A Splintered Reed of a Staff
by Ari Bussel
It seems everyone gave up on Mubarak. Rulers under duress mistakenly believe that keeping quiet and protecting their individual turfs is the necessary remedy, but it is not. While Iran talks about the shockwaves reeling through the Middle East, there is no united front of the Arab League, or for that matter, of any of the major Arab leaders.
Talk about friends in time of need. Everyone already seems to be eulogizing President Mubarak's rule. Exactly at a time that encouragement and support are needed most, everyone seems to have disappeared.
If the strongest of the Arab countries falls, the rest will undoubted follow. If Egypt tumbles, then Saudi Arabia, already in the range of missiles, will experience an exodus from the Holy Land to a less precarious life in American exile. They, the leaders of the Arab world, should have immediately come out and say, in response to the US threats against President Mubarak: "We are making $1.5b available to President Mubarak and to his people, the nation of Egypt."
There are two very active participants as the players on the global chessboard rearrange positions: Iran and the United States of America. One is left to wonder which, if not both, are instigating current events.
As individuals, we are attracted to power, or the image thereof. It can be someone with a lot of money or another working for a large institution. We often assign to their opinions and statements great value, only because of the association with wealth or institutional power. Likewise, when countries around the Middle East look around, they see Iran leading, setting the pace and visibly taking a position.
Immediately following Iran is Hamas and Hezbollah, both financed and armed by Iran.
The bully and its cronies are neither afraid nor hesitant. It is their party; it is their homerun.
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