Haynes.tv

The Egyptian people have spoken and after 18 long days of protest their president of 30 long years has finally agreed to go. While this is generally seen as a good thing at this stage, there is still so much question as to who will fill this void. President Obama and others are comparing this to the fall of the Berlin Wall, and even quoted from Dr. Martin Luther King. Conversely, one must ask what president wouldn’t jump a moment during their administration they could compare to the fall of the Berlin Wall. So, on the flip side others are declaring this to be a disaster on par with the Iranian Revolution that will upset the entire balance of power in entire Middle East.

It of course remains to be seen what will occur in Egypt I think most people are approaching the situation with a moderate stance of guarded optimism. While there is a real threat that the Muslim brotherhood could rise up to fill the void. It still not clear that even if they do it would be a complete disaster. Plus they do not represent as bulk of the protesters, however given the predominately Muslim culture in Egypt they are nonetheless a concern with a real potential of pragmatic appeal to the majority.

The one thing that we do not want in Egypt is another country on Sharia (Islamic law) because of the provisions in Islamic law that makes it very dangerous for freedom of religion, and even freedom of speech and very oppressive culture for women and any Muslim dissenters. Already under the old regime in Egypt the Coptic Christian Church has come under heavy persecution, with authorizes often looking the other way and refusing to prosecute perpetrators of violence against Coptic Christians. The Coptic Christian Church traces its origins all the way back to the first century with tradition holding that it was established by the apostle Mark, one of Jesus’ twelve disciples.

Another real large cause of concern in the region is one we are heavily invested in the region with both economy and military aid. First we have already had one really large crisis with the Suez Canal and Communist concerns this century, so we would like to avoid another. That concern of course played somewhat of a role in drawing us into the Vietnam crisis because of concerns over Communist expansion in Europe we didn’t also want to lose Asia to communism as well. Now of course we have a whole other, but similar set of concerns with Muslim expansion in region.

Secondly, we have supplied Egypt with quite modern arms such as F-16 fighter jets, M1 Abrams tanks, high quality training at West Point, NY, etc, etc.

Lastly, Egypt is rumored to have a clandestine nuclear program, so in would certainly be disastrous if the country fell into the wrong hands. We of course would not want to jump the gun on invasion over any WMD program, but it’s much better if we can keep the country as a close ally to both us and Israel and not have to worry too much about dismantling any WMD program.