Call it a Cold War hangover or a broken deal with the Devil – but according to columnist Stefan Kornelius of Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Egypt shows that the era of paying off potentates regardless of how they treat their citizens and mistaking stagnation for stability is over, and the will of the people will no longer be denied.
For the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Stefan Kornelius writes in part:
For too long, stagnation has been mistaken for stability: Washington bids farewell to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak – and to the idea of money being capable of buying peace and influence over potentates. To its shame, the Western world has to admit failure in Egypt.
The U.S. has bid farewell to Mubarak. But the Obama government must also bid goodbye to the notion that stability and influence over potentates can be purchased and retained for the long term. The notion of buying stability and influence with political TLC and $1.5 billion a year has failed. Whether it’s a regime in South America or a family clan like the Marcos’ in the Philippines – in the end, the will of the people is stronger, and there is no valve that can regulate the cauldron’s pressure. No matter how understandable the motives for a policy may be, it can’t work if it ignores the ancient power of an oppressed people.
The Faustian bargain worked, and the deep fear of fundamentalists and nationalists created a dependence that in the end, even strengthened the dictator. Mubarak used the attention to solidify his regime and pay for his security apparatus. What was meant to suppress the Islamist threat also helped suppress the modernizers and democrats. In the end, the fear of the Muslim Brotherhood made Mubarak’s helpers abroad blind to the danger that came from the regime itself. Now there is a danger that anarchy and fanaticism could uncontrollably escalate, and that this mighty nation could implode.
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