Mubarak had not been a stubborn guy, the CIA would not have had to play its hand in such an open fashion as it did in Mubarak’s final two days. Leon Panetta, CIA’s DG, had to make statements to the effect that Mubarak will soon leave. It was obvious to anyone observing, who knows a little about international politics, that it was the CIA, and not the people, that was carrying out the ouster of Mubarak. Alas, the CIA is not a communist organisation. Now that they have succeeded in whipping up people’s sentiments and achieving their aims, the people will be shocked too soon, that there is no provision for their betterment! It was all a hoax!
To make matters worse, when it became obvious that stubborn Mubarak will not relinquish power to USA lapdog, Elbaradei, who is a career UN staff (and the UN is the USA), they had to ask the military to take over! What does that say for all the castigation of the military in politics and governance? Does that mean that the military is acceptable so long as it is instigated by the USA? What does that mean for fledgling ‘democracies’ like Nigeria?
Finally, statistically there is no country on earth where more than 15% of the citizens can keep their heads above water, financially speaking. Not even the USA, where there are more black men in prison than there are in universities, or where 30 million are jobless and 40 million can not go to hospitals even when they are sick, until Obama’s healthcare reforms. That means that the so-called ‘prosperity’ of the West is a ruse, and a product of spin doctors. In many of the countries that the West condescends for being poor, people actually live better than their counterparts in the USA and Europe. Therefore, the USA does not have any idea about how to make life easier for people, for if it does, it would do so for its own inhabitants first.
In other words, the USA/CIA revolution cannot do anything for the average Egyptian. In a year, or even a few months down the line, the Egyptians will realize this. Perhaps then some of them will get it into their heads that it’s all about the money, and that ‘prosperity for ALL’ can only be found in heaven. By then, they will question Google Executive, Wael Ghonim, who spear-headed the riots, where his allegiances lie; with Google/USA/CIA, or with the poor people of Egypt?
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