As President Mubarak is in a hospital in Germany with no apparent successor, Egyptian Americans call upon President Obama to re-evaluate American/Egyptian relations.
Today, Egypt is at dangerous crossroads. As Mr. Mubarak is in his 29th year in power and unfortunately, Egypt's future is more uncertain than ever.
There are serious concerns about the grave human rights abuses, rampant poverty leading to food riots, alarming unemployment figures, institutional corruption, and crushing inflation.
During Mubarak's rule, disparity between the classes increased leading to a small elite controlling power and the economy, while the majority of Egyptians are struggling to make ends meet. Hopeless Egyptian youth, more than 40 %, can neither afford to rent nor purchase an apartment, let alone marry. This dangerous phenomenon is at the roots of young men recruitment by violent fanatic groups.
Egyptian state media is rife with anti-Americanism. Former American ambassadors Edward Walker and Daniel Kurtzer warned against the duality of the Egyptian government that blames everything on the U.S.A. while claiming to be fighting extremism. The Egyptian government's cracking on all signs of dissent has led to a political void that is filled by extremist elements.
Mr. Mubarak and his ruling party cannot shirk accountability as they hold more than 90% of the seats in the Egyptian Parliament with nominal opposition. Unlike Nasser and Sadat, Mr. Mubarak refused to appoint a vice-president and is grooming his son Gamal to be his successor, a mockery of the Egyptian Republic system and democratic principles. If his son takes over, Egyptians fear he would continue his father's policy of enriching the elite, suppressing the poor, while ignoring effective reform. Under the Emergency Law, Mubarak turned Egypt into a police state and managed to rig every election.
In its 2009 Human Rights Report, the State Department criticized the Egyptian regime for lack of freedoms of press, association, and religion. The regime continues to restrict civil liberties, particularly freedom of speech, access to the Internet, and freedom of assembly, and stifling civil society.
In his inaugural speech, President Obama spoke against "those leaders who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: and cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent". These words accurately describe the current Mubarak regime. The regime is on a similar crash course similar to Iran's Shah, the Philippines' Marcos and Indonesia's Suharto. The U.S. is facing looming dangers in the largest Arab country. President Obama should recognize that old allies of the U.S. should commit themselves to genuine reforms.
"the problem doesn't end with Egypt or the US. It seems no government, or perhaps not too many, acutally work for the people. Greece is a good example of a government not working for the people. From personal experience, America is one too."
Aladdin,
This may be Egypt, but it also sounds a lot like the USA! The elites of the world have begun to reinforce each other in the most nefarious ways, all to the detriment of the people of the world. I do so hope that the good people of Egypt can get beyond their present situation of dictatorship backed by the major powers of the world. I am particularly distressed about the new wall that is being built to seal off the Palestinian families in Gaza, as this is interpreted as a compliant enabling of Israeli occupation by the present leadership in Egypt as well as the USA & Europe. Reform is needed in Egypt, hopefully with a new candidate who knows how to stand on his own two feet up against the "powers," Mohamed ElBaradei.
Is Egypt a dictatorship? What do their citizens say? Are they allowed to speak up on this issue, because if they're not, then that would be one key sign that yes, it is a dictatorship, because one of the hallmarks of a dictatorship is censorship. If someone says something, will they get incarcerated, or even shot, or do people sometimes mysteriously just 'disappear'?
Personally, I'm amazed that Egypt hasn't capitalized heavily on their major resource, sunshine, and started turning out clean electrical power for sale to neighboring countries. Egypt could be the Saudi Arabia of sunshine, of course, Saudi Arabia could be the Saudi Arabia of sunshine, too, and so could Iraq, and so could some other countries, so maybe they'd have to be the Egypt of sunshine instead, but, I digress...anyway, sunshine is good, either for electricity, or for politics.
I agree with you about the sunshine energy sources. I am a fan of Euro News on Dish so I can say that the EU & several north African countries are partnering to do just that. As usual our ruling class seems more interested in making war & profiting from it, than partnering for mutual benefit with other nations. It could be also why so many other nations are entering bilateral relationships with each other, to our exclusion, but again our media doesn't have too much to say about this. (Sorry to be so negative, but I am an American who would like to see more of our wonderful ideals actually practiced by our govt.)