In the 1971 South Asian crisis, Henry Kissinger famously 'tilted' toward Pakistan. The tilt was not an all out endosement, and Nixon's antipathy toward Indira Gandhi played a part, but the tilt wasn't a bad idea.
Today we have to play a similar card in Egypt. The cliches aside, i.e. 'getting ahead of the curve,' we need a policy that makes sense. Tilting toward the protestors in Tahrir Square is a must if we don't want the antipathy of the street. We need to be seen as supporting them. At the same time, support - tepid though it should be- for an ally of some thirty years will comfort our other allies in the region.
Yes, there are risks, Mubarack and his cronies literally know where the bodies are buried -- but we must to be seen as supporting those democracy hungry protesters in the cities of Egypt. And signaling that tilt is the way we need to go.
3 comments:
Tilting towards the protesters you suggest. Well, Obama might eventually do it, all to the good. But where was he when the Iranian protesters were in the streets? Trying to engage the thugocracy. A lot of good that's done us.
Only an idiotic simpleton would compare Egypt to Iran
I somewhat agree with the second comment. We had no leverage in Iran. The first comment seems to be a bit impressionistic. In any case, the point is now moot. The Morning Roundtable was right on target.
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