Randi Rhodes: Winds of Change

The Obama administration has aligned with the protest movement in Egypt by calling for an “orderly transition.” At least we have an administration that’s calling for orderly transition. The approach of the Bush administration in the Middle East was to impose it’s own disorderly transition. The use of the word “transition” is a deliberate message that the US wants Mubarak to step down and allow a more representative government in Egypt. They had a more democratic government under Ramses II. The last thing we want is for extremists to take control in Egypt. Look what happened when they seized control of the House of Representatives.

We’ve been in bed with Mubarak for years. And now the bed is on fire. Still, in terms of US interests in the region, Hosni Mubarak is the devil we know. And that’s the problem with US interests in the region… we know too many devils. The Arab world is full of authoritarian regimes that trample basic human rights. The Middle East may be the cradle of civilization, but it never fully grew up. It’s always been like that in the Middle East. I bet Hammurabi didn’t even follow his own Code.

Egyptian police are firing tear gas canisters labeled “Made in the USA.” That’s bad news for our image in the Arab street, but good news for people who feared we don’t manufacture anything in this country anymore. The tear gas canisters’ labels say they’re made by Combined Systems International of Jamestown, Pennsylvania. Here’s a little advice for Combined Systems International—you might not want to put your name on your products. The people who come into contact with them are unlikely to appreciate your handiwork.

With the internet shut down in Egypt, protestors are turning to older technologies. Some people have reconnected using landlines and dial-up access. I don’t know about that. If the people are frustrated with the pace of change, how much more frustrated are they going to be with the pace of a dial-up connection? Yes, the revolution will be online. But it’s going to take forever to download.

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Flashback 2009: Hopefully Fox News has finally figured out where Egypt is on a map…