[Peace-discuss] US vs. democracy in the Mideast

[C. G. Estabrook]

...the US is extraordinarily unpopular among Egyptians according to the Pew 
Global Attitudes project which shows that just 17 per cent of Egyptians (the 
figure is the same for Pakistan and Turkey) have a favourable view of the US. 
Washington is faced with the likelihood that a truly democratic election in 
Egypt will produce a government hostile to Egypt's close alliance with America...

...in the longer term the day of the Middle East "strong man" of which Mubarak 
is the most typical example, is drawing to its end. Like the military regimes in 
Latin America in the second half of the 20th century or Communist governments in 
eastern Europe, they have not been able to reform themselves and, if they try 
to, they are likely to fall apart. Their methods of control rely on coercion and 
brutality and this is no longer enough. The next few days will show if the age 
of the Mubaraks, who reduced so much of the Arab world to a political slum, is 
truly coming to an end.

[From a cogent assessment by Patrick Cockburn in The Independent 
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/mubarak-a-leader-on-the-brink-2200092.html>]