Revolution Paranoia

This Sunday, fans from around the world will gather to watch one of the most watched television events of the year. With only 2 of the NFL's 32 teams participating, most NFL fans will find themselves trying to decide who to cheer for. The event is so big, that it also attracts many fans who couldn't care less about the NFL during the rest of the year. Criteria for choosing a team to cheer for can include; team colours, if a team is a rival of a favourite team, support for a division or conference, underdog or favourite or any other reason.

In general pro-democracy demonstrations receive wide spread support for various reasons. In Iran, the people were protesting against a rigged election; Ivory Coast, the government refuses to accept electoral defeat and Tunisia chased out their dictators. In all these cases it is easy to support the under dog both as supporting democracy. As an Islamic Republic, Iran does not share any commonality with Western values and the plight of Ivory Coast and Tunisia are just not that important to the average person outside of unquestioning support of democracy.

With the focus on Egypt, choosing who to cheer for a particular outcome is very difficult. On the one hand democracy is the form of government that represents the will of the people. The other is Muslim Brotherhood, is best positioned to pick up the political vacuum. Egypt is an important player in the Middle East. They have a peace treaty with Israel and bare some responsibility for keeping weapons out of the hands of Gaza terrorists. A Muslim Brotherhood with political power could see them joining Syria and Lebanon as another Iranian satellite state. Continuing the cold peace is far better for both countries, than dragging Israel into another war.

For those who automatically support Democracy in at all costs should take note of the other "Democratic" countries in the region. In Lebanon, when Hezzbollah's threats were not enough to prevent being inditing by the UN Special Inquiry into the death of the previous Prime Minister, they toppled the government. The new Prime Minister's party holds 2 of 128 (yes two) seats in the Lebanese Parliament.

Under the PA, all election dates at every level of Government have been cancelled when Hamas could not reconcile with Fatah. Out of fear of the events in Egypt, the PA has called for municipal elections to be held. Hamas has already said they will not participate effectively cancelling elections in Gaza. Hamas and Islamic Brotherhood are essentially they same organization. The PA sided with the Tunisa Government before they fled and have come out in support of Mubarak. Solidarity protests with Egyptian demonstrators have been shut down while pro-Government protests have been permitted.

Israel is the only country in the region, where citizens vote for their government. There isn't even the slightest fear of violence being necessary in order to transfer power. In practical terms this is a huge difference that is ignored by those who want to blame Israel for every other problem in the region. The protestors are on the right track in demanding a Government that represents them is a noble goal. However at the end of the day, the components are not in place to avoid building a democracy like Lebanon or the PA. This is why unconditionally choosing sides may not be in the best interests of Egypt, their allies or Israel.

Egypt Slaughter Pigs to Prevent Farmers from Slaughter

The Egyptian Government has taken advantage of the irrational fear of Swine flu to slaughter the countries entire pig population. The majority of the pigs are raised by the poorest of the poor Christians to feed their families. This move will destroy the livlihoods of thousands. It is not surprising that they are using everything they can to stop the government from destroying what little they have.

The optics of the situation look like the government is taking an opportunity to prosecute the minority Christian population. The fact there is no scientific support that slaughtering the animals will help prevent spread of the flu in Egypt lends credibility to this theory.

Egypt has had their own problems dealing with Islamic fanatics. They have had terrorist attacks. They have been trying to stop terrorist organizations like Muslim Brotherhood. They have closed their border to Gaza out of fear that Hamas will get a foothold in Egypt. They have not demonstrated a desire to supress Christians to cater to these terrorist groups.

Egypt is well aware of what would happen if they do get a case of the Swine Flu. It would not take long for riots aimed at the Christian farmers. By destroying the pigs now they are appeasing those who would be angry at caring more about Christians then pigs. In the eyes of the violent ignorent they have been proactive at helping the situation.

If they get no cases of Swine all they have done is take away the livlihood of a forgotten segment of society that nobody really cares about. If there is a case, there will be no pigs to blame on the spread of the disease. They may prevent attacks against the farmers and possibly the right to raise pigs altogether. They have absolved themselves of blame from the group of society most likly to take advanatage of the situation to destabalize the government.

There is no logical health reason to slaughter the pig population. The government should have acted according to logic and reason to take the proper course of action to take real steps to protect the health of their citizens. If they really are looking ahead to worst case scenarios, their course of action may be wrong but does not seem as far fetched.