WPost: “Arab Activists Watch Iran And Wonder: ‘Why Not Us?’”

I also tend to wonder about this point: Why doesn’t the US actively support democratic movements in countries like Egypt instead of continuing to give Mubarak the second largest amount of US foreign aid every year, thereby bolstering these dictatorships? Or does seeing people suffer under brutal political repression only move us to tears and require our interference when it is perceived to be in our own national interest, as in Iran?

“Here, in the last presidential election, the police used live ammunition,” Sharkawy said. “Why didn’t the West speak out against what was happening to us, when we had much smaller numbers? You become skeptical. We understand the United States and the West will pursue their own interests. They don’t want a strong Egyptian government that will have separate opinions from the West.”

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~ by nollla on June 26, 2009.