When a brutal regime is struggling to survive it turns to desperate measures.
Even as low-flying Egyptian air force Lockheed F-16s are currently attempting to shake fear into the hundreds of thousands of people gathered now in the center of Cairo, the people are showing their increasing defiance. And even now the Obama administration remains afraid of taking a strong stand in support of the Egyptian people.
We cannot honor the revolution in Egypt as impartial observers, uncertain about its outcome or its virtue. To believe in the revolution is to hold the unshakable conviction that human beings have the capacity to govern themselves and the right to live in freedom.
Egypt exposes the divide between those who fearlessly feel the thrill of freedom and those for whom freedom has become an object of fear.
As freedom spreads across the Middle East the greatest test will be faced in Israel.
Let’s be absolutely clear that the timidity with which the United States government has at this time responded to the prospect of Egyptians’ freedom, is a measure of the extent to which the freedom of 80 million people appears to pose a possible threat to the security of seven million Israelis.
Many Israelis and Americans have come to accept an unspoken and inhuman proposition: that one person’s safety can be secured at the expense of another person’s liberty. This forced exchange is an assault on human freedom.
At the same time, many others, swept up in the spirit of this moment, will be tempted to declare, “We are all Egyptians now,” but we are not.
The giddiness of freedom is the reward for those who have risen above their fears.
For those who remain the hostage of their own fears, freedom itself is another source of danger.
Under the rule of the West’s national security states we have been indoctrinated to believe that the remedy for fear is safety.
It is not. Indeed, those who cling to the fiction of high security, merely compound their own fears.
If we are to rediscover the nobility and dignity of our common humanity it will only be by defying fear with courage.
Israel is fearmongering as usual, saying that the MB will be the next rulers and will be, in effect, “wiping Israel off the map”, but we see from their actions and the MB website that the Muslim Brotherhood is willing to be part of the new Egypt, but not try to take over.
The Israeli tail wagging the American dog as usual? Yes. How bad will that have to be before Americans face down their fears and take to the streets?
(The “Lockheed” F-16s I believe were built by General Dynamics, but what’s the difference? One manufacturer of murder machines is the same as another.) The air forces of all the US puppet states are their Achillies’ heels because their hugely expensive toys require the greatest degree of bribery to secure, and the Air Force staffs are the most indebted to their US sponsors. But note, they can only fly across the cities to try to frighten the populace — only the US air forces can go the whole way and destroy the people beneath them.
Just amazing how those in Washington rally behind the “O”. Send in the jets. Call the oppressed traitors of the tyrants. I know of no other way to put this, but I wonder what the American population as a whole think about all the so called Elites of the think tanks, as well as Financial Titans, being Jewish descendants? The Empire is itself getting closer to it’s own expiration. This attitude of more of the same has reached the point that we see in the Middle East today, how long before it reaches these shores?
AN EXCELLENT AND VERY THOUGHT-PROVOKING COMMENT: “Egypt exposes the divide between those who fearlessly feel the thrill of freedom and those for whom freedom has become an object of fear…
…For those who remain the hostage of their own fears, freedom itself is another source of danger.” – Woodward
RE: The “Lockheed” F-16s I believe were built by General Dynamics… (from above)
FROM WIKIPEDIA: The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force…
…In 1993, General Dynamics sold its aircraft manufacturing business to the Lockheed Corporation,[4] which in turn became part of Lockheed Martin after a 1995 merger with Martin Marietta.[5]…
SOURCE – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16_Fighting_Falcon
Inspiring words Paul.
I wonder how many calls a day Mubarak gets from Netanyahu urging him to ‘hold the line’.
Norman, your comment is racist…anti Semitic if you want specifics.
I disagree David, but it might be. Could just be a bit crass and intentionally indelicate, but it bothered me too.
Oh Norman, you are such a naughty boy!
David, can you be a bit more specific please; I am a bit confused as to whether “being Jewish decendents ” offends you in a racial or religious context? Have never quite got a handle on whether Judism is a race or religion and would appreciate your advice.