By Micah Halpern
I've Been Thinking:
President Barak Obama went on the record last night before the Super Bowl telling Fox's Bill O'Reilly "... here's what we know, is that Egypt is not going to go back to what it was. the Egyptian people want freedom, they want free and fair elections, they want a representative government, they want a responsive government."
The new reality in Egypt is that Egypt is different. But the nature of change in the Middle East is normally through violent overthrow. And a violent overthrow normally ousts an oppressive regime and ushers in new oppressive regimes.
The only way to prevent that from happening is to stimulate Egypt to work for serious reforms, change the laws of governance and build institutions of democracy that embrace equality.
The US should not urge Egypt towards free elections but towards building responsible schools and courts. They should be rewarded for their successes with millions of dollars of grants and with civilian aid.
The more they move toward democracy the more aid they get.
There is no way the Egyptians can move significantly toward democracy in the 8 months that remain until their next scheduled elections. No way.
Micah@MicahHalpern.com
Read my new book THUGS. It's easy. Just click.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=halpern%2C+micah
No comments:
Post a Comment