1 million in Cairo. 1 million in Alexandria. .5 million in Monsura. The Egyptians were back in the streets in droves today, in the largest demonstrations since February. This new wave of demonstrations has been going on for a week now, and it seems the only thing that will bring this second phase of the revolution to an end is the immediate withdrawal of the military. Mubarak's head on a spike wouldn't hurt either.
We're waiting to see if the young people leading the demonstrations can rally the support of all other political parties in a concerted demand for the military's ouster. They are trying to get leaders from multiple parties, including Muhamed ElBaradei, to form a new civilian government that the people could recognize as the legitimate ruling authority instead of the military.
Today, Obama called on the military to hand power over ASAP to a civilian democratically elected government. Good for him. That took guts, given that the US has been treading on eggshells ever since the revolution began in Egypt. Of all the countries in the Middle East, the US has greatest strategic interest in Egypt: Its population size and influence on trends across the Middle East are major factors, but the primary reason is that the Egyptian military has been the US's pawn upholding the Camp David peace treaty with Israel since 1979, with bribes of $1.3 billion a year - the second largest annual chunk of US foreign aid to any country, after Israel.
No telling how the new civilian government will feel about that. But the Egyptian military now has blood on its hands - 41 casualties in the last week, and over 1000 wounded (according to the NY Times) - and I guess Obama recognizes that the military cannot hold on to power in Egypt for much longer, and continuing to support them in any way would be a worse move for his administration. So way to go Obama - keep up the pressure...
No comments:
Post a Comment