Revolution, Evolution, Equilibrium and Egypt: The destruction of Egyptian equilibrium and the distinct potential for the evolution of revolutionary change in the cerebral synapses and heartbeat of the Middle East mandates careful thought. This could be a phenomenon of gargantuan import the development of which will have an effect on possibly the entire planet. What is at stake? 20% of oil flows through the Suez Canal. Oil is, we know, unfortunately too well, the lifeblood of the planet. What is made without oil? Answer: NOTHING. From the food we eat to the fuel our cars guzzle, and to the tires that trucks which transport that food -- ALL of it -- come from oil. Even plastic comes from oil. Civilized life as we know it cannot survive without oil.
The domino effect seems to be taking place in the Middle East as one after another regime falls. That tortured part of the world has experienced in recent history so many social tsunamis it is difficult to count them. From the CIA induced overthrow of Mosaddegh in Iran in 1952 and the installation of the US approved tyrant Shah to the overthrow of the Shah by Islamic radicals in 1972 setting up an Islamic Iranian near-nuclear state, the decade long Iraq/Iran War, the American induced expulsion of Iraq from Kuwait in Iraq War I, the fiasco and continual war of George Bush’s choosing Iraq II, the overthrow of Musharif in Pakistan and the assassination of his probable successor Benezar Buhto, the present president of a nuclear Pakistan her husband Asif Ali Zardari, the continuous fighting in Afghanistan and the propping up of the US sanctioned but uber corrupt Karzhai government, the continual wars of numerous entities and Israel, the overthrow of the government of Tunisia, the unrest in Yemen and now, the biggest enchilada of all, Egypt’s 30 year strong arm but more secular and western friendly leader Mubarak may be going down. If one includes terrorism on other states around the globe turmoil coming from that neck of the woods is endless.
Round and round she goes, where she stops nobody knows and THAT is the problem now about Egypt. Will the tyrant but more secular Mubarak stay in his very religious country, will a successor chosen by him be installed, will democracy rule or will the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic fundamentalist group, supersede everyone else? It is a complex hot cauldron. Pick your poison.
As Shakespeare’s Macbeth’s witches said “double, double toil and trouble caldron burn and fire bubble.” Someone on a blog asked: What is worse for the west and for Israel than another Iranian style Islamic revolution in Egypt? Answer: NOTHING. Islamic fundamentalists will make quick enemies of the once friends of Mubarak and they will have leverage – the spigots of blood life oil in that strategic part of the world. Since the question of Palestine has not been successfully determined at all it still is the spark that could ignite the powder keg in this worldly cauldron of double trouble.
States that select religious fundamentalism as their master will trade one tyranny for another as religion – ALL fundamentalist religion – will keep people subjugated, keep women without power and relegate all belief’s questioners to the jails if not worse. Unquestioning religion in the extreme is a retardant on culture, science, knowledge and growth. Evolution is a scientific mandate but cultural evolution is at the whim of man. It can advance or not. It can go forward or reactionarily backward but it will not stand still.
Bulletin: There is NO perfect world. There is no utopia. One must work despite man's frailties but within man’s strength for reason to prevail. I have little love for Islamic revolutions because they perpetrate, as all fundamentalist faiths ultimately do, mayhem on innocents. Religious fundamentalism of any stripe be it Christian, Muslim or Jewish is intransigent in its thinking and, often, at least subliminally, violent in its behavior. Mixing religion with politics is a toxic brew in a cauldron of trouble.
I do NOT support the US meddling in Middle East regimes changing them like someone changes underwear. In the long run it hurts us because things there are not predictable even by the savviest "expert" intellect. They get it wrong. Just look at Iraq.
The people must decide on their own who is to govern them. Before, though, centuries of culture and decades of power which kept a culture together even with a precarious glue are torn down one should think long and hard before that social upheaval takes place.
We live in a different world in no ordinary time. The Internet and other technological connections make the world a very small place. We are able to have a revolution by a few clicks of a mouse. Revolution, evolution and then equilibrium could be a formula for growth. Think well, though, if you think what you replace will be better than what you already have! Ask many Iranians who want democracy how they love the mullahs in the Islamic Republic of Iran. They just might say not very much, not very much at all!
