Steve Horn
The Egyptian people have exposed the great myth that prevails in the sphere of United States' foreign policy, namely that U.S. foreign policy elites are concerned with "spreading democracy."
That is because, as Hampshire College's Michael Klare has written, since 1945, the United States has maintained a foreign policy that is centered around "blood and oil." The foreign policy establishment often uses "democracy spreading" as a public relations platitude because it sounds much better than saying, "We went to war for oil." But caring about democracy goes out the window when one truly scrutinizes U.S. foreign policy through a critical lens. Sourcewatch calls this phenomenon Big Oil, Big Lies.
Case Studies Exposing the Mythology
Several case studies ring a bell.Case in point: The cozy relationship with Azerbaijan, a country with one of the worst human rights track records in the world. It just happens to be next to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, and is strategically located next to Iran, another oil-rich country.
Case in Point: Those who know the history of Iran know that in 1953, the Central Intelligence Agency and the MI6 together overthrew the democratically-elected leader, Mohammed Mossadegh.
The reason? He decided to nationalize Iran's oil and British Petroleum, then called the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, didn't like that very much. Thus, Mossadegh was overthrown and replaced with the oil-industry friendly Shah Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, a man who happened to be brutally oppressive toward his own people.
To repeat, the U.S. had a democracy in Iran, but because that democracy chose to nationalize its oil, the U.S. overthrew it.
Case in point: The long-standing "special relationship" with Saudi Arabia, a country with one of the worst human rights' track records in the world. Last time I checked, I heard they have quite a bit of oil, too.
Case in point: The overt favoritism by the U.S. toward Israel in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Israel is currently in the midst of its 44th year of the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and on a daily basis commits egregious human rights violations against the Palestinian people, all while the United States showers Israel with expensive toys, to the tune of over $3 billion+ per year in military aid.
Case in point: The "special relationship" with Egypt that has existed since the days of Henry Kissinger-led "shuttle diplomacy", which resulted in the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of 1979 (yes, this Henry Kissinger). Egypt switched from being a Cold War enemy to a Cold War ally, and a country that has had an atrociously bad human rights' record for decades has now erupted from within as a backlash against this. The U.S. is complicit in these Hosni Mubarak-led human rights abuses, as it is caught in a pickle, which is the "special relationship." These abuses are irrelevent to the foreign policy establishment though, for Egypt is located on the Israeli border, and like Israel, serves as a client state in the region.
Some have called this moment in history in Egypt Obama's 9-11, for it is quite obvious that he has no clue what to do about it or what to say about it. While true, the most apparent and least presumptive thing to say right now is that the American Empire has been exposed, its hypocrisy and hubris shed in the limelight, and Nemisis, the Greek Goddess of Revenge, has her eyes peeled and focused on Narcissus -- the United States in this scenario.
The Revolution Carries On
As the days roll on, the Egyptian protests grow in size, with the biggest one yet planned for February 1.The Middle East, for better or for worse, is a changed place forever and there's no looking back for the Egyptian people now.
Just don't buy the spin about "concern for democratic rights" by Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama -- they could care less about that. They are just scared they are about to lose an obedient regional client.
And then all hell could really break loose in the region, domino effect style.
Only time will tell.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment