By now readers of this blog are probably sick and tired of hearing about the anarchy in the streets of Egypt. After all, why should it concern us Americans? I can think of a million, but for now I will just concentrate on what I think are the high points of what I consider to be a domino affect.
Since the Carter administration the US government has literally been paying off the Egyptians to keep the peace with Israel at a clip of $2 billion a year. Israel, on the other hand, is the only other country in the world that receives more. This is for good reason, however. Israel is the sole true democracy in the region, advocates women's rights and equal opportunity, provides a constant flow of military intelligence to the US, and actually provides the world with a wealth of valuable technology that the Arab world can only dream about.
If Egypt should fall into a Muslim fundalmist regime's hands like that of Iran or Lebanon the outcome would be devestating. First, peace between Egypt and Israel would cease, thus leading to a war including Lebanon and Syria. And because all of the Arab countries back these tyrants they would probably join in what is affectionately known as a proxy war. Eventually, the US will have to step in to solve the problem, thus widening the war. In the end, oil prices will skyrocket, more American soldiers will be sent to the region at a cost similar to that of Iraq & Afghanistan in terms of money and lives, and even worse, the possibility of nuclear a war.
Mubarak may be a careless, money grubbing tyrant dictator like the rest of the leaders of the Middle East, but at least he has kept the peace and gone after terrorists relentlessly. He has a zero toleration for terrorists, unlike the rest of the Arab world. And finally, even if the new leader does not advocate war, he will approach Obama with a new set of financial demands nonetheless. Now that $2 billion will seem cheap in comparsion.
This country does not need another financial meltdown. Something this tragic will only set us back even further. So beware of what happens in Egypt.
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